The Gamers Arms

Just started playing Legacy of Dragonholt - a narrative adventure, very much in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure, only cranked up to its next stage of evolution. It can be played solo (which is what I’m doing) or with up to 6 people, each controlling an adventurer. It’s simple, it’s well-written, it’s exciting. It’s an absolute triumph. I’ve played 3 or so hours and a couple of adventures (in an on-going, persistent campaign, no less), and I’m tempted to say it’s a masterpiece.

I wish I’d had this when I was a kid, because while CYOA books were great, this would have blown my mind. My mind is approaching critical levels as an adult. I think the quality of writing makes a huge difference too, as it’s the flavour that draws you in. Most of the game is just reading - mechanically it’s almost mundane, though you do have character skills that determine whether you can make certain choices and stamina that depletes depending on which choices you make. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it an RPG, but it does encourage thinking of your character in those terms, choosing skills appropriate to who you are, which in turn informs the type of choices you’re likely to make. It works better than it has any right to.


In other board game news, I’ve been eyeing up Gloomhaven, though the £140ish price tag is daunting (bordering on ludicrous). Anyone had any experience with it?

Sounds neat. It's actually the sort of thing I wouldn't mind trying with my eldest, but what sort of age range would you pitch it at?

I think you could go as low as 8 if you had an adult playing with them or supervising, but 10-11 year olds should pick it up pretty easily. It’s not complex - there are things you track like time and training, but all you do is tick however many boxes on the tracker that an entry tells you to.

To put it another way, there is a two-page rules glossary and I’ve not had to refer to it once.

Wrathbone wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 07, 2019 12:01 pm

I think you could go as low as 8 if you had an adult playing with them or supervising, but 10-11 year olds should pick it up pretty easily. It’s not complex - there are things you track like time and training, but all you do is tick however many boxes on the tracker that an entry tells you to.

To put it another way, there is a two-page rules glossary and I’ve not had to refer to it once.

Cool. I was thinking more in terms of content though - I looked at a couple of reviews on Amazon that said it was pitched at a sort of PG13 level, which makes me think it would be better to hold off a couple of years (she's 8). I don't mind having to occasionally editorialise a bit when I'm reading out if the odd passage is slightly graphic.

There's plenty of combat detail, but none of it so far has been particularly graphic. It's very much on the level of, say, The Hobbit in terms of descriptions of violence. Maybe Harry Potter books 1 to 3. Other than that, there are some political machinations which may be lost on younger players, and there's an inter-species same-sex relationship which, at its most ribald point, involves a kiss. The writing in general probably is more PG13 in terms of complexity, but aside from the odd archaic word or two I wouldn't expect much of a problem.

I think in a couple of years your daughter would probably get more out of it, but from what I've played so far (6+ hours now) I've not noticed anything really unsuitable.

Good to know, cheers for the info. I'm going to stick it on my wish-list and see if the wife might buy it for Christmas

If you're looking for a really good "choose your own adventure as a board game", I highly recommend Tales of the Arabian Nights by Z-Man games. You choose a character from the Arabian Nights, such as Aladdin, Sindbad etc. and travel around the world (as imagined by Islamic scholars from the Golden Age of Islam -- with Baghdad at the center of it), taking part in adventures in order to create the most elaborate tale possible. It is a lot of fun.

I first bought it for my birthday 2009, but then I sold it again (usual story) as it wasn't really my wife's cup of tea (she prefers hard strategy, rather than story-telling), and back then it was only the two of us in the family. Now that I have kids, and now that they're old enough to play and enjoy such a thing, I think it might be time for a revisit.

Good shout, sounds exactly like my sort of thing.


EDIT - I've caved and bought Gloomhaven after watching many rave reviews. This may be borderline lunacy - the box apparently weighs 20lbs.

Wrathbone wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:47 am

Good shout, sounds exactly like my sort of thing.


EDIT - I've caved and bought Gloomhaven after watching many rave reviews. This may be borderline lunacy - the box apparently weighs 20lbs.

Speaking of Gloomhaven...



https://steamcommunity.com/games/780290 ... 9003153420

Yeah, it looks like it could be good, but I went for the physical version as I want to delve straight into the campaign, and that's not going to be available in early access. Chances are that I'll end up getting it anyway.

Not had chance to play any of Gloomhaven yet, but I did spent about 90 minutes unpacking it yesterday. There's a LOT of stuff.

Wrathbone wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:08 pm

Not had chance to play any of Gloomhaven yet, but I did spent about 90 minutes unpacking it yesterday. There's a LOT of stuff.

So, that was the "bank" you were "talking" to, then...?

I thought that might have been what triggered the fraud check, but they were more interested in $1.50 going out to Patreon.

Most of the unpacking time was due to there being around 30 cardboard sheets with tokens that needed popping out. Supposedly the rules aren't that hard to follow once you've got the grasp of things, but good lord there's a lot to take in by the looks of it!

Isn't there like 1500 cards or something.

I think it would take me longer than I have left to sleeve those suckers. However what a lasting legacy it would be!

I've seen unboxing videos of that game on Youtube and I was basically:



If I had some peeps living nearby who were genuinely interested in spending a couple of evenings a month playing through the campaign, I'd buy it in a shot (or pay towards it).

I have no one to play it with and I'd love it just for all the stuff. A big box of stuff, magic!