I love my epic games. Whether they are campaign or just games that offer big moments. I think that it’s fair to say that I say that about once a month when I write about stuff. But I do realize that a lot of those games come with some hinderance for them getting played. So not all of the big games that I love, Stars of Akarios, Gloomhaven, Tainted Grail, might be for everyone. Let’s talk about some of the issues that you might face and some games that might give you a similar feel that you can get to the table and played in less time.

The Issue With Big Epic Games

There are a few things that stand out to me. The big issues around big epic games are how long it takes to setup and tear down. How long playing through a scenario or piece of the story can take. Or how complex the rules are, and how much space it takes up on the table.

Each of these things can be valid. If it takes too long to setup that limits your playing time. And limited playing time in general for either setup, tear down, or playing is a real issue. I am lucky in that I have a game table I can leave games setup on. But for a lot of people that isn’t an option. And then the complexity of the game, for people who want that big experience, they might not be that deep into gaming. I know games well, but even I get bogged down with rules as I’m learning a game.

What Are the Replacements?

Setup and Tear Down are Too Long

Lands of Galzyr, a game that I just started is the one that I’d recommend. It does a great job of giving you a really short time to the table with a lot of story. It is a deck of cards, characters are cards, so you just slot everything into the save sections, and then pull them out when you are ready to get to the table. Now, I leave it setup on my game table all the time, but setting out a board and then a deck of cards is very simple to get going. And teardown, you slot your cards into your characters save spot and you are good to go with little else to pack up.

And Lands of Galzyr still is going to give you a ton of story. So it isn’t like you are missing out on that. Now, some of that is to be more split up, separate quests than a massive overall story, but it is good for that. And the whole point is a big game, still feels epic, but doesn’t take up all of your time.

Game Play Is Too Long

Now, Lands of Galzyr could fit into that. But I’m going with one that has a longer setup, but Sleeping Gods is going to be in this spot. The game play is long, for the whole, but you can save easily whenever you want and pick it up where you left it off. The reason it works so well is that Sleeping Gods is an open world game where you can do anything you want, sail anywhere you want, and explore the story you want.

That means that you can play as long as you want. If you stop you still keep the quest lines available for next time. And you can take notes on what you were doing. But if you have 45 minutes to play, you can play that quickly. Granted, you still need time for setup and tear down. But if you can leave it setup and you have 15 to 20 minutes to play each evening, you can play that little bit of time.

The Game is Too Complex

For this, if you want a very easy game to play, Legacy of Dragonholt. This is a box of basically choose your own adventure with small game play elements. You create a character and you then go on adventures. But the game play is simple, you reach a story choice point, make a choice, and go with it. But because you made your own character you might skills that open up different paths. Or you pick up certain things or certain keywords that allow you to go down a specific path.

The Game is Too Big For The Table

Now Legacy of Dragonholt can be played without a table. So that is an option, but wanting to present another game, I think that something like Betrayal at House on the Hill would work well. Each game is going to take up the space to build up the house and not that much for characters. It’s not going to be a campaign game, but you will still have that story.

But if you want something that is more of a story overall, Arkham Horror The Card Game is a great option as well. There is no board in the game. The locations are just cards and not big cards. You have your player area but that is also not all that large. So it’d give you that bit of story, bit of campaign in a small area on your table.

Final Thoughts on Small Epic Games

It is fun to see companies who are putting out these smaller games and the options out there. There is always the desire to play that big and story driven game, that is great to have options. I can come up with more as well, like the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game or the Marvel Champions Campaign Boxes as well for those smaller sizes. Will I get rid of games like Gloomhaven, Middara, or Tainted Grail, highly unlikely. But smaller campaigns might start to show up on Monday nights with stuff like Paper Dungeons, Bargain Basement Bathysphere, and Welcome to the Moon.

That said, smaller games will generally lack some of the feel. You give up something when it is a smaller game or faster to set-up game, or shorter to play. Often times it’s that table presence that makes the game feel grand just when you get it to the table. But not every game needs to be produced that much, so what I gave are some very solid smaller ones and some ones that I’d recommend for people who want to play an epic campaign.

What is your favorite campaign game? And which thing is the hardest thing to get the game to the table?

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