Legendary Kingdoms – Part 1

Legendary Kingdoms – Part 2

More Parts to Come

What Is Legendary Kingdoms

Legendary Kingdoms is a solo, though you could do it cooperatively, RPG system. In this system you are using a choose your own adventure type of game play with skill checks. And there are multiple books in the Legendary Kingdoms. The choices you make progress the story in different ways. And while sometimes you are limited, you also hit very open world points. But that’s the basics of the system.

How To Play

Legendary Kingdoms is a game where there isn’t really a “winner” so to speak. It is an open world story driven solo or multiplayer choose your own adventure RPG, in case you skipped the section above.

Characters

To start off you start with a group of four characters in your party. I am not sure if it is possible to add more characters as you go. But it is possible to have your characters die if you are reckless in battles.

Characters use several different stats. There is fighting, stealth, lore, survival and charisma as well as hit points. These stats generally range from 1 to 5 when you start the game. It is possible during the game that they might increase. But it is not a common thing and it is driven by story. It is not an RPG system where you gain experience and level up.

Checks

The main crux of the game play is split into two parts. Story, which I’ll talk about next, and checks. When you do anything in the game you complete checks. This is even the case when you are in combat, though combat checks do behave slightly differently at times.

The basics of a check are fairly simple. They are either group checks, so a check for everyone, or an individual check. A group check you will use the stats of two of the four characters versus just one for the individual. The game often doesn’t tell you what a check might be before you make it, so you need to pick your character(s) somewhat blindly based on context.

Then you roll dice. You roll dice equal to the stat being checked against. In combat you check to see how many succeed and you get that many hits and damage dealt to an enemy which is determined by the enemy’s defense. In a skill check there is a set target number you want to match or beat like in combat. But in a skill check you want to get a certain number of success to pass.

There is a bit more for combat, but I won’t go into it here.

Story

The other large element is the story in the game. Like I said, this is a choose your own adventure style of game. By that I mean, you start with a passage, read that, make a decision and go to another passage to read from. It is interrupted by combats or skill checks, but generally it is reading one part of the story or another.

What I Don’t Like

So what is it about the game that might not work for me? I think the biggest thing I note in the game is the luck factor. Yes, the better a skill is the more dice you roll. That is a nice thing int he game, it is less swinging than maybe rolling a D20 and adding a modifier. Especially because it is the value on every individual die that matters. But it is still a luck game. In Legendary Kingdoms there is not much if any die mitigation so it is just a roll.

What I Like

Firstly, I like how simple the system is to play. When I want to get the game out, I grab some dice and start playing. Yes, you need a game sheet to use, but it is not overly complex to track that. And the checks are simple to follow as well.

Speaking of checks, I like how combat is just a bit more complex, but not too complex. If combat were as simple as it is for a skill check, it might feel way to lucky. But I like how you have armor and that armor might block attacks. And I like that as characters you get to go first and then the enemies go. There is no initiative system it is just nice and simple that way.

Another thing that stands out to me is that the writing is solid or slightly better than that. With a choose your own adventure it is very possible that it could be too generic because you don’t know how someone is getting to a situation. This one is just enough on rails that they can create a bigger story. Now it is at the point where I am in an open world point, so I want to know how the story is going to go. But I like the story a lot thus far, and I think there is some good interesting writing and plot happening.

Who Is Legendary Kingdoms For?

This is tough one to say. I think people who like a good RPG might enjoy this game. In particular maybe a video game RPG player who is looking for a way to spend less screen time. It is going to give you that RPG itch but not be too much. And it is something for an RPG fan who maybe wants to play more but can’t work it into their schedule. This is a game that is easily playable in an evening for thirty minutes and then putting it down and picking it up again.

Thoughts and Grades on Legendary Kingdoms

This game is a blast to play. Is it perfect, no, I wish there was maybe a way to add a bonus to a roll from time to time, just for those really important ones. And maybe it is the case where there might be a spell that’ll do that eventually. So there is a bunch of luck when it comes to rolling. And combat, like most RPG’s, is always a bit more time than the story. But those both are minor negatives to me.

The positives far outweigh both of those parts to me. I think that the game play is fast and fun. And I love the story elements to it. The decision of do you go further into the water or out, it is interesting. Do you spend more time pushing for treasures but potentially risking something? That is what you want from a good choose your own adventure style of game. And unlike the choose your own adventure books you might have read growing up, this one is logical. You can guess what might come next.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: A
Strategy (out of 10): 5
Luck (out of 10): 7

Oh, and if you made it down here, leave a comment as to what direction I should go in the story.

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Campaign Ideas

We are currently in the Campaign Ideas phase. You can see how I simplify that here. But right now I wan to come up with a few campaigns that could set-up for the next story. And in particular, I want to create the elevator pitches for them.

Now, when I think about coming up with an idea, there is an intimidation element to it. What is going to make a great epic story for a longer campaign? But I think it’s fair for people to borrow ideas from everywhere. So whether that’s a movie, an anime, a book, folklore, whatever it might be, borrow it to help generate ideas. There is a difference between weaving elements into a bigger narrative that show-up elsewhere.

So let’s get down to some ideas.

The End is Known

For ten years there has been war with the demons. No one knows how it started, but demons and devils poured forth from the hells working together. And now only a small band of heroes remains having battled and felt loss over the years. They face off against one last devil, Asmodeus stands before them, and they quake. Asmodeus speaks and it’s all over.

You awake with a new vague memory in your head. A voice that wasn’t there before. It says, something bad is going to be happening. It’s coming, the monsters are coming. But you look outside your window and it’s normal. It’s just another day in your life and nothing seems worse, except for this voice and this vague memory of a devil speaking some incantation. This one is inspired by a LitRPG book I listened to, couldn’t find the title of it, and A Returners Magic Should Be Special.

Notes: This is both the end and the elevator pitch all wrapped into one. The characters kind of know what the end is. But how will these characters now become heroes who can deal with what is coming. And what do they believe, do they believe that is coming or not?

The Puppetmaster

It’s a world of legends and stories. But new stories keep on popping up and they are similar to old stories that you’ve heard before. A magic lamp, three bears living in a house, and wolves, oh so many wolves. The stories are just that, though, right? They are just stories, it can’t be something real.

Notes: Short and sweet pitch here. Not much to set-up, the world matters less for this one, and I wouldn’t even use the title because it’s going to give away some of what the end might be. But this is a question of what if the fairytale world came to life and it wasn’t the happy stories that we know, but the bears, wolves, and everything is now out to kill you?

The Monster Within

The wrought iron gates clanged as a strong wind howled down from the north. It shook the window panes with an unsettling rattle. But neither the clanging of the gate or the rattle of the window were what drew your attention. On the wind there was a song of melancholy and despair. The words couldn’t be made out, but you knew that they came from the castle up on the mountain. There was a narrow cart path leading up there, and that is where you needed to go, because, there was a monster up there who needed to be dealt with.

Notes: This one is going to be a bit different. Clearly I’m going for a gothic horror vibe for it. But I want to go more monster of the week with it. I enjoy the monster of a week trope and it’s going to lean into that with beasts like werewolves, vampires, and other creations that are well fitting for a Curse of Strahd type setting. What does the end game on this one look like? Honestly, it could look like Strahd or some vampire lord, or even work up to a Lich lord who is controlling things.

Time of Legends

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

Notes: The obvious thing here is that the seal is weakening on the dungeons. The second obvious thing is that these are the heroes who are needed. But while the players will know that I know that and you know that, the characters wouldn’t. Why think that they are heroes when they just lead normal lives? And the in the big town, that is there real heroes live and fight in wars for kings and defend against assassins and cast amazing spells. This one steals form a lot of anime. I’m not going full Last Dungeon Town (etc etc) where they are super powerful, but they might find that city heroes aren’t what they think.

What’s the Next Step for this Dungeons and Dragons Campaign?

The next step is pitching the idea to the players. We spun up a Discord Server to share links and notes from the last session. So I plan to drop all of the options in there today with any tweaks that I want. And then the players will get to decide what campaign sounds the most interesting to them. If I ran a game for you, which one would you want to pick?

As the Dungeon Master, I like the idea of them all obviously. But I think that if I were a player, I like the sound of the first and the last the best. The other two feel more monster of the week whereas the first and last feel like they are going to lead to a more epic end. But let me know your pick on the Facebook post or down in the comment section below.

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Pokémon Legends: Arceus

I won’t spoil much of anything here. But let’s talk about where it drops you into the world and generally what the story is. You are literally dropped back in time through a rift. You land on a beach and you’re in the past. The you meet Professor Laventon who vouches for you and gets you into a village and a team of Pokémon researches. So you need to go out there, complete missions, complete requests, and capture and battle Pokémon.

How Is The Game Play?

The game play enjoyable. I won’t say that it’s amazing, but it’s very fun as you go around doing what you expect to do. And I think that’s kind of the best thing to say about it. Are you capturing Pokémon, yes you are. Are you battling Pokémon, yes you are. And when it comes down to it that is going to be what you want to do in a Pokémon game.

The controls themselves are very easy to learn and master in the game. It actually gives you a lot of assisting when it comes to targeting. There is an element of the game of dodging that I’m not that good at. That is a me issue, not the game issue. The game gives you warning when something is going to attack. For me it is just remembering which button to hit, and I am not that great at it. It’s the one element of the game that really has timing with it though. So I think that it might be an area that some players will struggle like I do.

How Is The Story?

I plan on avoiding spoilers here. But that might be tricky to do when talking about the game. I think that the story is again solid. It is good enough that it keeps me generally engaged with what is happening. It also isn’t so much that I feel like I’m going to forget everything if I take a break. That is the challenge for me with a lot of games, I tend to play for a while and then pause and come back again later.

But the story is fun, and the characters you interact with are fun. I also like how it is building up this history for the game. I know they need to have a lot of history for all of the games that they have, but it’s a fun element to the game. When you start the game, you build the Pokedex. It isn’t something that exists already. That is generally your goal in the game beyond the main story is to build that up.

I find it interesting that they are doing an out of time story as well. You find yourself in the past, and that is unique as well. I think they could have just done a story where you are just really talented as a Pokémon scout/fighter for Galaxy Team. But to be from the future is a nice twist and gives characters other ways to interact with you. And it is good at making the story feel big because of that.

Final Thoughts on Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Pokémon Legends Arceus is a fun game. It’s also a fun game for me because I can play it while my kid if watching. Some of the other games that I just love either aren’t interesting to them, Balatro and Slay the Spire, or are a bit violent and mature, Horizon and Baldur’s Gate 3. And while I enjoy playing games like Mario Kart and Mario Party Jamboree with him, I think it is more fun, or just as much fun to play that type of game that is more of a game. Mainly, I find myself playing it even when he isn’t around.

The one more negative thing, and I suspect this is the case with all the Pokémon games, is that it does feel like you do a lot of the same things. You catch Pokémon and you battle Pokémon. You might say “well duh” but it is an element of the game that is just fine for me. It is something that I expect from the game for sure. But it being my first game, I find that it is enjoyable, but sometimes it feels like I’m doing the same thing a lot. Or I feel like I should grind some in order to get to the level where the next big mission is comfortable for me.

That said, I find this game fun. I wouldn’t keep playing it if I didn’t. And I think that it’s a very solid and enjoyable. And I suspect that when I am done, I’m going to go find another Pokémon game to play. Such as Violet which we own.

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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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And for other ideas check out the previous lists.

Two Player Games
Campaign Games
Solo Games
Party Games
Welcoming Games
Medium Weight Games

Thematic Games

ISS Vanguard

Now, I said that all my thematic games weren’t going to be campaign games. But I’m starting off with one of them that I’ve played some on Malts and Meeples YouTube. This is a big space adventure and exploration game. Let’s get you intrigued, possibly, by the pitch.

A message was decoded on Earth that gave us the coordinates to what looked like an empty spot out in space. The ISS Vanguard was sent out there to figure out why those coordinates were important. When they got there, they realized that wasn’t the case, there was something out there that was hidden away.

In ISS Vanguard you play as the crew of the ship exploring planets and dealing with maintaining morale and researching and improving your technologies. The game really has this interesting divide between exploring the planets which is one type of game play. And managing the ship which is another type of game play. But Awaken Realms did a great job of managing to make both of them feel important and thematic as you play.

Dungeon Kart

Next up is a racing game. Racing games often aren’t the most thematic games. But Dungeon Kart for me is a great Mario Kart style of racing game that works. It is quick, you get spells to sling around, and it feels like you are playing Mario Kart on the table top.

Each player is one of the characters from the Boss Monster world that Brotherwise has created. And they are driving around in a kart trying to get around the track the fastest. But each character has their own special things that they can do. And each vehicle has their own special ways of handling. I forget how much overlap or how static that is. But you also, at the end of each round, check to see who is where, and the further back you are, the more spells and things you get to cast and try and cast up. I love that catch-up mechanism in the game, because it makes it feel like no one is ever out of it.

Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Now for the smallest of the thematic games on the list. This is a roll and write game that is pinball. You each get a board, a ball, and dice get rolled. Depending on the numbers on the dice, that determines where the ball is going to go. It always is going to move down, with a few exceptions, just like a pinball table. Then you use your flippers, launch it back up, and keep on going.

The game is all about how well you can use the dice. Two are rolled and you just use one so you generally have options. But if you need to, they offer thematic options like nudging the table. Of course, you nudge too hard, and there is a chance that you get a tilt. And the bumpers, generally three in the middle of a table, the ball can rattle around in there without needing to drop down.

They also sell a lot of options for the game. There is the base game, which I have. But there is an expansion that adds more tables. There is a Star Trek version or maybe DC is more your thing, or you want to play it at Christmas, you can buy Christmas pinball tables. You decide what makes the most sense, or intrigues you the most.

Roll Player Adventures

Now we’re onto another campaign game. The final one for the thematic games is also kind of a campaign game, but I’ll get to that. I love Roll Player Adventures, though, and it has a fun story to it. Roll Player is a thematic game about making a D&D character. Well, they took what they made in that game and created a whole world around it that you can play in Roll Player Adventures.

In this game, it’s a shorter campaign game than some. You play through stories with a map, move around that map, but the game is mainly built around dice placement and dice manipulation. You build up a hand of cards for your character, and then use those cards to get dice onto skill checks and or for fighting monsters. But you need specific color dice to do that, so you need to spend your attributes to pick the dice to get the right colors. Or maybe you just risk it and draw from the bag. There is this great balancing of resource management in the game.

I really enjoy this game. I like the game play a lot, and the story is also great. And I appreciate that it’s not that long a campaign. The game is probably best at 3 players. At 1 or 2 it is going to be harder. My play was a 4 player game, and it became a bit easy. So know that, but if you are up for a challenge at lower players or just want to enjoy the story, grab this fun, big game.

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Finally for thematic games, I want to share Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. This is the kind of a campaign game and kind of not game. Mainly because the core box is a campaign. It’s five cases that are tied closely together that tell a really good story. But they also sell single castes or a box of cases that don’t all link together.

In this game you play as detectives trying to solve cases, no surprise there. But it is more than just that. You investigate different locations, meet up with people to question them, and you even gather DNA samples. This is a very in-depth detective game. I take so many notes when I play, over the five cases in the base box, I think I ended up with 12-15 pages of notes. And you use a computer to query against the system to see if you find DNA matches, look up details from old cases, run finger prints. And you even, once in a while, look up things online to gain historical context to what is being talked about.

Now, if you want to try different versions of this you can as well. Maybe crime isn’t your thing, no big deal. You buy the Batman set, or there is Dune, or 1980’s, or other one off cases that you play as well. This is just one of the best, if not the best thematic deduction game that I’ve played.

Final Thoughts

I love so many thematic games. I even now see a few more that I could have and should have mentioned. Things like Marvel Champions is a great thematic Marvel game. Rock Hard 1977 let’s you live out your rockstar dreams. And of course I own a lot more campaign games like Stars of Akarios, The 7th Citadel, and more that I want to talk about here as well.

What are your favorite thematic games? And which one would you want to add to your holiday list or gift to someone?

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What’s Changed from Early On To End?

Firstly, I don’t think that a ton has changed. I think there are a few elements where I commend what they did also I wish they were a bit better. And I still love the D&D nature of the game. When I sit down, I play Dungeons and Dragons because that’s what Baldur’s Gate 3 is, and they kept it very true to that.

So really, generally, this is my favorite video game that I’ve played. I love some other games that I’ve played, like Borderlands and Dragon Age. Neither of those games, however, give you that big branching feeling in the story that Baldur’s Gate 3 does. I get to sit down, explore where I want to explore, make choices, and feel like there are real things that change in the game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Act III Issues

Now, that isn’t to say that there aren’t issues with the game. And I think most of them crop up towards the end of the game. Not kind of the end of the game hurrah, but the final faceoff against the bad guy, or leading into that. Mainly that some elements of the game aren’t as smooth as they should be. But more so, the story isn’t as smooth as it should be.

By that I don’t mean so much the main plot. I think that there is one element where it really is not that well done. Mainly, it’s a move that doesn’t make that much sense for a character that you’ve interacted with. And I think with the massive branching narrative that they have, there are some choices that get locked in, in ways that you don’t expect, because of a choice made. I’m trying to be vague here, but it’s just enough story, let’s put it that way, that sometimes things happen that don’t make sense.

Does Combat Hold Up?

So this is another little nitpick of the game. Not a major one because I get what they are doing. And I still love the combat in the game. Turn based D&D style combat is what I’m there for. So it’s not really a nitpick with the combat, it’s a nitpick with the level cap. I locked into level 12 pretty quick in the game.

And I get that there is power creep and enemy scaling that would need to be done. But I missed leveling up every now and again. Even if they push it out and slow down the level from 12 to 15 so that you barely can make it to 15 by the end, it’d be fun to hit a level up more often.

I understand that there’d be a need to scale the enemies in different ways. Basically, you need them to put out more damage or have more health depending on where people are at. And the more you are a completionist, the more you need that in place. I am not a 100% player, but I find a lot and I easily was at level 12 before most of the big boss fights in the game. That made some of them fairly easy still. So the game could use enemy scaling and for me a higher level cap.

Baldur’s Gate 3 – The Story

Again, I want to avoid spoilers as much as I can. So this is going to be more general than everything. But I love the story in the game. I think that even with the hiccup of a couple of things either getting locked in or having an extreme result, it’s a great story. And you feel like your character gets to progress throughout everything that they are doing. That is a great element for an open world RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3.

I want more games like this. But I have been watching Neil Newbon’s stream of the game, he voices Astarion and he talks about how long it took to get this game out the door. And that is not without some of the issues that I mentioned. I understand why there aren’t many games like this, it is so much work. But also, I want more like Baldur’s Gate 3 in terms of options for your character, branching narrative, choices mattering.

Let me know what you think of Baldur’s Gate 3. How many playthroughs have you done (my wife is on her fourth)? And what games maybe give some of the same feel as Baldur’s Gate 3?

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What Is Baldur’s Gate 3

So, normally when I write about board games, this is the section on how to play the game. I’m going to touch on that some for Baldur’s Gate 3 here, but also, what is the game in general?

Baldur’s Gate is a role playing game on the computer. You make your character and take them through adventures having dialogs with the NPCs both in your adventuring party and outside of it, to explore the world and to try and solve the problem that you’ve been faced with. You also face off against enemies in combat.

As you progress through the game you also progress through levels for your character and party members. So you gain more hit points, improve stats, and unlock more spells. All of this is taken directly from Dungeons and Dragons as to how you progress.

And that is the majority of the game. It’s about dialog, combat, and exploring the world. All the while working through the story that of the game.

Is The Story Good?

Let’s start then by talking about the story. Baldur’s Gate 3’s story is engaging from the get go. The game drops you into the story and you just need to start running with it. I like the set piece that you start in, which is in the trailers, of the hells.

And it teaches you while still expecting you to play the game at the start of the story. If you fail to do some things that will impact your game going forward from the get go. It might not be the biggest things, but you might miss out on a whole character if you aren’t careful, which is pretty impressive to start a game.

The story continues to grow from there. I like how it progresses not at that quick a pace, so it gives time for side quests. But it progresses in ways that makes you think about the story before. You need to remember who the characters are and where you’ve met them before. Because, it will matter as characters come back again in the story.

How Does Combat Work?

I think that combat is the area that trips most people up. Cut scenes with dialog and picking options. That all is normal. But the combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Dungeons and Dragons combat. You get an initiative, you pick from a lengthy set of spells or you need to consider your combat moves otherwise. And you do that for your whole party. And the monsters work in that way as well.

I know from what I’ve heard that some people don’t like this style of combat as well. And it is not going to be for everyone because it is different. That said, I like it. I like it because I don’t need to be quick on the buttons. When I play a game like Dragon Age, I set them casting some spell or using some shot, and I just keep on eye on cooldowns for when I can do it again. Or I need to try and spam moves or button mash. But here, I take my time to figure out what I want to do and I do that.

Now, as you gain more spells, it might become overwhelming for the player in the game. And it helps that I know what the spells or moves are from Dungeons and Dragons. So I sit down and I see “Fireball” I know what it is going to do. If you are new to Baldur’s Gate 3 and to Dungeons and Dragons it is going to be a different experience for you.

Final Thoughts on Baldur’s Gate 3

Why isn’t there more, you might ask. Surely there are more elements of the game to breakdown. There kind of are, and there kind of aren’t. So much of the rest of the game I’d consider to be traditional in what you are doing. If I’m playing a game or have played fantasy role playing games, or even something like Horizon Zero Dawn, you know what to do in these sorts of games.

The big question is, does the game grab you with the story? And is the combat something that works for you. I think some people will love the combat. I think other people, it is going to be too slow or too overwhelming with everything. And because of that, there is going to be a learning curve that some people won’t want to do.

For me, I love what the game does. I love leveling up my characters and seeing everything that can happen in the story. And I like the check system, maybe the other thing I could have written about. But the classic Dungeons and Dragons D20 system brought over to a video game, and it works well.

Have you played Baldur’s Gate 3, do you enjoy it. And is it worth getting and playing the older Baldur’s Gate games?

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Watch Spring here.

Mythwind Thoughts

I know one of the bigger review channels, the Dice Tower, just reviewed Mythwind. I haven’t gone through their whole review for it, but the reviews were mixed. And I think all three people who reviewed it like it less than I do. And I believe like it less than other people do who I’ve seen play it. That said, I’m not going to say that the Dice Tower crew were wrong. They always have reasons for their opinions on reviews.

So I want to throw some of my own thoughts onto it. I tend to be a positive reviewer. I like more games than I don’t, and that’s a good thing. If you review board games and find that you like fewer than you enjoy, board games might not be the right space. But a game like Mythwind is always going to be a tough sell. Mainly because it is supposed to be a cozy, relaxing, kind of a goal but not really a win condition game. And I don’t blame anyone for not wanting that in a game.

Mythwind is What It Says

What I’ll call out, and this is something I’ve seen with other games as well, is when someone dislikes a game for doing what it says it is going to do. Mythwind is a cozy game. That might not be what you want in a game, but that doesn’t make Mythwind a bad game. Or I see this all the time with Tainted Grail. The amount of complaining about Tainted Grail when all the information as to what type of game it was going to be was right there was astounding to me.

A game might not work for you. And that is a fine thing. No game should work for everyone. If a game does, that means that it probably works okay for everyone. No matter what it is, you can’t please everyone. So I’m glad to see when a game comes out that is great for some people and okay or not so great for others. It’s better to have a subset who love the game and will come back to it, than everyone saying it’s a 6.5 or 7 out of 10.

Mythwind is Relaxing

At no point in time do I feel rushed when I play the game. Yes, this is just me restating that Mythwind is what it says it is. But it’s worth talking about. I don’t feel rushed. I don’t feel like I need to make a perfect decision, ever. If it takes two turns to get what I want, well, that’s okay. In fact, I like that feeling because it adds to the game in multiple ways.

I’ve talked about it being relaxing, that’s what this section is about. But that relaxed nature adds to the replayability of the game. My culture wasn’t high enough at times to unlock particular events. Will those events massively change the game, probably not, but they might tweak it. And what it’s like with more players, how much faster it can move, I’m curious about that. And because it is such a puzzle for each character, I can play it again with a new character and it won’t feel too much like I’m rehashing story.

It Might Not Be For You

And all of that said, I want to reiterate, Mythwind very well might not be for you. The game is something unique and specific in what it does. No win condition, no massive pressure moments, that is a tough sell. At the same time, I played and narrated my game for just over an hour yesterday to get through two seasons. This is a relaxing game where I can see, when not streaming, that a season will take me 20-25 minutes. And with 5-10 minutes of set-up and teardown combined, it’s a relaxing puzzle to play.

In fact, I think if you like small solo games, Mythwind is a good fit. The ease to the table stands out for the game. But it’s not just that, it’s the core loop for players. You get to really dive into one or two things that your character does well. And I like that a lot for the game. If that’s what you want, you’ll enjoy Mythwind. If you want a clear, well defined, end point, it’s going to feel lacking.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well.

On Wednesdays, well, I said that I plan to play at least a few more games of Rogue Angels. This is going to continue how I play my solo campaign games on the channel. The reason for that is with how many campaign games I can play solo, I want to try more. That is at 8 PM Central time for the campaign games.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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The Isofarian Guard

The road events are an element of The Isofarian Guard I haven’t talked about too much. I want to talk about Fort Istra and the quests, but right now I need to go and do more with that so I learn their benefits more so. It is a bit premature to talk about them otherwise.

But I did several more road events this time, and I think that they are interesting. It is random when you get road events, which I’m calling that, probably more just events. And sometimes they are good, sometimes not so good. But it is based on the choices that you make. And I knew that the odds were, then I got the really bad result, I chose wrong. But I wanted to see what that story was.

The events add to the story of the world. It is supposed to make the world feel more alive and I think that it does. Much like Gloomhaven with town and road events, they offer you a choice or two or three. And you need to guess from the description given which is the better option. And I think compared to Gloomhaven these are better. Gloomhaven’s were often guess work, at least the first time out.

With The Isofarian Guard, I am fairly confident I know what the safe option is each time. The question is, is the safe option the best option, or is the other option better. Often with Gloomhaven, it is a coin flip. The information to go on is too limited. So, The Isofarian Guard knocks it out of the park when it comes to events.

Upcoming Streams

Let’s start with next Monday, it is Labor Day, so I may or may not stream. The question is mainly around if I need to record a podcast that night or not. I hope to record on Sunday, and if I record then, I likely will stream. But I also plan to go to the Minnesota State Fair that day, which means that I might be too tired from greasy food on a stick and walking around the fair for hours. I’ll know closer to streaming time at 9 PM Central.

If I stream on Monday, there is a chance it’ll be opening up some Magic the Gathering packs and chatting. Or reviewing and talking about Rogue Angels which is launching on Kickstarter that day.

Wednesday is going to be The Isofarian Guard again. My hope is to make it to the next story moment and then up to the first questing location. I want to see what a quest looks like and how it works. My Wednesday stream is at 8 PM Central. And there is no reason that stream will not happen.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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The Isofarian Guard – Foreteller app vs Reading

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Streams

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

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

The best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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