Dungeon Crawler vs Boss Battler vs Adventure Games

Dungeon Crawler

Let’s start out with the defining features of a dungeon crawler. A dungeon crawler is going to be a game where you are making tactical decisions on a map that are directly involving a location of some sort. Another way to put it is kick open a door on a map, fight the monsters that are inside, and repeat.

This is often done in a campaign style of game. Gloomhaven being a prime example of this, you open up a door, a new group of monsters are there for you to fight. And you repeat that through not just each scenario but every battle that you face off against. While killing all the enemies isn’t always the final goal, the general mechanisms of kicking open a door and dealing with what is inside of there on that more tactical map level is how dungeon crawlers work.

Boss Battler

A Boss Battler is going to be much more about a single fight against a single boss. There might be extra trappings around the game. But if it comes down to a character(s) fighting a boss, that is a boss battler.

This one on the Dice Tower I had the least experience with, but also some potential disagreement with on their list. To me, the larger percentage of the game is going to need to be fighting that one boss. Whereas for some, that was the end goal, but not really the largest element.

An example of a Boss Battler is going to be Primal: The Awakening. I am currently painting that game, so I haven’t played it yet. But Meet Me At The Table has some great game plays of it. I’ll drop the first chapter in below. But Primal also demonstrates that it can be a campaign, but it also doesn’t need to be. In the rules for Primal there are ways to set it up as a one off experience. And the new Awaken Realms game, Grimcoven, is also a boss battler, but a single scenario.

Adventure Game

Finally, we have adventure games. These could overlap a lot into the other two. Especially, I think campaign dungeon crawler games. But an adventure game’s focus is going to be more on the adventure element. That is obvious, but I mean that things like combat are not going to be as important. It is going to be about the adventure and story of the game either told by the game or experienced by playing the game.

My example for this one is going to be Roll Player Adventures. There is combat in it, but it isn’t done on a tactical level. You face off against some more boss like monsters, but that isn’t the focus on it. It is all about the story and adventure that provides that you experience in the game. For me, this is the obvious example as to how that is working, but there are a ton of adventure games out there.

Final Thoughts

We’ll see which ones of them I do a Top 5. I realize that even with my love of campaign games, I haven’t played always a ton of boss battler or dungeon crawler games. More dungeon crawler for sure, but a lot of them are adventure type of games. But all of them are styles of games that I really enjoy. Because they all provide more of that epic experience in the game.

And I think I like all of them as well because with that epic experience comes some journey as well. I play a scenario or I battle a boss and there is some story that comes out of it as well. Even if it is just a one off situation, there is going to be something memorable from it. I remember through all the scenarios of Gloomhaven when someone had an amazing turn and was so powerful. Or when we found creative ways to get through scenarios. Or recently in Frosthaven when we just barely defeated scenarios on the last bit of our life.

That, to me, is the great thing that a dungeon crawler, boss battler, or adventure game can bring to the table. Do you prefer one of the types over the other?

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Games from Miniature Market

Bonfire

This is a game about gnomes building a bonfire, well, maybe that’s some of it. But it’s a Pegasus Spiele game, like the next one. And Miniature Market had a sale on them. Pegasus Spiele got on my radar because they put out First Rat, a game I wasn’t sure I’d like, but then I really did. Bonfire looks more complex, so I was interested in trying it.

Raccoon Robbers

This one I bought because it looked like a fun, more simple game from Pegasus Spiele. So I wanted to give it a go and see if it would work for me. Plus it’s about raccoons, a fun theme and comes with 3D (ish) houses that they climb up on, so fun components.

Via Magica

This is a light game that I wanted to try because I thought when I heard about it on the Dice Tower a while ago, Camilla is a fan of it there, it sounded fun. You can read my whole review here.

Mesozooic: Jurassic Mini Expansion and Triassic Mini Expansion

I’ve written a review on some of the games. Mesozooic I actually bought the base game a while ago. The two expansions were unlikely to be around much longer, on closeout, so I bought them. You can read my review on Mesozooic here.

Abyss: Kraken Expansion

This is an expansion, I own both, for a game that I need to play. It is probably not the smartest plan, but I have them now, so I need to get Abyss to the table soon. Abyss looks like a massive epic game, one you’d expect a lot of minis for. Well, it’s a much smaller simpler game than that type of game. More of an engine building from what I know. So I hope it’s one I really enjoying.

Escape the Dark Castle

This is one that just came back into stock recently. It and Escape the Dark Sector or games with fun dark looking artwork and, well, a dark theme. I want to play them and see how they stack up against something like Spire’s End. I know both can be played solo, so I’ll be getting to this one soon to really know.

18 Holes: Course Architect

18 Holes: Course Artchitect actually needs to get a review written about it. Same with the next one though that one I need to play more. But 18 Holes is about building out a golf course in a roll and write game and seeing how well that you can do. It’s a bit rules heavy for how simple the game is, but the more I play, the easier it is to pick up each time and faster games go. So it’s one that might just stick around as a solo game for me.

Bargain Basement Bathysphere

Bargain Basement Bathysphere is a solo game. And you can watch me play it on Malts and Meeples. It’s a roll and write game that is a campaign. So I want to see how it is over the long run before I write a review. It’s definitely very loosely a campaign. But the two games I played of it were a lot of fun, with really simple mechanics.

Clank! Catacombs

Clank! Catacombs I knew was a game I would buy. I waited until after Christmas, and then when I was told about Bargain Basement Bathysphere, I used Catacombs to get it to a level where I could get free shipping. It’s just another version of Clank! but one with a modular board which is build every time. Clank! In! Space! has a modular board, but that one is set to start the game. This could come out differently every time.

Three Sisters

A roll and write game from the people who did Fleet and now Motor City. I am curious about this one. I like Fleet, but it is a lot of mechanics, especially solo. Though I wonder if I will feel the same with Three Sisters. But it is one that I want to get to solo.

Star Realms Deck Building Game

Star Realms is the space version of Hero Realms, kind of. They are different games and Star Realms came first. But it’s a two player deck building game. I wanted to try it and see which one I like better. I think I’ll enjoy both, but will both stay in my collection?

Thornwatch: The Dark of the Wood Expansion

Thornwatch is a game that I picked up on a sale, probably hasn’t been in a Point of Order yet. I got it around Black Friday from the publisher. It looks like an adventure dungeon crawl sort of gaming experience. And it has some work done on it from Penny Arcade guys who I like their stuff. So I am curious about it and if it’ll be a dungeon crawler for me.

Planet Unknown

This one got an order all by itself. And I still need to play it. But Planet Unknown is a game about terraforming a planet. Yes, I own two games like that already. But it uses polyominoes and a lazy Susan. Though mine doesn’t come with it. But as you select pieces for your planet, you rotate a this central piece. And where I decide to stop rotating it, that determines what you get. So there is a bit of a puzzle where I might take a slightly worse for me piece to stop you from getting the perfect piece.

Star Trek: Super-Skill Pinball

I own two, no three, versions of Super-Skill Pinball. It is a roll and write game that I really enjoy and one I should play more. It is playing pinball and this one has a, you guessed it, Star Trek theme. There is a Christmas one as well with Christmas movies that I’m less interested in. But I do like Star Trek so I wanted to play this one.

Featherlight

Featherlight, another one that I played on Malts and Meeples with Bargain Basement Bathysphere. So you can find that in the video above. I like it as a way to optimize how you are scoring. It’s kind of a puzzle with some randomness. And I think that works really well for the length and weight of the game. It is very light, but offers you good choices as you play.

Unmatched: Marvel – Redemption Row & Hell’s Kitchen

I hadn’t planned on getting into Unmatched. But Marvel is what drew me in. And I have made a promise to myself that I won’t buy other sets, unless they are Marvel. So I am trying to get my hands on Deadpool, just waiting for someone from a Discord to ship it. But their lives are busy, so I understand. And there are upcoming Marvel sets, but I will talk about those later.

The Librarians

This is one that I got to try in 2020 when I did the digital GenCon. But it is a game around the Librarians TV show. The game is good, and I didn’t back it because I was backing too many things. So when it hit retail and hit a sale, I wanted to get it into my collection. It is a cooperative game and a fun theme that I want to play.

Ascension X: War of Shadows

Ascension, I’ve talked about it, this is my favorite introductory deck building game. I have two expansions, this one and a nature themed one, that I need to play still. But more is good because they are standalone or can be all mixed together. Well, maybe not all, but somewhat mixed together.

18 Holes: Second Edition & Expansion

You saw the roll and write, this is the tabletop version. It is still building a golf course. But you do that as a group. And then you play that course to see how well you do. I’m excited to try it. Sports games often aren’t the right match for board games. But I think that a golf theme works better than a faster spaced sport like Soccer or Football.

Starship Captains

Starship Captains is one that I played at GenCon in 2022. And I enjoyed it, but it is one that I want to spend more time with. It is a fast game, and I think that end snuck up on me in my one play. Is it one for me, or will it always feel too short? We will have to see, but I want to give it more of a try.

Relics of Rajavihara & Expansion

I just wrote a review on Relics of Rajavihara and you can read that here. But it is a fun puzzle game and I hope that this week or in the next two, I can fully wrap up the game. It’s fast and fun and a great puzzle.

Solomon Kane Expansions

Mythic Games is getting rid of their extra stock as they try and raise funds to complete and ship out other games. I could explain it more, but basically the pandemic hit them harder than a lot of companies. So this is a chance to grab the last of the stuff I don’t have. I think I own basically all of it now.

Enchanters

Another Mythic Games, another one that they sold the rights to. So it is discounted as they move their stock. A deck building game, but one I wasn’t super interested in. But when it is on sale and I can get the all in Kickstarter, or near that, it is worth buying and trying.

D&D Books

Just some more setting books and different books for more D&D content. I am there for that, and I want to mix it into my game.

Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama

This is one that Zee mentioned in his Top 100 Games. It is a rework of an existing game, with a theme that Indie Boards & Cards has used before. So I want to try it with that theme. The rest of the Kodama games are less interesting for me. But this one because it’s an existing theme is interesting.

Exit: Lord of the Rings

It’s an Exit escape room board game. And this one my wife wants to try because of the theme. And in all fairness I’m excited for the theme as well. Exit games are not my favorite of the escape room style games because they are destructive. So it’s a one time use thing. But the theme in this case pulled me in.

Skyrim: The Adventure Game

Another one where the theme pulled me in. I avoided backing it on Gamefound. The game play looked fun, but I can only back so many games so often. Then as more came out about the game, the more interesting it became to me. And I hope that it’s a pretty narrative driven game that feels like Skyrim.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice

And to wrap it up, another video game one. And one that I wouldn’t have looked at too much. But it turned into one that I was very interested in because it has that big campaign feel to it, and cooperative play. And we know that is what I like in games.

Pre-orders

Plus there are a few pre-orders to talk about.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery & Crisis Expansions

This one I should have added to my other set of pre-orders, but both of these are expansions to a game I really like a lot. Ares Expedition. One gives you ways to upgrade your action selection which will make you different and unique in the long run. The other one is going to offer a cooperative or solo play opportunity. So two things that I’m very interested in. There is a third one as well, but when it was on Kickstarter, it just didn’t interest me as much.

Earth

Another one coming from Kickstarter that I am picking up now. It’s an engine building game that looks like it should be pretty on the table. I find that I really like engine building games. And this one looks like it is in that framework of being light, but not too light. I’m hoping, mainly, that the rules are in a place where it is easy to teach and get to the table.

The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom

See what I said about Lord of the Rings before. This one is going to be an adventure book style game where you play through different scenes. Besides it being Lord of the Rings and based off of the same or similar system to the one used in the Princess Bride game I don’t know a ton more. But I’m more excited for this one than the escape room game.

Final Thoughts

Some of this has just been catching up on games that I’ve had an eye on and have been on my wishlist. The Librarians, Skyrim, and Assassin’s Creed were all on that list. And you can see a number of expansions as well.

But if it were you, which of these games would you play first? Of course, I’ve played some already, but I tried to call those out.

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

It’s less about the game today, but more about my decision to sleeve the cards. I normally don’t sleeve cards, so what made me change my mind on Lands of Galzyr? Are the cards a cheap quality, or is there some other reason that I’d want to sleeve them?

First off, I will say that this has decent card quality. Some of the reason that I sleeved them is that the cards were thinner than I’d like, and having to handle them, go through the sections, and look for a specific card, I felt like they were going to wear more quickly than most cards.

Does that mean you need to sleeve them, no. Part of why I sleeved the cards is that Snowdale Design sells sleeves. So I want to support a smaller publisher and one way to do that is order sleeves or other products, like the play mat I have yet to use from them. So that also led to the decision.

The Benefits

The added benefit that I’ve found is that it is much easier to find cards. When cards are right next to each other with no sleeves it’s easy to skip five cards. When they are apart a little more with sleeves, you can get to where you want faster. That really makes a difference, I’ve found, in the game play of finding cards. Since it is a major part of Lands of Galzyr, finding those cards, I want it to be easy. I don’t want it to be a source of frustration.

The other benefit is that the cards shuffle well. Now, if I needed to shuffle a normal deck of cards size, they’d shuffle worse. That’s my experience with sleeves and Magic The Gathering cards. But here, you never have that large a deck of cards. The biggest is the event deck, and that only gets shuffled rarely. Nor is it a big deck of cards. So doing a smash shuffle is very easy.

Upcoming Streams

So, as I said at the top, every Wednesday at 8 PM Central you can catch a live stream of some board game. Right now I’m 1/3 of the way through Lands of Galzyr. So join me for the rest of the time. See the adventure and quests that I go on. Some might be the same for you, others will be very different if you play.

Then on Mondays, I play smaller solo games at 8:30 PM Central. I’m out of town this weekend, so likely it won’t be a new game. But join me and see what game I find to play. This week it was Sprawlopolis. So you can join me for who knows what game. And when it’s a roll and write, you can play along at home and compare your score.

And as always, when you want to catch something live, the easiest way to remember is subscribe and click that notification bell. You can do that here on the Malts and Meeples YouTube Page.

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Checkout the campaign over on Gamefound.

How to Play Witchbound

I already covered most of it here in the preview that I did. But I want to cover it a little bit more as to how your average action goes.

The game mechanics are pretty simple. You collect items, spells, actions, and prompts as you play the game. Each of those can be used with interacting with things are people. To do that, you take the number from the prompt of “Hello” for example and combine it with the character you are speaking to and their number. So “Hello” might be 2 and the character might be 40 for 240. And you read some story and make some choices or track a quest.

There are challenges you do as well. To succeed at those you either can spend focus or you can roll a die. Your results there will determine how well you did, in RPG fashion. Though, you do have a limited number of auto-succeeds for things that are really important.

Why You Don’t Need This Game?

Firstly, it is solo only. Now, I’ll immediately disagree with that premise here. This is a solo only game, but like most solo only games, you can split the decision making and make it a multiplayer game. Whether that’s making the decisions jointly or taking turns, you can turn a solo game into not being solo easily enough. But for some, it being solo and having to work at it will make it not the game for you.

It is a mechanically light. I’ll talk about this in what I like about the game as well, or why you need it. But the actions you do and interactions are simple. There are elements to the game that are very choose your own adventure. And getting that story from the choose your own adventure is the experience. But like something like a Legacy of Dragonholt, or Roll Player Adventures, there are good decision making points and challenges.

Why Do You Need It?

It is a solo game that is fast to the table. I didn’t mention this in the other part about solo games. That was more for people who didn’t want a solo only game. But if you like solo only games, like I do, then Witchbound should be interesting because it’s a bit story driven game. Not to the size of a box like Gloomhaven or Middara, but big in that there is a lot of story. But it takes a minute or two to get it to the table.

To go along with that ease of getting it to the table. It is also easy to play. This is a game where you don’t need to know a ton of rules, again making it easier to table. But also making it more accessible than Gloomhaven or Middara because you don’t need to dive heavily into rules before starting play. So it is a game that can work for anyone.

Next is the story and artwork. I lump both of them together because they really do create the interesting elements of the story. The artwork is great, very cute, very anime, and delivers an aesthetic where you can tell what type of world it is. The writing supports that.

Price point is the final reason you should back this. If you want a story driven game, this is $40 plus shipping for 30 hours of game play. The fancy version is 80. Yes, it doesn’t come with all the minis, because it doesn’t need them, and that also makes it much easier on a wallet.

Back or Brick – Witchbound

This was an easy back for me. When I went through all the crowdfunding games I knew of, this one made it to my Top 5 for 2023. And the price point, having demoed it, all of that made it extremely easy to back. I really like the story and artwork. And Witchbound is the perfect type of game to play on Malts and Meeples.

I also look at this and see a game that I can hand off to my wife, someone who likes games and either play jointly, or she can pick it up for herself. Or as my 4 year old gets older to play with him. I don’t think it is so juvenile that it’s a kids only game. But it does seem to offer a whole family experience in terms of adventure. I think I mentioned games like Zelda or movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and a show Little Witch Academia. Those aren’t adult, but they work well for adults to enjoy, and I think this also hits that.

So how about for you, is this a Back or Brick?

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

Let’s tackle maybe the more controversial part of Lands of Galzyr. Or really the controversial part of any board game, the app or website. And let me say, I’m not here to sway your mind on if you want technology at the table. I understand that some people want it to be complete analog and a way to decouple from a phone, tablet, or computer completely. I want that as well, sometimes.

But let’s instead tackle if Lands of Galzyr is that possible without a computer. Is it reasonable to assume that you could, with a book, get in all of this text and all of these options? It’s possible, yes, but it is reasonable? I tend to think the answer to that question is no. And while you might think you’d be fine reading that much, you still do, would you be fine at the speed it would work?

The Downside of Physical

For some games, like Roll Player Adventures, there is some story. And each part of that story might branch, but it might branch a little. I make two choices and those are my branching paths. In Lands of Galzyr, I have seen a check occur and that branches into 3 paths, or 5 paths and that can lead to additional story as well. So, the branching in Lands of Galzyr is much more extensive.

What does that mean for game play? Well, it means that if it were just a book, and it could be, that you’d be finding different passages very often. And you would need to understand how it branches, which is why the app can handle it so well. What an app or website can do that a book can’t is provide the logic to instantly pull up the next section. The story is loaded into the memory of your device and you can access that very quickly.

On the flip side, all puns intended, you’d be flipping through pages trying to find the next passage constantly. And that branching structure would become very hard to follow. I think, and you might disagree, Lands of Galzyr would be considerably less favorably reviewed if it didn’t have the website. Mainly because I play an hour and a half game, and that would become two and a half hours or more with a book.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Wednesday at 8 PM central time, I will be back streaming more Lands of Galzyr. And I should have the game sleeved and a playmat instead of the board by that point in time. I am excited to get that to add to the game. Just know that it is totally not needed if you get the game, but I wanted to add in that little extra bit.

Before that on Monday, I am going to be streaming a new game. For those of you who don’t like roll and write games, I’m sorry. It is likely going to be 18 Holes Course Architect that I am playing. 18 Holes Course Architect is a game about building a golf course, and of course, done through a roll and write. It does make me want to play the regular 18 Holes board game as well. But I don’t own that one, yet.

And as always, if you want to know when I go live, you can subscribe and click the notification bell.

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

I referred to Lands of Galzyr as a choose your own adventure, so let’s talk about that element of the game. Because it is very much that in many ways. In Lands of Galzyr you travel around and you interact with an exploration journal. And that exploration journal is the main part of the game.

Now, I know some people won’t like that there is an app or website for this. It does limit how long the game might potentially be playable. Granted, it doesn’t likely limit it for a long enough time that you can enjoy and experience it. But also the website makes the interactions in the game that much smoother. The benefit of the website is that it can naturally load and branch the story without having to take you to a different passage or page. So I appreciate it, I do prefer when games have both options, physical book and website or app, but that’d be a lot for Lands of Galzyr.

The Story

But back tot he choose your own adventure part. The story is not too high stakes, so the choices you make feel like you get to make choices. What do I mean by that? Often times in dungeon crawlers or campaign games, you want to make the right choice. If you make the wrong choice it’s going to make the game go poorly. Well, in this, you make the choice that you want to make because the stakes aren’t as high.

Overall, to start, the story is a ton of fun. And I feel like I am only going to scratch the surface of the game. Now, if I were playing it again, there are elements like Bumir’s story that might only change so much. But the rest of the quests that I’m doing so poorly at, those might change up even more because of how many different ones you can start with.

The Mechanics

And then there are the mechanics of the game. It is very simple. Now, this is going to be a negative for some people. So much of the game simply comes down to picking the skill that is best for you and rolling the dice. Even when you are good at it, you have maybe 3 dice that give you a 1/3 chance of rolling the symbol and 2 that give you a 1/6. So the odds are never amazing.

But it matches the rest of the game. If it were more mechanically complex, it would feel like it takes away from the story. When I first looked into this game, after the crowdfunding campaign, and saw it played, I realized that it is meant to be a very relaxing game. And the mechanics match up with that. You roll your dice and if it goes wrong, you just lose your quest or thread you’re following, you don’t have massively bad things happen to you.

Upcoming Streams

So, upcoming streams, next Wednesday, and I’ll probably play around 6 games of Lands of Galzyr, I’ll be streaming again. 8 PM Central. If you want to see what else happens with Bumir, you can join me then. I’ll try and get the video links up this week but no guarantee that’ll happen.

And on Monday, 8:30 PM Central, I’m going to be gaming again. Though there is a chance that I’m going to start going through my shelves, looking at my collection and maybe see about getting rid of a few games again. What games have been on my shelf for a long time. Though, I don’t know that I’ll stream it all, so gaming of some sort, a smaller solo game. And eventually a video on games leaving my collection.

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The Games – Spire’s End and Trek 12

Was Spire’s End Ending Satisfying?

Let’s start with talking about Chapter 6, so spoilers ahead. I managed to handle it pretty well. I didn’t have the full mask, not sure how to get it, but that meant that I had a tougher fight. Now, I maybe actually didn’t handle it better, I maybe died when I had one character left. But I didn’t just want it to end. And that last combat, less hard than you’d think.

I did appreciate that they tried something new there. And I think that the system worked well. And that it’s easy enough to sit down and jump into that combat without spending too much time learning it. If it were more new rules or more complex rules I think it’d work less well. Though, I do think that a memory game is pretty simple.

Trek 12

This is really a weird game for me. I wanted to talk about it again because I do think that it’s worthwhile mentioning it every time. The solo mode is not that great for this game. Now, maybe with the campaign part it’ll make more sense. But I don’t love it because it’s playing the game a 2nd time and it’s just extra busy work. I don’t like extra busy work in a game, especially solo. I want to be able to sit down and play.

So I play it like a normal game of multiplayer where I fill out one board and see what score I get. Instead of doing their special rules of filling in another one I just see what score I can get. And then I just compare it to what high scores I’ve gotten before. It’s basically the same thing, but a whole lot more fun.

Upcoming Streams

2023 isn’t too far away, and that’ll kick off some new games. On Wednesdays I’m planning on playing Lands of Galzyr. So look forward to that getting kicked off at 8 PM Central next week. And then on Mondays, 8:30 PM Central, I’m not sure, I think I’m going to be picking out some smaller solo games again. And the plan is likely to rotate through those.

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Top 5 Video Games I Want To Become Board Games

5. Need for Speed

This one is lower on the list because I don’t know how I’d make the game as well. Mainly because there are racing games out there already. But there are some concepts in Need for Speed that I enjoy. I like that it’s not a tracking racing, it’s almost always street racing. And while I don’t love hearing it in real life, I live near an area where it does happen sometimes, I think it could be fun to try and simulate in a board game.

Plus then the fast pace of the game, but that is where it becomes tricky to get an idea. Racing games you tend to want to be pretty light on mechanics. Because too many moving pieces and the game slows down. Now, in a more strategic racing game, like Formula D, slower isn’t too bad, but for Need for Speed, the game needs speed.

4. Diablo

Diablo is also on the list but also lower. Mainly because this feels like another dungeon crawler board game if it were to happen. Yes, there is story, but what sets Diablo apart is that it’s a loot collector. How do you simulate that in a board game, you battle, you divvy out loot, you repeat the process.

I almost wonder if something like the Folklore: The Affliction way of doing it would work. You have little battles as you travel to big battles. Just in Diablo, you have more little battles between the bosses or the story points.

The other tricky part is all the abilities in Diablo. How do you create each attack so it feels different so it feels just insanely powerful like it can in the game, and get that feeling of mowing through enemies. Because sometimes you might just want to grind a little bit to get better gear or new gear.

3. Tomb Raider

The top three, I think, have easier times translating to a board game. Now, I say that and Tomb Raider is technically a cheat on the list, there is a Tomb Raider board game, it feels nothing like Tomb Raider. You all play as a different Lara Croft and race along a track, or in a circle really.

I want something steeped in story, and that gives you missions like the new Tomb Raider games. You play as Lara in solo or her and a team of other characters in multiplayer. And you need to figure out how to sneak past people, or sometimes go in there and start taking out guards unseen. Use a system, but more refined like Reichbusters with noise, and trying to keep it from happening.

Plus then story choices and moments where you maybe are even trying to solve a puzzle or a riddle. And eventually a classic escape type thing as you run out of whatever tomb you were raiding which is inevitably trying to kill you, or a bad guy is. Campaign for sure, but maybe several shorter, 5-6 games, campaigns in the box.

2. Myst/Riven/Exile

Speaking of puzzles, Myst or any of the games in that series, turn those into a board game. They almost have in some ways with escape room style board games like Unlock and Exit. But I want more. What made Myst so interesting was often times you’d find a puzzle and then need to go to a different part of the world or different world to find the answer.

Make it a big open, sprawling escape room style game. Make it so that you need to take notes on what the puzzles you found are, what you are looking for, and where they are at, because you’ll find so many that you’ll need to do that. And give me a little story in the mix as well. But make this something that if you’re good you could sit down and beat in a day, but most likely you’re packing it up to play again and again over evenings just like the video game.

1. Dragon Age

My number one is one of my top if not my top video game that I’ve played. Dragon Age is a big adventure of leveling up, gaining stuff, and then fighting bosses, using potions, building together a team and a strategy as you go, recruiting more characters, leveling them up, and well, a ton of story in there as well.

As compared to any on the list, Dragon Age would turn into a board game with the most story. Dragon Age really let’s you delve into a world and make a lot of choices and those choices matter later. If you make the “wrong” choice you don’t get a recruit a person. If you make a different choice you don’t get as many troops to help support you in the final battle. All of that is a lot of fun and I want that in a Dragon Age game.

Yes, you’d still likely have boss fights along the way and do some of the dungeon crawl type stuff. But I’d not mind seeing that abstracted away from a lot of the littler fights and only there for the really big ones. Because Dragon Age works so well because of the story it has.

What Games Would You Want?

There are so many different styles of video games out there to choose from. Would you want a solo Sim City game? Would you like to see a Jazz Jackrabbit crazy side scroller turned into a board game? Does playing Madden on the table top sound fun?

Let me know what video game you’d love to see get a board game treatment. And let me know what video games already turned into board games that are a lot of fun.

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Spire’s End Hildegard Early Impressions

Obviously I’m not too far into the game at this point. I’ve played a single chapter and experienced only a little bit of what the game has to offer. But it’s time to give a few pieces of early impressions and comparison to Spire’s End.

Firstly, Spire’s End Hildegard is going to be a more family friendly game. Spire’s End leans into horror and while there might be bits of the story that are intense that I’ve heard of from Hildegard, I don’t find it to be nearly at the level of Spire’s End, so it makes it a more friendly game to play.

Also the die combat is a little bit different and I enjoy both types. In Spire’s End you were tracking health and spending that to try and do actions. You were hitting a target number on a roll. Spire’s End Hildegard you are trying to complete targets. And I don’t know that I have a strong preference for either. With Spire’s End Hildegard you have a bit more choice with the rolls, but with Spire’s End you were picking for one roll which was a fun challenge. You could spend more health to have better odds but put you closer to death.

I think that I do like in Spire’s End Hildegard you just play one character. The fact that you play as Hildegard means that you get her story versus a more generic story with characters who are just battling various monsters. You don’t get attached to the character like you do with Hildegard. Now you can play as her sister as well, but that’s only in a two player game, as this is game that is really meant to be played solo.

Upcoming Streams

So for sure next Monday is going to be playing some Spire’s End. Join me at 8:30 PM next Monday and see how that game compares and we might even see Hildegard in that one as well, probably will. It’s a different game but both I find are easy to table and I want to do more comparisons between the two of them.

Then on Wednesday, we’re going to be streaming at 8 PM central time more Spire’s End Hildegard. We’re going to progress into Chapter 2 and find out if we can survive long enough to play another week. If you join in you can help me make some fun choices as we see what new adventures Hildegard is going on.

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Initial Information for The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

So what do we know about it this far. Before you decide to get hyped about it, like I am, you probably should know why.

Like Too Many Bones

The first thing that caught my attention is that this is building off of the Too Many Bones system. I need to play my copy of Undertow while I wait for the last crowdfunding campaign to deliver. But the basic idea is that you unlock dice and you improve abilities, stats, etc.

But unlike Too Many Bones, this should offer more story. Too Many Bones tends to be focused on little runs through the game. I fully expect that The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is going to be much bigger than that. And according to their big graphic, it’s their most ambitious game to date, which is saying something. Too Many Bones, Cloudspire, Hoplomachus Victorum, and Burncycle are all big games.

Player Count

For me, one of the next things that I wanted to see was that it is a cooperative and solo game. I don’t know how’d they’d make it competitive, but also that it’s cooperative with a solo mode. All games don’t need a solo mode, but if you have a cooperative game, try and build it into the game. You’re already going to be dealing with the enemy, so might as well be able to do that as one player.

The Setting

Now, I know a lot of people the setting will be more of a draw than it is for me. But I have Skyrim, which I need to play. I’ve played some Oblivion as well. This is a big sprawling fantasy setting that has been around for a long time. What interests me about it, besides that it’s tied to a game that I like, is that there is so much lore to draw from in Tamriel.

And that the core box, there will be expansions, is 30 main story quests. That is a ton of content. And the you play three of those in kind of a mini campaign is interesting. I wish that they were doing a full campaign, the Too Many Bones mini campaigns seem fine, but I also appreciate that they are trying to balance a game with story and with being able to get it played.

Will I Back It?

This is one of those things, I want to see more. And I want to know the price point. If I were to guess now, yes, I’d back this game because it looks great. I’d back it because it’s Chip Theory Games and it’s iterating on a very successful design with Too Many Bones. Plus it’s a world that I like.

But how much will it cost. That’s the other big question. I got Burncyle and expansions for $200 or so. I think this will cost more. Now, I might try and rush it and grab one of the pledges that gets you future Chip Theory Games pledges for future crowdfunding campaigns. But there aren’t many of those each campaign and they aren’t cheap. But probably worth it.

I do appreciate that thy put this out so far ahead of time. I want to sit down, now, and play some Too Many Bones: Undertow. It is a system that I know, but I’ll need to relearn and I need to see how much I love it. Too Many Bones isn’t easy to get your hands out, at least it isn’t cheap to get your hands on. But if The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era looks interesting, it’s worth trying to play.

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