[Review] "Wayward: Choose Your Adventure Fantasy Board Game" By Hirst Arts

As readers of this blog know, I'm a big fan of DIY RPGs, and I love to discover, play, and review those games that have that self-produced aesthetic. Today, I'm reviewing the first self-produced boardgame I've played, and it's becoming a favorite here at the house.

Wayward is a fantastic boardgame by Bruce Hirst of Hirst Arts, better known for fantasy architecture models and molds. Bruce not only designed the game, he also created it, produced it, manufactured it, and sells it directly from his website and at conventions. (Click here if you'd like to see Bruce's site where he discussed how he created Wayward!)

Before I blather on with my opinions, you'd probably like to see the game in action and hear about the gameplay. Well, Bruce has also thoughtfully produced a playthrough video of the game, so rather than having me summarize the game, I'll let him show you how the game works...

To summarize for those folks who don't want to watch a video, you and up to 5 players explore a huge 24" x 36" gameboard. Each turn, you have 12 "actions" in which to explore a forbidden dungeon or medieval village, amassing as much gold as you can while you fight monsters, dodge traps, and explore multiple "special rooms" with their own unique rules and gameplay. Once the endgame is triggered (usually by the first person to accumulate 100 gold pieces), the players have one remaining turn to escape the gameboard through the exit. Failing to do so, and the players are caught by the guards and tossed into jail, losing the game.

I stumbled across a discussion of Wayward on Facebook and, from the description, knew I had to get my hands on it. The initial description gave me a Dungeon! vibe, which is a good thing, as it's one of my favorite games. However, when the huge box arrived and I unpacked the contents, I saw that this game had much, much deeper gameplay.

Rather than just randomly move about the board, the game encourages you to explore and plan your actions. (After all, those 12 actions go fast on your turn!) According to the rulebook, the board is deliberately designed to be "busy" with a lot of objects and things to inspect. Some of those items can be retrieved from the room you're exploring...if you see them before moving on! Grabbing a weapon lets you try to push past the guards and monsters lurking in the shadows. You can access secret passageways to other parts of the complex if you've found a torch. Locked doors will swing open if you have the right lockpick in hand (There are three different ones!) Hourglasses give you more actions on your turn, and tarot cards allow you to reroll the dice. And as you explore, you have to keep an eye on the ever-dwindling endgame goal, as you'll never make it out in time if you're on the other side of the board!

Speaking of the board, look at the size of it! When you've explored every nook and cranny of the dungeon, flip it over and explore the city above ground.

 One side features Darrowell Dungeon...

And the other side features Darrowell City!

With two huge areas, there's a lot of explore. And there are a TON of things you can do during the course of play in either area, as there are many unique rooms and zones to discover and explore. Each of these special rooms is marked with a brazier icon with a unique number. You then refer to the rulebook (or the hardy reference card) to determine the specific actions available to you in that area. Fighting a dragon, pickpocketing a guard, and outrunning a flaming gauntlet are just some of the challenges you'll face in the game's 25 special areas. (But I won't discuss them here, and I'll let you discover them for yourself.)

The quality of the game's various parts is very high quality and are built to last. The player inventory cards are laminated for durability, and the gameboard is made of a heavy vinyl. The player pawns, endgame marker, and "retrieval pillar" are nicely designed and cast. And you can spend a LOT of time just looking over the gameboard, as it's truly magnificent. Here are a few scenes (from the creator's website):

One thing that drives me nuts when learning a new game is trying to grok the rules, especially if you're trying to learn the game on your own without an experienced player there to help you out. To combat any rule confusion from new players, Bruce has thoughtfully uploaded videos on his website showing the various rules and gameplay that a player may encounter, walking you through the nuances of the game. So if a special room's conditions are confusing, watch the video for the corresponding room as the game's designer walks you through.

And if this isn't enough, you can download and read the rules now before you commit to a purchase. You can also download and print the game for free, so you can try it before you buy it!

This delightful fantasy adventure boardgame offers plenty of replay value and hours upon hours of dungeon-crawling adventure. And for only $35 plus shipping? It's a no-brainer. I'll be bringing my copy to North Texas RPG in a month. If you want to try it out, look for me there! Sniderman says, "Check it out."

[Kickstarter] The Check Deck: A Twist On Checkers

 I love gamehacks and optional home rules folks think up for their favorite boardgames. (For example, tossing all taxes and penalties into the center of the Monopoly board, then hoping you're the first to land on Free Parking for that jackpot!) A new gamehack I stumbled across on Kickstarter is "The Check Deck" -- a deck of 34 rule-breaking cards for Checkers. Similar to Knightmare Chess, The Check Deck adds an element of randomness to the otherwise straightforward game of Checkers.

At the beginning of the match, each player is dealt 7 cards at random from The Check Deck. Play then proceeds normally, with the exception that -- instead of moving -- a player can instead play one of the cards in his hand and follow those instructions for his turn. He may be allowed to treat any piece as if it were a King for that turn, jumping and capturing as many opponent pieces as possible. He might play a card allowing him to move two pieces that turn instead. Or he may swap the position of one of his pieces with that of one of his opponents. Freezing a piece in place, or removing any piece from play could also happen.

The Check Deck already hit its minuscule goal of $100 with 27 days left to go. Only $12 gets you a deck shipped free anywhere in the U.S. with delivery in November in time for Christmas. (Apparently all that's needed is funds for printing, as a prototype deck is featured on the Kickstarter page.) I can't remember the last time I broke out my Checkers board, but this sounds like a nifty addition to try out and toss into the gamebox for future diversions. For $12? Sure, king me!

[Review] Coin Age By Tasty Minstrel Games: The Area Control Game That Fits In Your Pocket

One of my favorite genres of boardgames is the "capture the most area and win"-type games. (Risk is my personal go-to game.) Late last year, I stumbled across a Kickstarter for a new area management boardgame, and the second I saw the video and the pitch for the concept, I tossed right in. The selling point to me was the portability. After all, how many boardgames can fit into your wallet and are played with the spare change you have in your pocket? Folks, I present "Coin Age" by Tasty Minstrel Games.

(The Coin Age coin purse shown here was a separate purchase I made and is not included with the game. But it's a keen carrying case for everything!)

Coin Age is played on a single world map about the size and shape of a credit card. If you already know the rules, you can stick the board in your wallet and -- with $1.56 in change -- you can play this game anyplace. The Coin Age Kickstarter bundle came with a bunch of additional stretch goals, but the only thing required to play is the map, the rules, and a handful of coins.

The Kickstarter ended with the two double-sided game boards (with a total of four different maps to play on); a plastic "credit card" of the original map for wallet portability (as I discussed above); some cardboard double-sided punch-out coins (not pictured here as I don't use 'em); stickers to apply to real coins if desired (which I've done here, though you can play heads/tails rather than silver/gold if desired); and the rules booklet. The game arrived the other day (though the original estimated delivery was April) and my friends and I have been getting a lot of gameplay out of it already. Waiting for our meal to arrive at a restaurant? Play a few games of Coin Age. Between frames during bowling league night? Play a few games of Coin Age.

To begin, each player gets 1 quarter, 2 nickles, 3 pennies, and 4 dimes. One plays heads, and the other is tails. (I prefer the gold/silver stickers supplied with the game as shown here.) Larger coins (in size, not denomination) are worth more points, but the smaller coins are "stronger" strategically. Smaller coins can cover/capture areas held by larger units, but they're worth less at the end. The map is divided into regions of different sizes. (On this map, there are four regions of 1, 2, 3, and 4 spaces each.) If you hold all or a majority of an area, your coins score double at the end. Game goes until all areas are covered or someone runs out of coins. The points are then totaled. And that's about it.

On your turn, you take one of each coin you have (a quarter, nickle, penny, and dime), shake them, then slam them to the table. Coins that show your side up are playable that turn. And the number of coins that are "your side up" gives you the actions you can perform. If you match all four, you can place two or pay one coin to your opponent to place three coins. If you match two or three coins, you can place two on the board. Matching one coin allows you to place that coin then move any stack on the board to a neighboring area. And finally, if none of the coins are yours, you can capture any opponents piece from the board, then move a stack on the map. So you can see, there are a lot of strategic options. On the turn shown here, gold played a nickle (3 points) and a penny (2 points) and the two "silver coins" were returned back to his pool.

On silver's turn, he turned up a nickle and a penny. He placed the nickle and, since his penny is smaller than gold's nickle, he used it to "cover" gold's nickle, taking that area away. He returns his unused coins to his pool, and the game goes on from there -- place coins, moving them, covering your opponent's coins when possible, and on.

Once the last area is covered, or someone's coins are all used, the game ends, and the points are totaled. Here, silver wins with 25 points, barely beating gold's 20 points. Scoop up the spare change and play again. A game takes about 5 minutes to play.

Coin Age was just sent out to the Kickstarter backers, though Tasty Minstrel had copies available at Gen Con, so I'm uncertain of the commercial availability at this time. (A few overpriced copies have popped up on eBay if you feel like paying triple.) But once you can get your hands on this clever little game, I suggest you grab it. You never know when you might find yourself with some downtime, a handful of change, and a conquering opponent!

Hundreds Of Board Games, All In One Little Box

The other day, I had a boardgame marathon. I first played a space-race game where a friend and I plotted our starships through a wormhole-spotted galaxy. Then we played a land management game where we were rival tribal chieftains attempting to colonize a primitive island paradise. After he left, I broke out a solo dungeon crawl featuring a randomly generated board. Before turning in, a played a quick game of table croquet, flicking a wooden disc through some strategically placed targets in the fewest moves possible.

And all of these different boardgames came out of this little box. Meet my new "piecepack."

Simply defined, a piecepack is a collection of specifically designed pieces that can be rearranged and reassembled into hundreds of different boardgames. Created by James Kyle in 2000 and released into the public domain, a piecepack is to board games what a deck of cards is to card games. With a standard deck of cards, you can play hundreds of different games: poker, solitaire, rummy, pinochle, cribbage, blackjack, war, etc. The cards stay the same -- 13 sets in 4 different suits. It's the ruleset that changes for each game. The piecepack is set up in a similar manner. Same set of pieces, but the layout and ruleset changes depending on the game you want to play.

Pictured above is a piecepack. It also has four suits like a deck of cards: red suns, black moons, green (or yellow) crowns, and blue arms. And each suit has the following pieces associated with it:

• 6 tiles numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, Ace (a spiral symbol), and Null (blank) on one side. The other side are two lines dividing the tile into four equal sections.
• 6 coins (small discs) with the suit on one side and numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, Ace, and Null on the reverse side.
• A pawn with the appropriate suit on it.
• A 6-sided die with the same suit on each face and numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, Ace, and Null.

Although some games incorporate dominoes, poker chips, actual 6-siders, play money, etc., I prefer to play piecepack games that only use the pieces found in one standard set. For example:

 

Here's the set-up for a game of Chaos Cruisers, a space-age racing game around a figure-8 track. The dice are used as the playing pieces with the top-most face representing the speed of your vehicle. The player at the intersection narrowly missed the obstacle while he heads toward the scoring gate at the turn.

Here's a four-player game of Everest, a mountain climbing game where four yetis try to knock each other from the summit. The coins are secretively chosen then revealed by each player at the same time as "movement tokens" in a pre-programmed brawl for supremacy!

A piecepack can even play the classics. Four-person Chinese Checkers anyone?

 It can even be used for tabletop "flick" games like hockey, golf, and -- shown here -- a game of 9-ball.

Since the piecepack is open source and in the public domain, anyone can make their own or even commercially create and sell them. (I purchased mine from a vendor.) People are constantly creating new games for it all of the time, sharing them online under the GNU Free Documentation License. (I have a book of 107 different piecepack games I'm working my way through.) Some creative folks have even adapted popular games like Settlers of Catan and Forbidden Island for the piecepack. One game I particularly enjoy plays like a combination of Chill: Black Morn Manor and Betrayal at House on the Hill. (I'll share a playthrough in a day or so to show you how the piecepack system works in play.)

I'm just now scratching the surface of this boardgame phenomenon and wanted to share my discovery with the rest of the folks out there who like boardgames and love a good do-it-yourself modular system.

• Piecepack.org - Info on creating your own piecepack, print-and-play versions, download rulesets, FAQs, and tons of info.
• Boardgame Geek entry on the piecepack system.
• Blue Panther LLC - Maker of several nice piecepack sets, including mine pictured above.
• Piecepack Wiki
• Wiki list of downloadable piecepack games 
• Piecepack Design FAQ by creator James Kyle

SPI's Dawn Of The Dead Boardgame; Old School Zombie Killin'

As I discussed yesterday, in my eyes, "Old School Recreation" doesn’t just encompass RPGs. Many classic board games and wargames fall squarely under the OSR umbrella. Game companies like Avalon Hill, SPI, and Task Force Games – although not primarily ID’ed as RPG manufacturers – are nonetheless thought of as “old school” by most of us, I’d venture. And with that introduction out of the way…

The “zombie survival” genre is at its peak of popularity right now, especially with an explosion of zombie-related boardgames filling game store shelves. But long before we had Zombies!, Zombicide, Last Night on Earth, or Maul of America, we were playing SPI’s Dawn of the Dead board game.

I purchased my own copy of SPI’s DotD board game at a small local game store known as The Tin Soldier back in 1982. I was never much of a wargamer – moving those little cardboard chits around was tedious. But a horror boardgame based on one of my favorite films? It was a “no-brainer.” (Ha! See what I did there?)

Up to 4 players fight their way through a shopping mall overrun with zombies. The goal is to seal the four main entrances to the mall, then clear out the infestation before the players are overrun and eaten by the horde. There are a lot of deep gameplay choices too. Players can either stick with their cobbled-together, ineffective weapons, or they can try to fight their way to the gun shop for better weapons. Some zombies are randomly “hidden” in the mall, and they can ambush the unwary player during play. Infected players can become “super zombies” who then turn on their teammates. Heck, there’s even rules for solo play! When my DotD box fell apart from overuse, I taped the whole thing up in clear packing tape to extend its longevity. But, at some point in the past, I either misplaced it or threw it away or gave it to a friend. Kind of regret that, as it’s a great game.

But the Internet once again comes to the rescue!

Over on Homepage of the Dead – a celebration and collection of all things “Romero-esque” – they have taken this classic game, scanned everything (map, counters, rules), and posted the parts in a free “print and play” format. Want to play one of my favorite games?  Click here to download, then print, cut out the pieces, and play this classic 35-year-old zombie board game!

And, if YOU have a gaming blog and want to discuss YOUR favorite Ye Olde Wargamme (or RPG or boardgame or whatever), be sure to sign up to participate in the Obsolete Simulations Roundup on December 29! Bring those musty, dusty favorites out where we can all see and appreciate them!