The Game – Lands of Galzyr

I will be doing a review of this game coming out shortly, probably next week, so I don’t want to dive into that too much. Plus over the past couple of months I basically have written a review on it. But just some final thoughts after playing Lands of Galzyr weekly for 10 weeks in a row.

I enjoy this game a lot. It is a peaceful and relaxing game. And you can see how it speeds up over time as I play it. But with that said, I’m not sad to be putting it aside. Why? I think that Lands of Galzyr is probably best as a once every two weeks or once a month game. And probably even one that is done with a larger group.

Solo vs Group

The solo mode is good and easy to do. So don’t get me wrong, I like that. But I see the story that is missed and I want it. Plus there are times where it would be nice to have someone to help you doing stuff. So that is why I think it might work better with more. Basically, you share the experience.

Complexity

As for why less often, I like how I stream. But Lands of Galzyr is not the most complex game. In fact, it is always more reading than it is checks or moving on the board. Not a knock on the game, it is what it is. But because of that commitment to playing and reading, it is not one that works best to binge. The variety in the game is lower because of the type of game it is. The variety in the story is high, but in the decision making space is lower.

So that is sounding negative. When you read the full review, it is not going to sound that negative. I love the story and the world in this game. It’s engaging, it’s fun, and while I like dark, I don’t always need dark. So it is a nice refreshing experience that is relaxing to play. And that doesn’t sound like high praise, but not that many games can say that.

Upcoming Streams

So this is a weird week to talk about what is coming next. I don’t know what is coming next. I might decide what I want to play prior to next Monday. If I do, next Monday I plan to play a game. If I don’t, then I plan to go over five games and try and make a decision on which to play. Either way, I will stream at 8:30 PM Central on Monday.

Then on Wednesday, I hopefully will be playing a new campaign game. But that depends on me having time to learn the rules and mess around with the game. You notice that I read rules more to start, or check on them, before I am humming along towards the end of my streaming. That is going to happen, I want to know how to play but also show that not everything is easy. So I hope to play a new campaign game. If I don’t, expect to see a revisit of a roll and write or something like that. 8 PM Central time on Wednesday is when I will stream.

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Lands of Galzyr – The Story

So, I think it’s worth talking about the story of Lands of Galzyr. Because, it is not a campaign game, but it is played out, if you want, over a series of games. Each time, though, you pick the story that you want to engage with. Now, a quest might continue multiple times through multiple parts and multiple games. I pushed to get the “prince” quest taken care of this time. And I think with a character there is a timer on that one. But some quests, I could do part of it, then next session go and do more.

The story reminds me of what you see in Sleeping Gods, in a lot of ways. Sleeping Gods tells little bits and pieces of the world. And Lands of Galzyr, each quest is a little piece of the world. However, there is so much to this world that there is a lot of story. And that story is what keeps it engaging and fresh. Every event I pull, not even quest story, can be different depending on where I engage with it. So it will be fresh each time that I play it.

Vs Campaign

On the other hand, and this is picking at it some, it doesn’t tell as cohesive a story as a campaign game. Something like Roll Player Adventures, Tainted Grail, Sword and Sorcery, or Stars of Akarios all tell a specific story. That means what you come back to each time is a progression of a narrative. Lands of Galzyr is an emerging narrative of the adventures you go on. But, it is not a narrative game. You make the story around your character, not a game leading them into a story.

For that reason, I think, that it is a strong gaming experience but a good campaign game is better. For me, I want to in a game be able to influence it with choice. I do that in Lands of Galzyr. But in Tainted Grail, it is baked into the story that you experience. Yes, I see more things, same with Gloomhaven or Roll Player Adventures. But I tell the story and influence key parts with how I play. Lands of Galzyr, it is more of a series of events you follow.

Upcoming Streams

Monday is going to be back at 8:30 PM again. Last Monday was earlier because I needed to get my podcast recorded still. This upcoming Monday, I want to play a new game. It is a busy weekend, so I don’t know how much time I’ll have to learn. But my goal is to learn a new game to play. I have one I see that might work well.

And next Wednesday at 8 PM Central time is part 7, February, in Lands of Galzyr. The video is available here. Click the notification bell to know when I go live and join me. I hope that the game play is fun, and like I said, I want to play a few more sessions for sure of Lands of Galzyr. But after that, let me know what campaign game I should try next. I am tempted by maybe a smaller one like Adventure Realms, but I also want to play SHEOL as well.

Which should I play?

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

Let’s talk about the skill system this week. It is one of the core elements with how you roll your dice. And the dice are the main core element to the game. Most everything else is story focused. So how you setup your skills matters and determines a lot of what you do.

Each character is going to have a balance of how they start with their skills. Bumir was very sneaky, combative, and good at survival to start. And since then I’ve progressed him a few times. Though, only with the combat trait, or what was originally the combat trait. I now have him focused on sneaking, perception, and survival.

But it is important to think about how you space everything out in the game. I’m not sure what the ideal would be. Four spots with one each, two spots with two each. If those two spots are opposite each other, that means for every roll you get two good dice. And for two of the roles you get two really good dice. But with four different ones you are never as strong in a single thing, but consistently better in everything.

Now, optimally, I think you would play either of those configurations if you can, probably the one in any skill. It makes it harder to get a hard, but a lot of the time your options have a medium which would make a lot more accessible. But I like having something I’m really good at it. It makes three skills more likely for me to use. And I think that setup makes it more interesting.

Multiplayer

I do want to mention multiplayer. Clearly I’m playing this solo with one character, I could do player multi-handed, but that wouldn’t be as fun and would get through more of the story for me. But in multiplayer you might consider focusing on two skills because other players might have the other skills.

Now, if it’s competitive, you might get someone to partner with you or you might not. So there is a risk there. Cooperative you are much more likely to play in a group and optimize what you are doing. That way all players will be able to partner and hopefully get the best results that they can.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Wednesday, I don’t have the link up yet, I’ll be playing more Lands of Galzyr. I’m excited as we turn the leaf into a new year to see what happens. I don’t expect the game to change much, but it might add in a new event for me. That’ll be at 8 PM Central time.

And on Monday, different time than normal, 8 PM Central, I’ll be streaming another solo game. Maybe I’ll do more One Card Dungeon game play. But I’m hoping to have a new solo game ready to play around with by then. We’ll have to see.

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

Let’s talk about making mistakes in games. This happens on my streams, and anyone you watch streams, all the time. When you play a game, it happens all the time. There is a question that comes out of it, does it matter?

The short answer, and then I’ll lay out the two things I made a mistake on, is not really. If the experience is fun when you play it, that’s great. When you realize you made a mistake, that doesn’t lessen that experience. Probably means that you fix it for the next time and hopefully it’s still as fun. But because you were doing something against the rules doesn’t make the experience better or worse. Or because I don’t play it perfectly right doesn’t make my experience less meaningful that I had the previous two games.

So you fix your mistakes. Because you are human just like everyone else. And in my case, I do that to start a stream because I realized that I was doing two things wrong. Possibly more, but do things. Granted the first game I missed one rule that made it harder for me.

Lands of Galzyr Rules Mistakes

Firstly, your number of items (little pouch symbol) is a max of three. Means that you have a few less tags consistently and might have made a difference. Granted, cards that you have without that symbol, things like like letter or different traits, you can have a good number of those and that’s how you build up what you have.

The other thing is that the quests are at specific towns. I had that before. But there is a pick-up point, then you flip it over and can go to the next spot. So you need to travel from one location to another more than I was doing. Definitely made it easier on myself and likely would have changed up how the first game in particular went. Granted, that is the one I did worst on, so maybe it wouldn’t have.

I don’t know that either of these are really “gotchas” that you need to worry about when teaching the game. If you remember they are easy enough to teach, but sometimes when starting a game the rules just don’t stick right away. I think even more so when streaming because I’m worried about the setup, the audio, interacting, and everything really.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Wednesday at 8 PM Central Bumir is going to continue his exploration. I expect that he is going to have a grand old time as he goes around again, as will I. I’m already legendary, let’s see what the next thing I can unlock might be. So join me then, and I’ll try and get the link to the video up sooner than 10 minutes ahead of schedule this time.

On Monday it might be experimenting with a new camera, though that might happen on Sunday. But Monday I want to play 18 Hole Course Architect again. Show off a little bit better what the game is about compared to the last stream where I ran into my camera issues.

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