The D&D theme is not really necessary to the game at all, but for those who are familiar with the genre it adds a bit extra to the game.
It's a much easier game compared to Agricola and we found that it was less "multiplayer solitaire" than Agricola.
The concept of the game is as follows:
- Each player is a Lord/Lady trying to gain favor in Waterdeep
- Each player gets agents to send around the city doing work for them. Usually this involves collecting "adventurers" aka. those little wooden cubes that are called Thieves/Clerics/etc.
- Each action square on the board can only be used by one player per round, so there is direct conflict over the limited resources available
- Each player has a series of quests to complete. You complete a quest by spending a combination of wealth and adventurers. Quests often reward victory points and usually offer some additional benefit as well.
- You earn bonus points for completing quests that match your Lord's persona
- You can also build extra buildings around town to unlock new actions for your agents. The owners of these buildings get a benefit if someone else uses them.
- Each player has a hand of cards that they can use to help themselves or hinder their opponents.
The game is really easy to learn. It only took my wife an I an hour and a half to finish our first game (set up, learning and completion).
The theme isn't necessary at all (my wife kept calling the wizards the "purple guys") but if you want to participate in the theme you can.
It's $50, so it might be a "try before you buy" game if you don't have a lot of experience with games like this one. If your group is new to games like Agricola, I'd recommend this game over Agricola 9 times out of 10.
I should also mention that my wife hates Agricola, but she really enjoyed this game.
Reading on BGG, it seems to play quite differently with 2 players than it does with 3 or 4. That may be something to take into consideration before buying it.
It's getting some pretty great word-of-mouth.
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I was wondering if the offer is still open for people to come check out and watch Twilight Imperium on the 28th? I won't be able to make it for 7 but I can come a little bit later. Wouldn't mind seeing it be played.
I was wondering if the offer is still open for people to come check out and watch Twilight Imperium on the 28th? I won't be able to make it for 7 but I can come a little bit later. Wouldn't mind seeing it be played.
You are welcome to observe (and are first on the waiting list if there is a cancellation). I suppose we could do a 7 player game, but I thought we should learn the game with 6 first, before going bigger. We could vote on that.
Thanks! I'd prefer to just come watch and check it out, because I work till around 7 and am not sure what time I can get there for. Don't want anyone waiting on me!
What group are you in Rathji? Private or out of one of the stores?
Private group involving some guys from high school and people we met along the way.
We haven't played much recently, due to an spat involving a player who was mad that we were attacking all the gnolls and orcs that we met, rather than negotiating with them. He went so far as to give them the entire object of our story arc quest, just to avoid a fight.
Dice were thrown that day, my friends. Dice were thrown.
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Gygax later looked for innovative ways to generate random numbers, and he used not only common, six-sided dice, but dice of all five platonic solid shapes,[20] which he discovered in a school supply catalog.[10]
Gygax was fascinated by the way the rolling of dice affected — and enlivened — the game experience. "Random chance plays a huge part in everybody's life," he says. He learned this first hand in his job as an insurance underwriter, which was a game in itself. His work involved evaluating policies and calculating how much to charge in premiums based on salary, age, medical reports, and the potential for long-term disabilities. He did special risk underwriting as well, such as evaluating the payout for a Major League Baseball team that wanted to take out a policy on one of its players. "I wasn't popular in the home office because I wasn't chicken," he says. "I'm just a risk taker. I have gut instincts."
Gygax and a few of his buddies carried that DIY spirit even further, devising a game of their own around WWII tank combat. He was determined that his game would avoid the "goofy bell curve"that resulted from rolling a pair of six-sided dice (2s and 12s are rare, while 6s, 7s, and 8s are comparatively frequent). To achieve a more linear curve, he determined that players must pluck 1 of 20 numbered poker chips from a hat, so that there was an equal 5 percent probability of each outcome. Gygax later found the perfect replacement for this clunky system: In a school supply catalog, he discovered dice shaped like all of the Platonic solids, including the icosahedron: A 20-sided die.
Very somewhat similar to Twilight Imperium 3 in game play but it plays faster, as we easily finished a game in 4 hours. I think it might become a common choice for those in our group who want to play TI3 but can't devote the time.
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A few weeks ago I was tasked with picking up a game called Bang (in packaging that's the shape of a bullet--apparently that's very important) and made a few calls to Revolution and the game store in North Hill Mall, they both had it, so I figured 'no big deal,' and put it off.
Today neither place had it. Neither did Toys R Us. And I need it for tomorrow.
Any tips on where I might find this game in Calgary?
