Got any board games to recommend? My taste is more geared toward the darker aspects of humanity(murder), deceit, war or a game that tells a compelling story.
I cannot recommend the csrd game Gloom enough. It's all about making your characters as miserable as possible before their untimely demise while cheering your opponent's and giving them a full life and peaceful eternal rest.
It has a similar aesthetic to Don't Starve and the humor of Edgar Allan Poe.
The big game in our home is Scrabble. We are not very competitive about it, but actually help each other try to find high scoring words.
In any normal Scrabble game, expect an average of 600 points to be scored by all players. Divide the score of 600 by the number of players and if you score higher than that then you have had a good game. 2 players 300 or more, 3 Plaers 200 or more and 4 players 150 or more.
Settlers of Catan! The compelling story is the one you create with every game as your colonies expand and your societies develop...and the competition, rivarlry, and inevitable grudges bring out the evil in the players...
I love board games, though I haven't played a ton of them.
Check out "Dead of Winter". It's mostly a co-op game, but each player has their own goals to accomplish which could help, be neutral, hurt, or even betray the colony.
"Chaos in the Old World" is one of my favorites. It's a light, competitive area control game with victory points. Basically, you play a god and your goal is to be the first to ruin "the old world" (Earth). It's somewhat asymmetric in that each god has their own preferred way of corrupting humanity.
"Descent" is pretty cool too. One person takes on the role of dungeon master and simultaneously moves the story along while trying to kill the other players.
Currently own DoW. And DoW The Long Night. And DoW Warring Colonies. Will check out the others.
I can't remember all the names but there exists a whole category of board games that have to do with pirates and treasure maps, war planning actual war games. Used to belong to a gaming meetup.
If you're looking for something off the beaten path, you might check out Wil Wheaton's youtube channel TableTop. I picked up a card game called Unspeakable Words after watching him play it. His channel is a part of Geek and Sundry
The link was too the about page. Now I can't seem to edit my reply...
Solid choices! Splendor is fantastic, though I'm horrible at it.
Game of "LIFE"
lol
Cutthroat game here!! Lol
There is a "Game of Thrones" board game. For a quite simple board game that it very playable, and has complex character traits, I suggest Frank Herberts Dune - The board Game. Only available 2nd hand unfortunately. But I have seen pdf files of it all that can be downloaded and printed.
More a card game, but it definitely presents the mischievously darker side of humanity:
Cards Against Humanity.
yeah, I was gunna say that one too.
And alll the spin offs. We played Crabs Against Humidity on NYE. It was a tad risque, or more than a tad.