How did you first find out about GTG?

I'm just interested to know, how did everybody here first find out about Sentinels and/or Greater than Games?

For me, it was when I finally got internet access late 2012, I became a fan of Tom Vasel.  Never knew board games were still being made since the last time I was on the internet was back in 2002 on AOL.  Watched Tom Vasel's top 100 and picked the game I thought looked most intriguing: Sentinels of the Multiverse.  (Big props to Tom Vasel: great reviewer and entertainer).  Ordered it and 2 months later, have got a loyal family of Chicago fans for Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Anyone else find out about Sentinels from Tom Vasel?  Or what are your other means?  I'm sure we would all like to hear.

I was unfortinate that I didn’t learn about Sentenals and GTG until after IR had already been released. Me and my wife went to a local game store where they were demoing the gane for free (Chris and Andy were there) and 4 hours later we were hooked.

I saw their booth at Wizard World Chicago a few years ago. I thought is it was a CCG and purposely skipped it. That night, I went online and realized how wrong I was. I immediately bought the OE and have been playing ever since.

Someone at the gaming club I used to attend had the game, and we played it one time erm...last June or July or so. We played a few games - he had the core set (pre-Enhanced Edition) and Rook City - I don't know if Infernal Relics was even out then. He mentioned that if people wanted to get it, it might be worth waiting till October or so when the new version came out - so a few months later I had a mooch on Games Lore and found it...well, the core (Enhanced) set and Infernal Relics - they were out of stock of Rook City but I kept an eye out and grabbed it a few weeks or so later. From the time I got the game, some time last September, I've played it multiple times nearly every weekend, up till now :D. And of course, I backed the Shattered Timelines Kickstarter and got that when it came out, ordering Unity and Ambuscade as á la carte extras at the same time.

The only things I'm missing are the original four promo cards - Young Legacy, Rook City Wraith, Redeemer Fanatic, and Horus Ra, because they'd already been and gone by the time I looked into getting the game :(.

A friend of my wife came over and we played it, was hooked right off the bat, got in on the Kickstarter for Timelines and through that got the whole set.

Saw the gang a few years ago at Origins; my wife and I sat down for a demo.

I really appreciated their honesty--they didn't try to pressure me to be the older edition, instead encouraging me to wait and pick up the Extended Edition.  I did so once I had some free cash and it was a hit around our game table.  I've picked up every expansion since...

There is a local convention around my area called Kantcon. I was between slots and saw Chris sitting at a table with a few SotM banners around it. Now I'm not a huge comic book fan but I figured "What the hell, could be fun. Besides, I'm not doing anthing right now anyway." After about two games, I fell in love with it. I played Expatterate and after my, I dunno, 12th or 13th game and missing roughly 2 slots I signed in for, I started calling her my ex-wife. I bought the game right there. Chris's reverse psychocolligy (I can't spell big words) worked when he said "Don't buy this game, a better version is coming out at GenCon." I bought the better version at GenCon but couldn't wait a few months to continue playing it.

When it premiered at Gen Con 2011, a friend (arenson9) told me about this guy named Christopher who had this really great game that I'd probably liked. He told me their booth number and I went straight there when the exhibitor hall opened. (Mind you, at the time I was getting to the hall ~8am, so I was one of the first people in when it opened. )

But the booth number was wrong and he hadn't given me their name.

Eventually, I got the rest of the information from arenson9 and got to the booth on Friday. Demoed it and loved it, but mostly I really liked what they were doing as a group and as individuals.

Brought my spouse on Saturday and it was a hit, so we picked it up.  Haven't looked back!

What amazed me was how many people didn't care - they wanted the game right then and bought the older edition, anyway. They sold out of the original edition at Origins that year! It was amazing.

I saw it on Kickstarter, I think - it would have been around Infernal Relics. I looked at their site, read the rules, read the bios... and then didn't buy it. I don't know why, I just skipped away. Time passes, Shattered Timelines gets Kickstarted, and I stumbe onto it with a "Hey, I remember this!" Looked it up again, bought it, never looked back :D

I stumbled across the booth at GenCon 2011, after I had purposefully only scheduled myself a couple events. My goal for that year was to play demos and see the new hotness for the year. They were running demo games, so I jumped in for lack of anything else to do.

I thought it looked neat, but it was still on the "eh, maybe list." Christopher's CHA 30, however, had me come check it out again the next day. I realised I was pretty broke at this point, and I wouldn't really be able to afford some of the super chromed-out things I was excited about. $40 was a good price point, so I picked it up.

And then forgot about it after a couple lukewarm games with a friend.

A few months later, I pulled it out for a game night when we wanted something different. And it clicked. Big hit that night, and I've not put it down since.

I was wandering past a game store in Seatle and saw it in the window.  Checked reviews on my phone, which looked positive, so I figured I'd pick it up when I got home (I was travelling).  When I got home, I discovered that none of the locals had the game and that the Seattle shops probably only had it because they'd physically picked up some copies at PAX, which had been that weekend. The fact that I sort of vaguely wanted it, combined with the fact that I now couldn't have it, meant that I had to have it!  So I ordered it online and have enjoyed it ever since.

Which store? GP Lafayette?

I happened to stumble across it while going to a local gaming store. It was right around the time I was really into playing Champions Online, so seeing a Super Hero card game was awesome. However I am a bit of a penny pincher, so I continued to wander around the store a bit, looking at all the other games. However I kept finding myself back at Sentinels of the Multiverse. Shortly before getting ready to leave, I decided to flip a coin to decide the fate of whether or not I should buy it. The coin said to buy it, leading my to play it on a near daily basis ever since.

The best part about it however was, this occured roughly 1-2 weeks prior to its official release at Gencon. Christopher had hand delivered some of the game to local stores sshortly after getting them from the printer. Who knows, if I would have went a few days earlier, I may have bought another game or went gameless. Maybe I would of never gotten SotM at all after that point, how scary would that be?

http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=26506 --Young masters Christopher and Paul showed it to me the night before it premiered at GenCon 2011. I'd happened to meet Christopher earlier that year.

I was absolutely astounded to hear that they'd made thousands of copies of a game and paid for thier own booth at GenCon. That is a really good way to lose a lot of money. I was anxious that I would have to put on my polite face when they showed it to me. I have played a lot of games and am very picky about what I actually like. Then I played it and was astounded. That first game was a whirlwind. Christopher and Paul were moving lightning fast making tactical decisions as I struggled to even have time to read my own cards, much less anyone else's. Still, I found it thrilling and fantastic.

The gaming club I'm part of holds LAN parties, and people bring in board games and the like as well. A member brought in some games, including SoTM enhanced edition with all expansions up to Shattered Timelines. We played that first, and didn't stop.

I am a game designer and came up with the idea to make a game called Supervillains where each player plays as a supervillain and whoever takes over the world wins. I researched superhero games that were out at the time and found this and a few others. SotM was the best of any of them by far. SotM kind of discouraged me from going farther on my game since I don't think I'd ever be able to create as good a game with as rich a story and with as beautiful art. I have other game designs I'm going to focus on instead. When I find a free moment when I'm not playing SotM, that is.

My friend and fellow forumite Reckless got me into the game. He had heard about it on the Escapist and ordered it. On the day it arrived, it was the original edition, was the same day he learned that the store where he worked was going to close in about a month or so. My brother who worked at a pizza place got some pizza and we played a game that night with Tempest, Bunker, and Fanatic versus Baron Blade in Megalopolis, and managed to have a pretty good end to what had been a pretty bad day. All of us got hooked on the game and have been getting other people into it ever since.

I was at my local game store's weekly game night when some people were playing it, and after one game I got hooked. This was pre-Rook City, but after the RC kickstarter. I've made sure to get on board with every kickstarter since then.

I bought the game at my local game store. 

Tom vasel repeatedly mentioned sotm on dice tower, and daughter is superhero nut so got it to play with her. Now have EE and all bioxed exps

Well, I'm the primary game buyer for my RPG club (we play boardgames in between RPG "slots" which generally last 4-12 weeks, before everyone switches over to a new game).

And we had some spare cash, and I realised that we were missing a superhero-flavoured game. So I researched the main three that were available and Sentinels looked like the best of the bunch. Now I have to point out that I'm not into superheroes and I definitely prefer Eurogames so I was expecting not to like the game at all, but what the hell. It wasn't for me anyway.

And then of course I played it, loved it, got all the expansions and mini-expansions, printed proxies of the promos, made my own character selection cards and other accessories, found this forum, and started playing online in Google Hangouts. Countless hours and hundreds of times playing a game I was expecting to dislike.

Just goes to show, when I'm wrong, I'm wrong properly.

This.  It was in December of 2011 on a "Top ten Christmas gifts" list, and I actually got it as a Christmas gift.  We've been playing every single week ever since.

http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=26506 --Young masters Christopher and Paul showed it to me the night before it premiered at GenCon 2011. I'd happened to meet Christopher earlier that year.

Shortly before this picture was taken, I managed to shove a pint glass to shattered destruction on the floor while explaining something to arenson9’s nephew.

I was actually looking around the net about thsi other card game, Smash-Up (which, in truth, I haven't touched in a loooong while), when I came across a review saying that SotM was better. I checked it out, and BOOM. Obssession initiated.

Yes sir. Me and my wife met you guys there and got hooked.

I played a friend of mine's copy at Dominicon 2011, which I think was some time around November. I imagine he got it at Gencon. Himself and his brother had obviously played it before, but I don't know if anyone else in his circle of friends had. I enjoyed it, but kind of forgot about it for a while until I saw the Infernal Relics Kickstarter.

Funnily enough, a few of my friends had been getting into board/cardgames ever since moving into a shared house near me at the end of last year. One of them had been a fan and converted the others, so they had all sorts of games and gradually I was 'exposed' to that.

Anyway, a few months ago, I noticed Patrick Weekes (one of the better writers at BioWare) tweeting about a game called Sentinels of the Multiverse (you might have heard of it...), and seeing that it was co-op and superhero-themed, my interest was piqued. I mentioned it to another of my friends who had been converted like the others and was keen to get me playing more, so he started linking me all sorts of other things, like Tom Vasel's love for it, and then one day pointed out that the local gamestore had just received stock.

Having read a bit, and getting a sense of the game, I decided to take the plunge. A couple of group games later and I was in love. Unfortunately, it seems my friends have fallen out of love with it, even if I think it's one of the better games that any of us owns (I think it's because our villain battles tend to last at least an hour and a half, and they seem fond of randomising heroes, which means less chance of finding someone to suit your preferred playstyle). I don't know many games so strong thematically and mechanically that supports all 5 of us playing, and I think the >G guys did a great job.

Paul, on a tangent, since you are watching this space, would you like to share with us what you were thinking and feeling the night before GenCon 2011 opened?

Christopher? Adam?

Probably that things were going to get very interesting.

@arenson9

Nothing in particular out of the ordinary or unexpected. I'd been to Gen Con many many times, so I knew what to expect in general in terms of the show. I was wondering what sort of reception we'd get, how traffic flow around the booth would go, what sales numbers at a convention like Gen Con would be like, etc.

Met the guys at PAX Prime 2011. Had just played a game of Uncle Slam in the booth next door, and Christopher hit me and my friend with the pitch - "How would you guys like to play a cooperative super hero comic book card game?" We couldn't resist. That first game I played Wraith and my friend played Ra, and there was a Tachyon and I think Legacy in the game. Christopher ran Voss on half health in Insula Primalis. It was an awesome game, and we instantly saw how varied the heroes were.

I spent the rest of that day and the next wandering the show looking to see if there was anything else that would deserve my spending money more - not even close.

I picked up a nice velvet bag and a fistful of d10s at the same time, including 3 brass dice like the style second from the front in this photo to use as villain hp.

I don't use those dice much any more (usually use the sidekick app), but they're really nice to have.

You know... I don't even remember how I first heard about the game. It was sometime right after the Infernal Relics was delivered and I ordered everything I could right away and was bummed i had missed the promos... but eventually hunted down those down through auctions and being one of the lucky first in the Shattered Timelines Kickstarter. 

Since I was a fan of super-heroes and since I always look for ways to get my less gaming inclined friends to play with me a superhero game was high on my list of things to find. I found Sentinels of BGG, but was wary of purchasing it (This was before the Enhanced Edition came out and there were complaints about the box, tracking hitpoints, etc.)

I checked up on it every few months without biting. I'm a listener of the Ludology podcast and they had an interview with Christopher last September/October. Listening to the history, ideas, and future of Sentinels was all I needed to push me over the edge. Christopher mentioned the Shattered Timelines Kickstarter and I exicetedly went to see it, only to realize that I was a day late to the party. 

Tech month for a highschool theater teacher is a dark time of 16-hour days which kept me from keeping with the podcast for just long enough. 

Needless to say I was miffed, and the game was out of print at the time so I was even more miffed. I checked the website daily through November and December until it was available and ordered it as soon as I could. After the first three days I ordered Rook City, and before that even arrived I ordered Infernal Relics. It quickly rose to become my favorite game (even if I have an oddly difficult time getting anyone to play it with me,) and was enough to keep me from buying any more games for months afterwards (if you don't count Shattered TImelines and the various mini-expansions.) 

Have a game night every Saturday.  A friend of a friend came by and asked us if we'd ever played "Sentinels of the Multiverse".  We started a game and got hooked immediately.

Over a summer, possibly close to two years I think, I was meeting with some of my fellow school guild members who were in the area for a weekly game night. Sentinels was one of the game we played. I believe they had just gotten Rook City and they had been playing the basic edition. We played one game (Ra, Tempest, and Mr. Fixer against Plague Rat in Rook City) and it was brutal. I was Fixer, and I was rocking it with Dual Crowbar double strikes and nice steady damage, but I went down. Then Ra ended up killing himself due to Flame Shield and Infection. Tempest was left out with barely any health, Cleansing Downpour, and our abilities. We barely kept him going long enough for him to finish Plague Rat, but a single bad card coming up would have destroyed us. Needless to say I loved the game, but I didn't get to play it again (actually I still haven't played it with those guys again) until I purchased the Extended Edition... wow, almost 6 months or so later. Then RC and IR. Then Shattered Timelines and expansions. And Now I will be pre-ordering Vengaence and a mat (which I probably shouldn't afford) once my bank transfer is finished tomorrow.

I first heard about it from Tom Vassel's videos when the original edition was printed, read a few reviews, found it interesting, but not enough to spend my money on it. Money is sparse.

I forgot about the game untill I saw the new edition on BGG. as I had nothing interesting to play, I decided to look if there was a vassal module, and test the game, among others. So I did.

Two days later, I found an european online shop where to order the then "complete package" (enhanced edition + Rook city + IR + ambuscade + unity) for a correct price. The game was just home when the new kickstarter began, and I jumped on board instantly. I am poorer, and must pass some other games I'd like, but have no regret.

I bought it on impulse at my FLGS. I was very happy to see a cooperative superhero game.

A friend introduced me to it at GenCon. I loved it from the get-go, played it a bunch, bought everything, and have been hooked ever since. I love playing cooperative games, but this one far outshines the others for its teachability and replayability.

I've read about it first at BGG. I've dismissed it the first time because they said the game was not very scalable regarding the number of players. When the Enhanced Edition arrived to my FLGS, with the H mechanic, I bought it on impulse. After one month playing only SOTM I've started to aquired everything that was available for the game :)

I was looking for a super hero game to begin with.  Bought DC deck building game and Legendary, but passed over SotM because the heroes were "made up" and not mainstream.  Stupid me.  Luckily my brother in law, who is part of my regular gaming group, knew of my desire for a good super hero game and bought it for me for christmas.  DC and Legendary, though good in their own right, rarely get played.  SotM is always brought to game nights as an option.

IMO, DCH is not really a superhero game at all, just a deckbuilding game with superhero pictures.  The same to a lesser extent can be said of Legendary.  Neither is incredibly good at giving you the feeling that you're actually playing a superhero and fighting a supervillain; the deckbuilding mechanic is more than an abstraction, it entirely takes over the game.  They're decent games, but not even close to being in SOTM's league.  Actually, I'm not sure anything is in SOTM's league.

Unfortunately my on-topic answer to the thread is pretty boring: I still know nothing about >G beyond the fact that SOTM exists and is awesome.  Presumably they're cool guys to have come up with such a game, and I'm gratified to know that they answer their own forum, but beyond that, I have no interaction with them.

My first intro to GTG and Sentinels was when I went to a local game shop with a friend. It was my first time in a game shop for table top games outside of a trip or two into a small GamesWorkshop that was in a mall, and we were just looking around at the time watching others play diffrent games (mostly MtG) and looking for something to buy. The manager of the store was a real nice guy and my buddy was talking to him and comics came up and we started talking about and RPG my friend set up using the Marvel system and he offered to play a teaching game for Sentinels of the Multiverse with us. He played Absolute Zero and asked us our favorite comic character and my buddy said "Batman" so he got Wraith and when he asked me I said "Green Arrow or Spider-man" since my buddy took Batman who's my top fav DC hero, I wound up with the Chrono Ranger. We were going against Barron Blade and the manager and I wound up out the game but my buddy became the hero of the game thanks to being able to cancel most of the damage on himself, we had a blast but were mostly out of cash by the time we left so we couldn't get the game. I wound up looking around later after saving some cash and now all I need is Rook City and I'll have all the current stuff (minus promo cards) until Vengence.

Sweet! Where was this? What store?

It was Tower Games in Suwanee,Ga everyone was real nice and it's only 30 mins away from where I live..all the other card and game shops picked up and left so it's one of the only places I can go for table top gaming. I went for Warhammer and came out wanting super heros lol.

Ha! My sister-in-law lives in Lilburn. Not so far away ...

I had heard of the place but never went. I'm kinda edgy around crowds so I get a little jittry at group gatherings, I was a little like that at my first Con which was AWA but I had fun seeing people into the same stuff I am. It was a bit slow when we went since school was just about to start back up so not many people were there and the ones that were either played MtG or were looking around. Some guys were playing the Star Wars X-wing game and I watched them for a bit since I'm a Star Wars fan myself. The people I talked to were all really nice and if I can ever save up some more cash I will go again.