Time to get the gang back together
In 2013, I was given my first PAXmas present in the form of Nothing Personal. I wasn’t able to go for a few reasons, but some of my friends managed to nab a copy while they were down there.
We played it pretty much straight away, and it was definitely a game for this particular group. We get together when we can, and we all enjoy games that push us. It also helps that we are also players that enjoy messing with each other. A lot. Like to our detriment a lot.
So a game like Nothing Personal was all but designed for us. It’s not in your interest to specifically mess with another player, but we pretty much always do. Game wise, it would be better if we put one of our guys higher up the mafia ladder, but messing with Tim is always a priority.
This is actually the best sumamry of Nothing Personal I have ever seen:
Because we don’t get together often as a group, and Nothing Personal is a longer game for what it is, I don’t get to play it as much as I would like to. But I have grabbed some of the expansion packs over time, and always perk up when I hear a couple of people talking about it.
Nothing Personal also had another big draw at the time. It was codesigned by the Dice Towers founder Tom Vasel. Tom admittedly enjoys push your luck and take that games, and that is exactly what was created.
As much as I enjoy Nothing Personal though, it does have some faults. As mentioned, chief amongst them is the time to play. This is a game that can easily stretch to three hours when messing with other players and fine-tuning negotiations.
So I was happy to see Nothing Personal Revised Edition on Kickstarter!
The first thing to note with the revised edition is the designer credits. Only Stephen Avery is adorning the box art. Now that isn’t meant as a warning or implying behind the scenes issues, it’s just that for the revised edition Stephen Avery did the design work himself. And it does look like he made some changes.
The most welcome change upfront is streamlining some of the rules, so a game now takes one hour rather than two according to the box.
The other very obvious change is the new locations. On the surface, these look like bonus cards that players can bid on to give another way to change the state of play.
The last item is the rules have been included for how to fold the original gangsters into the revised edition, handy if like me you will end up with both copies of the game!
In a lot of ways, Nothing Personal isn’t a game for a lot of players. If you are the type of player that enjoys or even thrives in games of hidden motives, negotiation, and winning at all costs, this is probably a game for you.
If you aren’t sure, maybe check out some of the reviews and discussions on the original game before purchasing a copy.
Either way, check out the Kickstarter page for more information.
Until next time,