Game Author: Jack D
Genre Type: Fantasy
Mechanics Type: Card & Dice
Name of Reviewer: Marcelo Paschoalin
Date of Review: May 24th 2005
-
Time To Play: 50 min.
Target Audience: Fantasy gamers, dice-rollers, roleplayers
Number of Players: Solo
Overall Rating: 6 - (could be 7 or even 8 with better graphics and improved rulebook)
Complexity: Easy to learn, but you need to refer to the rulebook several times on your first games.
Description of Game Mechanics: Choose a random hero, pick one of two random quests, face random events, fight random monsters, improve your hero, face more monsters, fight the ultimate enemy - all in 32 game days.
Analysis of Game Mechanics: Ok, the main word here is random. The game is a dicefest, and I mean it: you’ll roll the dice for almost everything... and when you don’t roll the bones you’ll draw a random card. Surely there’s room for strategy - if you know the odds - but on a bad day you may have your game ruined.
Novelty Factor: There’s a great replay value, as the quests you draw are always random (but you may choose which quest to pursue from those drawn), but sooner or later you’ll find yourself on a fighting-improving_your_hero-fighting routine. It seems similar to console RPGs, where you keep facing enemies to gain experience to improve your character, but the game mechanics prevent overloading, by forcing the player to rush when the time is about to expire.
Game Flaws: Another word for the game is fighting, as you’ll need to defeat your enemies in combat to win gold and improve your character. That means intelectual characters will suffer a lot, as the lack of fighting skills is the doom of any character.
Strong Points: This is a game that is begging for expansions! It’s greatly expandable and this is always good thing. New quests, new locations, new events, new characters, new monsters... everything could be added to improve the gaming experience.
Cardset Availibility: It’s online, but the graphics need improvement... But you could play this game without any hard printing, as many of the cards (locations, for example) are just a collection of random tables. You could simply roll a die and check a table instead roll a die and check a card.
Difficulty to Make: Print the front, print the back, cut, glue the back and the front of the cards together and you’re good to go.
Playtesting Results: On my first game I’ve had a terrible experience: my Merchant died on the third day when trying to complete the Guildmaster quest. That shown me you need a strong figthing hero to stand a chance. My second game was much better... My Knight was able to complete his two first quests without much worry (I’ve drawn Alchemist’s House and Evil Magic Mirror), but he’d struggled a little to complete the Globorc Hideout quest; without much time left (30 days had passed), he begun the ultimate quest, facing all the peril that his great enemy, the Black Knight, sent to him; finally, on the third day of the fifth week, the Black Knight fell... My Knight’s result was 235 points (100 from the winning, 75 from 15 gold he had, and 60 from the 3 days after the deadline).
Game Winning Strategies: Great offense and great defense are a must, as you’ll face tough enemies on the end, and always carry a potion and a horse, as you’ll need them. If you think you’ll lose a combat, run away, and if you’re given the choice to fight or not choose the safest way.