Board Game Review: Fairy Ring

 

RPG Review: Overlight

 

Almost two years ago, I discovered a roleplaying game that very much caught my attention. I bought it as soon as I was able, and I have not regretted doing so. Now, I am delighted to write a review for this game. Welcome, my friends, to Overlight from Renegade Game Studios.

An Overview of Overlight

Three thousand years ago, the guardian dragons that watched over the world debated whether humanity had earned the right to receive the eight keys to creation. Seven of the eight dragons voted 'no,' but the eighth dragon disagreed so strongly that he gave the keys to the humans in secret. When he did so, he warned them not to use the eighth key.

This was a mistake.

The humans used the eighth key, and the world was turned upside down. It shattered into seven shards, which are suspended in space above the Endless Sea, as the Overlight shines down from above. Each shard is home to a different species, and is characterised by different dominant terrain types.

Now, the ancient history has been lost, and none remember the world as it once was. But there are some, known as the Skyborn, who have an unusual relation with the Overlight. They are able to refract it into different colours, known as 'Chroma,' which they can manifest in wonderous magical effects.

Players take on the role of one of these Skyborn, and travel among the shards, trying to learn the truth of the world that has been lost to time.

First Point: Production Value

The book is beautiful. All the art was created by Kwanchai Moriya, and it is fantastic. It is colourful and whimsical, but with a hint of danger, which is fully in keeping with the game's theme. The right edges of the odd-numbered pages have coloured triangles to make it easier to navigate between chapters. 

My biggest gripe with the production is that it could be a little more accessible to vision-impaired people. The text is in a serif-font, except the section headings, which are sans-serif. Most text is black on a pale lavender. The exceptions are: the chapter on the different shards (the background is a different colour for each shard, though the background is still a very light shade), section headings (which are still on a pale lavender background, but are red or purple instead of black), and sidebars (which are on pale green backgrounds). These are not huge issues for the visually impaired, but they are issues.

Apart from that, the only complaint I have is that there is no image I could find of the Brendenol Tribe of the Banyari. As they are the most unique of the Banyari tribes in appearance, an illustration would have been nice.

Second Point: Setting

The world of Overlight is very different from ours. There is no sky above, only the constant shine of the Overlight itself. There is no sun, no moon, and the only stars are the ones that appear to shine in the Endless Sea that lies beneath the shards. This means that the topmost shard, Nova, never has any darkness. It is a sprawling desert with little shade, populated by the Novapendra: giant centipede-like creatures (which are the only sentient race in Overlight that are not available as a PC race).

Lower shards have 'night' periods resulting from the shadows of higher shards passing over them, which happens sporadically, as the shards float around in a complex pattern that only the most learned of scholars understand. The second shard, Zenith, has few periods of darkness, because there's only one shard above it. Zenith is a cold place of snowy mountains. It is populated by the Hamanu, giant ape-like creatures, and the Zenith Order Monks (who are technically the same species as the Harkeen, but the rules treat them as a separate race).

Below that is Quill, a lush land of jungles and rivers. Many years ago, Quill collided with Banyan, the shard below it, and shattered into many smaller chunks. Quill is home to the Teryxians, feathered dinosaur-like creatures who value learning and stoicism (despite their impassioned hatred of the Banyari). Banyan, meanwhile, is a land of forest, and the Banyari who live there are small furry creatures who are divided into six tribes. Each tribe has a different appearance, but most of them have a symbiotic relationship with a plant that grows around them and forms a sort of living wooden power suit.

The next shard is Hark. Whatever terrain it once had has been subsumed by the city, also called Hark, which covers the entire continent. It is a multi-layered affair, as the city was created by digging into the bedrock to carve the houses and other buildings directly into the shard itself. It is home to the Harkeen, who are basically humans. Also on Hark is the Council of Seven, representatives from all seven of the shards that serves as a de facto government for the world.

Below Hark is Veile, made up of rolling hills and lush fields punctuated by lakes. The Aurumel call this shard home; they are similar to the Harkeen, but taller, slender, and never seen without their masks. They are renowned craftsmen and artists.

The lowest shard is Pyre. It is a hard land of mountains and volcanoes. As the lowest shard, it is most prone to being in darkness as the other shards float above it, blocking out the Overlight from above. The Pyroi call this place home, and the difficult life that they eke out in the rocky terrain leads them to value strength and endurance. They are a warrior culture, as it is hard enough to survive as warriors on their hard and hot shard. They are massive, taller even than the Hamanu, with dark skin that sometimes tends towards red, two fingers and a thumb on each hand, and elephant feet.

There is so much more that can be said about the setting. It is one of the things I love about this game; the world itself is so vibrant, so unique, and so rich in unusual details that it would take a long time to describe it in any real depth.

The various races from Overlight.

Third Point: System

Core Mechanic

Characters do not have attributes. Instead, they have seven Virtues: Might, Vigor, Will, Compassion, Logic, Wisdom, and Spirit. These virtues function very similarly to attributes, though there are some ways in which they are less intuitive than attributes. Each Virtue is rated on a step scale: D6, D8, D10, or D12.

Each Virtue has three skills associated with it (except Might, which has only two, and Spirit, which works differently from the others). These skills are rated on the same step scale of D6 to D12 as the Virtues.

To make a roll, you take three of the dice rated for your Skill and three of the dice rated for the controlling Virtue, plus 1d4 to serve as the Spirit Die, and roll all of them together. Every two dice that come up as 6 or higher counts as a success level. For example, imagine that you were rolling your Persuasion, which was rated at D8, and was governed by the Will Virtue, which was rated at D10. In this case, you would roll 3d8 + 3d10 + 1d4. If two of those dice come up as 6 or higher, that's the basic level of success: Luminous Success. If four of those dice land on 6 or more, you have achieved the second level of success: Radiant. If all six dice results are 6 or higher, that's the third level of success: Brilliant.

The Spirit Die is a little different. Since it can't land on 6, it serves an auxiliary function. If the Spirit Die lands on 4, it will have different effects in different situations. If you are one die short of the next higher success level, it bumps you up to that level. If you score a Brilliant Success and the Spirit Die lands on 4, it promotes the success to the highest level: Legendary. Otherwise, it grants you a Spirit Point. Spirit Points can be spent in various ways, most often to fuel Chroma or to upgrade a success to the next highest level.

Keep in mind, this is just how skill rolls work. The system is slightly different if you're rolling to use a Chroma, making an opposed roll, rolling to attack in combat, or (and this is weird, because money is abstracted in Overlight) making a 'Wealth Test' to see if you can afford a purchase.

This is honestly my biggest concern about this game. As much as I love basically everything else about it, the core mechanic is so complicated and overwrought that it detracts from what is otherwise a nearly perfect game for me. Not only is it hard to remember how the different types of die rolls work, and the different functions of the Spirit Die in each different type of roll, but you need a lot of dice. At a minimum, you need a d4, 3d6, 3d8, 3d10, and 3d12 (if you're willing to roll a set of dice twice if the skill and Virtue have the same rating). Ideally, there'll be 1d4, 6d6, 6d8, 6d10, and 6d12, if all players share the dice. But 25 dice for one game is a bit extreme.

Chroma

The 'magic' in Overlight is called 'Chroma.' These are basically spell lists, but you're only allowed to take Chroma that are associated with your race or your core Virtue. As much as this game purports to be about characters who are remarkable when compared to the 'normal' denizens of their world, the Chroma don't seem terribly powerful to me. Also, given that the Chroma are powered by Spirit Points, which can be hard to come by, I wonder if it can be difficult to use the powers you do have.

Combat

This is the area in which most people are turned off by this game. Combat is highly abstracted. There is usually no defense roll (unless you spend a Spirit Point to take the Full Defense Manoeuvre, which entails forgoing your attack on that turn). There are no damage ratings for different attacks or different weapons; regardless of whether you are punching, kicking, biting, attacking with a sword, spear, arrow, or thrown rocks, you do the same amount of damage (which is determined by the number of dice that come up as 6 or higher on your attack roll).

The rules state that the focus of this game is storytelling, and they don't want that impeded by lengthy combats full or constant dice rolling. Which is fine for players like me, who are more interested in the story anyway, but for players who demand lots of tactics and detailed combat systems, it is a serious drawback. I have heard more than one player look at this game and say something like, 'I was interested until I read the combat rules, then I decided I had no desire to play.'

Final Thoughts on Overlight

I know that not everyone is going to be interested in this game. For many players, it's not fighty enough. For others, the overwrought core mechanic is too hard to get past. And for some, the setting is just too different. 

But despite the core mechanic not being to my liking, I am a big fan of the game. Much like my affection for The Dark Crystal, the world is so unique, so different, so creative, so innovative, that I can overlook the things I don't like about it. I love exploring new and different settings, especially when we have a fantasy setting that doesn't follow the usual elves/dwarves/goblins/etc pattern.

If this sounds interesting to you too, you can head over to the Renegade Studios website and take a look at what they have. Until next time,

Game on!

RPG Review - Fallout: The Roleplaying Game

 Last week, I emerged from my hiatus to post a review of a game that was generally sent to me by the publisher. But they were kind enough to send me two games to review, so today, I shall review the second of those games. 

So welcome, fellow gamers, to my review of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game.

I should take a moment here to point out that when you look on RPG Geek, this game is listed as 'Fallout 2d20.' Don't make the mistake of looking at 'The Fallout Roleplaying Game;' that appears to be a homebrew D20 version. This is the official licensed version.

RPG Review - Dune: Adventures in the Imperium

 It has been over a year since I last posted anything. But I return to you today with a very important post: a review of a new TTRPG.

I was recently contacted by a representative of Modiphius Entertainment asking me if I'd like some advanced review copies of their forthcoming games. Obviously, I jumped at the chance. So they generously sent me a review copy, which I will now review for you.

An Overview of Dune: Adventures in the Imperium

Modiphius returns to their 2d20 system for this outing into the world of Frank Herbert's sci-fi books. Although the rules can be used to play in any era of the saga, the core rulebook focuses primarily on the end of the Imperium era; that is, the rise of Paul Atreides. The game is clearly published as a tie-in with the Denis Villeneuve film, but can easily work for those who are more familiar with the books. Although there are plenty of rules for combat, the game is intended for a more narrative style of gaming that is in keeping with the epic 'galactic politics and intrigue' style of story that fits in with the books.

Board Game Review: Underwater Cities

John can be very impulsive sometimes. One day, he showed up to our usual Friday night game night with a new game that he'd seen at the FLGS and bought immediately because he thought it looked interesting.

Well, we played it that night, and again a couple weeks later. The game in question was (of course) Underwater Cities by Vladimir Suchy from Rio Grande Games. It turned out to be an interesting fusion of worker placement, economic development, and resource management. Normally, these are three game mechanics for which I don't care. But oddly enough, this game combined them in a way that made me not hate it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's do this properly, shall we? Here are the numbers:

Board Game Review: Draftosaurus

If you're looking for an adorable variant on a card-drafting mechanic, then look no further. Draftosaurus by Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, and Théo Rivière, published by Ankama, is a very simple card drafting game, but instead of drafting cards, you're drafting dinosaurs!

Players take on the role of zookeepers looking to populate their parks with newly cloned dinosaurs. Each player wants to get the best combination of dinosaurs possible to make their dino-zoo more interesting to patrons than the other parks' owners.

Before we get any further, let's take a look at our numbers:

Board Game Review: Multiuniversum

John found a game that he really enjoyed when we went to Geekway to the West last year. It's called Multiuniversum, and it was designed by Manuel Correia. It was originally published by Board & Dice, with a second edition published by Last Level, and the current edition is from Grey Fox.

The premise is that scientists working on creating portals to alternate universes have succeeded in creating those portals, but now must shut them down before horrors from those other universes emerge into ours. You score points by closing portals, as well as gaining bonus points, set-collection style, by gathering data from the universes as you shut down the portals.

Let's take a look at this little game, shall we?

Board Game Review: Blokus

In the midst of the revolution in which a number of amazing companies produce some amazing new games and many small companies produce many more amazing games, it's easy to scoff at the large 'mainstream' companies who continue making games which are intended to appeal to the general public instead of the board game community. But that doesn't mean that some of their games aren't really good.

This is the case with Blokus (pronounced BLOCK-us), created by Bernard Tavitian and published by Mattel. Though it bills itself as a family game, it holds a surprising level of depth and strategy. It is a refreshingly thinky game that is easy to learn and play, but contains intense tactical challenges.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves! We'll start as we always do, with the numbers:

Board Game Review: On Tour

Sometimes you find a game that surprises you with its depth. What appears to be a simple fluffy game with no appeal turns out to contain some hefty decisions and require intense thought. On Tour, by Chad DeShon and published by Board Game Tables Dot Com, was one of those games. When I first saw it, I was unimpressed with the theme, and didn't think much of it. But when I actually sat down to play it, I was shocked at how much fun it is.

Sure, it's not going to be a serious game for a heavy Friday night game session with the hardcore gamers. But as a party game, or a light filler, it is unexpectedly satisfying! I might not have ordered a copy for myself, but I received a voucher for a discount, and felt it was worth having at that price.

So let's take a look at this game, starting with the numbers:

Board Game Review: Decrypto

One of the new games I got to try at Geekway this past May was an interesting game called Decrypto. John's daughter discovered it, and insisted that she and her friend play it with me and John. It was a fun game, and I bought a copy so that the Dork Spouse and I could play it with our friends Gemma and Caroline. So I think I should review it for you now.

Decrypto, by Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance and published by Le Scorpion Masqué and Iello, is a teams game in which you want to communicate a code number to your teammate(s) without the rival team discerning the number.

Let's start with the usual numbers:

PinkFae Archive #53: Board Game Review: Power Grid

In this, the penultimate entry from the PinkFae Archives, we have the last board game review I wrote for that site. It was originally published on 11 February 2017.

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In my quest to play eighty of the top 100 board games, I have finally been able to play Power Grid. I first heard of this game when I read the Cracked article 6 Board Games that Ruined It for Everyone. That article lists Monopoly as the worst board game of all time. Perhaps it's only fair to say it's the worst widely known board game of all time. But the article goes on to recommend Power Grid instead. The article states:

Power Grid is everything Monopoly should have been. You're genuinely aiming to build a monopoly, earning ever-increasing fountains of money, but you still have to spend every cent to stay ahead of the competition.

I've only been able to play once, but I already know I need to own a copy for myself. Let me explain why.

Let's look at some ratings:

Board Game Review: War Chest

When I went to Geekway to the West back in May, I won a copy of the game War Chest by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, published by Alderac Entertainment Group, in the play-to-win drawing. I think the time has come to review that game for you!

The premise behind the game is that a grizzled warrior gives a gift to a young prince to help him prepare to be a great leader in times of war. The gift was a War Chest, a crate of tokens used to play a game designed to help the future king learn to adapt to the constantly shifting conditions in a battle.

War Chest is that game.

Let's start as we always do: with some numbers.

PinkFae Archive #50: Board Game Review: Five Tribes

This week's entry is another one from the PinkFae Archives. It was originally published on 21 January 2017.

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 A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through the top 100 ranked games on Board Game Geek. I noticed, to my dismay, that I had only played about seventeen of them. That was when I decided I needed to fix that. So I made a new year's resolution for 2017. Before the end of this year, I want to, at some point, be able to say that I've played at least 80 of the games on BGG's top 100 list. This led to me playing Five Tribes with some friends last week.

I'll talk more about this resolution on my other blog, where I'll also keep track of how many I've played. But for now, I will use the opportunity to review a wonderful game. At first, I was hesitant to try it, based on the relevant episode of Tabletop. I have learned that I need to be less reliant on that series. Games that look uninteresting to me turn out to be a lot of fun. That was the case with Five Tribes; I really liked it. So let's see why, starting with the numbers:

Board Game Review: Cheer Up!

I'm going to lay all my cards on the table, just as soon as you forgive me for that terrible pun. I only sort of like Cards Against Humanity. Sure, when I first played it, I thought it was delightfully funny in a darkly immature way. But after a while, I got tired of it. Mostly because it was the only game that many of my friends wanted to play. Yeah, it's offensive in that way that non-uptight adults living in an incredibly uptight culture appreciate it. But CAH ultimately is just offensive jokes for offensive jokes' sake. There's no creativity, no strategy, no skills. In the end, it all boils down to 'which player happened to receive the card that the judge finds most humorous this turn?'

But, as I said, it's the only game that many of my friends like to play. There's a certain group of people that I like, but I can't spend much time around them because the only thing they ever do for fun is get drunk and play games, usually CAH, or if not, then one of the JackBox games.

So when I saw Cheer Up! by Chris Rio and published by Cheer Up Games, I wondered if maybe I had found a game that would appeal to those who rely on CAH for their 'gaming' needs but still provide me a little more engagement than the normal CAH-style party game so that I don't feel resigned to my fate when everyone else wants to play it.

So let's look at those numbers:

PinkFae Archive #47: Board Game Review: Geoquest

Today we have another board game review from the PinkFae archives. This one is for a game released through Gamecrafter called Geoquest.

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One of the advantages of living in the early 21st century is that there are print-on-demand services available for just about everything you might want. Games are no exception; through the Gamecrafter website, anyone can design and sell their own board or card games! This means that if anyone wants to play a game based on a certain topic, but such a game does not exist, they can make their own. Such is the case with the new game Geoquest.

J Keller and his son Jason are board game enthusiasts who wanted to find a game that captured the enjoyment they get from their other hobby, geocaching. They were unable to find such a game, however, so they created their own. It's only just recently become available on Gamecrafter, but they were kind enough to send me a copy. I was able to play with some of my friends, so today I will review it for you.

And as an added bonus, next week, I will post an interview I had with the creators! Until then, we start as always with the ratings.

Board Game Review: Azul - Stained Glass of Sintra

Last year, I wrote a review of the popular game Azul. Not long after that, they released a sequel in which, rather than tiling the walls of the building, you're installing stained glass windows. Needless to say, when I got a chance to play it at Geekway to the West earlier this year, I took it. And I really enjoyed this game. It's similar enough to the original that it definitely feels like it's in the same family, yet different enough to justify owning both.

So now, let us look at Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra by Michael Kiesling, published by Next Move Games. I'm going to approach this review as if you've never even heard of the original, just in case there's anyone out there who is brand new to the Azul family. I ask that everyone else bear with me.

We start, of course, with the numbers:

My Review of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

I don't know if you know this, but I am a huge fan of The Dark Crystal.

Ok, that's a paltry attempt at humour. If you read this blog at all, you know that I hold The Dark Crystal up as the greatest example of true fantasy that has ever been created. I have written before about the astounding amount of creativity that I feel went into this film. Tolkien did something wonderful when he created Middle Earth; he took elements of existing mythology, added many of his own ideas, and blended it all together into a cohesive (and incredibly well-detailed) world.

Almost all fantasy (excluding 'modern fantasy,' obviously) has followed on that pattern to some extent. Some fantasy worlds do away with non-human races (like Game of Thrones), others add or remove or alter some non-human races (Earthdawn added the Obsidimen and T'skrang, for example), but they're otherwise all more or less the same basic idea of pseudo-medieval settings with magic.

This is not the case with The Dark Crystal.

PinkFae Archive #44: Board Game Review: Widow's Walk for Betrayal at House on the Hill

Today's entry is another PinkFae Archive. This one is another board game review, but unlike most of the reviews I've written, this one is a review of an expansion. It is thus far still the only review I've written for an expansion. It was originally published on 3 December 2016.

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Back in 2004, Avalon Hill released an innovative board game called Betrayal at House on the Hill. A friend had a copy, and I got to play it, and loved it so much I bought a copy. It became popular, and many of my friends loved playing it. It soon went out of print, though... but demand increased. So in 2010, they released a second edition, with improved parts and corrections. It continued to be popular. So everyone continued to wonder why such a popular game had no expansions. Earlier this year, they announced the first expansion: Widow's Walk.

This review is going to be a little different. Instead of reviewing the game itself, I'm going to review an expansion. If you're not familiar with the base game, you can read my review over on my other site.

Board Game Review: Charon Inc.

John recently mentioned to me that he missed having a copy of Charon Inc. by Emanuele Ornella and Fred Binkitani, published by Eagle-Gryphon Games. He had had a copy previously, but had lost it recently. So I felt moved to buy him a copy. He was so excited when I gave it to him that we played it that very night. I'm so glad we did, because I really enjoyed it. Now I will review it for you!

The premise of this game is that players represent CEOs of mega-corporations exploiting Pluto's moon Charon for mineral resources to build various buildings, which score victory points. And with that, let's take a look at the ratings!

PinkFae Archive #41: Board Game Review: Tides of Madness

We come once again to a PinkFae archive. This article is another board game review. It was originally published on 12 November 2016.

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Earlier this year, Portal Games released a Cthulhu-based card game called Tides of Madness. It was a rework of their game Tides of Time, which was released last year. It's a surprisingly enjoyable game, given that it consists entirely of eighteen cards and a handful of tokens. I got to play it a couple of weeks ago, so I will review it for you today.