Like always, life gets in the way of the Board Gaming/RPG habits!  So to atone, here are two reviews of products I’ve recently read through.

 

Product-Pathfinder Player Companion-Pathfinder Society Primer

System: Pathfinder

Producer: Paizo Publishing

Price: ~$12

TL;DR– If you play PFS, then you already know you need this. 100%

 

Basics: This book delves deeper into the Pathfinder Society continuing the background knowledge that was presented in Pathfinder Society Field Guide.  The book starts with a general explanation of the Pathfinder Society leading to a section on how to build a well rounded pathfinder for a game.  From there, the book runs through joining the society and the three main subgroups while giving different feats, spells, abilities, and traits for each.  After the main groups, the book presents a prestige class called the Pathfinder Field Agent who is a bit of a mixed bag. The main way to identify a pathfinder is his/her wayfinder, and this book give new versions of the wayfinder as well as ioun stones that can be socketed into the wayfinder with new powers for both and magic items that any pathfinder would need on their adventures.  Near the end of the book, Pathfinder Chronicles are discussed giving new, non-magical ways to boost skills after pathfinders read these books for one hour.  The book closes with Pathfinder Society vanities, ways to spend prestige points gained in the pathfinder society, and a short section on Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

 

Mechanics: This book has a lot going on for the player only interested in mechanics.  From new spells, feats, traits, and abilities, this book is real chock full.  However, this book doesn’t have many class specific options, but does have many general options.  This is really expressed well with the Pathfinder Field Agent; this prestige class gets most other class abilities, but doesn’t really get anything that makes him/her awesome at one thing.  The wayfinders, ioun stones, and other items are all good too.  Until now I hadn’t had a real good use for the prestige points, but his book gives even me a few good ideas. 5/5

 

Theme: I like PFS, but I have to say I don’t know as much as I should, especially about the inner working of the society.  This book gave me a good summary while giving me some mechanics.  I liked what at I saw in terms of story of PFS.   It’s worth a read for that. 5/5

 

Execution: I liked this one.  It flows well, even better then the previous PFS book.  No page is a well of text while the previous PFS book had that problem a few times.  The art is nice and consistent.  The layout helps the reader read the text.  All and all, I liked this book. 5/5

 

Summary:  If you play PFS, you need this.  If you really want to get deep into the Society, then get this book.  If you don’t care about the Pathfinders or PFS at all, then this book isn’t for you. 100%

 

and now the second Review-

 

Product: Pathfinder Society Adventure #5-11: Library of the Lion

System: Pathfinder

Publisher: Paizo Publishing

Price: ~$4

TL;DR– A thinking, (general) non-combat PFS adventure 93%

 

Basics: The Pathfinder Society has been invited to a prominent Taldan College by a high ranking member of the nobility to help them sneak into a secret library.  The Pathfinders have less than two hours to explore the library, find what the noble wants, not be noticed, and get out all while constantly listening to the Mission: Impossible music performed by the GM.

 

Story: This module isn’t very story heavy, but it does bring something new to the party.  The story quickly brings the society into the heart of Taldor, and lets some of the more over shown PCs shine.  PCs have to find information in a low combat module by exploring the library and looking for clues.  I wouldn’t call this a story for the ages, but it does give the players something new at the table that they may have not had a chance to do before. 4.5/5

 

Mechanics:  This module continues the current PFS year 5 scenario strategy of random events during the scenario.  It works to great effect during this adventure as the players and the GM both get to find random books in each room that might help the players.  Also, this one is really set up for the skill monkeys out there.  Most of the puzzles require thought and lots of skill ranks.  I don’t see that often, and that makes this module stand out.  The final puzzle requires the players to have solved every room to find what they need.  That’s not bad, but it might not be great for all groups.  Also, as a GM, if the group you are running doesn’t have the proper skills, you may have to loosen up the skills that can be used in the adventure.  Also, for as much of an exploration adventure this one is, it’s also a nice social adventure too.  It’s pretty well rounded for the non-combat characters.  None of that is bad, but just keep that as a heads up for when you play. 4.5/5

 

Execution:  This adventure is well laid out and comes with some assembly required.  As the players can randomly find books in the rooms, the GM gets to cut out the different books and give these out as hand outs.  Anytime you can physically hand the players something, it makes the game that much more awesome.  The art is nice also.  All told, I’m really happy with this. 5/5

 

Summary:  I liked this one.  It’s not perfect, but this one is an awesome adventure to play with a bunch of character types that might not get as much play as other ones.  If you are a kill-them-all barbarian with only one skill point you put in jump so you can jump charge, you will be bored to tears.  If you have a group of five people who want to explore and deceive their way through a secret library, this is the game for you. 93%

Product- Mage Wars

Producer- Arcane Wonders

Price- $60

Set-up/Play/Clean-up- 30 minutes

tl;dr-  This is my competitive card game! 100%

 

Basics-Enter the arena!  Mage Wars is a hybrid of a collectible card game and a miniatures skirmish game.  Players choose a mage and build a spell book using a point buy system based on the type of wizard chosen.  Each wizard has different costs associated with different spells.  Spells range from quick spells that do damage/move things/heal, summoning creatures, summoning walls, and enchantments that are reveled off turn to surprise your enemy.  Players take turns activating creatures on the battle field or casting spells.  Last man/women standing is the winner!

Mechanics- The mechanics of Mages Wars is as complicated as they need to be without being over complicated.  Each turn you gain mana to cast spells, deal with attachments (good or bad), draw spells, and then take turns playing your spells and declaring your other actions.  Actions range from moving, casting spells, or attacking.  Play moves fast and is really fun.  What really drew me to this game is the concept of a spell book.  Instead of drawing random cards like Magic: the Gathering, players build a character specific spell book.  As long as all players have the same number of points worth of spells, a character is legal for a tournament making spell book/deck building pretty easy.  The spell book mechanic is really revolutionary, and it really makes this game stand out.  The combination of the card game, the skirmish game, and the deck building CCG really make this fun and novel. 5/5

 

Theme-  You’re a mage.  You could be a cleric, wizards, beast master, or a demon summoner with the base set.  This really isn’t “new,” as magic the gathering had similar themes.  And others have had this theme before that.  However, the mechanics of the game really reinforce this theme of being a wizard.  You build the spells book full of spells you will walk into the arena with.  That right there wouldn’t be new except you get to choose rather than just draw.  Spending that minute before your turn agonizing over which spell to prepare that turn really makes the game that much more tense!  Also, this game launched with a “living game” like prize support and storyline.  Like any other well thought out game, Mage Wars has store support, but this one also has a story.  And depending on what Mages do WHAT and to WHO, the story will change.  Since the back story of Mage Wars is mages fighting in an arena instead of fighting in battles, the story/store support really bring the story back to the game.  It “almost” feels like an RPG.  And that makes me feel like a wizard with something on the line! 5/5

Art/Execution-  Art-beautiful so full points there.  Execution of the game is well done also.  You get LOTS of components in the box and lots of tokens to help you play the game.  Also you get two spell books so one box will cover two players.  And that right there is amazing!  I’ve bought other games that were meant for more than one player and I needed two intro sets.  The way this is set up lets me know that the makers of this game lover their players. 5/5

 

Instruction- Unlike an RPG where things can have a lot of leeway, Mage Wars has step by step instructions on how to perform every action.  Since this game is direct player vs. player combat, the well explained rules really help keep fights to a minimum.  The rules help move this game at a decent pace.  There are a lot of rules, but if you want a quick game there are rules to help you teach/learn the game as a lower powered wizard with basic intro spell lists for your first game.  From there the rules give you the advanced stuff and tell you how to make a good starting mage spell book.  That’s good dedication to making sure your players get off on the right foot. 5/5

 

Summary-  I don’t play Magic, I have house payments.  At this point in my life, I like living card games (collectible card games that do not have random makeups of cards, you buy a set you get all the cards for the set).  If I want to play a game with someone, it’s going to be the Lord of the Rings card game.  If I want some direct competition, it’s Mage Wars.  Tight rules, good cards and art, lots of options, a fairly cheap skirmish/CCG game, and a continuing story all draw me to this game.  I tried it at GenCon and Origins and now I’ve bought all the expansions.  I may not be good, but I always have fun.  If you’re in Jackson and you want to battle hit me up on twitter! 100%

Product- Witch Hunter: The Invisible World

Producer- Paradigm Concepts

Price- ~$30 (via Kickstarter Prerelease)

TL;DR- Not perfect, but it combines all the things I love. 85%

 

Basics- Enter a world just behind the one you know.   In this RPG, players take the role of Witch Hunters, a shadowy group of people collected from all walks of life called by higher powers to battle the forces of the Adversary.  The Adversary is the games main antagonist.  He is Satan and all other evils combined.  Players walk a thin line fighting the cracks in the invisible world, the monsters the seep through, and the humans who join the cause of evil, all while trying to keep their vary souls.

 

Mechanics- While you can roll play with any set of mechanics (look at Fiasco and Dread), the basics of what you roll and when are big to most gamers.  In general, I would call this game a mix between 4e DnD, Shadowrun, and Arcanis.  Let’s do a run down to focus on a few things in particular.

Dice Pools- This game use a dice pool mechanic much like Shadowrun except game uses d10’s.  To assemble the dice you roll for a check, you use a statistic and add the dice from skill ranks.  Some situations may give you advantage/disadvantage so you add/subtract dice.  Successful dice are dice that roll a seven or above.  If you are using a skill and have focused in a particular sub-skill, then you succeed on a six or better.  If you roll a 10, then you count a success and reroll the die as it “explodes.”  Dice can explode as many times as you roll tens leading to situations where a player will have one die, but roll over 4 successes!  I LOVE exploding dice.  Don’t worry evil GMs out there, monster dice explode too….  You then compare to a target number to determine if the attempt succeeded.  This is the base mechanic for attacks, skills, or anything else the GM deems that players need to roll.

 

Combat-Combat starts with initiative just like vary other game.  Initiative is handed with agility + reflexes roll.  Most successes determine the order of play.  During combat each character gets to perform two quick actions or one complex, again harkening to Shadowrun.  Quick actions are basic movement, or basic attacks.  Complex actions are longer spells, running across the battle field, or complex attacks.  When someone attacks they roll a dice poll as above, and compare to one of three defenses that are basically physical, mental, or agility.  When you hit, you count the number of successes over the target number, subtract the targets armor, and finally add the weapons damage number.  The target of the attack my give up quick actions of their next turn to reduce the damage via Agility + reflexes roll.  Successes in this roll reduce the dice total of the damage dice pool.  Agility + reflexes tend to be a very powerful combination of skill/ability, demonstrating some balance issues that crop up in this game.  After determining the final damage dice pool, the pool is rolled and sevens or better are damage to the target.  Again, 10s explode and can do significant damage even when with a small pool.  The overall feel is Shadowrun with a dice pool, 4e/Arcanis for a target number of an attack, Arcanis armor for damage reduction, and fluid damage pools reminiscent of Shadowrun. I like this combination.  While the above is a bit of a mouth full, since this a mostly a tutorial, the speed of which this goes is amazing!  You can have a character launch into a crazy, spinning whirlwind of knives that will hit several character, but the game handles this quickly and efficiently.  Turns that would take forever in 4e are done in under a minute.

 

Magic-This game has character from all faiths and magical backgrounds ranging from Native American Shamans to Hermetic Alchemist.  Each tradition has its own statistics it uses for magic.  Also, each tradition has its own focus.  These focuses are different types of spells ranging from a Shaman’s discussion with spirits, Hermetic wizards circles, and priests prayers.  Some of these are much more combat effective.  This mechanics is the same above with dice pool formation, but much like Arcanis, each spell called a rite can be augmented by increasing the mastery and strain of the spell.  Mastery is the minimum dice pool you need to cast the spell, while strain is the amount of turns my must wait to cast a spell again.  You can cast a spell under strain, but you will take the amount of strain in damage.  Again, I love this.  I like cast till you pass out magic systems.  I also love any magic system that allows you to augment your spells quickly to make new types of magic.

 

Health-This game is brutal!  Each character has a number of hit boxes like Shadowrun with a few important differences.  When you fill up your first group of hit boxes you move to nicked.  While nicked you take a penalty to all dice pools.  When you lose your nicked hit boxes, you then moved to wounded.  You gain MORE penalties and you must make checks to stay awake!  Lose your wounded hit points and then you’re dying!  More penalties and you must spend hero points or gain DAMNATION to stay awake!  To heal you must make a heal check each day.  Others can help you as you receive care.  If you succeed, you get a little better with more successes over a target number mean more hit points.  If you fail….you get worse!  Honestly, this is VERY brutal….but I like it.  The game takes place in 1600’s.  Medical care isn’t great and a scratch could kill you if it gets infected.  Healing magic is little to none.  This ISN’T DnD!  And that’s ok!

 

The balance of vice and virtue-All characters have a virtue and a sin.  Theses are built in role-playing hooks for your character.  When you act your virtue, you might get hero points.  Hero points are chips to indicate rerolls, extra dice, skill training/specialization, or other rule breaking effects.  OR when you get one, you can bank it.  When you bank 10 hero points, you increase your True Faith.  True Faith is used for some spells, AND it’s the number of hero points you start each day with.  When you want to break the rules you can also get DAMNATION!  Damnation is you giving into temptation and using dark powers to get the job done.  Your True Faith and Damnation together can never be more then 10.  When you earn hero points, instead of banking them, you can roll your true faith score and if you succeed with a target equal to your damnation, you remove one damnation.  If your damnation gets to 10…..you turn to the dark side.  DON’T DO THAT!  This is a fun mechanic to represent faith, give an in game benefit benefit, and a indicator of how morally grey a character is.  Are you willing to get a little damnation to get the job done?  GMs can also trigger your sins to give you hear points to complicate the story by offering your hero points.  If you want more, you can give into your sin wholesale, earn damnation, and get more hero points.  Again, this is awesome.  I love giving my players all the rope they need to hang themselves…and they almost always do…..MHWAAAHHAAA ( cue evil laugh).

 

Movement-Like all the recent RPGs I’ve been playing, less is more.  This game is designed to be played without a map.  The theater of the mind style needs to continue in RPG design going forward.  That makes me happy.

 

Mechanics Summary-  I like what I see here. I love Arcanis, Shadowrun, and 4e DnD.  This takes a lot of the things that makes me happy and puts them together well.  Think of this like blue cheese, chicken, and deep fried mushrooms and not like sushi, ice cream, and Ritz Crackers crumbs.  It’s easy to take several good things that don’t go together and make a mess, but Paradigm really made an excellent mechanic product here with only a few things that stick out as slightly broken. 4.5/5

 

Theme- Witch Hunter takes place in the world of the 1600’s right after the great London Fire.  It’s close to our world, but not quite.  One major difference is the Spanish lost America to Mayans who unknowingly worship the Adversary.  Combining this world of enlightenment with an undercurrent of suspicions not only between religions but the different Witch Hunters, the Witch Hunters are fractured and while they work together, they often do not agree on how to get the job done.  This lead to an undercurrent of suspicion not only between the world, but also the people who have to fix it.  This game has to walk a VERY tight line.  1600’s was a very racist, sexist, religiously intolerant time.  It makes it amazingly fun to play in if you can separate yourself from yourself.  The game has themes of horror, hope, and damnation. It’s fun, but it might not be for the group that wants to kick open the door, kill the dragon, and go to the inn with little consequences or thoughts about the various intolerances of the people serving them beer.  But, I like what I see.  It will be a fun place to play.  5/5

 

Art-  You need some good art to make any game pop.  This one is no exception.  I like the art in this book, but it might not be for some people.  It’s style similar to the art style in Arcanis, but Arcanis also has many of the same themes.  5/5

 

Execution- Here the book suffers a bit.  The book as a few errors spread throughout.  Some are minor such as terms being misused with the obviously right term known not slowing down the game.  These are easy errors that crop up from editing edition to edition.  Other errors are major problems that I do not know how to properly run some aspects of the game.  These are errors like do you need some talents for others?  I’ve talked with some people who have played the game, and they also had these problems.  It doesn’t render the game unplayable, but it does diminish the experience.  The layout itself is nice and the flow makes the book fun to read.  This book also doesn’t suffer from the common sin of jumping too much into numbers before explaining what the heck is going on.  3.5/5

 

Summary- This system is an interesting combination of many of my favorite things.  I love the mechanics, and they way the theme interactions with it.  The theme itself is controversial, but fun.  There is nothing like playing a Catholic Priest and being spit on in London as you a player are a Catholic.  The execution of the book does hurt it slightly, but it doesn’t make the game any less fun or playable.  This might not be the game of the year, but I liked what I saw.  More importantly, this game was planned to début with a living game.  And that makes me even more excited by this game.  I’ve played the first four living games from this system and will start running these games as them come out for my friends in Jackson. 85%

Game- Takenoko

Producer- Asmodee

Price- $30 OR $300

Set-up/Play/Clean-up- 1.5 Hours

TL;DR- A great family friendly game 95%

 

Basics-It’s time to be a gardener in feudal Japan.  The Emperor of Japan has received a gift of a panda from China.  Players take the roles of different court members chosen to care for the panda.  This involves growing certain bamboo, feed different types of bamboo to the Panda, or make different patterns of tiles in the garden.  Each turn players role a die to determine the weather.  The weather lets players break the rules by getting extra actions, modifying the board through tokens, take the same action, or grow some bamboo, or move the panda.  Then players get to choose two actions that include: drawing tiles for the garden, moving the panda so it eats bamboo, moving the gardener to grow bamboo, draw victory cards, and drawing irrigation channels.  Moving the panda causes the bamboo to eat bamboo and you collect it.  The gardener causing all irrigated plots he is on and adjacent same colors to grow bamboo.  When you draw victory cards, you choose the type: bamboo eaten, bamboo grown, or tile layout.  At the end of your turn you can place their tokens to make bamboo grow faster, automatically irrigate the tile, prevent the panda from eating that bamboo, and place irrigation channels.  The first player to earn a number of victory cards also gets a bonus card from the Emperor for two extra points.  The remaining players get one more turn, than the game is over.  Players with the most number of points win the game.

 

Mechanics- This is an interesting take on an action selection game.  The game is very simple, deceptively simple.  Each turn the map changes entirely.  You may set up the perfect turn, but your opponents may completely change the map by the time it gets back to you.  Also, since each player has its own goals and these goals are hidden, players may end up working together OR massively destroying your carefully laid plans.  The randomness of the game makes this not quite a Eurogame, but the action selection and planning doesn’t throw this one into the American style either.  All told, it’s a lot of fun and it plays very quick. 5/5

 

Theme- The game has a lot of theme.  I don’t feel like a noble, but I did feel like I was caring for the panda.  The instructions start with a nice comic that tells the story of the game.  The art makes this game have a cute theme from start to end.  The mechanics work well complimenting the theme of competing nobles with different plans.  It’s not perfect for theme, but it does have a lot of theme going for it. 4/5

 

Instructions- I liked these instructions.  It starts with a nice comic before entering into the rules.  More games need that to set the stage.  The rules are well written and give lots of examples of what they mean for each specific rule.  5/5

 

Execution-  Ok there are two games here.  Asmodee released the original game for ~$30 bucks.  Its good, but the components are smaller.  That’s not bad.  The original has these nice stacking bamboo pieces that just look fun.  However, if you have the cash, for $300 you can get the AWESOME box that is much better!  I am cheap and played on http://www.boardgamearean.com for FREE!  In all the cases, it was fun with quality cards and components. 5/5

 

Summary-  I really liked this game.  It’s quick, well put together, and family friendly.  I played this online with my family.  We watched a youtube video to learn the rules as I read them from the instructions.  Then we played, and we had a blast.  I lost horribly, but I learned a lot and can’t wait to try it again.  That’s the sign of a good game.  You lost, learn, and want to do it again! 95%

Product– Pathfinder Society Adventure #5-8 The Confirmation

Producer-Paizo

System– Pathfinder

Price– $4

TL;DR– An excellent introductory adventure for any PFS player 97%

 

Basics- Time to earn your stripes Pathfinders!  This adventure is the capstone of any Pathfinders training.  Players get to go on an expedition with an experienced bard as they try to understand why Gillmen are journeying to an old cave each month.  Along the way the PCs and their guide are separated and the PCs must continue the mission alone.  After discovering the mystery, the PCs face off against a climactic battle at the end of the mission.

 

Story- This is a fun one.  As a GM, I get to learn lots about the Pathfinder Society history and organization.  The players get to learn about the ancient history of the world as well as bits of Chronicle lore.  The basics of the adventure is a dungeon crawl, but the extra bits make it that much more fun.  5/5

 

Mechanics– This is a fast paced one.  It’s aimed at newer players so the game doesn’t have lots of show stopper enemies.  The last enemy is pretty tough, but over the course of the adventure the party gets some help from their guide.  What the adventure does have is random encounter tables.  That’s new to me, and it makes the adventure more fun. For the PCs the best part of the adventure will be the rewards.  I promise if you are a Pathfinder and low level, DO THIS ONE JUST FOR WHAT YOU GET AT THE END! 5/5

 

Execution- I liked this one, but it’s got a few minor problems.  The adventure is aimed at newer players. But, most newer players will need some help with their characters and turns will take a bit longer.  That’s not bad, but the adventure has a lot packed into it.  That’s good for experienced people, but for new players it’s a bit much.  Otherwise the layout is great.  Every major person and the last bad guy get a nice picture.  A good adventure.  4.5/5

 

Summary- This is a fun one.  It’s worth your time as a GM and as a player.  Go out and play this one! 97%

How about a dual review?  I’m late, so two should make up for being lazy!

 

Product– Pathfinder Player Companion Pirates of the Inner Sea

System-Pathfinder

Price-~$11

TL;DR-  Not much magic, but a darn fine book 93%

 

Basics- Ah hoy landlubber!  It’s time to be bad guys!  Pirates of the Inner Sea discusses being a pirate in Golarion, Pathfinder’s default setting.  The book opens with a chapter discussing different pirate histories of the inner sea ranging from sanctioned privateers all the way to all and out pirates.  Next the book moves to different pirate gear.  After gear, several different archetypes are introduced as well as the Inner Sea Pirate prestige class.  The book then discusses Besmara, the god of Pirates and sea monsters.  After Besmara, the book introduces a few pirate focused spells and then pirate codes and rules aboard ship.

 

Mechanics–  I liked this book, but it’s not perfect.  The prestige class is a nice pirate focused martial character.  The archetypes are great pirate focused changes to the core classes.  The magic spells build upon what you would expect a pirate would need.  The gear is cool.  All that is great, but I felt like magic was a bit left out.  The spells are good, but there are not many of them.  Spell casters didn’t really get any pirate focused prestige classes.  The bard got one, but his stuff didn’t focus on magic.  It’s good for what you get, but it leaves half the available classes out. 4/5

 

Theme-  This book is amazingly theme-tastic.  I liked all the different kinds of pirates discussed in the book.  I can play a scallywag, but at the same time I can be a good guy as an Andorian privateer.  I can play evil and play a slaver.  Awesome.  The book ends with a small section on terminology and pirate codes.  The codes give the feel of being on a lawless ship where someone has to hold court.  The terms make my home game that much more interesting when I bust out random phrases to get my players into the game.  Besmara has a nice pirate feel for a god who really doesn’t care what you do! 5/5

 

Execution- The book is arranged well.  I loved what I saw.  The art is beautiful.  The test isn’t hard to read.  I’d like bigger, but then Paizo would have to cut stuff.  I enjoyed reading this.  Standard Paizo quality. 5/5

 

Summary–  If you want to play pirates in Pathfinder, then go pick this up.  If you want to fight pirates then go get this.  In both cases, you need this book to make your game that much better.  If you plan to run a game inland with absolutely no water, then don’t get this book.  All and all I liked what I saw and can’t wait to put more of it to use in my home game. 93%

 

and now the second review

 

Product– Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles

System-Pathfinder

Price-~$15

TL;DR- An amazing textbook of the Shackles 97%

 

Basics- It’s time to set sail in the most lawless island of all Golarion!  This book discusses the different major populated islands of the Shackles, the pirate islands of the Inner Sea of Golarion.  The first part of the book give a major island by island run down of each isles people, towns, races, languages, religions, and what you can plunder from the towns there.  Each island gets its own story seeds for your game.  After the islands, the book shows different random encounter tables as well as new Shackles specific monsters for you to throw in your home game ranging from a CR 1/2 pirate to the CR23 Blood Queen.

 

Mechanics–  This book is only about 1/4 mechanics with new monsters and random encounter tables.  I the monsters and well done and most of them are flavored for high seas battles.  Don’t read this book expecting new crazy rules, but what’s presented is done well.   5/5

 

Theme- Most of this book is stories of fantasy places.  It does read like a geology and history text book, which can get a little boring even at the best of times.  What’s there is great and the seeds that are set in the book do give you a lot of places to run with if you want to run a Shackles campaign.  I’d have liked a section on the Isle of Empty Eyes since that’s where the players end up in the Skull and Shackles adventure path.  4.5/5

 

Execution- The book is well put together as you would expect from Paizo.  I’ll admit I did take a few breaks to read this as it is primarily a history textbook of a fantasy place.  Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing textbook of a fake place and its well written with a nice layout so I can read it easily.  But, it does get a bit long as you march from one island to the next. 5/5

 

Summary–  If you want to play in the Shackles, this is the book for you.  I liked this one a lot.  It will take a bit to march through, but if you can pull through you will enjoy what you fine.  Most likely though, this is a GM only book.  97%

Game-The Witches

Producer-MayFair Games

Price- $50

Set-Up/Play/Clean-Up– 2 Hours

TL;DR- A fun, non-competitive, competitive game 87.5%

 

Basics-Welcome to Discworld!  Take the role of the younger witches of Lancre.  Players take turns setting out random problems.  Then players get to do two actions after moving.  The actions are solving problems or having tea.  When you want to solve a problem, you roll two dice.  You can then play cards or run away.  If you don’t run away, you roll two more dice.  If your total beats the number on the problem, you take the problem for its points.  If you fail, you must move away and take a cackle token.  Ones on the dice are cackles; cackles are tokens you take and when you can’t take any you gain negative points.  Instead of solving a problem after moving, players can have tea with other players at your space and remove cackle counters from everyone involved.  There are two types of problems: minor and major.  For every two minor problem’s you solve, you increase your hand size by 1.  For every two major problems you solve, you gain a permanent +1 to your dice pool.  The game ends when all the problems are solved or until a situation where everybody loses occurs.  If the problems are all solved, then the player with the most points wins.

 

Mechanics-This came is competitive, but there is no fighting between players.  This is an interesting experience.  Someone wins, but you can’t really hurt them at all.  Everybody can lose if you don’t work together, but you have to play smart to make sure that doesn’t happen.  I honestly enjoy the experience.  You cheer other players on since if they don’t win it gets worse for everybody.  The simple mechanics of rolling four dice make turns go fast.  Cards give you powers, bonus to your rolls, or movement abilities.  The whole game works well together. 5/5

 

Theme- The game does make the Lancre come alive.  All the problems of the books show up here.  Also, all the major locations from the books are here as well.  Players get to be four of the different, junior witches with each one having different starting powers.  The randomness of events does take a bit a way as the problems come up in strange combinations.  That’s not game ending, but it’s something to note. 4.5/5

 

Instructions- The instructions are not great.  They get the point across, and there is a nice cheat sheet.  But, the Board Game Geeks forums are full of questions that should have been answered in the instruction book. 3/5

 

Execution- Tokens are nice quality cardboard.  The board and cards all have beautiful artwork that looks like the artwork from the books.  I liked what I saw when I opened the box. 5/5.

 

Summary- If you like Arkham Horror and the Discworld novels, this is an instabuy.  If you want a game with a winner, but no real losers, then this is a great game.  It’s fun to play a game with your family where you don’t compete so much as just try to be the best.  I love this game, my wife loves this game, and most likely you will love this game. 87.5%

 

Game-Thunderstone Advanced: Numenera

Producer– AEG

Cost– $60

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 1 1/2 hours

TL;DR– Great merger of two great things 92.5%

 

Basics– Are you ready for the 9th world?  Thunderstone is a deck building game.  All players start with a deck that contains some regulars (basic fighters), some weapons, some lights, and two thunderstone shards.  What makes this game more involved then Dominion is the options presented to you on your turn.  On a players turn they draw six cards then decide to go to the village (buys cards/level up), dungeon (fight monsters for points/exp to level), rest (destroy cards from you deck), or prepare (discard some cards then draw to six).  When you shop, you reveal cards with a gold value then purchase a card from the village.  The village cards range from more heroes with special powers, items, weapons, villagers, or spells.  You can also level up heroes.  If you have enough experience point chips (cyphers) you can spend them to level up a hero to his/her next rank, destroying his/her card and gaining the better version of him/her.  The dungeon is also an important addition to this deck building game.  Monsters have hit points and other powers as well as a rank.  Rank is determined by how closer to the dungeon draw deck they are.  The higher the rank, the more light you need to fight the monster and not take a penalty to attacking the creature.  When you do attack, you need heroes to attack as well as weapons for them to equip and spells or items for more light or damage.  When you defeat a monster, it goes into your discard pile and it give you points at the end of the game as well as cyphers.  The game continues until the Thunderstone bearer is reveled.  When the monster is defeated of reach rank one, the game is over.  Players count points in their deck, and the player with the most wins.

 

Mechanics: This is a good addition to the Thunderstone family.  Thunderstone and Thunderstone Advanced seem pretty similar.  Not to generalize to much, but if you have played one deck builder, then you have played them all in that managing what goes into your deck is the most important thing.  However, I really love this game more the other games like Dominon as the dungeon adds a whole new level of play.  The dungeon really ties the whole RPG/fantasy part of the game together making theme and mechanics go well together right from the start.  This game adds a few new twists: cyphers, a location, and treasures.  Cyphers are experience points, but you can spend one per turn for an additional effect.  The cyphers come in a little bag and are multicolored.  The multiple colors represent different one time effects.  This is a great addition.  The location is a card that dictates a bit of random effects from the environment.  The location activates when players begin to spend cyphers. Again this is another fun, Numenera addition to the game.  The final addition is the treasures.  These are cards that are mixed in with the monsters.  When you draw one, you draw other monsters, and that monster then uses that item.  When you defeat the monster, you get the card and use its beneficial effects.  Again, it’s another cool addition to the game.  All and all this game is great fun if you love deck builders. 4.5/5

 

Theme:  I am mixed here.  The game comes with some awesome Numenera additions that really made me happy.  I did feel like I was in a small village building up a group of people to battle the unknown.  I loved that.  I loved the little bag with the cyphers.  I love the cyphers!  I love the locations!  But, what I missed was a bit of flavor.  I liked the monsters, but I don’t know who they are.  I would have loved a little flavor text to build the Numenera world a little.  The same goes for the items, locations, heroes.  All great, all flavorful, but I wanted just a little bit more.  The locations are cool, but what is going on here?  Give me a half paragraph describing the place.  Also, I love the heroes, but I hate the final level of them.  The Numenera structure is adjective noun who verbs for character creation.  So why are the heroes Enhanced adjective nouns?  I know size/typeset, but I’ll take smaller typeface for the real deal.  Same goes for money.  I know Thunderstone has a set card face, but why not make the gold shins?  I just had a bunch of little things that got under my skin here. 4/5

 

Rules: The rule book is think and intimidating, however it’s well written.  I like what I saw.  Cards with difficult explanations get a full write up in the book.  Lots of examples are provided, so you learn how to play a deck builder.  While it’s a tome, it’s a well built tome.  5/5

 

Execution/Art:  AEG is learned a lot from the first Thunderstone and Dominion.  The box is great and has those awesome foam inserts so more cards will fit (AKA I will buy more and put them in this game).  The separator cards are giant, so I can sort them quick.  I love the new board design, so I have a nice place to put all my stuff that looks great and not messy.  I am ecstatic with the little Thunderstone cypher bag and the little chits. You get great Numenera flavor throughout the whole game.  This is a quality game. 5/5

 

Summary:  Thunderstone is my deck builder.  I loved the base game and spent way too much on Facebook buying cards I own in real life to pay online.  I love Numenera.  These two coming together is like peanut butter and jelly and less like sushi and chocolate.  It could have gone horrible, but it’s come out amazing!  If you want a great intro product to Thunderstone, then this is a great grab.  If you want to try deck builders and are a RPG gamer, then this is a good grab.  I’m just happy I was able to get one. 92.5%

Time for a double feature review for Shadowrun.  Let’s go over two recently released Shadowrun items- 5e GM screen and the latest PDF Coyotes

First the Screen

 

Product– Shadowrun 5e GM Screen

Producer– Catalyst Game Labs

Price-$20

TL;DR-Great product you need for the new edition 95%

Crunch/Mechanics– The tables you need without the page flipping!  I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.  Now I don’t have to scroll across the whole book to find the one table I need to resolve that one test.  The absolute BEST part of these tables is that each one comes with PAGE NUMBERS!  If I don’t remember a small detail, now I know exactly where to go to get it.  On my side of the screen, it’s a fabulous product I’ve needed for a long time. 5/5

Execution– The front of the screen is a scene from an Ork underground rock concert.  Lot’s of metahumanity in one place.  Someone is giving the players a finger.  Looks beautiful.  I want my screen to be lower to I can see the players better and wider so I can fit more behind the screen, but the cardboard is high quality and stands up well with a nice shiny coat for protection.  A great job. 4.5/5

Summary–  I love this product.  It’s well done.  I want something a little different, but they didn’t ask me!  The price is a bit high, but it’s comparable to all the other GM screens out there.  Basically, if you run lots of Shadowrun, you want this product.  I wish this was a PDF so I could use it to help my players without tipping my screen to them. 95%

 

Now, “Coyotes”

 

Product– Coyotes

Producer– Catalyst Game Labs

Price– $8

TL;DR– Good add for GMs looking to add international tension to a game. 90%

Basics-You need a ride?  Coyotes are specialist smugglers who get people across borders.  This supplement covers what to expect when you cross different kinds of borders ranging from the simple guarded gate to countries at war.  The book is mostly told through a web post by a professional Coyote near Seattle.  Near the end of the book, different example Coyotes are presented. The last section of the book is a complete adventure any GM can run where the players are hired Coyotes.

Fluff/Story-  Most of this book is fluff.  The book focus on how different border crossings will occur as well as giving runners hints on how to cross these borders.  The stories are well written and an interesting read.  I enjoyed it. 5/5

Crunch/Mechanics- This is not a numbers book.  Make no mistake, the book does give statistics, but this isn’t a general spat book for everyone.  The book outlines what to expect at different borders and give what defenses the guards will have on hand.  I would have liked a few example drawings as some border crossings are referenced, but never shown.  The inclusion of the adventure really makes this awesome. 4.5/5

Execution- The book is well laid out.  It’s a bit expensive for $8 bucks for 30 pages, but I didn’t hate reading this. 4/5

Art- The art in this book is pretty good.  Some art is recycled from previous stuff which I don’t like but most of the referenced characters get their own picture.  That makes me happy.  I would have liked pictures/maps of a few things, but I do like what I see. 4.5/5

Summary- This is a good book.  It’s not something everyone at the tables needs, but if you want to be a coyote, this is the book for you.  If you are a GM and you want either a quick adventure for the next game, or you want to add tension when most players assume their safe like on a highway between places/adventures, this is an excellent addition to your library. 90%

Game-Eldritch Horror

Producer-Fantasy Flight

Price– $60

Set-up/Play/Clean-up- 3 Hours

TL;DR-An awesome addition to the FF Cthulhu line 92.5%

 

Basics–  The world is under attack!  Creatures from beyond are striking out at our world and bringing the apocalypse with them.  Based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft, each player takes the role of an investigator traveling the globe trying to close portals to other worlds, foil fiendish evil plots, and fighting monsters beyond mortal ken.  This game is a world spanning epic sequel to Arkham Horror.

 

Mechanics-  The game move somewhat quickly.  Each turn, character get two action that among other things can be moving, resting, shopping, or trading.  After that each character encounters events, monsters, or clues on their location.  Each location has its own special deck of cards strengthening then theme of the encounter there.  Finally, a card indicating what events happen next turn is read from the mythos deck.  When the mythos deck runs out, the world is doomed!  To resolve shopping, combat, or encounters, characters start by checking their sheet and look for the appropriate icons to find the number of dice to roll.  After the roll, 5’s and 6’s count as successes.  For most encounters, one success is needed, but for monsters, you’re successes inflict damage as well as prevent damage to yourself.  Monsters also have an additional roll where you must see if your character goes insane from the shear mental trauma of the beyond.  The game moves very quickly as the basic conflict resolution is fast, and the rules a pretty intuitive.  The game does flatten out some of the dice numbers from Arkham Horror, so that was a shock.  I did think some item prices were somewhat high, but all and all the game was fun and that came a lot from the mechanics involved.  4.5/5

 

Theme- The theme of cosmic horror comes out pretty well.  Each monster has a deck of events/quests you have to solve to prevent the end of the world.  If enough bad things happen, the ancient one awakens and then there is another event to deal with on the back of the ancient one.  This deck specific for each ancient evil really does make the game that much more focused.  The general mythos deck that makes bad things happen/timer is a little to general, but all and all I really did feel like I was working against one specific cosmic horror.  The monsters are a bit of a mix.  Monsters are still random, which isn’t bad, but it does mean you will fight stuff that by the Lovecraft mythos really doesn’t belong when you are fighting a different ancient evil.  That does take away from a bit of the focus.  However, I did that some monsters are special.  We had a zombie that became the special zombie hoard.  That little touch made the game that much more memorable.  The same goes for the mix of encounter cards you get.  Instead of a focused game against one cosmic being, you get a bit of a mix.  However, it’s not bad, just not the game I hoped for. 4/5

 

Instructions- The instructions are well written.  I had no questions on how to play.  I did have some minor questions regarding specific in game events, but POOF FAQ up before I even opened the box.  High quality too.  I hate when a FAQ doesn’t look like it belongs with the game.  Also, the instructions are ONLINE in pdf BEFORE the game was released! 5/5

 

Execution- This is Fantasy Flight, so instant 5/5  The parts of the game are amazing.

 

Summary- This game wasn’t the exact game I wanted, but it is close enough.  Arkham Horror had a bit of a focus problem.  This game fixes a lot of that but not completely.  I did have a great time and can’t wait to play again.  I want cosmic specific encounters across the board (mythos deck, region encounter decks etc), but I know that would have made this game that much more expensive and would have required about five times as many parts.  I’ve liked what I saw and can easily recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a world spanning Lovecraft adventure.  92.5%