Special thanks to Ryan for joining the podcast. You can checkout his content, mainly board game focused, over on the YouTube Channel: Man vs Meeple.

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Comments or Questions: Which Secret Wars Team is Best?

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Pros

• Looks amazing with the minis and the map
• Elements make sense in what they do
• Price
• Established company
• Solo Play

Cons

• Abstract in nature
• Confrontational

The Page

I’m going to start out by saying my normal thing, this page looks good. An established company like Side Room Games should know how to run a Kickstarter, and they don’t disappoint. And I think they also know what makes a solid looking Kickstarter as well. They have what is generally a pretty abstract game, and they created minis for it, for the elements for the monuments for the gods, and while they didn’t go overboard and make them not functional, they did a good job of giving this game some bling, which Kickstarter games generally need.

I also want to call out that while you don’t know how to play from the first two paragraphs, they do a good job of giving you the tone of the game. You have an idea of what might be happening in the game, and sometimes even after reading through the rules section of the Kickstarter page I won’t understand that. And with that said, I didn’t have have to scroll down 70% of the page to find the rest of the rules, they give them to you early, and you have a how to play video you can checkout as well.

The Game

I think that the game itself looks interesting. They do a good job of highlighting the game play, which I like, and the fact that it can be played solo is always interesting to me. However, I wonder a little bit about the solo play on this, they do have a playthrough I can checkout. This game seems like it’ll be better with a higher player count.

For me I get a little bit of a Fae vibe, though this does seem quite different, but just with manipulating things and the idea of worshippers, like I said, I don’t think this is super accurate comparison. But the aesthetic gives me a similar vibe.

Back or Brick

For me, I want to say that this one is a back, but just with Kickstarters and holidays, I don’t think that I will actually back it for financial reasons. I hope that I can pick it up later, because I think this is the type of game that I’d really like a lot. It seems like it’d have both strategy and tactics, which I find to be a good combination in a game. And the look of it is very nice. The one thing that worries about this plan is that it is a KS exclusive, which I believe that there other games might have been as well, so there only might be limited stock later. I do see that they have a retailer pledge, so fingers crossed my FLGS will be getting some copies.

How about for you, is this game a back or a brick?

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In the lands of Demythsteria there were rumors of an ancient evil. But they’d been always just that, rumors. An ancient ruler, Empress Esmeralda De’Valiran, who ruled with an iron fist and took everything and anything that she wanted without concern who is stepped on. But that was all just a fairytale, right? Something made up to keep kids in their bed or out of trouble.

Then, one day, there was a change, Mount Kalav, where Esmeralda De’Valiran was said to have to made her throne erupted raining down fire on the land. They say that you could hear the voice across all the lands, a seductive voice, a powerful voice, a voice that brought terror and desire to everyone’s hearts. It simply said, “My children, return.”

It’s been 100 years to the day since that fateful day, and while no one knows precisely what happened that day, the lands have fallen into chaos. Peace that had been kept for centuries between nations is now an all out war. People are searching for new gods, for any form of hope that they can find. But times are bad, and lava still flows, poisoning the lands from Mount Kalav.

So, in this game, obviously, Esmeralda De’Valiran is back and the players are going to end up facing off against her. But I’d have them start smaller than that, give them a false lead or something else to focus on. I think that cults are generally a solid way to start. Cultists aren’t that strong in D&D, at least out of the Monster Manual, and you can always beef them up over time. Make it so that your high priest or priestess is much stronger and have that be a mid point of the campaign showdown, something that lets slip that the cultists while definitely bringing on another end to the world are doing this to stop what they consider even a larger threat to humanity. Put the players on the path of Esmeralda De’Valiran.

I like the idea that Esmeralda De’Valiran is an Ancient Red Dragon, the Crimson Scales, but also that the Crimson Scale was something that she used in her past life. She’d been banished away somewhere, somehow, and now the players either have to defeat her, but that is going to be difficult because the lava. The fact that she’s going to be sitting at the top of extremely dangerous terrain that will be full of little and big monsters that love fire is going to be tough enough. Add in facing and Ancient Red Dragon, that is going to be almost impossible, except, the Crimson Scale is going to be something that they can use to their advantage.

For me, there are two things you could do with the Crimson Scale. Firstly, it could be something that they could tempt her off of the mountain with if they find it. Make it a massive scale the the players are going to be able to destroy, but something immensely important to to her, create lore around it and how it works. Now the players will be fighting an Ancient Red Dragon outside of it’s lair. Or you can make it something the players can take with them to her. If they can take it to her, now it’s something that they can use in battle. It’s a powerful artifact of some sort. Something that was her downfall the first time and could be it again. If she can somehow be judged by her own scale, it means that her powers wain and fade to some extent, but it is something that needs to be kept up. So the fight will be easier, but the players will be down one PC. And make it interesting for the PC, make it a mind battle where that’s where some of Esmeralda’s power is being pulled away to, and make it her polymorphed human form that they are battling in there and a form that the player recognizes. Make it someone who they worked with to stop the cultists.

Overall, more of a standard game, but I feel like it would have some bigger and more epic moments in it. I like the idea of the final battle coming after a slog, not something that takes too long, but maybe a couple of sessions fighting up the mountain, creating cinematic moments and bleeding the players of their resources to face off against Esmeralda De’Valiran. And if you do the mind battle, really build it up, I’d pull from the mirror world stuff in Doctor Strange so that it feels real and feels physical, but make it mental.

So, as I wrap up, would you want to play in a game like this? What things interest you, what don’t? Would you run a game like this?

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10 – Deadpool

Deadpool is basically the only straight up comedy act on the list. Yes, he is hyper violent as well at times but he lives in a completely absurd world of his own in a lot of ways. I was resistant to him for a while just because he had such a following and didn’t play a major part directly in the comics. But the stuff I’ve read of his generally is a good amount of fun and he works as a character who is comedy and doesn’t spend his time bumping up against the main characters but is just off in his own little world doing his thing. And then when he does interact with other characters, it’s good entertainment.

9 – Ant-Man

Now, do I prefer Pym or Lang as Ant-Man, probably Lang, but both are good. I think that they both provide an interesting feel for Ant-Man, but this will be more about Lang since he’s in the MCU as Ant-Man. I like the idea of a criminal turned super hero, because you get that blend of things that shouldn’t be done and still trying to be better than he was before. Also Paul Rudd just does a solid job in that role with comedy but also creating a character who has a bit of a heart. Lang and Ant-Man are a good blend of comedy and heart, which I think you’ll see further on the list.

8 – Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch could probably be a villain as well, but I think that she works well in either direction. As a hero she’s a terrifying power that you’re worried about won’t be able to control herself. On the flip side as a villain, she’s even more scary. I like a character who has just an insane level of power but you don’t know if they’ll be able to control it, and while some heroes, like the Hulk, can smash anything, Scarlet Witch is so much beyond that, if she makes a mistake, or loses control that can just alter the world, alter the past or present and completely change reality as you know it. Add in the fact that she’s not all that stable mentally, it creates an even crazier power set for her and more interesting stories as you wait for her to break.

7 – Magik

Now, admittedly she isn’t a character that I’ve read a ton of stuff focused directly on her, but I like her character in the X-Men comics that I’ve read. Her powers are interesting and she just has an edgier look to her than a lot of the other heroes. In fact, she’s sometimes a little bit shaky as to how actually good she is. But with that, she also has a complex backstory and a brother, Colossus who is also part of the X-Men. So that adds in an interesting dynamic to her character. Her power set with sorcery and teleportation are very interesting as well as she kind of has a larger breath to her powers than a lot of other characters.

6 – Doctor Strange

So with Strange, I actually was interested in him before the Doctor Strange film came out, that movie definitely made me more interested and brought about more comics because there hadn’t been many or any for a little bit. But his power set is just so interesting to me. I like the magic that he can do and just the breath of what it can cover. But I also like that so much of who he is, is tied into who he was and how he’s had his “come to Jesus” moment where he realized that his pride and his goals weren’t fulfilling his life and when it was all taken away from him he didn’t know who he was. There’s another character who is always trying to prove himself against his past, but he’ll show up later and it is interesting to see how they deal with their hubris in different ways.

5 – Rogue

Now, Rogue might be a surprising character, and some of it might be that she fairly often ties closely to another character higher on my list. But I also find her power and character interesting. She can absorb other peoples powers and basically neutralize them, but it comes at a cost. She absorbs and that means that she steals from them and she can’t control it, it doesn’t matter if she wants to or not, she will steal their powers and drain their life force. So how can she have a normal relationship with a human being and that’s a very common struggle with her. I think you’ll find that I like the characters who have those human struggles, both with previous ones I’ve mentioned and ones coming up. It just makes them feel more like they could be real people and real heroes.

4 – Thor

Now, let me preface this by saying, I’m 100% Norwegian, so I like Thor some for that reason. But that’s not just it. For Thor, I like the fact that you can get some more epic and mythological battles going on. It isn’t just Thor versus some supervillain, it can be Thor facing off against gods and comsic beings, and I like that you get a wider scope with him. Now, clearly he isn’t the only hero who has that, but I like him better than most. Now, the fact that he’s also displaced kind of from his world and having to deal with humans is interesting as well. I like a fish out of water, and I like a character who has flaws when dealing with that, and Thor definitely has flaws. He’s a good blend of big action, big moments and still be caring that works well.

3 – Iron Man

Now, I can thank the MCU for making me like Iron Man so much, and as much as I like Iron Man, so much of what I like about Iron Man is Tony Stark. He is a deeply flawed character who desperately wants to do the right thing and always ends up doing the right thing poorly. If he knew he was doing the wrong thing and did it anyways, or if he was doing the right thing and it always worked out, that’d be boring, but he fails so often. And not only does he fail at the big super hero things, Iron Man/Tony Stark fails at the small normal life things as well, relationships, drinking, drugs, and he’s just not a great member of society. But every time that he fails in his life, in saving the world, whatever it might be, he gets back up and tries again.

2 – Spider-Man

Now, I will say, I’m done for good with Uncle Ben dying, but I really like Spider-Man as a character. Apparently I like the characters that provide a bit of humor. Spider-Man does it in a really fun loving way, and I just like how wholesome and earnest his character is. I also really like him because of the 90’s cartoon and because of the cast of villains that he has. Spider-Man has some of the best villains to go up against, and they have done a solid job with them in the movies, and they always do a great job in the comics with them. I think that Spider-Man/Peter Parker works as well because he’s so relatable for kids and people in general reading comics. Issues with school and friendship and balancing of his life abound, and while Iron Man has relatable flaws as well, Spider-Mans are just a bit simpler and feel more like everyday life.

1 – Gambit

Now this mainly comes from watching the TV show in the 90’s and then carried into reading the comics in the mid 2000’s and early 2010’s. Gambit is just a fun character for me. I like him as a bit of a loner who doesn’t play well with others. But he has a good heart, he just doesn’t want other people to know it. There’s definitely a bit of a vibe that is similar to that of Wolverine, stand-off-ish and not a team player, but while a lot of people love Wolverine, I like it when Gambit does it better. He has an awkward kind of charm to him where things end up in his favor, after normally not starting out that way at all, and it just works for a comic book character.

So who are your favorite Marvel heroes? Do you have any overlap with me? There are so many characters that it’s just hard to pick 10 and really think about what makes some stand out over others.

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Things were tolerable when the new gods were getting along, but now they’ve split into three factions all vying for more worshipers than the others and to gain more power or sway over the lands. Old elves remember when the new gods worked together, but now it’s been hundreds of years, lands are in famine, there are wars and battles starting daily as the new gods push for more people to worship them.

This world sucks, it’s going to be hard, but that’s where the PC’s (Player characters) will be dropped into. A world at constant war where the gods only intervene on behalf of an army or to cause other havoc. The PC’s are going to be part of a group that has had enough and has felt the call to do something about the new gods. A righteous anger has awoken in them, some might say.

The player should be at war against the new gods, but obviously a first level character going up against a god won’t work, even a 15th level character might not work. So we’re starting out with some find the artifact quests and finding out and dealing with more charismatic or violent followers of the new gods who are pushing the conflicts. Basically working on a rising action towards becoming a notable threat to the new gods.

The artifact quests are going to be important to do in this campaign because they are going to tie the players into one of the old gods. When I say Rebirth for the name, it’s because the righteous anger and the desire to stand-up to the new gods is going to be because they have the power of or are an old god that is awakening again in a new host. If they can survive and take out the new gods, then the old gods can return the world to what it once was, assuming there is a world left to. So we’re talking finding some legendary level artifacts, whether they are weapons, armor, skills, whatever it might be. I’d be tempted to create a boon that they can unlock if they complete something in the campaign, some extremely powerful ability that might wreck your normal game balance, but something that they’ll have to unleash that is specific to their old gods powers. An example, if you went with someone like Thor as an old god would be a +3 hammer that has some extra properties that can be unlocked, like when it hits, it deals damage of the call lightning spell at level 3, or you can unlock a once a day ability to use the hammer to cast call lightening at level 9, or you cast the spell and then every time you hit it causes 3d10 lightning damage, something awesome and epic like that. Also possibly make them evolving weapons, so if it is Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, make it a +1 hammer to start, add in something like, if you fight during a storm it does 1d6 lightning damage later, now a +2 hammer, and so on.

Eventually when the players are high enough level, they will end up facing off against the gods. Make this challenging, and make this a gauntlet of sorts. Also, give them a chance to have weakened the gods. Keep in mind that the gods want worshipers, and the new god who is doing the best is the one with most worshipers, make that obvious to the players with a bunch of obvious clues. See if the players will try and get worshipers themselves to boost their power, if they do, boost their power. Or whomever of the new gods has the most worshipers, have them be the final boss. Make lesser minion gods or angels or demons or demi-gods that will fight with the bigger badder new gods. Also, give the players a choice where to fight, let them fight in the heavens or depths or on the world, and if they choose world, make catastrophes happen when the new gods swing, it’ll give you some cinematic moments where the new gods are ripping trees out of a the ground, a new god comes down from the heavens and flattens a mountain, things like that.

Eventually, the players either win and the ascend up to the heavens with other awakened old gods, or they fail and as they are dying, they feel a presence leave them of the old gods as they go off to find new hosts in five hundred years that can take on the new gods.

Would you play in a game like this? Would you run a game like this? How would you make it seem like the PC’s are hosts for old gods?

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In Dragonlance, you have a lot of stories and games that are going to be focused around the deities or dragons. Which is classic fantasy and classic Dungeons and Dragons. The deities are active in the world and are regularly fighting each other which of course is going to cause problems in the world that the adventurers are going to need to take care. The world where the characters join in is already going to be at the point where things have gone poorly and they are going to be fighting to bring things back to some level of good, or at least to keep the world from ending.

Dragonlance, being that it’s an earlier world doesn’t have the fully fleshed out set of races. While you’re going to have your classic races, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans, some of the other ones such as gnomes, halflings, tieflings, etc. aren’t going to be in this world. Much of this comes, again, from the time when this was created. Those other races were added onto Dungeons and Dragons at a later time. However, with that, because it’s been around so long, there are some well known NPC’s that you can interact with in the world. Raistlin is probably the most well known. He’s an extremely powerful mage, probably the most powerful in the land, so while he’s dealing with the bigger things, it would make sense then for the players to deal with smaller things that aren’t worth Raistlin’s notice.

So why would you play in this world? It’s fairly generic, and you don’t have the options that would be there in The Forgotten Realms which is also generic. I think that the reason you’d play here is that it’s going to have that grittier feel. If you wanted to play in a more generic settings but one that is darker and grittier, The Forgotten Realms is about being heroic, and while Dragonlance can have that feeling as well, it’s not going to be handed to you as much. Your characters will have to fight their way for it keeping track of everything. Now, that isn’t going to be for a lot of people. I would say that this is for the people who care more for the simulation piece of Dungeons and Dragons and a little bit less about the role playing piece. Not to say that you couldn’t play that more heroic style of game in Dragonlance, but what can set it apart is going less that direction and delving more into the darker and grittier side of fantasy.

As for the sort of games, it’s going to be the big epics. Eventually, your characters will be up there fighting with Raistlin against some deity or taking care of some dragon that he doesn’t have time for. It’s a world that is on the swords edge of falling into just complete war and chaos, which is what one of the gods wants, and the players will need to fight back those forces. You can do more stories in the world as well, but with the history and lore that is in place, that’s going to be a common style of game, is keeping Dragonlance and the lands of Krynn from falling into chaos and destruction that they can’t come back from. Again, leaning towards more of that fight for survival in a world that’s falling apart versus a grand heroic adventure.

So, would I play a game in Dragonlance? I’d play a game in any D&D setting, but I really don’t care to play in Dragonlance. Because it’s older, it would feel like an older setting with more constraints on what I can play and do. And this idea that it’s this darker and grittier world, just make something really bad happen in the Forgotten Realms or Eberron and you can gain that same survivalist feeling. So if I want this generic fantasy feel and to have that survival and darker setting, I can do that, I can even make it more unique in some other settings, so for me Dragonlance is a setting that’s had it’s moment and I really don’t care if I’d play in it.

Would you play or run a game in Dragonlance? Have you played a game in that setting before?

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