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[vagel7]

Beta key sent

EDIT: I think the world also changes with the war counter. Gets more dangerous or safer.

[Hawkfrost]

I haven't had a chance to play it either.  Not really sure how the rules work, there's a tutorial but it's not a gameplay tutorial so without actually playing I don't really get it.

I know each player picks one of the four characters, Geralt, Triss, Dandelion, and Yarpen, and then you wander around the world doing quests, and when a set number of quests are complete the player with the most quest points wins, but I don't know if there's cooperative elements within that, or ways to harm the other players as a competitive game, or what.

There are some indirect ways of dicking over the other players, but I don't think they are intended. Dropping monsters and foul fate tokens on lands they need to travel through, trigger monster effects when they are nearby, ect.

The game itself plays most similar to Eldritch Horror or Elder Sign. You pick a quest from three available at the start that each have varying requirements and rewards, and try to reach the main quest goal amount (usually 3). You can take a longer quest worth more points, or shorter ones and try to win quickly. In my last game a friend was winning and I managed to sweep in from behind him with one VP less and win via strict planning, so there is some flexibility.


Right now my thoughts is that some of the mechanics are a vit vague, and Geralt seems overpowered. He gets a ton of dice and once he obtains certain medallion development cards, can easily kill any monster on the board.

EDIT: I think the world also changes with the war counter. Gets more dangerous or safer.

It only gets more dangerous. As players fail to kill certain monsters, or complete quests, the War Track advances and deposits more and more high level enemies on the board.

EDIT: Apparently there is player interactions planned that are not yet added to the Beta, so take that as you will.

[coolio678]

*snips*
EDIT: Apparently there is player interactions planned that are not yet added to the Beta, so take that as you will.

I'll take that as a positive, because as of right now it's fun, but it feels like a single player game where you can only move every 5 minutes and has a timer that's slightly vague as to when it'll hit zero. I'd be up to try a 4 man game, because I've only managed to get one other person into the lobby without someone leaving.

[Cthulhu]

Yeah the matchmaking seems a little slow..  I'd be up for a game.

[Hawkfrost]

I'd be willing as well, if a time can be arranged.

[Cthulhu]

I got a chance to play.  Pretty interesting but kind of confusing.  I'll give a rundown of how it works for people who haven't played yet.

Basically you get a quest with a main objective and a few side objectives.  The objectives are mostly about travelling to locations and spending "proofs."  You can investigate while in towns, drawing a card from one of three decks (blue, purple, red) and doing whatever it said.  This usually gets you leads corresponding to the color.  Somehow these leads are converted into proofs but I don't know.  5 leads = 1 proof?  I dunno.

Different things you do affect the war track, which is basically a wheel that ticks around.  Failing tasks, drawing certain cards, or finishing a turn without any kind of obstacle to resolve (no free rides, buddy!) advance the war track and deposit monsters and Foul Fates, cards with various undesirable effects, around the map.

Fights and other tests are done with fancy symbol dice, with stuff like swords and shields and other effects on them.  You have to get X swords and X shields to win completely, with consequences if you don't.  Failing the attack can see the monster staying around or moving to new locations, while failing the defense usually gets you wounds or foul fates.  Wounds are placed on the various actions you can take and disable that action until you heal (so if you get a wound and place it on your travel button you can no longer travel until you heal) and foul fates fore you to take a foul fate before you can use that action.

In addition to investigating you can develop, which gives you a choice of two development cards.  These depend on the character, spells for Triss, friends for Dandelion, and I dunno, swords or potions or some shit for Geralt, and they're basically delaying your quests to improve your character.  When you start out monsters are pretty dangerous and you'll fail a lot of tests, but developments help.  As an example, Dandelion's friends, because I picked Dandelion.  You can spend a gold token to place a something else token on a friend card.  Then in a fight or something you can spend a something else token in exchange for extra swords or shields or other kinds of effects.

Overall it's reasonably fun.  Coolio was right, it does feel like a single-player game at times.  There's not a whole lot of inter-player interaction so it's mostly just doing your thing and then waiting for the other player to do his thing.  It'd probably be better face to face (this is a conversion of an actual board game, after all) or with a full set of friends.  With strangers it's basically two to four people taking turns playing solitaire.

Speaking of which I think this would make a pretty fun solitaire game.  The multiplayer components are vestigial at best right now, I might see if you can't just start up a private room without any other players.

Oh, and each character also has a special action.  Dandelion can sing for money, and Triss and Geralt use their special actions to prepare their development cards for use, Dandelion's development cards being prepared with money, as I mentioned before.  Yarpen's is command and has something to do with the dorfs he leads.

[Hawkfrost]

The amount of leads = proof are different depending on the character. For example, Geralt has the best conversion rate for combat leads (3 = 1) and the worst for diplomacy leads (7 = 1). It's something to keep in mind when choosing quests.

The equipment also works differently for everyone. Triss' spells are super powerful, but need to be prepared in advance by spending an action turn, Geralt's medallions are largely small bonuses but are extremely easy to trigger in combat, and Dandelion is all about dosh making him deadly. I know nothing about Yarpen as I haven't played him yet.

I honestly think Geralt needs to have less dice; I don't have a clear idea of how it works yet, but you end up with like ten dice in combat when playing as him. You simply can't lose.

[isitanos]

I have a key as well, might have time to try it tomorrow evening (EST timezone).

[Cthulhu]

I'm up for trying a game right now, if anybody else is up for it.

EDIT:  Interesting trick I just learned.  It might take some shenanigans to actually orchestrate, but if you get into a game and everyone else leaves, you can continue the game singleplayer.

Yeah, Geralt seems a little ridiculous late game.  His developments combo so well.  Drink Petri's philtre to get extra sign uses (plus the one you get for the medallion), then pop Quen and Igni to get two bonus swords and shields each, then Aard and Heliotrope to double everything, and boom, you've got enough results to win pretty much any combat.

Kind of silly.