FFG's Elder Sign News - What Lurks Beyond the Gate

Fantasy Flight Games [News] - What Lurks Beyond the Gate

The nightmare corpse-city of R'lyeh was built in measureless aeons behind history by the vast, loathsome shapes that seeped down from the dark stars. There lay great Cthulhu and his hordes, hidden in green slimy vaults...

Fantasy Flight Games' Elder SIgn News - Better Good Than Lucky, Part Two

A look at dice and decision-making in Elder Sign:

Fantasy Flight Games [News] - Better Good Than Lucky, Part Two

Elder Sign - Fantasy Flight Games [News]

Arkham Horror with just cards, playable in 1-2 hours and designed by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson. Could be interesting. But then what would I do with my cupboard full of Arkham?? More here...

Fantasy Flight Games [News] - The Time Has Come to Seal the Portals, Quickly!

DOTR - One Paladin (and all of his Companions) Against The World

I’d been told that a solo hero could not Defend the Realm, so I set out to prove this to be true.  One slightly cowardly Paladin set out on a one way mission into war and hell.  The following is from another play-test of the forthcoming Companions & Catacombs expansion using a single hero:

The sunlight glistened on the spears, polearms and helmets of the orc battalion as they scoured the forest for their elusive quarry.  The weight of their numbers was terrifying - the earth seemed to shake as they stormed about, grunting and barking at each other.  Amongst their number the gigantic, looming form of their feared General towered over them, pushing them about and urging them to hurry.  “He must be found”, Gorgutt snarled.  Redoubling their efforts in silence the green skinned beasts continued poking their weapons into the thickets of bushes which covered the area.

In the shadows of a nearby cluster of bushes the Paladin’s heartbeat quickened and he held his breath as the monsters approached his hiding place.  An orc sergeant spotted movement in the bush and grunted an order to his men.  They turned as one to regard the now obvious hiding spot.  From the depths of the bushes there came a long, loud fart of fear.

“Oh, screw it,” the Paladin murmured.  He leapt from the darkness, eyes closed and wildly swung his sword about him screaming, “Go away, leave me alone!”

Several minutes later, he reopened his eyes and glanced about at the carnage.  Here an orc’s head was hanging from a branch, there a pair of orc legs stood up still, blood pumping from the waist where a torso should have been.  Shaking, the Paladin lowered his weapon and breathed a curse of disbelief.  Thudding footsteps approached from behind him.

Turning on his heel the Paladin was suddenly faced with the heart-stopping vision of the giant Gorgutt charging towards him.  “You killed all my men!” Gorgutt roared in rage.

“I didn’t mean it!” the Paladin shouted back, raising his sword in front of him and bracing for impact.  Gorgutt tripped on a loose rock and tumbled into the pointed end of the raised sword, face-first.

The first ten cards I’d drawn were green – so clearly I had no choice but to go after Gorgutt.  This being the worst case of shuffling in my whole gaming life I quickly reshuffled the Hero Deck again for about five solid minutes and then carried on.

“A hero to save us at last!” the cries of the villagers seemed to come from everywhere.  Where had they been hiding?  Had they been watching all along?  The Paladin stepped back and withdrew his sword from Gorgutt’s eye and swallowed a mouthful of sick as orc brains slid in grisly lumps from the blade.  A mob of rapturous villagers piled towards him and swept him up onto their shoulders, cheering.  They carried him off to the nearest Inn and shared tales of his bravery with the local adventurers there, who eyed him dubiously.  A couple of brave souls even offered to join him.

“Well, to be honest I think my work here is done,” the Paladin started, “I was just looking to get a place in the country and settle-”

“But, Sir!” cried one of the more vociferous locals, to whom the Paladin had already taken a manifest disliking, “The Black Knight plots against us from his dungeons this very hour.  His revenge for the death of Gorgutt will be terrible and swift – you must stop him!”

“Yes, t’is said he possesses the Harp of the Gods,” blurted another do-gooder, “It must be found or he will rule the Realm!”

“Then together we shall find it!” declared one of the beleaguered Paladin’s newfound friends – Jack or something – with a heroic flourish of his blade.  Before he could even finish his mead the unfortunate Paladin was paraded all the way to the dungeon entrance by the enthusiastic peasants, and thrust into the darkness below, shouts of encouragement and praise echoing from behind him.

As he sauntered into the dungeon with his new Companions, the Corridors seemed Endless, but every time he stopped for a rest his companions dragged him ever onwards.  “What are your names anyway?” he sighed with resignation.

“My name is Balikk.  I’m a friend of the Duke, who was most impressed with your petition for his help.  Some say that the time you spent gathering signatures could have been better spent fighting the Dark Lord’s minions, but we like to do things by the book where I’m from, so your work was greatly appreciated.  And your penmanship is excellent.”

“And what can you do, Balikk?”

“I can create magical fire.”

“SHOW ME!”

“Alright, no need to shout...”

“SHOW ME!!!” cried the Paladin pointing at the Trolls charging down the corridor at them.

Balikk panicked and yelled an incantation.  In an instant the caves were awash with magical fire, leaping from Balikk’s outstretched hands.  “I can’t make it stop!” he yelled above the raging inferno.  The Paladin stood behind Balikk and manoeuvred him along the corridor and into the next room as the arcane flames continued firing out of the bemused wizard’s hands.  A coterie of demons crawled out of the shadows at the intrusion but they were obliterated instantaneously.

The fire from the Wayward Wizard’s hands sputtered and went out, just as the heroes staggered through a doorway onto a crumbling stone bridge.

“I bet this old thing falls to pieces if we try to cross it,” the Paladin mumbled.

It did.

Their feet beat the stone as they raced to the other side and stumbled to the floor, panting and heaving.  Whilst recovering their breath the Paladin looked around at his motley crew.  “Okay, so what do you guys do then?”

“My name’s Drake.  Jake Drake.”

“Cruel parents?”

“Moderately.”

“Where you from?”

“The amazons sent me after you envoyed them.  To make sure you don’t go back.”

“That’s one crazy land, that amazon place.  Chainmail must be very scarce around there,” the Paladin smiled wistfully.  Jake coughed and shook him from his reverie.  “Sorry, yes, what do you do, Jake Drake?”

“Things that you thought happened I can make not happen and then happen again in a different – or perhaps the same – way.  I call it, the Power of Rerolling.”

“Useful.  And how about you, lad?”

“I’m Ian Hawk and I brought my donkey.”

“I see.  And where is this donkey?”

“Um.  It’s outside.”

“You know that I have a trained war stallion outside, right?”

“Well, my donkey knows hidden paths through the mountains.”

“My stallion was trained by the mountainfolk to fight at their very peaks, and track foes through the great passes and ridges for days at a time.”

“My donkey’s called Herbert.”

“I’m just not seeing what exactly you’re bringing to the table here, Ian.”

“Hey, look – a magic pool, let’s go for a swim,” Ian enthused suddenly.

“Wait – listen,” hushed Balikk.

They could hear the sound of a strumming harp coming closer and someone chanting under their breath, “Dah, Dah, Dah, Der, da-DAH, Der, da-DAH!”

“What’s that?” whimpered Ian.

“T’is I, the Black Knight!” the voice shouted.  From around the corner a figure clad in black armour emerged.  “I shall teach you a grave lesson for trespassing in my domain.  Just let me put this harp down over here...”

The heroes watched as the Black Knight clumsily unswung his harp and, cursing, dropped it to the floor.  Recovering his composure he raised his sword and set his evil gaze on the Paladin, “Prepare to die, fool!”  He started at a canter towards the Paladin, who looked around for an exit.

“Hahaha, you’re going to die,” roared the Black Knight, increasing his pace.

The Paladin glanced behind him at the broken Stone Bridge.

“Hehehe, I’m going to run you through,” the Black Knight chortled, charging maniacally.

The Paladin quickly stepped aside and watched the Black Knight careen past him and off the Stone Bridge into the gaping abyss below.

There was a bewildered pause.

“Right, pass me that bloody Harp,” sighed the Paladin, “let’s go kill some Generals.”

“And lo, didst thine brave Paladin taketh the Harp of ye Gods, and, twixt his hardy companions, didst his Holy Quest taketh him to yon edges of ye worlde, whereupon with vexation didst yon Dark Lord’s Generals inter themselves to the ground after visitation with our hero Paladin’s sword,” whispered the old farmer to the gathered crowd at Gryphon Inn.  He took another long slurp of his ale, then continued, “And, yay, was the land of old restoredeth to our noble king, all thanks to our Illustrious Commander, the Conqueror Paladin of the great domain of Monarch City.”

In the corner of the tavern Jake Drake and Ian Hawk shared a look whilst Balikk rolled his eyes...

Actually pulled off a solo hero win! 3 Companions, 2 quests, took the harp of the gods from the black knight in the catacombs. And I was just one taint away from doom, which was the very next Darkness Spreads card...

Defenders of the Realm - Companions and Catacombs

The following is a collection of three session reports using the upcoming Companions and Catacombs supplement for Richard Launius’ kick-arse game Defenders of the Realm...

GAME 1: WIZARD + DWARF


Upon hearing that they were not alone in the Realm, and that there were other eager young adventurers around willing to help them take on the malicious Generals, the Wizard headed to the Inn early, realising how valuable that help would be.  At the Gryphon Inn, his tales of the approaching generals and the inexorable spread of their armies enthralled all those present, and from a shadowy corner next to the fireplace a hooded figure stepped forward.


Throwing back their cloak, that very person was revealed to be a beautiful young maiden, who was very famous, and popular with the kids.  “My name is Princess Karollyn and I will join you.  But in doing so I must warn you that even now the Dark Lord has summoned his Warlords and Darkness is spreading across the land as we speak.  We must not tarry.”


From the opposite corner of the Inn a mighty knight clad in gleaming armour kicked back his stool and stood to his feet, towering over the rabble of drinkers.  His face looked flushed and there was a whiff of whisky.


“Sir Robert Crowsdell!”, gasped a local, “Surely he will hell aid us in our hour of need?  Have you come to lead us from darkness, Sir Robert?”


There was a pause as the courageous knight swayed a little.


“Pzz off, shn’b lizl.  ‘Hisky dammit!”  Sir Robert bravely belched and staggered out of the tavern door, never to be seen again.  (FYI - I blame DrCrow entirely for this personal dissing, it was clearly nothing to do with me not having the right hand of cards...)


Unfazed, the Wizard and Princess set off together and fell upon the Generals’ minions with a vengeance, first hunting down the terrible Warlords plaguing the lands.  The Wizard became an Undead and Orc Hunter and later would face off against Varkolak and prove victorious, also becoming the Undead Slayer.


Meanwhile, the Dwarf took a similar tactic and decided to get some help of his own.  He quickly enlisted Dakk Wulfe, who was happy to come along.  For a turn.  Whereupon he was discarded to clear out minions from a particularly nasty location.  “Fare the well, Dakk, thanks for coming,” the Dwarf snarled.


The formidable Dwarf fought on alone to become the Demon slayer and the Dragon slayer.  Then he entered the deadly Dungeon.  Boulders came crashing down around his head as he darted through the dark caverns.  Orc archers emerged from the shadows to defend their home but were quickly cut down by the seething Dwarf.  Racing through the dank caves the tireless Dwarf stumbled upon a Demonic spawning pit.  As hellspawn began to emerge from the rank pit the hardy Dwarf stood at the edge and swung his axe repeatedly, guiding the hapless devils back to their ethereal homes, albeit headless and bleeding.  When no more emerged, the (insert choice adjective) Dwarf lit a cigar and rested against a cracked Boulder - which had been following him through the dungeon - surveying the entrance leading deeper into the depths.


Just then an orc patrol emerged from the passageway.  They glanced at the giant axe concealing a disgruntled Dwarf, then they looked at the pile of demon heads littering the floor.  The Dwarf sighed deeply and dug his cigar butt into the boulder.  “Come on then, ye blighters,” he snarled.


Seconds later he was stepping over the bits of orc and entrail and running for his life.  The ceiling was collapsing again, and more vicious Boulders dropped and rolled, trying in vain to crush the unfortunate Dwarf.


He had been running for so long, it seemed as though the Corridors were Endless.  Thankfully they weren’t, and he came upon an underground lake, a magical pool where he bathed and rested for a while to regain his strength.  He slowly finished his last cigar and stared at the huge, ancient doorway leading to the Treasure Chamber.  Getting to his feet and towelling off the magic waters, he pushed the door open and stepped through, “Right then, you bastar-” he started.


From within a legion of invincible Gargoyles teemed out and battered the beleaguered Dwarf.  Ripping at his flesh with their stone claws and teeth the Dwarf fought bravely as they chased him all the way back out of the dungeon.  The mean Gargoyles beat the crap out of the poor Dwarf and kicked him out of their dungeon, whereupon he stumbled into the arms of awaiting minions, who promptly chopped his face off and stole his beard.  Which now serves as a knitted blanket for orc babies.


The Dwarf was replaced on his quest by the ever eager Eagle Rider who was around for just long enough to follow the Wizard and watch him kill Gorgutt for the win!






GAME 2: CLERIC + ROGUE


The Cleric had been travelling for days and finally had found the Helm of Power.  Resting it carefully on her head, she stepped over the bodies of the dead minions scattered around her and gingerly entered the Dungeon of Bones.  Crossing the long, quaking Stone Bridge she screamed as it suddenly fell apart beneath her.  Nearly plummeting to her doom into a Demon Pit, she caught a handhold and clambered back onto the bridge, narrowly avoiding the arrows of the Orc Archers waiting for her on the other side of the Bridge.  A brief battle ensued but was ended quickly when Boulders - deadly, crashing, evil, almost sentient Boulders - fell from the ceiling crushing nearly everything and filling the caverns with choking dust.


Running from the dust cloud and deeper into the dungeons the Cleric shrieked again and was swarmed by thousands of biting, nipping Rats pouring from the walls and ceiling.  Brushing herself off as they disappeared back into the cracks and crannies around her she discovered a Magical Fountain, where she bathed in slo-mo, restoring her energy and pausing briefly to pose for an impromptu Sports Illustrated Swimwear shoot.  The Troll photographers turned on her when she refused to trampoline for them and things got nasty, gory and bloody real fast.


Wiping the Troll brains from her mace, the fraught Cleric stepped into the Treasure Chamber and finally faced the evil, always laughing, but never joke-sharing, Black Knight.  In a somewhat protracted, epic battle, they actually ended up killing each other simultaneously, the Cleric dashing the Black Knight’s brains in with her mace at the exact same moment that his black sword took her head from her shoulders.  The Cleric’s Helm of Power clattered to the floor as her head rolled out of it.


Whilst at the same time...


The Cleric’s BFF, ‘Rogue’ the Rogue, quested like a lunatic, becoming a Demon Hunter and discovering the Crystal of Light.  Going up against the Generals she wasted no time in becoming the Orc Slayer and the Undead Slayer.  And whilst getting absolutely wasted during a victory piss-up at the Inn, her tall stories attracted the attentions of Balikk the Wayward Fireballing Wizard who decided to join her and pledge to her his Balls of Fire.


Together they entered the Dungeon of Bones to avenge the poor Cleric.  Instantly they were trapped inside by a slamming Portcullis, accosted by Harpies and harangued by Orcs.  Being the Orc Slayer, Rogue instantly slew the miserable Orc squad.  Only to see a vile Beholder flying down the corridor at them.  Running away into Endless Corridors and avoiding the ubiquitous falling Boulders, Rogue and Balikk eventually came face to face with...  An Army of Minions.  Slaying the crap out of them - and with Balikk Fireballing their heads off - Rogue staggered into the Treasure Room, victorious.  With a cry of joy she held aloft the totally awesome Flaming Sword! 


Glancing at the Cleric’s dismembered body the Rogue casually picked up the Cleric’s Helm of Power, and, whistling nonchalantly, she headed out of the dungeon and back into the daylight.


Our tragic heroine the Cleric had been quickly replaced in a last minute script rewrite by (my personal favourite) the Ranger, who overcame his uncanny predilection for rolling ‘1’s to be called a Dragon Hunter and the Dragon Slayer.  He even successfully petitioned the King of the Gryphons for assistance in the war, and, finally, he killed Balazarg becoming the Demon Slayer and defending the Realm for the good of all and FOREVER*!






* not actually forever.




GAME 3: SORCERESS + PALADIN


The Sorceress was an addicted quester.  This ‘Questing’ business was catching.  She’d been to classes and groups to try and overcome her addiction but to no avail.  “I Quest all the time,” she complained, “I can never get anything done.  I haven’t even washed these clothes in weeks, I’ve been so busy bloody Questing.”


She also gossiped like nobody’s business and overcame Rumours, Hunted Dragons, Envoyed the Duke, enlisted the Gryphon King, and found the Crystal of Light (which presumably the Rogue had dropped somewhere a long time ago whilst pissed up on booze).  The Sorceress had also heard from the Wizard that Princess Karollyn was game for pretty much anything, so she headed to the Inn to enlist her.  After a few days’ drinking she also decided to take the curios, slightly withdrawn Night Feather along for a laugh, who she ended up using and abusing so much that he eventually just shouted “Screw this, I hate you”, and left.


The Sorceress’ brother, who was a graduate from Paladin College, had long ago decided that he would take all the glory in the world for himself and he feverishly hunted down the Generals one by one, assassinating the Orc, Dragon and Undead Generals to become Chief Slayer of Almost Everything.  Picking up his only friend Cyriss Glenn along the way, he found the Banner of Valour, the Amulet of the Gods, the Tree of Magic, and became Envoy to the Elves.  Songs were written of his legend.


But those same songs were quickly erased with giant mind-rubbers just a few days later...


It transpired that there could be such a thing as “altogether far too much Questing”.


The Camel-Straw-Back interface came when the Sorceress flashed her Questing right in Balazarg’s face.  “Haha,” she giggled to the bemused Demon Lord as he looked at her with annoyance, “I’m even Questing YOU,” she taunted, as she danced around Scouting his location and casually breaking his minions’ necks.


Her Paladin Bro stormed into the clearing, “Enough of this tomquestery!  Avast, yon Demon, thou hast breathed thine last!  I, who slew the Orc King, who slew the vile Undead Lord, and who – lest thou forgetst - also didst slayed - slew – slay Sapphire, the Dragon Lady, have cometh to kill you!”  He drew his sword and held it to the Demon Lord’s throat.  Balazarg sniffed impatiently and snapped the Paladin’s sword in two.


You could hear the Paladin gulp.


Flicking his tail, the Demon Lord launched both Paladin and Sorceress into the air.  As they flew through the air they discussed plan for retribution (FYI the plan was, to quote the Paladin, “The same again”).  A couple of miles later, their plan complete, they landed in two fortunately placed bales of hay.


The second time around Balazarg was even less impressed.  Before the Paladin could begin his sermon, the Demon Lord plucked one of his arms off and began gnawing on it.


“I’m alright, I’m alright,” the Paladin mumbled to his sister as they staggered away, defeated, and repeatedly slipping in the poor Paladin’s blood as it spurted all over the place from his gaping wound.


Realising his time was short, the Sorceress wiped away her tears and asked her dying brother, “Do you have any regrets?”


“Frankly?” he gasped, as Balazarg marched his unstoppable army into Monarch City, “I probably didn’t do enough...  Dungeoneering...  Bleurrrurrrrgh....”








OVERALL




Just.  Epic.  Stuff.
We literally will not be playing without the C&C rules anymore and I look forward to the official release with baited breath.  Richard’s support for this game is legendary, and his plans for its future are inspiring.  It’s fair to say that there is no game designer around that works as hard to keep his product alive and truly kicking arse.  And I’ve not even got started on the Summer League stuff yet!


Epic.


Big thanks to Richard for all his work on this, and shouts out to DrCrow for his awesome support as the real life “Chief Slayer of Almost Everything” - even if you did diss me back at Gryphon Inn.  ;)

Defenders of the Realm - Royal Blessings Official Variant by Richard Launius

Defenders of the Realm - first play session report

Okay, so I’m pretty late to the bandwagon with this one.  But we've had trouble getting Defenders of the Realm in the UK: first it took ages to land on our shores, then it apparently sold out on pre-orders, and shipping from abroad was horrendous.  Then when it did arrive the cost was much higher than we'd anticipated. But we've finally managed to bag a brand new copy and might I just say: thank heavens for that!

We played through our first two games at the weekend - 2 two-player games. First game I was the Ranger and Mmzomba was the much more mobile Paladin.  I picked the Ranger because it’s always been my favourite class (Fellowship of the Ring, aged 12, Strider, nuff said) and the green forestry abilities looked cool.  I also really liked the idea of shooting at adjacent enemies without any comeuppance.  I don’t really blame the Ranger for this but boy, oh boy, did my uppance come.

The Paladin has some fancified skills too, particularly his ability to sit contemplatively on his horse, leaning on an enemy minion’s head with one hand and pontificating about righteous smiting whilst they flail at him uselessly with their short arms; i.e. he takes no damage from remaining in a space with one minion.

The rules were easy to pick up, although we mucked up the taints a little bit in the first game and had to do a bit of real life 'Ctrl+Z'ing after starting an unstoppable taint/overrun chain which clearly shouldn't have happened in the first place...   But, you know, no harm done.

So we gingerly set off, worrying about how many cards we’d need to take a general out, and how quickly the bad guys were spawning as we burned a couple of our cards in moving around a bit further, and hammering on the minions where we could.  Where possible I tried to leap from green space to green space, netting me an extra action and a bonus to attacks, but even against weak-ass orcs I still rolled a shocking number of snake eyes, even for me, and I’m generally a terrible roller.

Nevertheless we got our game on and we managed to beat up on two generals, making exactly the right number of rolls to kill them one after the other.  We rejoiced and took our respective Slayer cards with every intention of showing off our newfound might on the petty minions sprawling across the world.  And then we got absolutely hammered.  Out of seemingly nowhere, the Orcs spawned through their last few minions leaving none left to draw from when another Orc was to be placed.  Eek!  Gorgutt took Monarch City and stuck our heads on spikes.

Second game, Mmzomba was the Sorceress and I took the Wizard and we relished our new skillsets.  The Wizard’s once per turn teleport is amazing, and the choice of burning a card to fireball enemies added a really nice touch.  I almost forgot to use his Wisdom ability to discard Darkness Spreads cards, but we fared much better this time.  The Sorceress is super-hard too, taking on the forms of her enemies; she was jumping into their midst and then slaying the hapless Minions left, right and centre.  At one point the Sorceress had cleared the entire right side of the board, whilst a Dragonkin minion sat at Monarch City quaking in his boots at her approach.  Side-note: After years of balking at the ugly Sorceress from Talisman 2nd edition this particular sorceress is a breath of fresh air!

My Wizard’s teleporting ability allowed me to actually start finishing off quests, which is something we neglected to do entirely in game 1, due to the constant fire-fighting of trying to clear down cursed evil minions.  Before long I had reaped 5 Rewards and towards the end of the game I even bagged myself some nifty Boots of Speed; two extra actions per turn = mega awesome.

Despite some close calls we cleaned up, took down all 4 generals and annihilated their armies en route. Very different feel to both games but really enjoyed it and can't wait to get another session in.

I loved Arkham Horror (epic coop play by the same designer), but I think Defenders really has the edge over it, much cleaner play and a real epic feel to battling the four very different generals. The Darkness Spreads cards deliver the same sort of relentless tension as the Waters Rise cards from Forbidden Island, and presumably the Pandemic equivalent too - only instead of collecting the Treasures (Generals) this time they’re trying to eat you!

The game plays quickly - I’d say one and a half to two hours max for two players but it flies by, turns go at a pace, and you’re also very invested in other players’ turns, which is nice.  Coming from a 2nd edition AD&D background I’m loving the Elmore artwork and the board looks fantastic too, ignore the naysayers, people.

Following the DotR forums was like being teased whilst not having the game.  But watching the game designer, Richard Launius, breathing more life into the game with PnP expansions, answering everyone's questions, building a comprehensive FAQ and describing the thematic reasons behind all his design decisions is just fantastic.  There are a few designers out there who could really do with taking a page out of his book and keeping up with (and repeatedly exceeding the expectations of) their fans.

All in all, this is a really excellent game.  I’m only sorry it took us so long to get hold of a copy.  Right, I'm off to go hunt some orc/defend some realm/get my arse handed to me by Sapphire again...