Dixit is a visually stunning board/card game. The game had been recommended to my gaming group before PAX, but we hadn't had a chance to try it out until recently.
Dixit is for 3-6 players age 8 and up and an average game takes about 30 minutes.
Each turn a player is the Storyteller - they look at the six cards in their hand and come up with a one or more word sentence to describe the card they've chosen. Telling the other players the sentence, the other players then look through the six cards in their hands and choose one that best matches what the Storyteller described. The Storyteller then takes the cards, shuffles them face down and turns them face up on the table. The other players then use a numbered token to choose which card they think was described by the Storyteller.
If everyone or no one chooses the Storyteller's card then the Storyteller gains no points that turn and everyone else scores 2 points. Otherwise, the Storyteller and anyone who chose the correct card scores 3. Players score 1 point each time their card is chosen by another player. Points are tracked on a board by moving coloured rabbits along a marked trail.
The mechanics of the game are simple, but after playing a few rounds we discovered there is a skill you need to develop for this game. You don't want to be too obvious or too vague when describing your card, or you will get no points for that turn (this happened to me a lot!).
I highly recommend this game; it has great re-playability and really gets your imagination going!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Jun 27, 2011
Jun 20, 2011
Gloom
Gloom is published by Atlas Games, and is a quirky, cheerful and uplifting card game. No, wait, that's not right. Gloom is horrible, depressing and a ton of fun!!
Gloom is a card game for 2-4 players ages 8 and up. The average game takes about an hour. Cards for this game are unique - they are transparent plastic, so when you stack cards you can easily see what effects are still in play.
When you play Gloom you control the fate of a family of misfits and weirdoes. Your goal is simple: you want your family members to suffer the worst tragedies possible before they die. Some examples of the tragedies are Distressed by Dysentery and Terrified by Topiary. These modifiers have negative point values and lower your Self Worth, and you want each member of the family to have the lowest possible Self Worth before they die. The problem is your opponents are trying to lower their Self Worth, and raise yours - by playing modifiers that cheer you up and have positive point values (such as Wondrously Well Wed or Delighted by Ducklings).
The game ends the instant an entire family is eliminated. Each player then counts the visible points on each of their dead family members to determine the winner - the one with the lowest total score.
There are a few other types of cards as well, some that block effects, some which have immediate or ongoing special effects, etc.
I played Gloom at VCon and had fun. Adding to the atmosphere, each player should contribute an element of storytelling as they play - explain how Cousin Mordecai The Red-Headed Stepchild was Pierced by Porcupines!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Gloom is a card game for 2-4 players ages 8 and up. The average game takes about an hour. Cards for this game are unique - they are transparent plastic, so when you stack cards you can easily see what effects are still in play.
When you play Gloom you control the fate of a family of misfits and weirdoes. Your goal is simple: you want your family members to suffer the worst tragedies possible before they die. Some examples of the tragedies are Distressed by Dysentery and Terrified by Topiary. These modifiers have negative point values and lower your Self Worth, and you want each member of the family to have the lowest possible Self Worth before they die. The problem is your opponents are trying to lower their Self Worth, and raise yours - by playing modifiers that cheer you up and have positive point values (such as Wondrously Well Wed or Delighted by Ducklings).
The game ends the instant an entire family is eliminated. Each player then counts the visible points on each of their dead family members to determine the winner - the one with the lowest total score.
There are a few other types of cards as well, some that block effects, some which have immediate or ongoing special effects, etc.
I played Gloom at VCon and had fun. Adding to the atmosphere, each player should contribute an element of storytelling as they play - explain how Cousin Mordecai The Red-Headed Stepchild was Pierced by Porcupines!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Jun 16, 2011
Elmer
I'm not sure what possessed me to buy the Elmer graphic novel - I have a vague recollection of seeing listed somewhere as a "must read" but I rarely agree with those lists. :-) I was in my Friendly Local Comic Book Store the other day to buy the MouseGuard Legends of the Guard graphic novel when I spotted a copy of Elmer on the shelf. I took a quick glace at it and decided what the hell.
Elmer was created by Gerry Alanguilan, and is a thought provoking story - what if one day chickens developed human-like consciousness and the ability to speak? The chickens then push to get rights as the newest members of the human race. The story starts after the chickens have been granted rights, and is told as a family drama/coming of age story.
It sounds like an odd concept, but I really recommend reading Elmer. I found the story to be very engrossing - how would you feel or react if something that was a food source suddenly became sentient and had the ability to talk? What about those who make their living off this food source?
Originally posted on Pretty Gamer
Elmer was created by Gerry Alanguilan, and is a thought provoking story - what if one day chickens developed human-like consciousness and the ability to speak? The chickens then push to get rights as the newest members of the human race. The story starts after the chickens have been granted rights, and is told as a family drama/coming of age story.
It sounds like an odd concept, but I really recommend reading Elmer. I found the story to be very engrossing - how would you feel or react if something that was a food source suddenly became sentient and had the ability to talk? What about those who make their living off this food source?
Originally posted on Pretty Gamer
Jun 13, 2011
Forbidden Island
Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to capture the four sacred treasures hidden on Forbidden Island
. But wait, there's more! The ancient mystical empire that hid the treasures also designed the Island to sink if intruders ever came to Forbidden Island. Will you and your team be the first to enter Forbidden Island, find the treasures, and make it out alive!?
. But wait, there's more! The ancient mystical empire that hid the treasures also designed the Island to sink if intruders ever came to Forbidden Island. Will you and your team be the first to enter Forbidden Island, find the treasures, and make it out alive!? (*dramatic music*)
Forbidden Island is a cooperative boardgame for 2 to 4 players ages 10 and up, and an average game takes about 30 minutes to play.
The game comes in a cool metal box containing:
- 28 Treasure cards (these are good)
- 24 Flood cards (these are bad)
- 6 Adventurer cards (these are the roles of the Adventurers)
- 24 island tiles (these are the areas of the Island)
- 6 pawns (these are the Adventurers)
- 4 treasure figurines (The Earth Stone, The Statue of the Wind, The Crystal of Fire, and The Ocean's Chalice)
- 1 water meter
- 1 water level marker
- Rules of play
, but simpler. The object of the game is to keep Forbidden Island afloat long enough to capture the four treasures and escape via helicopter from Fools' Landing.After you shuffle the island tiles and lay them out, each player takes a random Adventurer card. The Adventurer card tells you what role you will be playing (Explorer, Pilot, Engineer, Diver, Messenger or Navigator). Each role has a special ability that gives an advantage in the game. Take a moment to look at the island tiles - these will indicate where each Adventurer starts the game, and where each Treasure can be captured.
Each player's turn consists of three things:
1) Take up to 3 actions. Your actions can be a combination of these standard actions (note that your Adventurer card may allow you to do additional actions):
1) Take up to 3 actions. Your actions can be a combination of these standard actions (note that your Adventurer card may allow you to do additional actions):
- Move
- Shore Up - if a section of the Island is flooded, this action flips the tile back to normal
- Give a Treasure card - give a Treasure card to another player
- Capture a Treasure - discard 4 matching Treasure cards if your pawn is on the corresponding tile
3) Draw Flood cards equal to the water level. Each Flood card is a tile location - so if that location is normal, you flip it over to indicate it is flooded. If that location is already flooded, then that location sinks and is out of the game.
You win the game by collecting all four treasures and getting all the Adventurers back to Fools' Landing.
You lose the game if:
- You don't manage to collect all four treasures (those tiles sink before you collect the treasure)
- Fools' Landing sinks
- Any player is on an tile that sinks and there are no adjacent tile to swim to
- The water level reaches the skull and crossbones.
I recommend picking this one up - the rules are pretty straight forward, the game is pretty inexpensive, and it could be a good gateway game to encourage your non-gamer friends to become cooler :-)
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Jun 9, 2011
Revolution!
Revolution! is a board game in which you're secretly bidding against your opponents to control territory and gain the support of the masses. Revolution! is produced by Steve Jackson games, is for 3-4 players and a game lasts about an hour.
The board consists of the seven areas of town and a support track running around the edge of the board. The goal is to have the most support at the end of the game. Each area of town holds a number of influence cubes, at the end the player with the most cubes in an area has control of it and gains the associated support.
The board consists of the seven areas of town and a support track running around the edge of the board. The goal is to have the most support at the end of the game. Each area of town holds a number of influence cubes, at the end the player with the most cubes in an area has control of it and gains the associated support.
Each player gets their own Bid Board and screen. You place your bids on the Bid Board while it's protected by the screen, when everyone is ready the screens are lifted to reveal the bids. The Bid Board has twelve spaces that represent influential people who will assist you on that round, if you win that bid! There are three types of tokens used to bid - Force, Blackmail and Gold.
A round of play goes through four stages:
1) Espionage - Since the town is full of spies, everyone knows what resources everyone else has. At the beginning of the round the players must show the tokens they are starting with.
2) Bidding - Secretly place tokens on your Bid Board behind the screen. You can place a maximum of six bids and you must use all your tokens. One Force token will beat any amount of Blackmail or Gold. One Blackmail token will beat any amount of Gold. Some people cannot be forced or blackmailed.
3) Resolution - All players lift their screens to reveal their bids. Bids are resolved in the same order every time - starting at the top left of the Bid Board (the General) and working down to the bottom right (the Mercenary). If you're the only player to bid on that person then you win and receive whatever benefit is listed. If two or more players bid on the same person then the player with the highest bid wins. If the bids are tied or no one bids on a person then that benefit doesn't occur this round. After the bids are resolved return tokens used in that bid to the bank.
Winning a bid provides a benefit. If the person grants support then move your scoring token around the track on the edge of the board. If the person grants tokens (Force, Blackmail or Gold) then get those tokens from the bank and place them aside until the next round. If the person grants influence then place one of your influence cubes in the specified location on the board.
4) Patronage - After all bids have been resolved check the number of tokens each player has. If they have less than five then take gold tokens from the bank to bring them back up to five tokens. You can only get Force and Blackmail tokens from winning bids. After this phase a new round begins.
The game ends when all the influence spaces on the board are full. Players then score support from the areas they control and from the tokens in their hands. To control an area you don't need to have the majority of the influence spaces, just the most. The winner is the player with the most support.
We were introduced to this game at VCon while waiting to play something else. There's a fair amount of strategy and trying to second-guess your opponents, you want to try to predict where and how much your opponents will be bidding. The game play is simple, but the strategy really adds a level of complexity.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
A round of play goes through four stages:
1) Espionage - Since the town is full of spies, everyone knows what resources everyone else has. At the beginning of the round the players must show the tokens they are starting with.
2) Bidding - Secretly place tokens on your Bid Board behind the screen. You can place a maximum of six bids and you must use all your tokens. One Force token will beat any amount of Blackmail or Gold. One Blackmail token will beat any amount of Gold. Some people cannot be forced or blackmailed.
3) Resolution - All players lift their screens to reveal their bids. Bids are resolved in the same order every time - starting at the top left of the Bid Board (the General) and working down to the bottom right (the Mercenary). If you're the only player to bid on that person then you win and receive whatever benefit is listed. If two or more players bid on the same person then the player with the highest bid wins. If the bids are tied or no one bids on a person then that benefit doesn't occur this round. After the bids are resolved return tokens used in that bid to the bank.
Winning a bid provides a benefit. If the person grants support then move your scoring token around the track on the edge of the board. If the person grants tokens (Force, Blackmail or Gold) then get those tokens from the bank and place them aside until the next round. If the person grants influence then place one of your influence cubes in the specified location on the board.
4) Patronage - After all bids have been resolved check the number of tokens each player has. If they have less than five then take gold tokens from the bank to bring them back up to five tokens. You can only get Force and Blackmail tokens from winning bids. After this phase a new round begins.
The game ends when all the influence spaces on the board are full. Players then score support from the areas they control and from the tokens in their hands. To control an area you don't need to have the majority of the influence spaces, just the most. The winner is the player with the most support.
We were introduced to this game at VCon while waiting to play something else. There's a fair amount of strategy and trying to second-guess your opponents, you want to try to predict where and how much your opponents will be bidding. The game play is simple, but the strategy really adds a level of complexity.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Jun 6, 2011
Poo!
Who wants to play Poo?! Wait, where are you all going?!
Poo is a fun, fast paced card game for 2-8 players ages 8 and up, and takes less than 15 minutes to play.
It's quite the intellectual game. Here is the basic concept: Each player is a monkey, and you fling poo and mess with each other until only 1 monkey remains. I am fairly certain no poo or monkeys were actually harmed in the making of this game.
The game play is pretty straight forward. Start the game with 5 cards each. At the start of your turn you draw a card into your hand. You can then play a card from your hand - usually to fling poo at another monkey or to clean yourself off. Outside of your turn you can use cards to defend yourself from incoming poo or foil the other monkey trying to fling poo. After you play a card, draw another card from the pile. Different cards cause (or remove) different amounts of poo, and when you reach 15 points of poo you are out of the game.
There are 5 types of cards in the game:
- Poo: these cause poo points to your opponents. Some target 1 opponent, others target multiple opponents. Eg: King Kong Poo, The Big One
- Defense: these can be played outside of your turn as an opponent is about to fling poo on you, and stops or redirects any poo points that would have been given to you. Eg: Block, Dodge
- Mishap: these can be played outside of your turn as an opponent is about to fling poo on you, and causes a negative effect to the poo flinger. Eg: Just a Fart, Cramp
- Clean: these are played during your turn to remove poo points from you Eg: Found a Towel, Sharing the Love
- Event: these are played during your turn, and have an effect on the game. Eg: Zookeeper Turns on the Hose, Escaped Tiger
While clearly aimed at a younger audience, this game is a blast for adults as well. There is very little strategy involved, but you can add a social aspect by ganging up on a particular player or trying to protect a player. We played a couple games of Poo on the ferry ride home from PAX.
I was going to wrap up by saying this is a fun quick game that could be played anywhere, but I don't think you should ever play with poo at the dining room table.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Poo is a fun, fast paced card game for 2-8 players ages 8 and up, and takes less than 15 minutes to play.
It's quite the intellectual game. Here is the basic concept: Each player is a monkey, and you fling poo and mess with each other until only 1 monkey remains. I am fairly certain no poo or monkeys were actually harmed in the making of this game.
The game play is pretty straight forward. Start the game with 5 cards each. At the start of your turn you draw a card into your hand. You can then play a card from your hand - usually to fling poo at another monkey or to clean yourself off. Outside of your turn you can use cards to defend yourself from incoming poo or foil the other monkey trying to fling poo. After you play a card, draw another card from the pile. Different cards cause (or remove) different amounts of poo, and when you reach 15 points of poo you are out of the game.
There are 5 types of cards in the game:
- Poo: these cause poo points to your opponents. Some target 1 opponent, others target multiple opponents. Eg: King Kong Poo, The Big One
- Defense: these can be played outside of your turn as an opponent is about to fling poo on you, and stops or redirects any poo points that would have been given to you. Eg: Block, Dodge
- Mishap: these can be played outside of your turn as an opponent is about to fling poo on you, and causes a negative effect to the poo flinger. Eg: Just a Fart, Cramp
- Clean: these are played during your turn to remove poo points from you Eg: Found a Towel, Sharing the Love
- Event: these are played during your turn, and have an effect on the game. Eg: Zookeeper Turns on the Hose, Escaped Tiger
While clearly aimed at a younger audience, this game is a blast for adults as well. There is very little strategy involved, but you can add a social aspect by ganging up on a particular player or trying to protect a player. We played a couple games of Poo on the ferry ride home from PAX.
I was going to wrap up by saying this is a fun quick game that could be played anywhere, but I don't think you should ever play with poo at the dining room table.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Jun 2, 2011
Munchkin
SETTING:
Player 2:Now it's a Humongous Large Angry Chicken!
Player 3:Ha! Now it's an Ancient Humongous Large Angry Chicken! Take that!
Player 4:I will help you for all the treasure cards. If you say no, I'll play a Wandering Monster and guarantee you loose the combat.
Player 1:*sighs* I hate you all.
Have you ever played Munchkin? I think it's one of the most well known geeky card games out there. The text on the box neatly sums up the goal of the game: Kill The Monsters - Steal The Treasure - Stab Your Buddy.
A stark room with a single light over the table. Four people sit around the table, clutching cards in their hands and warily watching each other. There are a number of cards and a single d10 in front of each person. The room has a palatable sense of tension.
Player 1:
I choose to fight the Large Angry Chicken.Player 2:
Player 3:
Player 4:
Player 1:
Have you ever played Munchkin? I think it's one of the most well known geeky card games out there. The text on the box neatly sums up the goal of the game: Kill The Monsters - Steal The Treasure - Stab Your Buddy.
In the basic game (there are a number of other sets that I will discuss in future articles) you and your buddies are Dungeon Explorers and you're competing with each other to kill monsters and grab magic items. The first player to Level 10 wins the game - so do your best to screw your buddies and stop them from gaining levels!
Munchkin really is a ton of fun. Reading through the rules the first time can be confusing, I think it is best to just sit down with some friends and start playing a few games.
There are two decks of cards in the game - Door cards and Treasure cards.
Door cards are:
- Monsters (eg. Gelatinous Octahedron or *shudder* Lawyers)
- Monster modifiers (eg. Ancient or Baby)
- Character classes (eg. Cleric, Thief )
- Character races (eg. Dwarf, Elf)
- Curses (eg. Chicken on Your Head, Duck of Doom)
Treasure Cards are:
- Items (eg. Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment, Pantyhose of Giant Strength)
- Potions (eg. Potion of Halitosis, Flaming Poison Potion)
- other treasures (eg. Go Up a Level)
Each turn goes through a sequence of actions. First you Kick Down The Door (drawing a door card). If it's a monster, then you can choose to fight it or try and run away. If it's a curse then it takes effect immediately. If you didn't fight a monster, then you can choose to Look For Trouble by playing and fighting a monster from your hand. If you didn't meet a monster at all that turn you can then Loot The Room and draw a Door card into your hand. Defeating a monster will net you level(s) and treasure.
Combat is the best part of this game. Each monster has a level, and to see if you can defeat the monster you add up your level and any bonuses from items in play. If your total is greater than the monster's level then you win! But wait, there's more! Once you decide to fight a monster your buddies get 2.6 seconds to decide if they will try and screw you over. They can play Monster Enhancers (making the monster stronger), items, curses, anything they can to make it so you loose the fight. This can get pretty nasty. :-)
If you can't beat the monster, you're allowed to ask for help - one other player can choose to assist you (adding their level and item bonuses to yours). But why would they help you? They are trying to win! You often have to sweeten the deal by offering some or all of the treasure cards to get them to help you.
There's a great Munchkin Flowchart available to guide you through the game.
Take the time to read each card as it comes into play, the cards are pretty damn funny and the artwork just adds to it all! In the case of a conflict between the rules and what the card says, the card always wins.
May 30, 2011
Defenders of the Realm
I had some friends over the other night and we played our first game of Defenders of the Realm. I had first heard of this game a few months ago, and had been wanting to try it. I picked up a copy at PAX, and couldn't wait to play it.
Defenders of the Realm is a fantasy based co-operative board game, for 1-4 players ages 13 and up. An average game takes about 2 hours. As a co-operative game, the players work together to a common goal - the game has similar mechanics as Arkham Horror, if you are familiar with that game. The art for the game is all done by Larry Elmore, and it is awesome!
Each player takes the role of a Hero (Cleric, Dwarf, Eagle Rider, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, or Wizard) and you must defend the King and save the lands from the Evil Bad Guys (Balazarg, Gorgutt, Sapphire, and Varkolak)
The game comes in a large box with a ton of stuff:
Each players turn is comprised of 3 phases:
Yes, we won our game, but it was close. We were so focused on defeating the minions and Generals, we sort of forgot about the Taint spreading across the world. I think we were at 11 Taint crystals (12 looses the game) when we defeated the last General!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
Defenders of the Realm is a fantasy based co-operative board game, for 1-4 players ages 13 and up. An average game takes about 2 hours. As a co-operative game, the players work together to a common goal - the game has similar mechanics as Arkham Horror, if you are familiar with that game. The art for the game is all done by Larry Elmore, and it is awesome!
Each player takes the role of a Hero (Cleric, Dwarf, Eagle Rider, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, or Wizard) and you must defend the King and save the lands from the Evil Bad Guys (Balazarg, Gorgutt, Sapphire, and Varkolak)
The game comes in a large box with a ton of stuff:
- Rulebook
- 24" x 30" Game Board
- 8 Hero Character Cards
- 8 Hero Miniatures
- 4 General Character Cards
- 4 General Miniatures
- 100 Minions [25 Black (Varkolak’s Undead) 25 Blue (Sapphire’s Dragonkin) 25 Red (Balazarg’s Demons) 25 Green (Gorgutt’s Orcs)]
- War Status Board
- Deck of 56 Darkness Spreads Cards (these are used to spread the Bad Guys around the world)
- Deck of 96 Hero Cards (these are multipurpose cards that are used with actions
- Deck of 24 Quest Cards (these are side quests that get that reward the Heros)
- 12 Tainted Crystals
- 5 Magic Gate Tokens
- 12 Dice -3 per color (Black, Blue, Red, Green)
- 7 Status Tokens (War Status, 4 General Wound Markers, 2 Eagle Rider Status)
- 42 Life Tokens
Each players turn is comprised of 3 phases:
- Daytime - player takes a number of actions equal to their number of Life Tokens. Actions are movement, using a special skill, listening for rumours at an inn, building a magic gate, healing the land, healing wounds, engaging enemy minons in combat, or engaging enemy Generals in combat.
- Evening - player draws 2 Hero cards to their hand
- Night - badness happens!! This is the time when the Bad Guys advance and Try to Take Over the World.
- any of the 4 generals move into Monarch City
- if a Darkness Spreads Card identifies minions to be placed on the board and you do not have enough minions to meet the requirements of the card
- the last of the 12 Tainted Crystals is added to the board
- if 5 enemy minions are in Monarch City at any time
Yes, we won our game, but it was close. We were so focused on defeating the minions and Generals, we sort of forgot about the Taint spreading across the world. I think we were at 11 Taint crystals (12 looses the game) when we defeated the last General!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
May 26, 2011
Thunderstone
Thunderstone is a fantasy-themed deck building card game from Alderac Entertainment Group. It is for 1 to 5 players, ages 12 and up, and the average game takes about an hour. That's right - this game has solo rules.
The base game comes with over 500 cards and the goal is to build your deck with stronger and stronger heroes and better weapons and gear to defeat the monsters until you finally claim the Thunderstone. There are three expansion sets for the game as well (Doomgate Legion, Dragonspire, and Wrath of the Elements).
The setup for the game can take a while at first, until you get used to it. Learn from my error - the cards come in groupings so don't mix them up. :-) Once you get a handle on the setup and sort the cards properly, setup becomes much quicker.
You don't use all the cards in every game. To determine what will be in the game, you use the special randomizer cards - there are randomizer cards for each type of Hero cards, Village cards, and Monster cards. To start, find the monster cards that match what you picked from the randomizer - shuffle these together to form the Dungeon Deck. Count off 10 of these, shuffle in the special Thunderstone Card, and put them on the bottom of the pile. Leave space beside the Dungeon Deck for the 3 ranks of Monsters to defeat.
Next you set up the Village. There are the four types of Basic cards that are used in every game of Thunderstone - Militia, Torch, Iron Rations, and Dagger. Additionally there are the Village cards chosen by the randomizer cards. Do NOT shuffle the Village cards - each type is put on the table in its own pile.
Last thing to set up are the Heroes - for each class of Hero there are 3 levels, and each is piled with the level 3 cards on the bottom and the level 1 cards on top.
To start, each player draws 6 Militia cards, 2 Dagger cards, 2 Iron Ration cards, and 2 Torch cards. Shuffle these together and draw 6 cards to form your hand. The remaining 6 cards stay face down as your Party Deck. As you play the game you discard cards into your discard pile and work through your Party Deck. Only once the Party Deck is gone do you shuffle the discard pile and place it face down to form your Party Deck. Each time you purchase cards or defeat monsters the cards go into your discard pile, so the deck gets bigger all the time. In some circumstances cards are destroyed - so they go into a separate pile and are not shuffled back into your Party Deck.
On your turn you have 3 options - you can Visit the Village, Enter the Dungeon, or Rest:
1) If you Visit the Village you reveal you hand, count up the amount of gold you have (indicated on the cards in your hand) and can purchase one card with a value up to the amount of gold you have. You can buy items, weapons, spells, or heroes. Anything you buy goes into your discard pile. If you have enough experience points, you can also choose to level up any or all of the Hero cards in your hand. At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
2) If you Enter the Dungeon you reveal your hand, declare what monster you are attacking, and resolve the combat. If you defeat the monster you put that card in your discard pile. Shift the monster cards on the table to fill empty ranks from the Dungeon Deck (ie if you defeated the monster in Rank 2, move the monster from Rank 3 to Rank 2, and draw a new monster card and place it in Rank 3). At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
3) If you choose to Rest you may Destroy one card from your hand (remove it from the game, it does not go in your discard pile). At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
The game continues until a player has collected the Thunderstone or the Thunderstone moves to Rank 1 of the Dungeon because a monster was not defeated. Each player then counts the amount of Victory Points they have (not all cards have Victory Point values) and the player with the highest total wins.
Overall the game is a ton of fun. There are a few suggestions I would make - I think the pictures on the Hero cards should be different for each level so you can easily see what level it is (eg perhaps older, or better equipment). I think the biggest challenge of this game is keeping the cards in order :-)
I would highly recommend this game to anyone who has played Dominion or Ascension, or anyone looking to get into a non-collectible card game.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
The base game comes with over 500 cards and the goal is to build your deck with stronger and stronger heroes and better weapons and gear to defeat the monsters until you finally claim the Thunderstone. There are three expansion sets for the game as well (Doomgate Legion, Dragonspire, and Wrath of the Elements).
The setup for the game can take a while at first, until you get used to it. Learn from my error - the cards come in groupings so don't mix them up. :-) Once you get a handle on the setup and sort the cards properly, setup becomes much quicker.
You don't use all the cards in every game. To determine what will be in the game, you use the special randomizer cards - there are randomizer cards for each type of Hero cards, Village cards, and Monster cards. To start, find the monster cards that match what you picked from the randomizer - shuffle these together to form the Dungeon Deck. Count off 10 of these, shuffle in the special Thunderstone Card, and put them on the bottom of the pile. Leave space beside the Dungeon Deck for the 3 ranks of Monsters to defeat.
Next you set up the Village. There are the four types of Basic cards that are used in every game of Thunderstone - Militia, Torch, Iron Rations, and Dagger. Additionally there are the Village cards chosen by the randomizer cards. Do NOT shuffle the Village cards - each type is put on the table in its own pile.
Last thing to set up are the Heroes - for each class of Hero there are 3 levels, and each is piled with the level 3 cards on the bottom and the level 1 cards on top.
To start, each player draws 6 Militia cards, 2 Dagger cards, 2 Iron Ration cards, and 2 Torch cards. Shuffle these together and draw 6 cards to form your hand. The remaining 6 cards stay face down as your Party Deck. As you play the game you discard cards into your discard pile and work through your Party Deck. Only once the Party Deck is gone do you shuffle the discard pile and place it face down to form your Party Deck. Each time you purchase cards or defeat monsters the cards go into your discard pile, so the deck gets bigger all the time. In some circumstances cards are destroyed - so they go into a separate pile and are not shuffled back into your Party Deck.
On your turn you have 3 options - you can Visit the Village, Enter the Dungeon, or Rest:
1) If you Visit the Village you reveal you hand, count up the amount of gold you have (indicated on the cards in your hand) and can purchase one card with a value up to the amount of gold you have. You can buy items, weapons, spells, or heroes. Anything you buy goes into your discard pile. If you have enough experience points, you can also choose to level up any or all of the Hero cards in your hand. At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
2) If you Enter the Dungeon you reveal your hand, declare what monster you are attacking, and resolve the combat. If you defeat the monster you put that card in your discard pile. Shift the monster cards on the table to fill empty ranks from the Dungeon Deck (ie if you defeated the monster in Rank 2, move the monster from Rank 3 to Rank 2, and draw a new monster card and place it in Rank 3). At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
3) If you choose to Rest you may Destroy one card from your hand (remove it from the game, it does not go in your discard pile). At the end of your turn you discard all cards in your hand (whether you used them or not) and draw 6 new cards from your Party deck.
The game continues until a player has collected the Thunderstone or the Thunderstone moves to Rank 1 of the Dungeon because a monster was not defeated. Each player then counts the amount of Victory Points they have (not all cards have Victory Point values) and the player with the highest total wins.
Overall the game is a ton of fun. There are a few suggestions I would make - I think the pictures on the Hero cards should be different for each level so you can easily see what level it is (eg perhaps older, or better equipment). I think the biggest challenge of this game is keeping the cards in order :-)
I would highly recommend this game to anyone who has played Dominion or Ascension, or anyone looking to get into a non-collectible card game.
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
May 23, 2011
Cthulhu Dice
Cthulhu Dice is a quick dice and token game from Steve Jackson Games – makers of some of my favourite games! The game is for 2-6 players and most games last 5-10 minutes. The game comes with a big custom 12 side die, 18 glass tokens, and the rule sheet. At this point there are 6 colour variants on the cool Cthulhu die:
Like most games of this sort, the mechanics themselves are quite simple and straight forward. Each player starts with 3 sanity tokens. The attacking player (the Caster) chooses who to attack (the Victim) and rolls the die. Deal with the result (see below) and then the Victim gets to respond by rolling the die and dealing with the result. The die is then passed to the next player and the sequence repeats. The game ends when only 1 player has any sanity left at the end of a turn. If no one has any sanity left, then Cthulhu wins!
The die has 5 different symbols on it, each with a different effect:
This game (similar to Zombie Dice) is a great game to play when you have a few minutes to kill.
Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
 Black |  Green |  Glow in the dark die |
 Yellow |  Purple |  Glow in the dark ink |
Like most games of this sort, the mechanics themselves are quite simple and straight forward. Each player starts with 3 sanity tokens. The attacking player (the Caster) chooses who to attack (the Victim) and rolls the die. Deal with the result (see below) and then the Victim gets to respond by rolling the die and dealing with the result. The die is then passed to the next player and the sequence repeats. The game ends when only 1 player has any sanity left at the end of a turn. If no one has any sanity left, then Cthulhu wins!
The die has 5 different symbols on it, each with a different effect:
 | Yellow Sign – your target loses 1 Sanity to Cthulhu (put Sanity token in the middle of the table) |
 | Tentacle – Caster takes 1 Sanity from the Victim (no matter who rolled it) |
 | Elder Sign – you gain 1 Sanity from Cthulhu |
 | Cthulhu – everyone loses 1 Sanity to Cthulhu |
 | Eye – Choose any result above |
This game (similar to Zombie Dice) is a great game to play when you have a few minutes to kill.
Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!!
Originally posted at Pretty Gamer
May 21, 2011
ElfQuest free online!
Wow, the complete ElfQuest comic is now available online!
If you have never read ElfQuest, or if it has been years, run (don't walk) and go read this! ElfQuest is a classic...
If you have never read ElfQuest, or if it has been years, run (don't walk) and go read this! ElfQuest is a classic...
May 20, 2011
Death Star PR: FLOWCHART: How to Deal With Your Impending Doom
Death Star PR: FLOWCHART: How to Deal With Your Impending Doom: "FORM 2B/N07-2B: NOTIFICATION OF IMPENDING DOOM Dear Citizen of Planet ________________________, It has come to our attention that you..."
Zombie Dice
Zombie Dice is a great dice game from Steve Jackson Games. According to the dice cup, the game is for 2 or more players, will take 10-20 minutes, and is recommended for ages 10 and up. Caution: it's not for children under 3. So what about the 4-9 year olds, eh? Should they be cheated of the glamour and honour of being a zombie?! I guess that's up to their parents to decide.
The game comes in a cool dice cup, and has 13 dice (6 green, 4 yellow, and 3 red) that represent your human victims. The goal is to eat 13 brains without getting shotgunned 3 times.
The gameplay is pretty straight forward:
- shake the dice in the attractive and functional dice cup
- choose 3 dice without looking (no cheating now, I'm watching you!)
- roll the aforementioned 3 dice
- move any dice that came up brains to your left (mmm...brains...) Brains are good.
- move any dice that come up shotguns to your right (BANG! owie...) Shotguns are bad.
- any footprints? Those are the ones that got away. That means you don't get to eat them this time. Leave these dice in front of you.
So, unless you rolled 3 shotguns you get to make a decision - stop and score, or play on. I recommend playing on, what are the chances you will roll shotgun? Besides, you are already undead, what do you have to lose!?
If you choose to stop and score, you get 1 point for each brain you rolled (write this down somewhere - I recommend using your opponent's forehead). Remember the goal is to consume 13 delicious squishy brains (say it with me: mmm...brains...) Put all the dice in the attractive and functional dice cup and pass to the next player.
If you decide to play on, well then you are pretty damn cool in my books! Did you roll any footprints last time? If so, you get to re-roll those dice and add additional dice from the cup to total 3 dice. So if you rolled 3 foot prints last time, then just re-roll those 3. If you rolled 2 footprints last time, pick another die from the cup so you are rolling 3 dice. Got it? Need me to explain further?
Lather, rinse, repeat as above - moving brains to the left, shotguns to the right, and footprints in the middle. But beware - if you are up to 3 shotguns then your turn is over and you score NO POINTS! That is bad - it means the humans won, and we can't let the damn humans win!
But wait, there's more! Remember the dice colours I mentioned above? Did you think those were just for aesthetic pleasantness?! Well, guess again bucko, it's way more nefarious than that! You see, there are a different number of each type of symbol on the different colour dice:
Green: 3 brains, 2 footprints, 1 shotgun
Yellow: 2 brains, 2 footprints, 2 shotguns
Red: 1 brain, 2 footprints, 3 shotguns
Pretty damn clever of you, Steve Jackson Games...
I recommend you pick yourself up a set of Zombie Dice, it's a fast and easy game you can play pretty much anywhere. Waiting for your dinner to arrive? Play some Zombie Dice! Waiting for your evening gaming session to start? Play some Zombie Dice! Waiting in a lineup at PAX? Play some Zombie Dice!
Originally published at Pretty Gamer.
The game comes in a cool dice cup, and has 13 dice (6 green, 4 yellow, and 3 red) that represent your human victims. The goal is to eat 13 brains without getting shotgunned 3 times.
The gameplay is pretty straight forward:
- shake the dice in the attractive and functional dice cup
- choose 3 dice without looking (no cheating now, I'm watching you!)
- roll the aforementioned 3 dice
- move any dice that came up brains to your left (mmm...brains...) Brains are good.
- move any dice that come up shotguns to your right (BANG! owie...) Shotguns are bad.
- any footprints? Those are the ones that got away. That means you don't get to eat them this time. Leave these dice in front of you.
So, unless you rolled 3 shotguns you get to make a decision - stop and score, or play on. I recommend playing on, what are the chances you will roll shotgun? Besides, you are already undead, what do you have to lose!?
If you choose to stop and score, you get 1 point for each brain you rolled (write this down somewhere - I recommend using your opponent's forehead). Remember the goal is to consume 13 delicious squishy brains (say it with me: mmm...brains...) Put all the dice in the attractive and functional dice cup and pass to the next player.
If you decide to play on, well then you are pretty damn cool in my books! Did you roll any footprints last time? If so, you get to re-roll those dice and add additional dice from the cup to total 3 dice. So if you rolled 3 foot prints last time, then just re-roll those 3. If you rolled 2 footprints last time, pick another die from the cup so you are rolling 3 dice. Got it? Need me to explain further?
Lather, rinse, repeat as above - moving brains to the left, shotguns to the right, and footprints in the middle. But beware - if you are up to 3 shotguns then your turn is over and you score NO POINTS! That is bad - it means the humans won, and we can't let the damn humans win!
But wait, there's more! Remember the dice colours I mentioned above? Did you think those were just for aesthetic pleasantness?! Well, guess again bucko, it's way more nefarious than that! You see, there are a different number of each type of symbol on the different colour dice:
Green: 3 brains, 2 footprints, 1 shotgun
Yellow: 2 brains, 2 footprints, 2 shotguns
Red: 1 brain, 2 footprints, 3 shotguns
Pretty damn clever of you, Steve Jackson Games...
I recommend you pick yourself up a set of Zombie Dice, it's a fast and easy game you can play pretty much anywhere. Waiting for your dinner to arrive? Play some Zombie Dice! Waiting for your evening gaming session to start? Play some Zombie Dice! Waiting in a lineup at PAX? Play some Zombie Dice!
Originally published at Pretty Gamer.
It LIVES!!!!
I am bringing this blog back to life. I took a break and was writing for Pretty Gamer, but that has sadly petered out. I will be re-posting a number of my articles from Pretty Gamer here, as well as new things that catch my interest.
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