Fantasy/Adventure games not represented?

[dragonblaster]

Fantasy/Adventure games??  IS there a thread representing these?  Anything from Magic Realm, Dragon Pass, Lords & Wizards, Greg Costikyan stuff, Arkham Horror, Runebound, Descent, how is this MYTH game??

[Calandale]

Like eras, I see Fantasy as a category choice that wasn't used in the primary structure
for the board. So, there are military fantasy games (like Dragon Pass), Economic ones
(like Iron Dragon), but there are also a lot of the Magic Realm style games, where you're
concerned with a single character.

[usrlocal]

Right now my favourite fantasy-themed game is Mage Knight: The Board game. It's not designed to be solitaire-only, but it is one of the best solo boardgaming experiences I've had.

[kira1y]

Right now my favourite fantasy-themed game is Mage Knight: The Board game.

I still need to try that one, looks pretty impressive, if nothing else. With Sandy's love of all things Lovecraft and Zombies most of our fantasy gaming falls within those two areas.

[usrlocal]

Right now my favourite fantasy-themed game is Mage Knight: The Board game.

I still need to try that one, looks pretty impressive, if nothing else. With Sandy's love of all things Lovecraft and Zombies most of our fantasy gaming falls within those two areas.

I think it's still in print. Both expansions are worth getting - one full expansion and one micro expansion that introduces a new type of solo game.

[stemcider]

Right now my favourite fantasy-themed game is Mage Knight: The Board game. It's not designed to be solitaire-only, but it is one of the best solo boardgaming experiences I've had.

Dammit now I have to get it.

[usrlocal]

It's exactly what I wanted to get out of Magic Realm, but without the added complexity and fiddlyness. It's still complex and fiddly, but an order of magnitude less so than MR.

[Calandale]

It's exactly what I wanted to get out of Magic Realm, but without the added complexity and fiddlyness. It's still complex and fiddly, but an order of magnitude less so than MR.

My biggest gripe about MR is that it lacks any great goal. It just feels so petty.
The second is the overly deterministic nature of some combats.

I think a much simpler game could do better.

[anarchy]

A friend has MK the boardgame, but we have yet to play. He's tried it a couple of times with his family and the results were, um, not the best. And his family usually likes those types of games.

We've played the Heroes of Might and Magic game. A four-player game took us about 3 hours and we didn't quite finish before we had to call it, but about 45 minutes of that was set up and rules explanation. The early turns took more time than the later turns, even as the later turns got more complex, as we got used to the system.

Each hero controls an army of up to four different unit types (and each hero can control around 7-10 total units). Each unit has a strength ability and some have special powers. Units can be upgraded to elite status to take more damage and enable the use of an elite die in combat.

Heroes can level up and gain new skills. You can also upgrade your citadel with new buildings that activate new powers or unlock new unit types.

The board is tile-based with square terrain. There are monsters to encounter on the board that are protecting sites that you can take control of to gain more resources or grab artifacts and so on.

I'd say that it would probably make a better two-player or solo game. I enjoyed it, but the downtime can get long for what it is. Each player can recruit one or two more heroes and each hero activates when you take a move action. So one player can have up to three fights a turn and each combat can take several minutes to process.

It's also a pain in the ass to get. HoMM is licensed, but not for sale in North America, so it has to be imported.

[usrlocal]

It's exactly what I wanted to get out of Magic Realm, but without the added complexity and fiddlyness. It's still complex and fiddly, but an order of magnitude less so than MR.

My biggest gripe about MR is that it lacks any great goal. It just feels so petty.
The second is the overly deterministic nature of some combats.

I think a much simpler game could do better.

MR's potential wasn't fulfilled. Some of the larger campaigns (like 'War') were never really fleshed out (I think they had an expansion in mind).

Combat is weird in MR, for sure. Very rock, scissors, paper.

Still, from what little I've toodled around with it on RealmSpeak, I can see its appeal. There's a very dynamic aspect to the game. Magic items can allow some very surprising things to happen on occasion.

But, really, Mage Knight plays muuuuuuch better and gives me my fix for a dynamic fantasy wilderness campaign game (much less constrained than, say, Runebound).

[usrlocal]

A friend has MK the boardgame, but we have yet to play. He's tried it a couple of times with his family and the results were, um, not the best. And his family usually likes those types of games.

I can totally see that. I tried to get my wife interested but she was put off by the fiddyness. The damned thing does take up an entire table and there are *lots* of interacting bits and bobs in the game. So, as with 'Sentinels of the Multiverse', I prefer to play solo. I can deal with the fiddleyness. 

[Calandale]

It's exactly what I wanted to get out of Magic Realm, but without the added complexity and fiddlyness. It's still complex and fiddly, but an order of magnitude less so than MR.

My biggest gripe about MR is that it lacks any great goal. It just feels so petty.
The second is the overly deterministic nature of some combats.

I think a much simpler game could do better.

MR's potential wasn't fulfilled. Some of the larger campaigns (like 'War') were never really fleshed out (I think they had an expansion in mind).

Combat is weird in MR, for sure. Very rock, scissors, paper.

Still, from what little I've toodled around with it on RealmSpeak, I can see its appeal. There's a very dynamic aspect to the game. Magic items can allow some very surprising things to happen on occasion.

MR has some really unbalanced characters. Like the elf (IIRC) can just murder someone early on.

The big long rules (as opposed to the original) try to address some of the concerns, but just don't
go far enough. I've tried some house rules which make the campaigns matter - but, they also make
the game ridiculously long.

[stemcider]

Anybody ever play Return of the Heroes?

I always thought it looked liked Magic Realm-lite.

[Calandale]

Wizards (AH) is a really interesting design. World-saving goal, with almost a Tales of the Arabian Nights
feel to the play (although without the richness of the paragraph booklet). The constant destruction of
the land adds a visceral feel to the impending doom. I gotta vid this one someday. The wife loved it -
to the extent of finding a computer version of the game to play.

Dragonhunt has some nice mechanisms around the initiative/action cards and the NPC critters. It doesn't
give a terribly fantasy feeling game though - those kinds of features almost make it euroish in some ways.
It's a weird design too, because it almost FEELS that you're playing a wargame (resources you can capture
from other players), but that's all chaff - you need to focus on killing the Dragon.

Tales is a long-time pleasure of mine. I've largely played it out (a weakness of the paragraph books). It's
not really a game you want to play 'to win' so much as for just watching what happens to everyone. Once you
know good paths through the paragraphs, it will get very boring if you just follow them.

Once Upon a Time was one of the coolest designs ever. Again, a game you don't want to play to win
(doing so will completely destroy the fun). But, the silly turns that the stories take as people try to
bend them to their own will (and cards) really makes this one awesome. The game can probably survive
one bad player in a group - but more than that will ruin it.

[stemcider]

Once Upon a Time would be a good camping game, ya? Its just a deck of cards, correct?