The Isofarian Guard – Foreteller app vs Reading

So let’s talk about the app with this game. And I’m just going to say if you don’t want a phone/tablet at your table, they got you covered. But for me, this is a game that I’m grateful there is an app for it. I read a good chunk of the time because that is what the story demanded this time. And I don’t know if I want to do that every time.

The thought process might be that it is because it’s a lot of reading. And the amount of reading is certainly a factor. But with a solo game, versus a cooperative or competitive story game, I prefer to do the story via an app. There are a few reasons for that.

It allows me to more greatly experience the narrative. If I want, I follow along in the book with the app. Or some apps show you the words as well as play the audio. So it allows for that more immersive experience that it’s harder for me to provide. I read with voices, but it is not the same as a full cast narration in this case.

The other thing is it allows me to not read out loud. Do I need to, if I stream, yes. But it is more if and when I play this not on stream. For a good level of comprehension reading out loud can be needed. But that means you read out loud to yourself. Which, I find, dilutes the end product of playing the game.

Upcoming Streams

Streaming is back this week. Not in full force though because I missed Monday. The 4th of July made it impossible to stream, or at least not stream on a phone with spotty internet. I plan to play a game next Monday. To be determined what the game is. I think Welcome tot he Moon. But I need to learn the rules with that before I commit. I play at 8:30 PM Central time on Mondays.

Then on Wednesday, it is back to the table to play more of The Isofarian Guard. How will Alek and Grigory do this time? Wednesday it is 8 PM Central time, though that can shift slightly. But the goal is to play then. Now, this upcoming Wednesday I might miss the session. We plan on being out of town and coming back in that evening. So it might be different. It might be Gen Con preview time next Wednesday.

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The Isofarian Guard Unboxing

Like I said for a massive game, this is a bigger box than Frosthaven and more weight, there are way less minis. Only five minis in the game, but it gets it’s bulk in a number of different areas. The biggest being that it has a load of chips. Now, we didn’t look at all of them in great detail, but that’s basically the main mechanism for the game.

You build up your bag of chips and what you draw is how you are activating in combat. So it’s leveling up your character which I believe gives you new powers and/or new chips. Those might be specific to those powers, so you might just be manipulating the ratio of offensive to defensive chips in your bag depending on how the character is being built around surviving.

Of course, this game isn’t just about that bag combat. There are other elements in the game as well. Mainly exploring the map, finding the story you need, and interacting with different characters. So it promises a nicely developed RPG like system for a board game while using non-dice mechanics. I feel like while this matches up with Chip Theory Games with the chips, it is pulling from what Gloomhaven did to say that you don’t need to do a dungeon crawler with dice to chuck. A good story driven game can offer different luck.

Upcoming Streams

So, tomorrow, Wednesday, I’ll be streaming my sixth game of ISS Vanguard. You can find that stream over here. Click that notification bell to know when I go live, but if not, it’s at 8 PM Central time. But join me as I continue to dive into the game basically making my first major planetary exploration without the game telling me what to do. Let’s see what horrible things await us on the planet.

Then Monday at 8:30 PM Central time, I plan on doing a game play. It might be back to Planet Unknown, or there are some other games to be played solo that have come in. I picked up Wreckland Run from the Renegade solo line that I want to play.

And my apologies for Saturday. I meant to do the pack opening and chat, but my kid gave me a cold. So I was wiped out that day and evening and took it easy. You can hear plenty of the coughing in this video. Hopefully I’ll have time to stream that oon.

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