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The Best Tabletop Simulator Mods

If you’re looking to have some fun with family or friends, is there anything better than a board game? The options are endless, ranging from the simplest games, where the first player who meets the goal wins, to the most complicated ones that only the best strategists can win. However, our lives are so chaotic, especially with the unexpected arrival of COVID-19, that it can be hard to get enough people together in the same place to play a board game. For these situations, fortunately, there is Tabletop Simulator, a board game creator that lets you recreate your favorite titles or invent a whole new board game from scratch. And you can play it online with anyone you want!

While Tabletop Simulator is a fantastic tool for playing board games online, you need a lot of free time and creativity to invent your own original games. But fortunately, there are plenty of mods! Using these modifications, you can start playing any board game right away without having to spend a second creating it. Doesn’t that sound nice?

Since there are hundreds of mods for Tabletop Simulator, in today’s article, we’re going to share a roundup of our favorite ones. That way you can spend less time searching for them and more time having fun with your friends. We hope you like them!

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How to install Tabletop Simulator mods

Installing a mod on Tabletop Simulator couldn’t be easier. There are two ways, depending on whether you’re going to download the mod file or get it from Steam Workshop. Read below for an explanation of both methods.

From Steam Workshop

To install a Tabletop Simulator mod from Steam Workshop, first click on the mod file. Once it opens, click the green “+Suscribe” button at the bottom of the screen.

Then open Tabletop Simulator and host a game. Next select the “workshop” option and click the mod you want to use for your game. It’s so easy!

From the game file

Installing a mod for Tabletop Simulator from a downloaded file is a cinch as well. First save the mod file on your hard drive, and once it has downloaded, move it to “Documents\My Games\Tabletop Simulator\Saves.” When you open Tabletop Simulator, click on your downloaded mod. That’s all there is to it! Now you’re ready to have some fun.

The best Tabletop Simulator mods

UNO

UNO is probably the easiest and most entertaining card game on the market. From time immemorial, UNO has been a relaxing after-dinner game, a source of hours of fun in the schoolyard, or a pastime during get-togethers with friends. Want to play UNO through Tabletop Simulator? To download this mod from Steam Workshop, just click the link below.

DOWNLOAD UNO FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

The Settlers of Catan

The Settlers of Catan is a version of the well-known board game Catan. In each game, which lasts an average of 90 minutes, you’ll become settlers of an island where you must obtain and trade resources and gradually build your own settlements. If you’re familiar with the original, you’ll be exploring your own island and amassing your fortune in no time… but watch out for the robber! One of the strong points of The Settlers of Catan is the expanded gameplay compared to the classic, as it allows games with up to six players. Also, you can create custom game boards, or, if you wish, random ones. We highly recommend it.

DOWNLOAD THE SETTLERS OF CATAN FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

The Game of Life

If you grew up in the ’90s, we’re positive you know The Game of Life like the back of your hand. It let you create a whole new life where you could have a new career, get married, and even have children. The most ambitious players could become multi-millionaires, while others were content to settle down with a big family. The possibilities for fun were endless, and now you can relive that experience while playing with friends all over the world. Every session of The Game of Life needs two to six players and lasts approximately 60 minutes. Feel like playing this title again?

DOWNLOAD THE GAME OF LIFE FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Clue

Clue is one of those games that never go out of style. Maybe it’s because everyone loves a good mystery story, but it’s always fun to become Jessica Fletcher for a day. In Clue, each player is a guest at a fancy dinner party where the host is murdered. The goal of the game is to investigate the crime, or, if you are the murderer, throw the other players off the scent so you can get away with it. So what do you think? Was the murder committed by Miss Scarlet with the candelabra in the library, or by Colonel Mustard in the living room with the derringer? Find out the next time you play this classic online.

DOWNLOAD CLUE FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity is one of the funnest and also most outrageous card games out there. The rules are simple: one player asks a question, and the other players have to answer it using one of their cards. The person who comes up with the funniest and most irreverent response is the winner. The Tabletop Simulator version offers the same gaming experience as the physical title, the only difference being that you can play with friends all over the world. What’s more, this version comes with expansions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the game and promises to be updated with even more packs. It’s perfect if you love a good belly laugh and are curious to find out how twisted your friends can be.

DOWNLOAD CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Risk – The Game of Global Domination

Risk is another classic that deserves a spot on any ranking of Tabletop Simulator mods. It offers a nearly identical gaming experience to the board game, but advantages such as, for example, a much bigger map, and the fact that you’ll soon be able to play with up to six people. It’s perfect for strategy fans who often have a hard time finding enough players to join them for a game of Risk.

DOWNLOAD RISK – THE GAME OF GLOBAL DOMINATION FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is one of the best fantasy board games on the market. A mix of a roleplaying, strategy and cooperation game, it’s one of the best Tabletop Simulator mod titles. It includes both the original game campaign and its expansion, Forgotten Circles. As if that were not enough, the detailed graphics enhance every session of this incredible game.

DOWNLOAD GLOOMHAVEN FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Betrayal at House on the Hill is an incredibly fun board game for fans of B horror movies. We’ll embody a group of friends investigating a mysterious house full of dangers: monsters, ghosts, murderous plants, and dozens of horrible enemies are lurking around every corner. But watch out! The real danger is inside your group, because there’s a traitor. As players investigate the house, they’ll find objects that will slowly reveal the traitor’s identity, but… will you survive until you find out? It’s an excellent game to play in the wee hours of the morning with your friends.

DOWNLOAD BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter will immerse you a zombie pandemic. In this popular semi-cooperative title, you’ll collaborate with friends to obtain resources and weapons, and of course, to survive the zombies. Each player will have a hidden objective to meet. The fact that it’s a secret is key to making this game as fun as possible. Although some objectives are as simple as collecting items and ensuring the group’s survival, others imply betraying your team, putting them in danger, or even murdering them when they least expect it. Fun!

DOWNLOAD DEAD OF WINTER FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Fans of Lovecraft stories will be happy to know that Tabletop Simulator has a mod for the popular board game Arkham Horror. You and your friends will play a group of detectives investigating a mystery surrounding the legends of the Cthulhu. But it won’t be an easy case to crack, because you’ll face enemies and demons who will try to block your way. Like in any good cooperative game, it’s fundamental to communicate with the other players in order to win the game. Besides being a fun game, the Tabletop Simulator version has several expansions of the card game, making it even more entertaining.

DOWNLOAD ARKHAM HORROR: THE CARD GAME FROM STEAM WORKSHOP

We hope you liked our selection of Tabletop Simulator mods. What’s your favorite board game? Tell us about it in the comments section!

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How to create your own Secret Hitler game for free

Learn how to play this hit board game for free!

Secret Hitler is the best hidden role game, and nobody can convince us otherwise. Bang, Ultimate Werewolf, Avalon, and Mafia are great options, but the political machinations and end-game trust freakout make SH our top title in a highly competitive board game genre. We’ve played this game time and time again, and it never gets old!

Know what’s even better? It’s FREE.

Official game sets can be purchased, but Secret Hitler also has a Print-and-Play option on their website. In this article, we’re going to show you where to find it, how to make your set, and a few options for improving your self-made boards! By the time you’re done, you’ll have a quality game board for one of the best hidden role games ever made.

Please enjoy our friendly guide on…

How to create your own Secret Hitler game set

Step 1: Printing

Head over the Secret Hitler website if you haven’t already. Here, you can find more information about the game, including the print links for the Game Set and Rule Book.

Once you’ve downloaded the PDF’s, just print ’em. That’s all there is to it!

Step 2: Cut it Out!

Get ye some scissors and cut them out! Be careful to follow the lines, make sure everything’s nice and neat.

Now comes a decision: how nice of a game set do you want? If you’re playing this once with family members at Christmas, you can simply play as is. If you want your game to look pretty, head to the next step on card stock. If you want your game to last, go on to Step 3, lamination. If you just want somewhere to store it, voyage to the final instructions on making a box!

Step 3: Card stock

Why use card stock on a Secret Hitler set? First, it’s a great way to make everything sturdier. Two, it’s a decently effective way to tie the game board pieces together, since they print in two parts. Finally, for the paranoid players, card stock ensures light won’t shine through your cards and allow others to see them.

They’re cheaters, the lot of ’em!

Head to your nearest Staples, Walmart, or scrapbooking store. Pick up your favorite color of card stock (we suggest 10 9 x 12-inch pieces at least) and a good number of glue sticks. Or, if you’re a madman, grab a glue bottle.

At this point, glue your Secret Hitler pieces to the card stock. If you’re using 9×10 papers they can be divided thusly:

Voting cards, discard piles, and role cards: divide the paper into 8ths.
Liberal and Fascist policy cards: divide the paper into 16ths.
Game boards: divide the paper once, lay it down long-ways to form a backboard. Place the game pieces on top, closer to one end of the backboard so the breaks in card stock and board pieces aren’t on top of each other.

Step 3: Laminate

To make your cards water resistant, tear resistant, and glue-getting-old resistant, you should laminate them. A well-laminated deck looks professional and stays around much longer!

Personal suggestion from us to you: if you don’t own a laminator yourself, ask friends and family first, then buy your own lamination pouches if they have one. It’ll make life easier.

Once you have the materials, using the laminator shouldn’t be too difficult: the real trick is fitting as many game cards inside one lamination pouch at a time. It all depends on how much material you want on the sides, and how uniform they’ll look afterward.

As usual, the game boards will be an issue, since they’re so long. We put two lamination pouches over them, on opposite sides, with overlap in the middle. Before you run this beast through the laminator, make sure to wait a while for it the machine to get hot. It may struggle to heat up the center.

When that’s all finished, pull a Step 2 and cut the lamination off!

“Final” step: The extras

To play Secret Hitler, there are just a few more housecleaning items:

Get envelopes to hold the secret role cards. You’ll hand these out at the start of the game to let everyone know their identity for the round. Manila envelopes, plain white, whatever works for you.
Staple the rule book if you haven’t already.
Get a container. There are a lot of moving pieces. We recommend grabbing a canvas bag at the very least, somewhere to store the game. If you’re going all-out, you can even make your own box…

Bonus round: Making a box!

We made this box ourselves, which turned out looking pretty great!

You may be wondering: why put in the effort? Aside from looking fly, Secret Hitler game sets are so long and thin that no box on earth seems to fit them perfectly. However, with a little wood, spray paint, and a few key items, you can have a comfy box too!

You can do it. Seriously. We aren’t carpentry professionals by any stretch.

Let’s run through the steps quickly!

Measure your game boards to determine size. Plan to have a little extra space at the edges: our box ended up measuring in at around 15 x 6 x 3 inches.
Buy your materials: mosey on over to Lowe’s or Home Depot and pick up a large board of thin wood, preferably under 1/2 an inch of thickness.
Using your measurements, draw out all pieces on the board. When it comes to piece organization, we made two panels for the top and bottom, then made top and bottom slices for the “wall” to create a lip for the cap. This makes attaching hinges and a latch much easier.
Cut it. We recommend a radial saw for straight cuts like this. Be warned: the saw takes about 1/8 of an inch from the material. Keep that in mind when drawing out the cuts! And, of course, be careful: stay safe, ask a professional for help if you’re not experienced with power tools.
Sand it. Just use a light sanding, you don’t want to accidentally form pieces and make them harder to fit together when you:
Attach your pieces. If your board was too thin for nails or screws, no problem: grab wood glue. Trust us, it’s strong enough by far! Don’t worry if there’s an overhang, that will be dealt with after you:
Sand that thing to perfection! Even out edges, make it as smooth as you like. Be careful if you bevel, you don’t want to remove too much of the glue.
Pick up hinges, a latch, maybe even a handle! We found great things at Hobby Lobby, although you may find great options in the craft section of superstores like Walmart. Check it out!
First finish: We didn’t have time to do lacquer, but we certainly wanted to; make your wood look even nicer if you have the chance! Instead of that, we used a clear spray enamel to protect the box.
Make the logo. We printed a Secret Hitler logo to the size we wanted on the box, then made a masking tape paint mask by cutting out the letters with an X-Acto knife, using the printout as a guide. From there, we put the paint mask on the top and used black spray paint (three coats).
Final finish: we recommend one more coat of clear enamel to protect the logo. After that, you’re finished!

Enjoy the box! At the very least, we hope it carries your game set well. At best, we hope you’re proud of your work and can show it off at game nights.

A few more things (IMPORTANT!)

Secret Hitler has a specific creative commons license: you can print off as many copies as you like, but you may not sell them for profit. You can remake the game as you wish (we made a Homestuck version for fun, you can see Jack Noir above), but any new version must be released under the same license, and still cannot be used for profit.

Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy creating your Secret Hitler game set! After just a few hours of work, you and your friends can enjoy many more hours of fun, learning tells and forming trust issues.

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