The Game Awards announced nominees for 2023. Now, we here at TPK care so deeply for award shows that we almost forgot it was even happening. However, eagle-eyed viewers asked us about it, so we are going to look through some of the categories and see if we even know what these games are. What will win?

Every time a game asks you to build your own base, a variety of problems arise. How many resources do I need to collect? How does the game account for structural stability? How much time do I have to spend making it? What does the base let you do that you couldn’t do otherwise? We’ll figure that out, kind of, in this episode.

Base building mechanics are coming to D&D. In recent playtest material for One D&D, Wizards of the Coast announced the concept of “Bastions” which would let your character have a base of operations that could be expanded, protected and used to make items. Build a theater, get some bears to defend it, hire a bartender to make you a giant. Let’s talk about the way this would be implemented and whether this seems functional for a real game.