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.

Mice and Mystics

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Mice and Mystics

Mice and Mystics

In Mice and Mystics, players take on the roles of those still loyal to the king – but to escape the clutches of Vanestra, they have been turned into mice! Play as cunning field mice who must race through a castle now twenty times larger than before. The castle would be a dangerous place with Vanestra’s minions in control, but now countless other terrors also await heroes who are but the size of figs. Play as nimble Prince Collin and fence your way past your foes, or try Nez Bellows, the burly smith. Confound your foes as the wizened old mouse Maginos, or protect your companions as Tilda, the castle’s former healer. Every player will have a vital role in the quest to warn the king, and it will take careful planning to find Vanestra’s weakness and defeat her.

Mice and Mystics is a cooperative adventure game in which the players work together to save an imperiled kingdom. They will face countless adversaries such as rats, cockroaches, and spiders, and of course the greatest of all horrors: the castle’s housecat, Brodie. Mice and Mystics is a boldly innovative game that thrusts players into an ever-changing, interactive environment, and features a rich storyline that the players help create as they play the game. The Cheese System allows players to hoard the crumbs of precious cheese they find on their journey, and use it to bolster their mice with grandiose new abilities and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Mice and Mystics will provide any group of friends with an unforgettable adventure they will be talking about for years to come – assuming they can all squeak by…

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Role Playing
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.72

Mansions of Madness

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Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness

In the skies above the Atlantic, a dirigible’s peaceful journey is interrupted by a bloody act of revenge and an oncoming storm. On the sea far below, a treacherous saboteur plants the explosives that will sink a ship. In the New England countryside, a train billows black smoke, desperately fleeing an unimaginable threat.

Horrific Journeys is a deluxe expansion for Mansions of Madness which unlocks three thrilling scenarios that take four new investigators far from Arkham, solving mysteries aboard a bustling transatlantic airship, a luxury ocean liner, and a scenic countryside train. With new map tiles, puzzles, monsters, and mythos events, these brave men and women must contend with hideous amphibian monstrocities and interdimensional creatures tearing holes in the fabric of reality all with the knowledge that one wrong move can destroy the very vessels they are trying to protect! In order to arrive at their destinations, the investigator of Arkham must first survive their journey!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Puzzle
  • Role Playing
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.66

Far Away

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Far Away is a two-player co-operative board game about discovery, survival, and the crushing loneliness of being the only two humans for lightyears.

Join the Federation Alliance, a bureaucracy with an ambitious charter of mapping new worlds and a minimalist budget. Succeed in a variety of missions on randomly generated worlds with unique ecosystems, without luxuries like radios, landing gear, and medical supplies. Trust in your partner is paramount since, without radios, you can’t communicate (in real life) after separating on the game board.

Survive, and you’ll be rewarded with a meager paycheck. Succumb to the planet, and you’ll find help is too far away.

The Far Away Program

The Federation Alliance started the Far Away program nearly 50 cycles ago to discover and explore new worlds. The missions we undertake are of vital importance to galactic prosperity. However, budget setbacks have forced us to reduce operational expenses. That’s where you, the willing explorer, can help!

Explorer Duties

The Federation has several active missions for you to choose. Each offers unique challenges and potential sub-objectives we would love for you to accomplish off-the-clock. Thanks to the randomly generated universe, every mission attempt will be different.

Once you’ve selected a mission and crashed into the planet (landing gear has been deemed “optional”), you must begin surviving. Your goal is to complete the mission and rebuild your ship. You will fail if you die of hunger, loneliness, or multiple grievous injuries. Don’t fail!

Be forewarned: communication will be a challenge. Radios will not be provided, so the only way to communicate with your partner is to be in close physical proximity. Plan ahead! This not only allows you to strategize, but also prevents the psychological meltdown that comes with being alone on an alien world.

Alien Creatures

Each planet has a unique ecosystem. Experts have identified upwards of 32 creatures in the known universe, each with their own behavioral patterns.

Explorers will be tasked to Realistically and Objectively Log Events Performed Logically by Animals and Yourself (ROLEPLAY). Creature behavior is dictated by their diet, temperament, and other factors. Explorers are provided a quick guide to educate them on default creature movement, but we encourage explorers to embrace their inner-alien and log the creature actions with creativity and vibrant storytelling.

The Far Away Recruitment Kit

Your exploration kit can be delivered straight to your home. Inside the 5.75# box, you’ll find over 800 pieces. We have included an instruction manual so you can assemble your spaceship with minimal government intervention. Please register your DNA online so we can credit your account upon mission completion.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 90 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.84

Fallout

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Fallout is a post-nuclear adventure board game for one to four players. Based on the hit video game series by Bethesda Softworks, each Fallout scenario is inspired by a familiar story from the franchise. Survivors begin the game on the edge of an unexplored landscape, uncertain of what awaits them in this unfamiliar world. With just one objective to guide them from the very beginning, each player must explore the hidden map, fight ferocious enemies, and build the skills of their survivor as they attempt to complete challenging quests and balance feuding factions within the game.

As they advance their survivors’ stories, players come across new quests and individual targets, leading them to gain influence. Who comes out ahead depends on how keenly and aggressively each player ventures through the game; however, if a single faction is pushed to power too quickly, the wasteland will be taken for their own, and the survivors conquered along with it.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.01

Eldritch Horror

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Across the globe, ancient evil is stirring. Now, you and your trusted circle of colleagues must travel around the world, working against all odds to hold back the approaching horror. Foul monsters, brutal encounters, and obscure mysteries will take you to your limit and beyond. All the while, you and your fellow investigators must unravel the otherworldy mysteries scattered around the globe in order to push back the gathering mayhem that threatens to overwhelm humanity. The end draws near! Do you have the courage to prevent global destruction?

Eldritch Horror is a co-operative game of terror and adventure in which one to eight players take the roles of globetrotting investigators working to solve mysteries, gather clues, and protect the world from an Ancient One – that is, an elder being intent on destroying our world. Each Ancient One comes with its own unique decks of Mystery and Research cards, which draw you deeper into the lore surrounding each loathsome creature. Discover the true name of Azathoth or battle Cthulhu on the high seas.

While the tasks on these Mystery cards (along with the locations of otherworldly gates, menacing monsters, and helpful clues) will often inform both your travel plans and the dangers you confront, you can find adventure anywhere in the world…even where you least expect it. It is during the Encounter Phase of each turn that players resolve combat or, alternatively, build their investigators’ personal stories by reading an encounter narrative from one of several types of Encounter cards. You might go head to head with a monster in Istanbul or find yourself in a tough spot with the crime syndicate in a major city. Maybe you will embark on an expedition to the Pyramids or research a clue you uncover in the unnamed wilderness. You may even find your way through a gate and explore a dimension beyond time and space.

Should you fail an encounter, the cost is steep. If you are fortunate, you will merely incur physical or mental trauma. However, you might also be compelled to take a Condition card, which represents a specific injury or restriction gained throughout your journey, such as a Leg Injury or Amnesia. You could find yourself getting in over your head to acquire assets and receive a Debt condition – or maybe you’ll owe a favor to something far more insidious than a debt collector, and enter into a Dark Pact! Whatever your condition, you would be wise to find a resolution with haste; many conditions have a “reckoning effect” which, if triggered, ensure a much more sinister fate.

All the while, the arrival of the Ancient One approaches. Its malign influence is manifested in Eldritch Horror as you draw Mythos Cards, which govern the appearance of otherworldly gates, fearsome monsters, and other ominous elements. Mythos cards keep your investigators under pressure, introducing new threats, even as the arrival of the Great Old One draws nearer! Since the investigators draw a new Mythos card each round, they’re certain to have their hands full battling foul creatures and following up on strange rumors, even as they work to solve their three all-important mysteries.

With twelve unique investigators, two hundred-fifty tokens, and over three hundred cards, Eldritch Horror presents an epic, world-spanning adventure with each and every game.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • 120 – 240 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.32

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)

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In Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition), one player takes on the role of the treacherous overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. During each game, the heroes embark on quests and venture into dangerous caves, ancient ruins, dark dungeons, and cursed forests to battle monsters, earn riches, and attempt to stop the overlord from carrying out his vile plot.

With danger lurking in every shadow, combat is a necessity. For such times, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) uses a unique dice-based system. Players build their dice pools according to their character’s abilities and weapons, and each die in the pool contributes to an attack in different ways. Surges, special symbols that appear on most dice, also let you trigger special effects to make the most of your attacks. And with the horrors awaiting you beneath the surface, you’ll need every advantage you can take…

Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.

Compared to the first edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, this game features:

  • Simpler rules for determining line of sight
  • Faster setup of each encounter
  • Defense dice to mitigate the tendency to “math out” attacks
  • Shorter quests with plenty of natural stopping points
  • Cards that list necessary statistics, conditions, and effects
  • A new mechanism for controlling the overlord powers
  • Enhanced hero selection and creation process
  • Experience system to allow for hero growth and development
  • Out-of-the-box campaign system

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Role Playing
  • Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Team-Based Game
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.21

Aftermath 🟡

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Aftermath is an Adventure Book Game in which players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive and thrive in a big, dangerous world. Humans have mysteriously vanished, and the remnants of civilization are quickly being reclaimed by nature and the animals who still remain.

In the game, you play as a misfit band of critters known by their colony as “providers”. There’s the guinea pig with anger issues, a hamster that talks fast and drives faster, a small mouse with keen eyes and a lot to prove, and a mysterious vole who’s borderline feral. These characters each have their own personalities, play-styles, and personal goals.

You’ll leave the safety of your colony and venture out into the abandoned world on one of 20+ story-driven missions and side missions. Scavenge the ruins of mankind in search of food and supplies for your colony, but beware — the world is filled with bandits and predators, and you must fight or flee to stay alive.

Return to your colony with resources and information that will help your friends and family survive. Grow your colony and keep it safe by building structures and improvements with the spoils of your adventures, but plan accordingly, for the colony will face hardship each time you leave it…

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.88

Valor & Villainy

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Valor & Villainy

Valor & Villainy

The beloved king Shapiro has perished in a freak catapult accident, but not before his most suspiciously named and irrefutably trusted adviser, Evil Wizard Mordak, claimed credit for his “murder” and legged it through a hastily conjured portal to the WORLD OF ETERNAL AND UNCARING DARKNESS. Mordak promised the kingdom he’d return in 8 days with semi-phenomenal cosmic powers to take his rightful seat upon Shapiro’s ruined throne! A lofty promise for an amateur Wizard…

Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak is a one vs many roleplaying board game for 2-6 players. One of you plays as the comically evil wizard, Mordak, and the rest form a band of Allies called the “Order without Borders”, who must halt his path of destruction! The game focuses on a strong and playful theme, capturing the best parts of a classic roleplaying game and boiling it into a one time play session. Every player will appreciate satisfying character progression. Spending Experience Points their team has earned and locating powerful Treasures to make their characters mightier with every passing turn!

Mordak has vanished into the WORLD OF ETERNAL AND UNCARING DARKNESS! This player will have a lot of fun, plotting secrets in the dark and throwing despair into the Allies’ plans in order to grow in power. They must hold nothing back, drawing upon all of their cunning and evil genius to win the game for themselves!

The Allies must locate three Ancient Shrines hidden among the land. For each of these Shrines diminishes Mordak’s power. Finding them all will reveal his location and commence a final battle for victory. They can explore the map at their own pace, however they will learn they must balance their ambitions with what they can handle! Exploring too quickly will fuel Mordak with threats the game-board has to offer, yet doddling will allow him the time to grow his cosmic powers! Ultimately the winner of the game is the victor of the final showdown between the Allies and their nemesis Mordak! Only the party which is better prepared and utilizes superior tactics will win the day!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Role Playing
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.26

The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

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The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

It is the start of the bleak, desolate Antarctic winter when a group of NSF researchers manning the claustrophobic, isolated U.S. Outpost 31 comes into contact with a hostile extraterrestrial lifeform. Bent on assimilating Earth’s native species, this being infiltrates the facility — creating a perfect imitation of one of the Outpost 31 crew. The staff frantically begin a sweep of the base, desperate to purge this alien infection before escaping to warn McMurdo Station that somewhere, out there in the frigid darkness, something horrible is waiting.

In the hidden identity game The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31, you will relive John Carpenter’s sci-fi cult classic in a race to discover who among the team has been infected by this heinous lifeform. Play as one of twelve characters as you lead a series of investigations through the facility using supplies and equipment to clear the building. The tension mounts and paranoia ensues as you question who you can trust in the ultimate race to save humanity!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Deduction
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Hidden Roles
  • Role Playing
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.35

Talisman

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Talisman

Talisman

Talisman is an adventure board game set in a high fantasy medieval world. Players have 14 characters to choose from all based on role playing archetypes, such as heroes, wizards, villains, thieves, monsters, etc. The game makes players feel they are traveling the world to find equipment, weapons, ancient relics, and companions that will help them on their quest to acquire the Crown of Command. Along the way they visit various locales in the worlds, battle each other and fantastic creatures to make their way to the top.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Role Playing
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18