Fantasy Quest – A Brief Word on Actions

A Brief Word on Actions I think Magic Realm was the first game to come up with the idea of Actions equalling the number of wounds your hero had remaining.  Thus, with an ingeniously simple mechanic, an injured hero is able to perform far less capably than an able-bodied hero.  This design element has been repeated in a number of different games, and I make no qualms about employing the same idea in Fantasy Quest.  Magic Realm is far more epic scale and, as anyone who has tried to tackle the rulebook will be acutely aware, very complex for what... View Article

DOTR – One Paladin (and all of his Companions) Against The World

I’d been told that a solo hero could not Defend the Realm, so I set out to prove this to be true.  One slightly cowardly Paladin set out on a one way mission into war and hell.  The following is from another play-test of the forthcoming Companions & Catacombs expansion using a single hero: The sunlight glistened on the spears, polearms and helmets of the orc battalion as they scoured the forest for their elusive quarry.  The weight of their numbers was terrifying – the earth seemed to shake as they stormed about, grunting and barking at each other.  Amongst... View Article

Thunderstone Strategy Series: Assess the Setup

Just got Thunderstone as a gift recently and it’s proving to be awesome solo and even more fun – and very competitive – in two player mode too.  In the following article, AEG’s Mark Wootton discusses Thunderstone strategies, and as a TS noob I found his thoughts very useful – hope you do too:http://www.alderac.com/thunderstone/2011/03/06/strategy-series-assess-the-setup/And if you haven’t picked this little gem of a game up yet, what are you waiting for??

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Prologues and Epilogues

Prologues and Epilogues Something that has been missing from the Lord of the Rings card game is an end to the story once you’ve completed the scenario.  What happens once you’ve escaped from Dol Guldur?  Did King Thranduil’s message carry?  But I can understand why they didn’t include cards for this in the game, especially since there was such an outcry already about the rip-off card distribution in one core set. In any case, in order to complete the short stories I designed for my own scenarios, I developed the following Prologue cards to be read before starting the adventure.... View Article

Fantasy Quest – A brief word on Stats

A brief word on Stats. I’ve gone back and forth on this over the years, trying to come up with cool and interesting sounding words to represent the characters’ abilities that connect inextricably with the gameplay.  A hero has Valour, right?  This could mean his strength, or combat ability.  How many different words are there for agility or dexterity that sound new and interesting?  Does magic come from intelligence?  Or spirit?  Or one of those arcane words like ‘mana’? Let’s face it, they’re all derivative of D&D abilities in one form or another.  That’s fair enough, but my constant aim... View Article

What is Fantasy Quest?

Fantasy Quest is a card game of high fantasy with a gothic edge, where 1-4 players must adventure forth to develop their heroes and save the land from a growing evil. They will visit strange places, stranger people and overcome powerful enemies in their quest to discover mysterious artifacts and ancient treasures. Playable in 1-2 hours. The following is taken from my design journal but I don’t want to give too much away at this stage so I hope this will suffice for now: This game has been in development for a long time and has undergone so many permutations... View Article

Defenders of the Realm – Companions and Catacombs

The following is a collection of three session reports using the upcoming Companions and Catacombs supplement for Richard Launius’ kick-arse game Defenders of the Realm… GAME 1: WIZARD + DWARFUpon hearing that they were not alone in the Realm, and that there were other eager young adventurers around willing to help them take on the malicious Generals, the Wizard headed to the Inn early, realising how valuable that help would be.  At the Gryphon Inn, his tales of the approaching generals and the inexorable spread of their armies enthralled all those present, and from a shadowy corner next to the... View Article

Resident Evil: Deck Building Game Solo Mercenaries Mode – quick, casual observations of (gulp) 36 games…

Way back over the Easter break, so not all in one day, I caned Mercenaries mode with every single character from the basic game plus Lost In Nightmares Jill and Chris, using the Custom Starting Inventories, and using each of the three available Resource Setups. Here’s a quick glance at the victory points scored by each character in each of the setups provided: SPECIAL FORCES SETUP Rebecca Chambers – 65Leon – 5Jill (Lost In Nightmares) – DEADJack – 16Chris (Lost In Nightmares) – DEAD (10)Jill – DEAD (4)Barry – 68Chris – DEAD (2)Sheva – 67Ada – DEAD (1)Wesker – DEAD... View Article