Tag: Role Playing

In Role Playing games, players assume the identity of another character and act according to how they believe that character would behave in a given scenario.

Here to Slay

| OTSG Staff

Here to Slay is a competitive role-playing fantasy strategy card game that’s all about assembling a party of Heroes and slaying monsters (and sometimes sabotaging your friends too) from the creators of Unstable Unicorns.

In this game, you’ll assemble a full party of heroes to slay dangerous monsters while working to avoid the sabotage of your foes. The game also includes items you can equip to your heroes, 1V1 challenge cards, and roll modifiers to tip the odds in your favor.

The first person to successfully slay three monsters, or build a full party with six classes, wins the game!

Every player gets to choose a party leader character to represent them throughout the game. Each party leader card has a class and a skill that gives you an edge over your opponents. Whether you enjoy fighters, bards, wizards, or thieves, you’ll find a party leader that’s right for your play style – but choose wisely, because you only get one party leader for the whole game!

Your heroes are brave adventurers, ready to attack monsters and go head to head with your foes! The game includes over 40 unique heroes. Each hero card has a class and an effect, and each hero’s effect has a roll requirement. In order to use a hero’s effect, you must roll two dice and score equal to or higher than that effect’s roll requirement. Heroes take advantage of items, magic and modifiers to increase their chances of making their dice rolls.
In order to slay that monster, you must roll two dice and score equal to or higher than that monster’s roll requirement. Be warned: Each monster has a roll range in which they’ll fight back, and if you score within that range, your party might be in grave danger…

Don’t like what your opponent just played? Throw down a challenge! Challenge cards can be played instantly to try to stop another player from playing a hero, item, or magic card. Playing a challenge card initiates a 1V1 challenge in which you and another player both have to roll the dice. If they win the challenge, they still get to play their card, but if you win the challenge, you get to send their card directly to the discard pile!

— description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.68

Freelancers: A Crossroads Game

| OTSG Staff

Congratulations! Humanity is dead! The bad news is that all they left behind is their garbage and a broken gig economy. That’s why we need freelancers like you who are ready to take any job, no matter how loathsome. As a freelancer, you will delve into ruins, brave the wilds, and slay the hordes of hideous creatures that litter the dark forgotten corners of the world. All so you can gather loot and return home, ready to blow it all and start over again the next day. It’s a lousy gig, so it’s perfect for the likes of you.

Freelancers: A Crossroads Game condenses the fantasy RPG campaign experience into a single night of fun and mayhem. Create a character, roll funky dice, and blaze your way through multiple stories set in a world of magic, monsters, and murder. Better yet, no game master is required, as a magical companion app does all the storytelling for you! Immerse yourself in fully-voiced, industry-leading audio as you play. Explore hundreds of branching paths in five highly replayable campaigns. Mix and match a multitude of species and jobs to build your own unique character. Pick up and play, simple rules, low commitment and no prep.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 7 Players
  • 90 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.12

Feed the Kraken

| OTSG Staff

Feed the Kraken is a hidden role deduction game, with three asymmetric factions. All players may be sitting in the same boat, but they want to navigate in different directions! The loyal sailors must bring the ship safely to mainland, whereas the pirates crave to secretly maneuver the ship into the Bermuda Triangle. Meanwhile a crazy cultist is busy convincing parts of the crew to help him summon their dark lord —the Kraken— from the depth of the sea to save them all.

The goal of the game is to navigate the ship towards your final destination, which would be easy if only players weren’t divided into three different factions. Each secret faction wants to reach a different area of the board. Every turn the ship will sail in one of the three possible directions —but which one will it be? The current captain and their chosen lieutenant will study ancient sea maps and pass their often conflicting orders onto the chosen navigator, who has to make the final decision. Meanwhile the rest of the crew is busy drinking rum, gambling and telling each other tales of ancient sea monsters.

After each navigation, the lieutenant and navigator go off duty, and the captain has to find somebody sober enough to take their spot instead. Everyone can discuss, how well that last navigation went, who is to blame for the current course, and who should be in charge in the future instead. Convince your enemies that it is in their best interest to make you the next lieutenant, or navigator! You can even draw your guns and become the new captain in open mutiny! But for how long will you be able to keep the trust of your crew? The next mutiny might already be waiting for you if your decisions don’t please your fellow sailors.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 5 – 11 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.17

Dungeon!

| OTSG Staff

In many ways “Dungeon!” is similar to Dungeons & Dragons, although much simplified and transformed into a board game. Players explore a dungeon that is divided into levels of increasing difficulty, fighting monsters for valuable treasure. As players venture deeper into the dungeon, the monsters become more difficult and the treasure more valuable. Several character classes each have slightly different fighting abilities – most notably the wizard, who can cast spells. Combat is simulated using dice; players roll the dice to attack a monster, and if unsuccessful, the dice are rolled to determine the effect of the monster’s counter-attack.

The winner is the first player to bring a certain amount of treasure back to the Dungeon’s entrance.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.55

Dungeon Degenerates: Hand of Doom

| OTSG Staff

Dungeon Degenerates: Hand of Doom takes place in the Dark Fantasy Realm of the decaying Eastern Provinces of the Würstreich. Players take escaped criminal adventurers on unsavory missions through four distinct regions, each with their own monsters & encounters. As the players explore the Würstreich, danger levels rise continuously across the map. Players must complete their mission before the Hand of Doom descends on the board, unleashing evil magic on the land.

Dungeon Degenerates is a co-op game where players can form parties or split up throughout the game at will; there is no obligation to stick together. Game play is 1-3 hours based on mission. Dungeon Degenerates has an epic RPG campaign feel in an open world sandbox board game, and you bring your experience & items from previous missions. There are multiple missions & objectives of varying difficulty with multiple ways to approach each mission.

Dungeon Degenerates is set in a cohesive & fixed world with multiple distinct regions which feature unique encounters & thematic monsters. Encounters allow multiple interaction choices; you do not have to fight everyone you see. Play features an open experience system allowing for character customization with new skills. You are always in danger – the town is not an artificial safe zone – combat is dangerous. There are various modes of travel – players cooperate to choose their route & pace, or split up & fend for themselves. Dungeon Degenerates features streamlined combat with tactical depth; each player rolls dice only once on their turn, using standard 6-sided dice only. There are over 100 monsters with unique abilities & artwork.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 360 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.64

Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game

| OTSG Staff

The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner – and you are invited!
Evil lurks in the towers and dungeons of Castle Ravenloft, and only heroes of exceptional bravery can survive the horrors within. Designed for 1-5 players, this boardgame features multiple scenarios, challenging quests, and cooperative gameplay.

Each player selects a hero; a ranger, rogue, warrior, cleric, or wizard. On their turn, each player can explore further into the dungeon (turn over new tiles), move through the already explored parts of the dungeon, and fight monsters. When a new dungeon tile is revealed, there is typically an encounter of some sort, and new monsters to fight are added. Slain monsters reward the players with treasure, and experience points, allowing them to level up and increase their skills during play. Players must cooperate to stay alive, slay the monsters, and achieve the goal of their quest. Each scenario has a different goal – from retrieving a relic, to slaying a vampire lord.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Alice is Missing 🔴

| OTSG Staff

The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.

Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another. Right at home with games like Life Is Strange, Gone Home, Oxenfree, and Firewatch, it’s designed to feel as much like an event-style experience as it does a role-playing game.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Adventure Party: the Role-Playing Party Game 🟢

| kithorning

Adventuring Party takes your favorite moments from RPG’s and puts them into a great guessing game! Over the course of 3 Adventure Scenarios, players will take on the role of a brave adventurer and describe in epic detail their plans for that adventure. Of course, however, the dice always have different plans, and after making a secret d20 roll, you will then recount what actually happened. The goal of the game is to have the GM guess what number you rolled as accurately as possible, thereby earning the most Experience Points possible.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 8 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Mage Knight Board Game

| OTSG Staff
Mage Knight Board Game

Mage Knight Board Game

The Mage Knight board game puts you in control of one of four powerful Mage Knights as you explore (and conquer) a corner of the Mage Knight universe under the control of the Atlantean Empire. Build your army, fill your deck with powerful spells and actions, explore caves and dungeons, and eventually conquer powerful cities controlled by this once-great faction! In competitive scenarios, opposing players may be powerful allies, but only one will be able to claim the land as their own. In cooperative scenarios, the players win or lose as a group. Solo rules are also included.

Combining elements of RPGs, deck-building, and traditional board games the Mage Knight board game captures the rich history of the Mage Knight universe in a self-contained gaming experience.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 240 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.33

Who Goes There? Deluxe Edition

| OTSG Staff
Who Goes There? Deluxe Edition

Who Goes There? Deluxe Edition

Who Goes There? is a cooperative game of growing paranoia. At the beginning of the game, all players are human and there is no reason not to trust each other completely, but as the temperature drops and mistakes are made, players start doubting everything and everyone around them.

You must build, trade, and upgrade to prepare yourself for the Antarctic Terrain, rabid dog attacks, crazed madmen…and most importantly, the alien entity that is now loose in the camp. Everything you build and upgrade has one purpose…keeping you alive and human! During the entire game, you will want to trade with other players and help each other build stronger weapons and better equipment, while also passing food and med kits around. Although, make sure your trust them, since trade is a huge opportunity for The Thing.

Staying inside may keep you from freezing to Death, but it won’t help you or your fellow humans win. The only way to secure victory is by venturing out of the camp! The problem with that is, being away from camp is the number one way to come across The Thing…leaving you vulnerable and exposed to infection. Whether fixing the boiler, repairing the door, or fighting the frigid temperatures outside, you will all need one another to survive. But trust is a hard thing to come by when you must be wary of…Who Goes There?

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Open Drafting
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~110 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.50