The Reckoners Game Play

The Reckoners is a cooperative team where players take on the roles of the various Reckoners trying to take down epics, the supervillains. This is done in two ways. you either attack or research the epics. When you research an epic completely, that is finding their weakness and makes it easier to kill them.

As you defeat epics, they are trying to take down the population, find your base, and generally mess up your plans. And they are working for Steelheart, the biggest epic. Figuring out his weakness and being able to attack him at all only happens as you defeat the other epics, and he’s messing with you even more than they are.

If you research and damage Steelheart enough to take him down, you win the game. And the population hitting zero causes you to lose the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

The variety in the game is lacking. This is in a few different ways. The epics, while different, don’t feel massively different. It’d make the game more complex, but the game is pretty simple to learn. I hope the expansion gives them more things they can do. Also, Steelheart is the only big bad guy. And while you move from location to location, as does Steelheart, there is nothing unique about them.

Basically, the game does make the characters you play unique in a single way. But opportunities were missed to add in a little complexity, but also make the game more variable. I played with six people, that means every character is in play. So even then, there isn’t variability in a six player game. The expansion does add more Reckoners you can play which will change up the game. Same with more epics, and more bosses to fight.

What Works?

The simple game play is very good. Mainly because everything happens at once. You roll your dice, keeping some Yahtzee style, each time. And the same for using the dice. Once everyone is done rolling, you spend your dice all at once. It’s a bit chaotic, but the only slow moments are going through what the epics do and everyone can help with that.

The actions are simple as well. You can research, deal with henchmen, attack an epic, get money to buy more gear, get a wild card token, or contain an epic. Researching and attacking I’ve already talked about. Money to buy stuff makes sense. The wild card is basically a free action next round. Containing is the trickiest, but not that hard. It means that the epics do less when they activate. And you can do that to any epic or Steelheart, if you are at their location.

The production of the game is also amazing and it helps the game. The artwork is extremely good. The dice are nice and chunky and easy to read. Plus there are many Game Trayz to hold the locations, sliders for the epics and Steelheart, and spots to slot in dice as you keep them and spend them. Is it an over the top production, most certainly, but it is really nice and it is easy to get to the table.

What Do I Want To See In More Plays?

Well, I only have experience at the six player count. I want to try this at a lower player count. The scaling in the game makes sense, so I want to see how well it works. Plus different difficulties. We beat it on easy on the last possible turn before we’d have lost. So it is challenging on easy. Granted, we could optimize our play better. So normal seems like an interesting challenge as well.

I also want to see how different the game feels. Will I do the same things each time? Is the game a limited puzzle with limited shelf life? Is the expansion needed to keep it fresh? I definitely could see if I played the game a lot, it being one that loses steam as time goes by.

The Reckoners Initial Impressions

I like this game a lot. I think after one play I rate it as an 8.5 out of 10. It is a very accessible cooperative game. The packaging, the huge box and all the trays and things, it makes it look way more intimidating than it actually is. I could pull out The Reckoners and play with most people. And while the theme won’t come across that much, it is still a fun theme to work with.

It reminds me a bit of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card game when it comes to theme. If you know the source material, the theme is there. If you don’t, it is still a really good game. This one I think is even more accessible than that one is. And does the theme better, but just slightly. And as you learn the theme, you might want to read the books because of the game.

Have you played the Reckoners? What are you thoughts?

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The Reckoners is a book series about normal people in a super powered world. Those with super powers, known as Epics, are all bad. They want power, they want to rule the world, and most of the time, they do that quite successfully because, a lot of them have what are known as “prime invinsibilities”. By that, it means that they are nearly impossible to kill, because either they heal quickly, or they are impervious to damage, or generally can avoid damage. These are the ones that rule, but they often have lesser epics under them. The Reckoners are normal people who are trying to stop the Epics and weaken their grip on society. David, the main character, however, is just a teenager who wants to kill one main epic, Steelheart, because Steelheart killed his father. He’s also not a Reckoner, just obsessed with them and with epics. He’s looking to find his way into the Reckoners, which, since the series is called The Reckoners, happens. Now, can they take down Steelheart and change the world?

I really like the concept of this series. A lot of the time you have a situation where it’s a hero and a normal sidekick, or hero versus super villain, but there are almost always super heroes. In this case, everyone is bad who has powers. The main reason that they don’t kill off each other constantly is because they still have some self preservation and because they want to rule. So, the Epics use each other to get places of power in the world as it exists now.

Another piece that is interesting is that all the epics have a weakness, or that’s assumed anyways. So there is something you can do, or something that can trigger an epic’s powers to fail or falter. As you’d imagine, especially the “high epics” with “prime invinsibilities” like to keep those hidden as they are impossible to kill otherwise. This keeps the battles different, because the Reckoners when fighting the Epics have to figure out these weaknesses. It means that a whole lot more thinking has to be put into what they are doing, and a whole lot more planning. As compared to a lot of Marvel or DC comic books, that focus in on fighting and maybe some in the super teams, the Reckoners spend a lot of time in the world.

Beyond the epics in the world, the cities in the world are fascinating. The various epics rule the cities, but often have changed the cities to what they want or because of their powers for some reason or another. In Steelheart, he’s turned Chicago into a city of steel, including some of Lake Michigan. There’s also an epic in Newcago (as Chicago is now called) who keeps the city in darkness. Other epics have made Atlanta into a city of salt that is constantly moving and rebuilding itself. And yet another epic has raised the water level of New York City so that only the tops of sky scrapers are sticking out of the water, but the water slopes up towards the city, so it isn’t like the coast is flooded as well. This gives the various books in the series their own unique feel, and makes me want to know what more of the cities are like.

That’s a lot about the world, and not so much about the characters. I’ve mentioned David whom we following around as the main character, and we get the books from his perspective. I also haven’t mentioned the author, Brandon Sanderson, who does a good job of creating not only the world but also interesting characters. David, Megan, Tia, Abraham, Cody, and Prof, the main Reckoners who you will meet at the start of the book,  make interesting characters, and it’s a well balanced team. Sanderson does a good job of giving them all their own personalities, foibles, and ticks for dealing with this new world of super villains. It would be pretty easy to get kind of card board characters surrounding the main character and his love interest, but everyone has their own developed personalities, and their own moments to shine in the books. And the characters and world both feel more developed than a lot of YA (young adult) books do. I suspect that is because of Sanderson’s epic fantasy books that he turns out with massive worlds and many tied together characters that are all extremely important. Not saying that other writers of YA don’t do that, but Sanderson maybe does it more so.

Now, like I said, since I was dream casting this series, it definitely is one that I enjoyed. I don’t think that it’s without it’s weaknesses though. There are times where the story just feels like it doesn’t deliver as much as it could have. It almost plays it a little be safe at times in odd ways. Not like it detracts much from the story, it just doesn’t feel as big as it could be and as big as other Brandon Sanderson works. I think some of that is the target audience, but I also think it’s more so because he was trying to tell a simpler more straight forward story than a lot of his other works as well. The start of the second book, Firefight, is also a bit slow as well, and you kind of get an idea of how the whole book is going to work. There’s also a bit of a feel that the second book, falling to the classic trilogy flaw, is more of a bridge to the third book and setting up things for that than I’d prefer to see. Whereas the first book stands strong on it’s own and could have been a stand alone book easily and the final one Calamity wraps up  the story that was set in the second book.

Overall, the books and story is definitely worth checking out. It does a number of unique things and it’s well written. Like I said, it’s one of the first super power stories that I’ve read, and while I only have one to compare it against, The Reckoners is easily better than it (I don’t remember the name, clearly it was so great). It’s also a series that I wouldn’t have any issue having kids read. I would say that kids as young as 13-14 could read and still enjoy a lot, possibly even a little bit younger. However, I’m a terrible judge at this sort of thing, so maybe read them before a kid reads them. There’s some super powered violence, but nothing is to violent and while there is romance, nothing is explicit about it, it’s just standard YA sort of writing on both accounts.

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This one I’m starting with the book series by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners with the first book being called Steelheart.

Story Synopsis:

There was an event that happened around a decade ago known as calamity. This even caused people to receive super powers, however, everyone who got powers became evil. Among those was a powerful epic (as the super heroes are called) named Steelheart who is invulnerable to damage. He killed our main character, David, father several years earlier. Now David, who was eight or so when that happened, has grown up and is still living in Newcago (Chicago, but now turned to steel). He’s grown up in a hard life as an orphan, but what he wants more than anything is to kill Steelheart and he knows of a resistance group, known as the Reckoners who kill the epics, and he wants to find them and join them.

Let’s meet the characters:

David – Our main character, he is eighteen years old, or so, and has a lot of troubles with metaphors. He also, growing up as an orphan and kid of a loner, doesn’t have great social skills. He’s just put his efforts into researching epics, trying to find their weaknesses, and figuring out where the Reckoners are and who they might be.

Prof – The leader of the Reckoners. He’s a very serious man who likes to plan everything out as well as he can. But he isn’t a pushover who is just a brain, he is also good in a fight. A little bit older, he has been through the wars with the epics and is still standing.

Tia – The technological wiz of the Reckoners, she has been with Prof from the beginning. She helps him plan, she has the connections for the research into epics, and she is the support for the Reckoners missions. She’s also one of the few who can talk with Prof when he is mad without her getting more mad at her.

Abraham – Heavy arms expert who really believes that there have to be some good epics out there, or that this is just a challenge for humanity and if they pass it, the good will come. He’s very even keel and relaxed.

Cody – From the south, but really loves his Irish/Scottish/Australian heritage. He’s a sniper who is kind of a jack of all trades. He’s smarter than he seems, but he puts a front of being a weirdo just because that’s how he deals with how hard everything is and how hard everything has become.

Megan – The love interest (oooooh). But more than that, she’s a snarky character who is mainly annoyed with everyone. She’s part of the Reckoners as well and often runs point. She’s the first to meet David and that doesn’t go all that well for him.

Steelheart – He’s an egomaniac who just wants to rule. He makes it livable for the people of Newcago not because he cares about them that much, but because he wants people to lord power over.

Conflux – One of Steelheart’s right hand epics. He is the one who powers the whole city and keeps it livable for the people. But he also is the one who powers all of enforcement as well for Steelheart.

Nightwielder – Also a right hand epic of Steelhearts, he keeps Newcago bathed in darkness. He goes out and a bout and if often more involved with what is going on in the city than Steelheart is. He’s Steelhearts arm that helps deal out his justice.

So who gets cast?

David – Tye Sheridan

You’ll know Tye from Ready Player One. While that wasn’t a great movie, fun, but not great, the less great looking, more everyman sort of feel is what makes David good. He’s someone who is self conscious of being smart and not all that confident in himself, and I think that Tye Sheridan could pull that off.

Prof – Bruce Greenwood

Greenwood doesn’t have the size that I might have wanted for Prof, but he has a presence when he’s on screen. Generally he seems like someone who has a quiet confidence, and I think that matches well for Prof. And he isn’t someone who looks like he’d be a slouch in combat either.

Tia – Gina Torres

She was a calming influence on the Serenity in Firefly, so I think she could do the same for the Reckoners. It’s a pretty subdued but important role to properly create the team cohesion.

Abraham – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

He’s immediately who I thought for the role, though I didn’t remember the actors name, because he played Heavy Duty in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. Basically a pretty relaxed and confident character who has a big gun, and that’s what Abraham is as well. I thought about Terry Crews as well, but Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaja fits the role a little bit better and Crews is just too happy feeling to me.

Cody – Simon Pegg

Cody is the comedic relief. But he’s more than that, he’s smarter than he seems, and I think it would be a little bit more action focused but similar character to what Pegg plays in the Mission Impossible movies.

Megan – Chloe Grace Moretz

She has the acting chops for what is a fairly difficult role. Her previous performance as Hit Girl in Kick Ass is something that she can pull upon for Megan as Megan has a bit of that abrasive side to her as well.

Steelheart – Josh Brolin

Now, this is a bit on the nose with his performance in Avengers: Infinity War, but Brolin would do the villain well for this film. Someone who has a ton of ego and no fear.

Conflux – Erick Avari

It’s a small role, but Avari would do well in the role that might not be the most challenging, but has some good twists around his character.

Nightwielder – Sean Baek

From Killjoys, he’s a good actor who has played the right hand to a villain before. He fits the description in the book and with the role in Killjoys, it would be a pretty easy step over.

Who would you want to see cast?

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