Dungeon Master Tools – The Campaign

Let’s start out with the big thing, the campaign. This is what you’re going to be playing for weeks, months, or even years of time. My current campaign started in 2020, I believe, and it’ll probably be wrapping up late spring/early summer. That is a long time so the question is how do you create a campaign that goes that long?

The Scary Part

That is the scary part. And the intimidating part that I want to help people get past when being a Dungeon Master. There is this idea that you need to know your campaign before going into it. You pick what you want to run, you spend time studying up, if it’s homebrew, you create the setting, you create towns, and you come up with NPC’s and once you do all of that, you are ready to start your campaign. But I think it’s way simpler than that. So let’s talk about how it is easier to implement.

How To Break It Down

There are two things that you need to start your campaign. One is going to be for you as the Dungeon Master, and one is going to be for your group or prospective players.

• An Elevator Pitch
• An Idea of the End

Let’s start with the Elevator Pitch. This is going to be that get the players interested in your idea pitch. It is going to give them a little bit of an idea of how the campaign is going to start. And some elements of the setting, mainly, is this high fantasy or low fantasy, a lot of magic, or a little magic. It’s not going to explain the whole setting to them or anything like that. It’s just going to be that one paragraph of three or four sentences and that’s it. It could even be as simple as a movie tagline to get them interested.

The other thing that you want to know is loosely how the story is going to end. Why, because you want to keep that in you mind as you plan out the sessions. And we will cover planning out your first game play session in an article soon. But I do want to emphasize to hold onto it loosely. Players might get creative and take the plot in a different way. Or you might come up with a better idea. So don’t hold onto it too tightly.

Examples

So, let’s look at what this can look like, and I’ll give you a couple of examples for it.

Example 1

Elevator Pitch

The party is facing off against the final boss, a terrible Lich who has caused destruction and been a scourge on the lands. You are unprepared for the bosses power and then you wake up. You find yourself back in your home town but you remember the Lich and all the destruction that he caused upon the land. Can you stop it this time around?

Ending

Defeat the Lich.

Example 2

Elevator Pitch

Mysterious towers appeared across the lands. They brought forth monsters into the world but also gave the average person powers to defeat those monsters. Now they are just a part of life, but something seems to be stirring. And there are rumors that if you make it to the top, you find out why these towers appeared. But is that true or is it just a legend?

Ending

Find out what is at the top of the tower.

Dungeon Master Tools Final Thoughts

So let’s wrap up this creating a campaign. Why not put more effort into it? You could, but always first get that buy-in from the players. And we’ll be talking about working with the players in a future article. When you come up with an idea, it’s as simple as starting out with those two things, and they will get built upon as you go.

So what are going to be the next Dungeon Master Tools?

• Session 0
• Session 1
• Story Arcs
• World Building
• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you. And this one is really that first step that you can take before you even start to think about the other elements.

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Top 10 Crowdfunding Games I Backed In 2024

10. Luthier

This one I knew I was going to be backing. I’m pretty sure I met the designer who is friends with a good friend of mine years ago at this point. But the theme is fun as well, and from Paverson Games the company that made the hit game Distilled, I’m already intrigued. Luthier is about crafting instruments which is a unique theme as well. And the production, at least the renderings of it, look gorgeous and the whole aesthetic is great. It’s not my normal type of game, but with a cool theme and a great look, I’m very excited for it.

9. Floe

This game intrigued me for a lot of reasons. Mainly, the Brothers Murph had a great playthrough of the prototype. While the game has changed some, from the sounds of it, I’m still definitely excited for it. This is a travel the map, collect goods, fulfill contracts and do it again sort of game. And that is a fun type of experience to play. This is also a game with great artwork, so I’m excited to get something to the table that isn’t just a giant adventure of a game, but still has that sense of discovery with it as well.

8. Storyfold: Wildwoods

This is lower on the list than I thought it might be. Some of that is because it is a solo story adventure game. That should be higher, but it’s one that I know I won’t get for a while. I’m still waiting on Stonesaga from Open Owl Studios. And this one just wrapped up it’s crowdfunding in December. So my expectation for a timeline for the game is that I’ll get it in May or later of 2026. But the artwork, the card play, and just the overall aesthetic of the game is one that I’m really excited to get to the table and play and see what it’s all about.

7. One Hit Heroes

This is the first of a couple of superhero games that are on the list. This one Meet Me At the Table had a great playthrough showing how the game worked. I am excited for this one because it looked great on the table, but also easy to learn and play with a good amount of strategy. The strategy comes from how you make everything interact versus a lot of rules, and I love it when a game can pull of that. Plus it’s a boss battler game but one without a lot of minis to set-up, though it is a progression of games, and I have a boss battler on the list that isn’t coming up soon.

6. Super Squad High

This is one that I doubt is on many peoples lists of one that they anticipate from 2024. But I am excited for this game. It is about being a superhero, so that is fun. But it’s not just being a superhero. You are a superhero at a high school and you need to balance your real life of school, dating and more with dealing with a villain and figuring out who that villain is because it might be a classmate of yours. The whole theme sounds like a show that I’d watch and to get to play that game also sounds like a lot of fun.

5. Grimcoven

An Awaken Realms game, this isn’t the only one on the list. But I am very excited to get Grimcoven in, whenever it comes in. I don’t expect it for a little bit, I just got Dragon Eclipse which was a 2023 game. But Grimcoven is a boss battler game. But unlike a lot which are campaigns this one is only for that one shot game. The gothic horror look to it is awesome as well. So I suspect this is going to be one of those games I’ll stream from time to time and pull out for the game group when we want to just fight a monster.

4. Flash Point: Legacy of Flame

I love legacy games, and this is one that feels cool to be getting one. Flash Point is a game about stopping fires. Well, now they are making a legacy game about that. And I’ve held off on getting the base game because it’s kind of Pandemic like. And I find that I want more in that sort of game now, though I’ll gladly play them, so when they announced a legacy game, I was super excited. I hope that it’s going to be an awesome game with great story going through it and some fun twists along the way. But mainly, it needs to keep that game play that makes the regular game good.

3. Rove

Rove is another one of those big campaign games. There are certainly going to be a few of them on the list. And Rove is one that I’ve known about for a while and that it was coming to crowdfunding. This game is from the person who designed the fan expansion for Gloomhaven, which I still want to get my hands on. So when they branched out into something new and something they had designed I was curious. And the game looks like it’s going to be a cool campaign game. I hope that it’s a good design since the previous work was based off of something else.

2. Enormity

It’s a big campaign game, another shocker there, I’m sure. But Enormity is one that I had kind of glossed over until the Dice Tower crew was talking about it on Crowdsurfing. This one looks fun because it isn’t the normal. It is more sci-fi and horror, two things that I like. And it is supposed to be more modular as well as you play. I assume kind of like Shadows of Brimstone. You know your objective, that stays the same, but as you explore out the map could be different every time. And I like that for a game, though it does add to some set-up in the middle of the game.

1. Lands of Evershade

This one is at the top of my list for two reasons. Firstly it is an epic campaign game, and I love epic campaign game. But it is also an epic campaign game from Awaken Realms. I love games from Awaken realms like Lords of Hellas and Tainted Grail which is sitting as my #2 game of all time right now. So when they offer me a game like Lands of Evershade, a big campaign style of game, I know I will back it. And it is one of the more recent ones that I backed. I plan to add more on in the pledge manager, but even just the core stuff is going to be a lot to play.

What Else to Say

It was a great year for games on crowdfunding. I suspect that creators might have found it to be down slightly, but if you wanted a project, there is a project, just in my list, probably for everyone. Though a lot of them are going to skew more towards those heavily thematic games out there that I really love. And I know that there are more I could be talking about. I backed and got already some Button Shy solo games, some solo only games that come in basically a VHS case, and more. And I need to get those played as well.

Plus it is a great year for more content on crowdfunding for games you might already have. I have Agemonia, I got more for it. Mythwind, I got more for that game as well. Same for Stars of Akarios, and really there are even more that I could mention on that list. Now I just need to find even more time to play games because playing games is probably my favorite thing to do, that are eat great food with great friends, but who says that after you eat you can’t play games as well?

What games did you back on crowdfunding in 2024?

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Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – Top 10

10. Aeon’s End

• Published by Indie Boards & Cards in 2016
• Defend the town of Gravehold against a Nemesis and their minions by slinging spells around

To kick off the Top 10, let’s talk about one that has been in my Top 10 for a while and one that I have basically everything for. I’m guessing I’m missing a few promo cards, but Aeon’s End is one of my favorite deck building games.

This is a deck building game, tower defense, and boss battler all wrapped into one. The name of the game in this one is variety. There are other elements I like too, but variety is huge. Each mage is unique, each nemesis is unique and the market of cards that you create is unique. Everything about the game can be mixed and matched and give endless replayability. I also like that this is a cooperative game.

And, finally, I like this game best as a solo or two player. I know that it can play more, but with the turn system, it works better at lower counts. You draw to see whose turn it is. In the deck there are two nemesis cards, and one per player at four players, or two at two players. So you get these fun moments where it swings from the players getting four turns in a row to the nemesis getting three and now things look dangerous. It makes the game feel more exciting, it just works best at two players though because of that.

Buy Aeon’s End

9. Roll Player Adventures

• Published by Thunderworks Games in 2021
• Explore the lands, beat monsters and complete skill challenges in a world that remembers what you did

Now to a really big game we have Roll Player Adventures. They took the Roll Player system, tweaked it and gave us a story and adventure game. And I think that it works really well as a game, clearly, as it’s my #9. Though, like Aeon’s End, I’ll give a caveat that difficulty changes based on player count, which, isn’t a bad thing, but it something worth noting.

In this game you play through chapters of an adventure. To do that you are fighting monsters, doing skill checks, and reading story. Whenever it’s a right or a skill check you are spending cards and resources, your health, in different stats to try and complete a dice puzzle. You need to get dice of certain colors and certain numbers into specific locations. But, the game is smart and it limits you in how much you can do that, and it is what they try and use to scale, but like I said, I think that it’s easier with more.

The story is also a lot of fun. There are games on my list that have a bigger and darker story. And I like dark stories, dark fantasy can be a lot of fun, but it’s also fun to have stories that are maybe a bit sillier at times. And, I will say, they manage to create a story where it feels like it matters and continues along with the choices that you make.

Buy Roll Player Adventures

8. Dice Throne

• Published by Dice Throne Inc. in 2018
• Fight in a Mortal Combat style tournament by chucking dice and leveling up attacks

My #8 is “Battle Yahtzee”. By that, I mean that it is Dice Throne. This is a game that is played either as a head to head battle or as king of the hill. You get a hero, or character, that you play as. And they have specific abilities that you can activate by rolling dice Yahtzee style. By that I mean you get three roles, you keep some dice each time, and you see what you get at the end.

But Dice Throne is more than just a lucky game. Yes, there is an element of luck with rolling the dice. But the game often comes down to how well you can mitigate that luck. If you manage to get off your ultimate attack, well there isn’t much your opponent can do, of course that does mean that you roll all sixes. That’s very unlikely to just happen. But with cards and your combat points you spend to play them, you are able to manipulate dice, turn them to different sides, or get rerolls to try and land those attacks.

Plus the game offers a ton of variety. The first set is more standard fantasy. But then you get into other characters like a Tactician or an Artificer who do different things. And I own the Marvel set and am waiting on the Marvel X-Men set to come as well. You pick your favorites to get, or if you’re like me, you get them all.

Buy Dice Throne

7. Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

• Published by SunTzuGames in 2025
• Change the galaxy with a unlikely group of heroes in an epic sci-fi adventure

Now for a game that isn’t even out yet. Why do I have it on the list, because I have in my collection a prototype of the game. And I’ve even played it on Malts and Meeples. The game is basically set, through there are elements of the game that will change, but that’s mainly around components not around actual game play.

I love Rogue Angels. You know that by now because it’s on every list of Crowdfunding game that I’m waiting for. And yes, it will be again at the end of this year, most likely. This is another story, adventure, and combat game. And I really enjoy the story in it. I like having some campaign games that aren’t just another fantasy setting, and Rogue Angels gives you a good sci-fi setting. And I love how the combat, or mission element of the game works.

I want to say that this isn’t a game where every scenario is a go and beat someone up. No, this is a game where you might want to dive into combat. Or you might want to sneak through, and it all depends on the scenario. I love that for a game because I don’t always want to beat up the bad guys. And with how the game activates the bad guys, well, getting rid of the wrong bad guys at the wrong time just means you’ll be dealing with the other ones all the time.

Late Pledge Rogue Angels

6. Floriferous

• Published by Pencil First Games in 2021
• Create the best scoring group of flowers in this drafting game

Now we have the smallest game in my Top 10 list. But Floriferous was there last year and it is staying there again this year because I love what the game does. I enjoy a good drafting game, and I think that drafting makes sense in a lot of different games. But how Floriferous does it works for me because it combines drafting with building out your own scoring.

And the drafting itself is clever. You either draft a flower or you draft a scoring card from a column. The scoring cards are always at the bottom of the column, though, which matters for drafting the next column. Because the turn order for that next column is determined by the previous column you drafted from, aka, the higher you are up in the column the sooner you draft again. So yes, you need scoring cards, but that means you draft later next time.

I also want to call out drafting the scoring. I like it when a game does that because it offers a great decision point. When I draft, I might want that scoring card, but if you don’t have enough flowers, it won’t do much for me. And on the flip side, if I draft too many flowers I’m not going to be scoring anything.

Buy Floriferous

5. Slay the Spire

• Published by Contention Games in 2024
• Climb the spire, fight monsters and can you defeat them all in this cooperative deck building game

Next up is a new one to the list and it’s debuting all the way up at #5. Now it’s not the last new one to the list, there is one higher, though just barely higher. Slay the Spire is a video game that I love to play. In fact I’ve been on a kick of playing it recently. It’s a rogue like deck building game where you climb a tower.

The board game is the exact same thing. But it takes a solo video game experience and makes it multiplayer. In fact, while the solo is fun, I think that it’s even better two player or two handed. And I want to play it with more. Because you figure out a strategy of who wants to attack which enemies. Because each player has their own enemies that will attack them, but you can attack the other person’s enemies. So you might have more defense and handle it as well.

With all of that said, the game does change one thing. How some things activate is changed, so you’re not needing to keep track of “every seven turns” or “every three times you shuffle” but it makes it easy to keep track of. And they scale down everything. I like that because I don’t want to be keeping track of six enemies with 50 health each. So while the math is very much the same, the numbers are just lower.

Buy Slay the Spire

4. The 7th Citadel

• Published by Serious Poulp Games in 2024
• The Citadels are in ruins. How can you rebuild society and deal with the threats?

The other new to the list game and debuting at #4 is The 7th Citadel. I should have put it at #7 just to make it a bit more fitting. But I love this game and you can see me playing it for some sessions on Malts and Meeples YouTube.

This is an adventure game. These Citadels have fallen and now in a dangerous and post apocalyptic feeling world, though uniquely so, you need to survive. You play as leaders of a settlement has has formed out of the 7th Citadel. And now you need to deal with some threat that is coming.

The main mechanism is the same as The 7th Continent. You spend cards to try and complete checks, fight monsters, and deal with challenges. And the cards are going to be your life. Plus you are flipping over cards and exploring areas of the map and dealing with encounters that happen. But the game gives you more direction than the 7th Continent does as the threat gives you missions to go on as you build up your settlement for whatever that coming threat might be.

Late Pledge The 7th Citadel

3. Stars of Akarios

• Published by OOMM/Open Owl Studios in 2022
• Explore space, fight battles, and unravel the story of why you were attacked

This is the one that launched into the Top 10 last year and it’s sticking around. I love this game, clearly, but it’s another one of those big campaign games, and it’s one that’s set in space. But this game feels different than so many others. I don’t know why, but it gives me the feeling of stories like Ender’s Game and Space Dandy all wrapped into one with obvious nods to other sci-fi stories as well.

I really enjoy how they created a game that is split into three different element. The one, space exploration, is a bit weaker. There is some randomness to it, and I feel like I never found anything major on it. But I love the other two element. You get to have a 7th Citadel/7th Continent style exploration on planets. But instead of playing cards for checks you roll dice. And it’s a really fun time, but the biggest part of the game is space combat.

And I wasn’t sure how much I’d love the space combat. But I really enjoy it, it’s this great tactical puzzle as you use special abilities that you can only use so much. And then you spend dice to maneuver and you need to figure out how to even get into range to shoot the enemy and ideally in a flanking position. I love sitting there looking at the dice and trying to figure out how to make it work.

Late Pledge Stars of Akarios

2. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2019
• The lands are returning to Wyrdness, you’ve been sent out to help Avalon survive, if you can

Now or one of a few campaign games that I’ve completed, at #2 we have Tainted Grail. And this is the base game and the two expansion campaigns. I love them all. I need to play Kings of Ruin as well, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to that because of, well, my #1 on the list.

But this game, let’s start off with the highest praise, has the best writing of any board game I’ve ever played. The story that it tells is amazing and for that reason we did play in story mode to be able to experience as much of that story as possible. I’ll talk about why in a little bit. This is a grim dark game, but it manages not to dwell on the darkness to the point where it’s overbearing but creates this amazing fantastical and dangerous world to deal with.

And let’s talk about that story mode and why we played that way. One of the criticisms of the game is that it’s too hard. There is too much grind and too much survival. That is what the game was advertised as, so why people thought it was bad, and not just not for me, when they got what they knew they were going to get, I don’t know. But story mode makes it easier, but not too easy. So you do need to engage with that survival aspect of the game, but you can delve into the story more so. If you find the game, get it, and I do recommend playing on story mode.

Buy Tainted Grail

1. Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

• Published by Cephalofair Games in 2022
• Battle monsters, explore lands, and build up the town in this epic campaign

Finally the number one stays the same. The #1 on the list is really Frosthaven, Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. I don’t think it’s fair for them to be separate on the list. While Frosthaven does build on Gloomhaven and add in some elements like the town management, the core loop of the game is the same. I do think the added element of the town management would push it even a little bit higher than Gloomhaven for me though.

But the main part of the game is going into scenarios and trying to complete their objectives. This almost always includes killing some bad guys, and often times the win condition is kill all the enemies. Though in Frosthaven that is less often, though still the most common scenario goal.

The element that is the best about the game is the characters though. I love how every character is unique. And from the cards that you get to play, it feels that way. Sometimes you want to be that tanking character, or a fast damage dealer, or a support or healer character. And the games offer all of those.

And then the card play where you might want to go fast, so you can get in and out dealing damage quickly, or maybe you want to go slow to draw the enemies towards you, there is a lot of great strategy. I love picking cards, too, where I might plan to use the bottom and top halves in one way but then give myself the flexibility to change it. Needless to say, I love my #1 game.

Buy Frosthaven

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my 200 through 101 next week. After that I’m going to do some videos looking back on 2024. So expect to see my Top 10 Games of 2024 and probably Top 10 crowdfunding games I backed in 2024 as well.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Manga Round-up

Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu!

This one reminds me a lot of Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro but it’s even more sexualized. Not nudity, but more fan service as a degenerate sort of character, Miss Akutsu has descended on the main characters apartment. And, well, she’s made it her hangout spot which is driving the main character up the wall. He has no idea of what she’s going to do, and I’m not convinced that she does either. But either way, both of them kind of like the other or are growing to like the other.

You can see how that kind of matches up with Don’t Toy WIth Me, Miss Nagatoro. And it’s enjoyable to see it again. The stories are very short and vey slice of life as different things happen to both Miss Akutsu and the main character. But mainly, she just doesn’t want to leave his place and won’t no matter what he tries.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Magilumiere Magical Girls is a new manga that I stumbled across. It’s a world of magic girls with magical powers who work at companies and defeat monsters for them. It’s kind of a business, though how the companies get paid, I don’t fully understand that.

Sakuragi is a recent college graduate who is failing at a job hunt. She over prepares and over thinks everything as she is looking for work. She helps a magical girl take out one of the monsters with her knowledges of the monsters. So the company that that magical girl works for recruits her.

The story is fun and different from my normal fantasy manga reading. The main character is a lot of fun. And the company that she goes to work for is a start-up magical girl company with an interesting cast of employees. It is more going to be about them, or at least it will be a lot of the time, than the magical girl fighting.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Now we’re to fantasy manga and Isekai. Our main character is brought to a fantasy world and, well, he doesn’t get what is considered a cool power. Nope, instead he gets healing magic. Turns out, healing magic is pretty rare. But the top healer, she is a bit eccentric in her training of healers looking for someone like her.

What is like her? Well, the main character is basically broken down and learns how to use healing magic on himself. He is a tank, not for combat but for being able to heal on the front lines. The last time the demons attacked, the other healer is the only reason everyone survived. So she wants other healers like her to keep the demons at bay next time they attack.

I enjoy this type of story. The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic is pretty standard in what is does. A fantasy world with demons attacking is what I expect from an isekai. It is just enough different and I haven’t gotten into the “let’s fight” portion of the manga that I’m enjoying it thus far.

I Want to End This Love Game

Now time for a cute manga. I really enjoy cute manga, and I Want To End This Love Game is a fun cute one. To me, I think of Kaguya-sama: Love is War as a comparison. Mainly it is two characters who love each other, but neither is going to fold to be the first two admit it.

How did we end up here? Yukiya and Miku make a bet as kids or more of a dare. They tell each other “I love you” and the first to have their heart flutter is the loser. Well, for both of them, the time of their heart fluttering has long past. They now love each other but neither of them dare admit it because that will mean that they lose the game.

The manga is the story of them trying to get the other to break. Because, once the other breaks, they now confess their love and their heart fluttering is fine. The story is just really cute and enjoyable.

Overgeared

Finally we have Overgeared. According to what I looked up, I haven’t written about this one. I thought maybe I had because I’m book three of this webtoon turned manga or manhwa. And it is back to fantasy with Overgeared.

At the moment he dies, our main character, in a video game, unlocks the secret new class of a master blacksmith. He rebuilds in the game from being a top character to now even a more powerful character, but one who has no idea of how it all works. It is less of a fantasy romp of fighting monsters and more of him figuring how to make it in his career as a blacksmith. And in real life how he is able to help support his family now through the video game. Though, half the battle is convincing his parents that is even possible.

It is a fun fantasy story. I like the ones with kind of an underdog character. I say kind of because he is powerful. But also I like the story of the unlikely skill being used to come up as a big time hero. Overgeared is that type of story, so I like that element.

Final Thoughts

I like all of these manga. Normally, I think there is one or two where I look at it and go, I won’t get more of them. In this batch, I want to read more of them. My investment with Overgeared is already there. The one that I think I might end up dropping is The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic but I want to read a little more of it first. Mainly that is the most generic of the manga in the group.

The one that I like best is easily I Want To End This Love Game. The premise is just so much fun, and the characters aren’t mean about it. They tease each other to get them flustered. But they both want the other character to get flustered and fall in love with them. So the idea of being too mean and antagonizing the other person is a real concern which means, they need to be sweet.

Have you read any new manga lately?

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Not Every Board Game Needs A…

Campaign Mode

Let’s start off with an easy one. Not every board game needs a campaign mode. And I do think that this is the one where most often it works out fine. Why, because games with campaign modes generally were given a campaign mode at the start of the process. It wasn’t tacked on later. But that’s going to be what I say needs to be done when thinking about a campaign mode, did you plan one from the beginning?

Minis

Let’s tackle another similar one. Does your game need minis?

Again, probably not. I get it that there are a bunch of people out there whose hobby is to buy board games and paint minis. Mine is to buy board games, dream about painting minis, and then play the board games. Not that most painters don’t play them, but there are those who painting is their hobby.

But not every game needs minis. You, the publisher, just need to make sure that you handle it well. A poorly cut cardboard standee doesn’t cut it. Acrylic standees, those are great, full art, see through so block less of the board, and they look cool. And because they are full art, I don’t need to paint them. Or screen printed meeples, also awesome. It’s about getting away from the grey plastic, but not phoning it in.

Solo Mode

I love a good solo mode. I play lots of games solo. You watch them over on Malts and Meeples YouTube. But not every game needs a solo mode. Does the game make sense to have one?

Let’s start by looking at cooperative games. That basically always needs a solo mode. But, really, it already has a two handed solo mode baked into the game. So even if there isn’t an official one, most cooperative games, unless there is specific hidden information, are easy to be as solo games.

But with competitive games, how much does it make sense to have one? Sometimes the answer is a lot. Without much effort or fundamentally changing the game too much, it works. But if playing the solo mode becomes so much work that it feels like you’re playing another game completely, skip it. Don’t pretend you have a solo mode. If solo mode works great but it’s very different from the multiplayer, congrats you developed a solo game, not a solo mode.

Room for Sleeves

This is the first one where I generally don’t like them. I like a good solo mode, or campaign, or minis. But room for sleeves, that rarely, if every matters for me. And the games I sleeve, in fact, I got rid of the insert for those games because it doesn’t work with sleeves, and I don’t care.

I care more about when you put in so much room for cards that the cards can’t stand up straight. There is so much space that keeping everything sorted doesn’t work.

When I am on a Kickstarter or Gamefound, I see comments asking for rooms for sleeves. I see a lot of them, often from the same few people over and over again. Publishers, most people don’t care about sleeves. And maybe you do. Maybe you want to get room for sleeves in your box. But still plan for the majority of people who don’t sleeve.

Blocks of soft foam are great. You can use them to keep the cards from sliding around. And if someone wants to sleeve, they can sleeve. There is room for that, but for a non-sleever, like myself, I don’t need to hope my cards don’t slide around and shuffle themselves in the box because of how much room there is.

The Same Theme

There are two main areas that I think this shows up. A game having generic fantasy as the theme. Or, and possibly more common, trading goods in the Mediterranean. That is a boring theme, and fantasy done wrong is a boring theme as well. It’s just generic, both of these are just very bland and generic.

You want your game to stand out. And maybe you’re a great enough designer that you don’t need that. You can turn out generic beige euro after beige euro. But most people, that means a game gets lost in a shuffle.

So, be creative in a way that makes sense. There is of course a game that is trading in the Mediterranean with cats instead of people, not creative. But then you have games like Oathsworn, Tainted Grail, Roll Player Adventures, Gloomhaven, and Too Many Bones that create unique fantasy settings. It is possible, it requires more work, but don’t create boring settings and themes.

Different Modes

This might be the same as having a solo mode. Or it might be the same as having a campaign. But it’s more than that. Some games come with six different ways you can play them. Cooperative, competitive, solo, campaign, roll and write, etc. that is just silly.

But rarely, if ever, do I think you should give a game you put out a cooperative, semi cooperative, and competitive mode. Solo or campaign, we went over those, they make sense, at times.

But when I see those other three for a single game and a single campaign, my assumption is, one of them is solid. The other two are probably poor, and the best one isn’t as good as it could be. Too much time went into creating three games in one box, that the game it started as didn’t have time to fully bake.

So when do you do this? I think the answer is never. Now, maybe your game is the exception. But rarely does a game need all of those things. And rarely are all of them ready at the same time. So do what Dice Throne did. I own a ton of Dice Throne. If I wanted to play it cooperatively, they did a separate campaign for cooperative. Make it it’s own thing so that you truly focus on a single game at a time.

What Do You Think Not All Board Games Need?

I think there are more. There are a lot of things and some that I only alluded to. Like, not every game needs a roll and write version of it. Most of them aren’t great. But what do you think I missed, do you have any standouts?

And I find that none of these are hard and fast rules. It’s more about making sure you are on a track and focusing on what the game is actually about. Don’t bog it down because you want to keep up with the Joneses in terms of how board games are made.

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Top 5 Epic Fantasy Board Games

5. Super Fantasy Brawl

This one is the fastest of these games in this group, but one that is a ton of fun to play. You take in some fantastical characters into a battle arena to see which group will win. It’s not just a drawn out fighting game, it’s a quick and punchy fighting game with goals that you need to think about as well.

And the game play for Super Fantasy Brawl is very simple. You have three activations you can do on your turn. Each one for different colors of cards that you might have in your hand. So it’s possible to have less, but very rare. And those activate cards that match their colors, as I said, so you might activate the same character more than once.

If this was just a knock out the enemy game or just a get goals game, I don’t think it would be as fun. But having both elements in the game, it creates a nice bigger experience. And you can get some epic turns where you start by completing a goal and then knock out your opponents character for a big swing.

4. Dwellings of Eldervale

Next up is the only euro game on the list, though some others might have euro tendencies. Dwellings of Eldervale is about building out a map, fighting monsters, fighting other players, and dwelling. The combat isn’t complex and the itself isn’t that complex but it has those cool moments. And that’s what I look for in an epic game.

One of the coolest parts is that each color you can be has their own faction powers. So you get to do things and break rules in ways that other players can’t. And not only does each color have it’s own faction, they have factions, on each side of the board to pick from. So the game comes with a ton of combinations for how you play.

3. Roll Player Adventures

Roll Player Adventures is one that I’m going through right now and loving. The game offers great story and an interesting puzzle with how you play. If you’re familiar with Roll Player, in that game you basically roll up RPG style characters. In Roll Player Adventures you take those characters through an adventure.

The adventure is great, much bigger and weirder than I’d have expected. But the game play makes it a lot of fun as well, not just the story. It’s built around collecting cards to manipulate dice. As you come across a challenge or a battle, you take dice and need to get them to the right numbers and colors. You seed what you have with colors based off of attributes, but the number is the roll of a die. So how that goes, no one knows, and you need to use your cards to try and get that to what you need.

2. Oathsworn

Oathsworn is the one that I’ve played the least of it. But it deserves to be on the list from what I’ve played. You battle monsters, explore cities, and do a lot of interesting things. One thing I like about the game is how it’s split into two parts. You have a story portion and then a combat portion. On my space game list I had one like that as well, ISS Vanguard, though split differently.

The story portion is going to help you know what’s going on in the world and goals to have. It might give you a bonus to it as well for that combat that is coming up. Or at least help you avoid bad things. And then you get into a boss battle combat. And in that battle you play down cards that flow around your character board, and draw cards or roll dice to see how big a hit you can do, or if you do hit.

Plus as a campaign game, the game offers a lot of epic to it. I think that campaign games lend themselves well to epic. And Oathsworn offers an epic campaign, but not one that is too long.

1. Gloomhaven

Finally we have Gloomhaven. And this one is interesting, because I think that the original Gloomhaven was epic in scope of each scenario but lacked some of the epic story nature that I expect from a big epic fantasy campaign game. It might be getting fixed in version two of Gloomhaven which I’ll likely pick up the upgrade pack for.

But Gloomhaven does have a big story to it, it’s just not as ingrained as some stories. And it also really does provide those epic scenarios. All of that with a really cool system of playing down two cards each activation. You use one of them for a top action and one for a bottom action. When you pick the cards, you know what you want to do. But as the round goes on, if you don’t go fast enough, what you want to do might change. Overall just a great system.

Final Thoughts

As I wrap up the themes that catch my eye, it’s worth noting that there are plenty of themes that interest me. I talk about epic fantasy or epic sci-fi, and those always catch my interest, but I like fantasy and sci-fi in general. Or something odd like The Bloody Inn where you are killing and hiding the dead bodies of guests from the cops to see who can make the most money. It’s a silly premise that is very interesting.

Like any game it still needs to have a good review. Or there needs to be something mechanically that gets me interested in the game. And all of the games on the list, I’m interested in for more than just the theme. Though, a theme and great cover might get me looking at it sooner rather than later.

What’s your favorite epic fantasy board game?

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Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven, and I’ll include Jaws of the Lion, is going to be a campaign game for the person who wants a lot of control over what they are doing. The card play in Gloomhaven is great and really smart. I love picking two cards, one to use the top of and the other to use the bottom. But if I’m slower than other players or the enemies, now I need to put flexibility into what I’m doing. Gloomhaven also provides great character progression. It isn’t too fast so you learn and can use and enjoy the new cards but then be gaining XP for the next new card.

I also think that Gloomhaven, the big box, works well for players who like the change it up. You retire a character after some time. You’ll hit your secret goal and it’ll be time to retire them and move on. If you get really attached to a character or a way to play the game, Gloomhaven won’t be for you. It is better for a game that changes everything up as you get new characters with how you play them.

Sword & Sorcery

As compared to Gloomhaven, Sword and Sorcery is light and small. Now it’s still a big box with a lot of minis in the box. But Sword and Sorcery is all about the dice chucking. The story is pretty light, the decision making space in where the story goes really doesn’t exist. But when it comes to optimizing how many dice you can have and roll, Sword & Sorcery does that.

Stars of Akarios

Stars of Akarios is an interesting hybrid. I would say that this game is for people who want something like Gloomhaven, though the game is very different, but set in space. You can watch game play here. But this is going to be your big space epic game, and probably the biggest space campaign game, at least until ISS Vanguard comes out soon.

But this is also the game for the person who wants a little bit of everything. There is some choose your own adventure. Tactical space combat and then space and planet exploration. So really a little bit of everything that you could do. And they manage to make all of them work, though you need to be in for the space combat because that is the biggest piece.

Pandemic Legacy

This is one I’d say three introductory campaign games. And Pandemic Legacy is a legacy game on top of that. This one, though, might be the best, because in Pandemic Legacy Season 1, if you’ve played Pandemic, you can basically jump in and play the game. If not, it’s an easy teach and a cooperative game.

This is really just a story driven version of Pandemic. It does introduce rules as you go along. But it ramps up players slowly. So if you know someone who is interested at all in gaming, this is a great option to start.

Tainted Grail

Moving to the other extreme, this is not introductory friendly. There are rules you kind of need to look up to figure out what is going on. And there will be situations where the rules maybe don’t explain everything. But Tainted Grail offers some of the best story experience I’ve had in a game.

The story is dark, the story is adult. And the game has a strong survival element as well. I really recommend this one on story mode. The game is still very hard at times. There are going to be combats where you just look at it and run away. But when you dive into the story, it is just so good. So much depth to the world and every expansion gives even more story that is just amazing.

Charterstone

Charterstone is a euro campaign game. It’s one that I think euro players will like, it is a campaign game, and it adds in things. I also think that Charterstone is also a good one for a budding euro player. It’s pretty simple to start and definitely adds in a lot as you go along.

The story for me on Charterstone is very weak, and I honestly thing it pretends too much with it. But the game play is solid. It is a good euro game. And for a legacy game, you can still it after. They even offer a recharge pack, as does the next one on the list as well. But I don’t know what I’d want it.

Aeon’s End Legacy

Aeon’s End Legacy is another one with a weaker story to it. But a story that I sound fun. You can watch the whole of the game over on Malts and Meeples, I’ll put the first part down below. But if you like deck building or are interested, this is a great spot to start.

I also think that this is a great game for players who want to make their own character. As a legacy game it allows you to build up your breach mage with the cards you want the way you want. Other games allow you to customize somewhat, here you really get so much choice over that. Deck building helps provide some of that, but also with the powers you get, it works nicely as well.

My City

Another legacy game on the list and another one that is really easy to get to the table. It is a tile laying game where everyone has their own set of tiles and a card if flipped over to determine which one to put down. There are additional rules that are added as you play further into the game, but it is never too much.

This is also a great campaign or legacy game for people who don’t have that much time. Or don’t have a big block of time. It’s easy to pull out and play a game that takes maybe 30 minutes. Then you do that again two nights later, and so on and it’ll never take you that long to be back up and running.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples. This one is kind of like Aeon’s End Legacy, but instead of deck building through game play, this offers deck construction. So if you like optimizing your character to be good at some things, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is good for that.

I also think that this works well for maybe the person who doesn’t have time to play Pathfinder. If you’ve played Pathfinder and done the adventures, you’ll get more into the story, recognize characters and places. But it’s less of a commitment than jumping into another campaign and planning out 3 hours every week or two to play, at least.

Paper Dungeons

Paper Dungeons is an odd one on the list. It is technically a campaign game, you play through cards with monsters to fight. But it doesn’t need to be, it can be a one off. Nor do I think the campaign is all that great. But if you really like roll and write games, and Paper Dungeons is a very good roll and write game, this is going to give you a heftier roll and write to play. And also one that I played on Malts and Meeples.

Sleeping Gods

Alright, one more that is on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is for the player who wants a weird fantasy world but also wants to be able to do whatever they want. All the other campaigns on the list give you a general order of doing things. Some might have side missions but generally they’re about the main story that is going through.

Sleeping Gods gives you fun card play and a lot of interesting powers and decisions. Now, I’d recommend that you get the sequel one, it’s coming out sometime probably next year. It’ll make a few things cleaner, like not having to control as many characters. But the one you can get now is great as well and the story tends to be one of the lighter ones and more fun. And the story works as well which is impressive with no real direction.

Risk Legacy

Another legacy game on the list and only one more after this one before the list is finished off. But Risk Legacy is going to be for the person who likes that in your face game. But whereas Risk can be annoying and take forever. In Risk Legacy the games are much faster, so it’s also for the person who likes that in your face but finds Risk way to long. I’m one of those people, so this one is a lot of fun when you want something very competitive.

Seafall

Finally, I had to put it on the list because I technically did play probably half of it or a bit more. This one I don’t really recommend. I think that there are elements of the game that work but most don’t. If you go back to Sleeping Gods where I talk about open world, that one tells a great story in spite of that. Seafall is also open world but it doesn’t tell a good story.

Also the games are just too long, so I really don’t recommend it for that. The longer you play the higher the points get, plus you unlock things so that means there is even more to think about. I want this to be so much better than it is, it had potential and it just falls flat.

Final Thoughts

13 campaign games on the list. And I thought about adding in Arkham Horror the Card Game, and when I get around to a campaign box for Marvel Champions. So clearly I love campaign games, but like I said, not all of them are for everyone.

If you are looking to dive into a campaign game, I really recommend probably three games as my top choices. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a great small box version of Gloomhaven. And it’ll give you the exact same game just with less stuff and less cost. Pandemic Legacy is a good one to jump into as well because a lot of people know Pandemic. Start with Season 1 and it’ll be an easy way to see how much you like legacy games and campaign games. And finally, I think that if you want something bigger and maybe a bit more challenging, I recommend Sleeping Gods. I like it solo, but I think most people will like it at three players.

But let me know what your favorite campaign games are? And how do you play them?

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Stars of Akarios – The Story

So I know a little bit further into the story than where I am at. And I won’t spoil any of that. I think that it’s worth it for me to show it. But let’s talk about how good, or not good, and how unique or not unique the story is.

Thus far, I would say that the story in Stars of Akarios kind of falls into that pretty standard but well done category. I get little bits where it feels like other things we’ve seen. The planet getting blown up by a giant spaceship, that’s Star Wars. The whole cadets things reminds me of Ender’s Game. I know what is coming up and that reminds me of things as well.

But the story is being done in a way where it pays homage to those things. There are situations where writers just redo a story and it’s so heavily drawing upon other things, it feels like stealing. You want to walk that line, if you want to pull from previous Sci-Fi or Fantasy works, where there are nods, but it is that homage versus whole sale stealing. And so far, I think this walks the line.

I also think because I get the feel from a number of different Sci-Fi stories, it works better. When it is too much of a single thing, then that feels more like stealing. And it isn’t to say that there aren’t unique things in here as well. I think the combination of tactical game play with the story allows for different ways to tell story.

Upcoming Streams

So, there was no stream on Monday. I want to apologize for that. Life stuff came up and got in the way of me having motivation or energy to stream. Whenever that happens it means that I really should stream because it improves my mood to play board games and to hang out with everyone. But stuff like that will happen from time to time.

Next Monday, I keep on promising it, Trek12 will get to the table. My plan is to learn and play that over the next few days so that I’m ready. I might even learn another roll and write so we can get a couple to the table. Though, I believe with Trek12 there is a bit of a progression, so I might go through the different mountains.

And of course, on Wednesday, more Stars of Akarios. I can give you a little sneak preview as to what is coming up. We will be in space, but then going down to the planet for a mission. And the mission phase of the game is definitely different than the ship combat phase. Think more 7th Continent than tactical combat.

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The Game – Paper Dungeons

So let’s talk some more about Paper Dungeons. You can see it played, and you can see that I enjoy my plays of this game. But as I’m getting closer to being done with the 12 game campaign, is Paper Dungeons going to be a game I continue playing. Or, once I’ve played all the combos and set-ups will I be ready to move on from the game?

I’m of two minds on this. I think that solo play will probably stop for me. But with multiplayer game, I think that there is still play to interest me. In particular, with it being a race to the gems and a race to the milestones, it would be a different game. In solo play I can try and get every single gem and that’s a good way to get a lot of points. A multiplayer game that is less of an option.

That said, I could see this leaving after a bit if there isn’t more support for it. This game is ready for something to build upon the content. More monsters and scenarios are the obvious thing. But I also think alternative sheets, almost like a 2nd Edition would be great as well to change up what you see as a player on the board, what things you can craft, where the monsters are, things like that. I appreciated that about Deadly Doodles even though that game is simpler. It came with different maps.

The Drink

Just a standard Old Fashioned. Orange bitters, simple syrup and whiskey. It turns out a good drink so I won’t complain about that. I find that orange bitters do make a good drink for sure, but I almost prefer some like grapefruit, rhubarb, or lemon. They add a different element to the flavor. Orange bitters are often too subtle. Now, that is sometimes what you want, though, against a good whiskey. Let the whiskey shine and that bitters just add a bit of a background note. But with a cheaper whiskey, it can be nice to change up the profile.

Upcoming Streams

I think my plan is going to be to finish up Paper Dungeons next week. In particular a Monday and Wednesday stream to take care of the last five games. After that it is going to be learning a new campaign game. I might make a video showing off the table as well since I should have the gaming table coming on Friday.

After that, though, it is going to finally be time for a campaign. Right now I am leaning towards playing some Folklore: The Affliction. One that I have wanted to stream for a little while, but is not really viable until I can leave it set-up. But I have a few options, so help me pick by voting down below, over on Twitter, or on Facebook.

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I want to design one now, so let’s get started.

The Campaign Roll and Write Theme

So now I want to design a roll and write campaign game. I thought about just doing another fantasy/dungeon crawler roll and write. But there are several of them out there, Deadly Doodles, Paper Dungeons, Doodle Dungeon, and Drawn to Adventure all fit that fantasy theme. Instead, I thought of two options. I could go Sci-Fi, likely a direction that we’ll start seeing more and more roll and write games go. Or, I could do wyrd west. Think Wild Wild West with Will Smith.

Why that theme, one it is kind of fantasy adjacent. You end up with crazy monsters or creatures that you can play as. But it isn’t going to be your standard fantasy. Pull out your pistol, load up your pack mule, and get ready to adventure in the Wyrd West.

Why Theme First?

Honestly, theme can be where you start, but I doubt it is standard for most designers. Or if it is, it is something that is held onto loosely. In this case, since I thought about it in the context of what Paper Dungeons is doing, I wondered what else might work theme wise for a campaign. It is more specific at a campaign level.

It is also important for me, while I own roll and writes and other games where the theme isn’t there, for me theme is important. If you hook me with a theme from the beginning, I am more likely to buy a game. And Wyrd West, Fantasy, or Sci-Fi all hook me when I think about.

So when I design or start to design an idea, theme is going to be important for me. And I want what I design in the game to make sense in the theme. If I put something into the game that doesn’t make sense, it firstly makes the game harder to teach. But it also breaks the immersion in the theme and in the game.

Why Wyrd West?

So any setting is going to give some level of ability to create a story. Wyrd West is just not one that I see used all that often. To go along with that, it lends itself to a fair number of the fantasy story tropes, but giving you a different setting for them.

Plus, then you are still able to create some of those leveling and story progression items. What character do you pick to start, are you the crafty outlaw, the robot sheriff, the damsel working at the bar with a dead eye shot? There is a lot of story there, and ways that you can build upon those characters.

Wyrd West also allows you to explore a lot of different things for monsters. Zombies, Vampires, Lizardfolk, other dimensions, all of them are fair game. I can even lean into Steampunk if I want, again harkening back to Wild Wild West and their giant mechanical spider.

Campaign Roll and Write Next Steps?

So what is the next thing I need to think through. The mechanics of the game, really, though some of those, being a roll and write, are going to be somewhat in place. But I want to think about missions, what do they look like, how the campaign progresses, and how characters level up or gain new abilities.

That is the one thing I really miss from the Paper Dungeons campaign is progression. I want to take something I got last game, or in between games to make what I do grow. Your standard campaign has character progression, so I want to figure out what that’ll look like in my game.

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