Did you know that your chances of winning a game of Pandemic are lower than your chances of hitting the lottery or being gnawed to death by a pack of angry buffalo?

Okay, yes, I made that up; buffalo don’t travel in packs. But it is true that Pandemic is a very hard game, and is weighted against the players in a number of ways. Why, then, do I like it so much? If I lose most of my games (which I do), why do I keep playing? Why do I find it fun?

The answer is simple: your decisions matter. In a game of Pandemic, every decision you make has weight; if you make one boneheaded decision, it could lose the game for you. Even though you’re fighting an uphill battle pretty much the whole way, the fact that every action counts is actually pretty empowering.

I’d argue that this is actually true of any game: the more your decisions matter, the more fun you’re likely to have. I’ve talked about player agency in the past, and this is exactly what I’m talking about when I use those buzzwords. Decisions matter. Choices have weight. Consequences are real.

When you’re designing a game, this is something you should keep in mind. Players want to be able to make decisions about what they’re doing within the confines of the game world, but the ability to make choices alone isn’t enough.

There’s a reason why the term “railroad” is often used pejoratively in this hobby. If thing A leads to thing B leads to thing C and nothig I do can change that or have any impact on the outcome, I’ve lost my ability to affect the way the game plays out. Suddenly I’m just going through the motions, making choices that don’t have any tangible effect on anything. The illusion of choice can mitigate this to some extent but that’s a dangerous tightrope act; if your players start to suspect that their choices don’t matter, their investment in the story starts to evaporate.

A word of warning, though: there’s such a thing as making a particular choice matter too much. Often this goes hand in hand with not explaining the weight of the choice enough.

I’m going to say something that’s probably controversial now: I hate Settlers of Catan. It’s one of my least favorite games to play. Why? Because you make a very important choice at the very beginning of the game, before you’ve gotten a chance to learn what it means, and making the wrong choice can prevent you from making further choices in the game. The last game of Settlers that I played ended for me really before it started: my initial placement was flawed, I never got any resources and, as a result, I never got to do anything interesting. For two hours.

I guess my point is that, if you’re designing a game, make sure that the players have the ability to make decisions that affect how the game turns out. Also make sure they know something about the potential consequences of those choices. If the players don’t know what their choice might effect, they’re effectively throwing a dart blindfolded; that’s just another way to rob them of their agency.

Yesterday at Meetup of Doom I got a chance to playtest Becoming. It was an extremely productive and educational experience. It was probably the most successful playtest I’ve ever run, and I’d like to share what I learned with you.

Be Flexible, Be Receptive
Becoming came very close to doing exactly what I wanted it to do. My goal was for the game to create a mood of slow attrition for the Hero, a situation where the Hero has to constantly comprimise his values in order to succeed. It did that . . . mostly.

One of the more important things that the playtest pointed out to me was that I wasn’t incentivising the bargaining mechanic enough. There was no reason for the Hero to give up his dice; he could just sit on them for the whole game and win, regardless of what the Chorus did to him. Pretty big flaw, right? Luckily it was easy to fix, and we did so quickly and moved on.

When you’re playtesting, you have to be able to see the warts on your game, the ways it doesn’t quite work or doesn’t quite accomplish what you want it to. You have to be able to hear that when the players say it to you. And you have to be able to fix it and move on if you don’t want to scrap the playtest and try again later (which is an option, albiet not an ideal one).

Solicit feedback from the playtesters if you’re not sure how to fix something. Presumably you got them to play the game because, on some level, you value their opinions. Use that. They may come up with something you never thought of, and it might be totally awesome. Don’t be afraid of that.

Don’t Take Feedback Personally
There should be a caveat in that title: unless it’s good. If your players give you positive feedback on your game, if they love it and say it’s great, feel free to take that personally. You made that thing, you put a little bit of yourself in there; if someone else thinks it’s good, you should feel good about that as a consequence.

The reverse, however, is not true. If someone criticizes some element of your game, it doesn’t mean you suck or even that your game sucks. It just means that it needs a bit of work. No game is perfect, even after playtesting. The goal of playtesting is to get it as close to that mark as you can within whatever confines you’re working with, and the only way to do that is to take feedback for what it is: a way to improve your game. It’s not a personal attack (unless it is, in which case screw that guy, don’t let him playtest your stuff anymore).

Be a Neutral Party
When I playtested Becoming I gave all of the players a cheat sheet with the rules they needed on it, sat back, watched, and answered questions when I was needed. It worked astoundingly well. There was a little explanation required at the beginning but, for the most part, people got it quickly and the game just played. I observed and took notes, clarified rules when necessary, and talked to them about ways to improve the game when they came up.

I’ll admit that this isn’t possible with all games under all circumstances. It worked well with Becoming because it’s a pretty rules-light game without a traditional GM. Games that diverge from either of these will be harder to run this way. You’re not going to want to have each player read five or six pages of rules text before playing and you’re not going to want your GM to read a sixteen page adventure before the game gets started; that’s a fantastic way to shoot your game in the foot.

However, there are a lot of advantages to being a neutral observer rather than a participant when you can pull it off and, if you can’t, it wouldn’t hurt to be as neutral as possible in whatever role you need to fill. Ideally, at some point, you’re going to want someone else to fill that role too, so you’re going to have to think about doing this eventually anyway.

Have Fun
Yes, playtesting is stressful. Yes, you’re going to see your baby criticized and pulled apart. Remember that it’s a game: it’s supposed to be fun. Enjoy it. The more you let yourself enjoy it the more likely the playtesters will enjoy it, and if the playtesters aren’t enjoying it then you’ve got bigger problems. Chances are that there’s at least a little bit of fun to be had in your game though, so capitalize on that and amplify it where possible.

People come up to me all the time and say, “You’re a successful freelance writer. How do you do it?”

That’s not actually true. It’s never happened, and I don’t expect it to happen for a long time, if ever. That said, I can still give advice on being a successful freelance because, well, I am one. I’ve written for Galileo Games multiple times and I’m currently in the middle of multiple projects with Rite Publishing and Evil Hat. I’m not at the point where I can quit my day job, but I can see it from where I’m standing if I squint my eyes real hard an maybe use some binoculars. And a compass. And maybe a native guide. But I do feel like I’ve achieved some measure of success, and I also feel like I have some advice to give on the topic. So, in no particular order:

Live Up to Your Word
Reputation counts for a lot in this industry. If you do well by a client, they’ll pass your name on to other clients and things will snowball. The reverse is also true: if you’re unreliable, slow, or produce shoddy product . . . well, it’s a small industry. People talk. Most of these people know each other, like each other, and look out for each other professionally to some extent or another. If you burn one bridge, the others will catch fire just through sheer proximity.

This one’s actually pretty simple: if you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you say you can write 25,000 words by next March, don’t wait around until February 15th and then start writing in a panic. Put in the time, do the work, make sure it’s of a quality you’re proud of, and goddamn try to do it on time. This is not to say that you have to be perfect; mistakes can be caught, deadlines can be extended. But if you’re sincere and you’re earnest and you try like hell to do what you say you will, that goes a long way toward building a good reputation in the industry.

Answer Your Email
It’s amazing how important this is, and how often overlooked. I was told not too long ago that one of the biggest reasons that I got a particular job was that I was the only one who answered my email in a reasonable amount of time. Other people waited weeks or even months to get back and, by that point, the ship had sailed. Now, I’m a compulsive email checker; I know this. Not everybody is; I know this too. But seriously: if you haven’t answered my email within, say, a week of my sending it, my assumption is that you’re not interested in answering it at all. And if I am offering you work, that means you’re not interested in that work. There are plenty of people who are.

Don’t Be a Dick
I thought about calling this one “Be Professional”, but folks in this industry are pretty casual in their correspondence, particularly on social media sites like Twitter of Facebook. And really, the title of this section kind of says everything I need it to. If you are a dick, people won’t want to work with you. Nobody likes to work with someone who is unpleasant or difficult and, like I said before, there are plenty of other people out there looking for work. Don’t burn bridges. Don’t call people names. Don’t yell at people. Don’t be a dick.

Network
I’ve already mentioned how reputation is important, but you know what else is? Making sure that your potential employers know you’re a human being. Go to cons and arrange to meet with them, even if it’s just to sign a book and talk for a few minutes. I cannot possibly understate the utility of social media tools for this. Most of the game designers you want to work with are on Facebook or Google+, and they’re all on Twitter. If you go on these social media sites and say insightful things about game design, you’ll eventually get noticed. If you’re an artist, tweet links to your work; if it’s good, you’ll get noticed.

Remember That You’re Awesome
In the game industry, particularly when it comes to indie games, there is a pervasive “I’m not good enough” mentality. People don’t like to talk about their stuff. Maybe they don’t want to come off as bragging or being cocky, maybe they’re just shy or starstruck or nervous. Get over it. Remember that, if you’ve come up with a game design or some art or whatever, you are awesome. It is worth something, possibly worth money to someone. You have done something that a lot of people can’t or won’t, and the doing makes you awesome. Don’t be afraid to talk about why you’re awesome (though remember not to be a dick, see above). If I’m going to hire you for something, I need a reason to hire you and not someone else who isn’t afraid to show me his stuff and talk about how great it is. Nobody’s going to sell your stuff for you; you have to do it yourself.

Just Goddamn Do It
I talked about this philosophy a little while ago, and it definitely applies here. I know from experience, there’s nothing scarier than starting something that seems big and important. Starting it means you have to do it, and you have to show it to people, and they might not like it, and you might go running away crying, and . . . well, you get the picture. It’s scary, I know. But remember, you’re awesome. The fact that you even want to do it is awesome, and your ideas are worthwhile. And the only way anyone else is going to know that is if you take the plunge and do it. A career (even a side-career) in the game design industry is like a shark: if it stays still, it’ll die. This is way, way more true at the beginning, before it’s gotten off its feet.

And yes, I know I’m mixing my metaphors and I’ve just given a shark feet. Shut up. I’m a game designer, I’m allowed a certain amount of poetic license.

Metatopia showed me how awesome it can be to sit down with a bunch of game designers and talk shop, and how much it can jump start the creative process. Unfortunately, it’s only once a year, and it’ll be a little while before I can go to another con.

However, a solution presented itself in the form of a suggestion made by my friend Nick a month or two ago. He suggested that we try and get some Philly area game designers together to hang out and talk games. I thought it was a great idea, but it didn’t really go anywhere for a while. Well, that has changed.

A week and change ago, I decided to actually put my money where Nick’s mouth was and organize this thing, so I started contacting people. This get-together is going to be small affair, but I’m hoping it’ll be the first of many, and I’m hoping to make this a fairly regular occurrence. So, the details.

It’ll be happening next weekend, on December 3rd at my house. There will be five of us in attendance (unless more people express interest last-minute), including myself, Jenn from Jennisodes, a guy who’s done work for WotC, an independent game designer of a game that is awesome, John Adamus, editor to the (game design) stars. Sorry for the vagueness, but I haven’t actually gotten permission from most of these people to use their names. If they want to identify themselves, they can do so in the comments.

The plan is for us to get together, get to know each other, talk about games and game design, and maybe playtest stuff for each other. I’m hoping that this thing grows as it continues, and that it becomes a valuable resource for local designers and industry folk.

So, here’s the part where you potentially come in. If you consider yourself to be in the game design industry, and you’re in the Philly area, and this sounds like your cup of tea, email me at engard (at) gmail (dot) com. Tell me who you are and what you hope to get out of the deal, and I’ll likely provide you with the details.

This past weekend, I attended Metatopia, a new Double Exposure convention. I didn’t really know what to expect when I signed up, but I figured that it was close by and it sounded cool so I’d give it a shot.

Boy am I glad I did.

Metatopia, for those who are unfamiliar, is a convention meant to help independent game designers hone their craft and refine their ideas. It provides a venue for playtesting by providing time slots to run your game and matching your game with people to play it; it provides the ability to conduct focus groups and workshops about your game, if it’s not yet ready for playtesting; and it has a truly excellent series of seminars, which were both packed and small enough that they behaved more like large conversations than traditional talks.

At Metatopia, I got to play a very cool game called Fortune Cookie Kung Fu. Keep an eye out for it. While it still needed a little bit of work, there was a huge amount of promise there, and even in its current stage, everyone had a lot of fun around the table. The basic premise is that everyone creates kung fu characters by drawing inspiration from their fortune cookie fortune and the meal they ordered (you’re supposed to order Chinese food before playing; it’s in the rules). Then everyone takes turns providing opposition for each other as the story is created. It tends toward the ludicrous; there was a herd of wizards, an army of defeated Bobs, and a cooking challenge against the Great Evil at the end (“Battle Long Pork”). I had a great time, and will be playing it again (the creator, Russel Morrisey, graciously gave everyone a playtest copy of the game).

I also got to participate in a focus group for a game called Wanderlust. This one’s still in its infancy to some extent, but there’s a huge amount of potential there. Created by Shoshana Kessock, Wanderlust is a game about what the humans and the fey do when the Earth is used up, and they must turn to space-faring in order to find a new home. There are a lot of great ideas at work: shared narrative control, a rotating GM role, and a very cool token economy. Shoshana was extremely receptive to our feedback, and her enthusiasm made me very excited for the game. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.

And then there were the seminars. I participated in various seminars about indie publishing, talking to the talent, designing games (from both a mechanical and story perspective), and just the state of the game industry. The seminars were lively, and audience participation was both encouraged and frequent. The seminars were lead by the likes of Ken Hite, Brennan Taylor, Fred Hicks, and Rob Donoghue, and the conversations were very engaging.

All of the scheduled activities were awesome, and worth the price of admission, but they weren’t even the best part for me. The best part was that this was a place to meet up with a bunch of enthusiastic game designers, and that enthusiasm was contagious. I came away from the con energized and ready to work on my own projects (of which I have a few at this point). It’s also a great place to network; by the end of the convention I had eaten with Brennan Taylor, Fred Hicks, and Rob Donoghue, played poker with Ken Hite (we both lost all of our chips), and come away with a new freelance project for Evil Hat. From a professional development standpoint, Metatopia delivered and then some.

I will definitely be going again next year, and I hope to see you there.

I spent a lot of time on the dealers’ floor on my second day. The dealers’ floor really is a fantastic place to walk around; it’s like being in the world’s largest and most comprehensive game store. The main issue is that there was a lot of stuff that I wanted, but I had to check myself in order to prevent myself from spending too much money and bankrupting myself and my wife. It would be easy to do there.

I did score some nice purchases, though. I’ve bought a lot from the IPR booth this weekend, it seems. Today, I picked up Don’t Rest Your Head (I already had the PDF, but really wanted the print version), Zombie Cinema (which I didn’t think they had, but they did), and The Shab-al-Hiri Roach (which I’ve wanted to try for quite a while). I also picked up a t-shirt for myself, and one for my wife, and a die or two.

In terms of things actually played, the number is really pretty small. I started off by playing The Legend of Drizzt, WotC’s new D&D Adventure System board game. I’m a big fan of these games; I own Castle Ravenloft and love it. That said, it’s going to be hard to go back to Ravenloft after playing Drizzt. There’s more complexity in the game, but it makes the game much more interesting rather than bogging it down. This has gone from a maybe for me to a definite purchase, at some point.

I also played a game of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple with none other than the author, Daniel Solis. Do is a simple and elegant little game, and plays pretty quickly (we finished a session in 45 minutes). It’s more a collaborative story-building game than a role-playing game, but very enjoyable. It would be a fantastic gateway game for younger folk to get inducted into the hobby.

Later, I played a 20-minute demo of Mansions of Madness, Fantasy Flight’s new Cthulhu-themed board game. I’m not sold on it yet. I feel that a lot of that is because it’s hard to get a sense for a 3+ hour game in 20 minutes of play, but it kind of felt like there wasn’t a lot to do. We never saw a single monster during the demo, which strikes me as a failing of the demo more than the game. I’d like to play a complete game start to finish before making a purchasing decision on this one.

Later still, I ran another game of Bulldogs!, which was pretty awesome. One of my players, after the game, said that he didn’t remember laughing quite so hard at a role-playing session before. Bulldogs!, I feel, is like that. Every game that I’ve played has been pretty funny, and some have been downright hilarious. I built these characters with humor in mind, so I’m glad that came through. It’s also gratifying that I’ve heard nothing but good things about the game, particularly from people who had just played it.

My last game of the night was another game of Drizzt, which was just as much fun as the first.

There were some minor disappointments today. I had been hoping to meet up with some of the people I follow on Twitter, but it was not to be it seems. Perhaps tomorrow.

As far as tomorrow goes, I plan on spending a little more time in the dealers’ hall, and probably a lot of time at Games on Demand. I’d really like to try Fiasco before I leave, and there are other games I want to play, too.

My first day at GenCon 2011 (and also my first day at GenCon, ever) has drawn to a close. Sadly I missed the actual first day of the convention, but there was still plenty of fun to be had on Friday.

The day started with me getting up at 3:30am to catch my flight; I was dropped off at the wrong terminal, went through security, found out that I was at the wrong terminal, went to the right terminal, went through security again, and managed to get on the plane. Once I got to Indianapolis things got better, though.

The hotel wasn’t ready for me, as I had gotten there at 9am (I really hadn’t expected it to be). I dropped my stuff off, loaded my backpack up, and headed to the convention center.

The Will Call line was short, consisting of just me, so I got my badge and tickets in short order. I exchanged a few tickets for generics and started wandering, not really knowing what to do with myself. I wound up in the dealers’ floor, which was a great place to start.

The dealers’ floor is like the world’s largest game store, with tons of people offering you demos and freebies. I plan to spend more time there tomorrow. I got my copy of Bulldogs! while I was there, and also scored a copy of Mortal Coil and How to Host a Dungeon (which I can’t wait to try). Oh, and some really badass Fudge dice, which I used later in the con.

I also stopped in and saw the people at the This Just In From GenCon podcast, and they did a brief interview with me (as a first-timer) that’ll go on their site.

My first real gaming experience at GenCon was Conquest of Nerath, which lasted about four hours. We had to call it at the end because of time constraints; it could easily have gone on for another two hours.

I’m not generally that perturbed by long games; I like Akrham Horror just fine, for example. But there are two things that can ruin a long game for me: over-reliance on luck, and lots of down time. Nerath, unfortunately, has both. Strategies can be laid waste by lucky die rolls and good card draws, and in a four-player game I waited easily 15-20 minutes between turns. When I was doing something, it was fun; most of the time I wasn’t doing anything, though. Probably won’t be buying it, though I wouldn’t be averse to playing it again, maybe in a two-player game.

Then I headed off to the Ennies reception where I mingled with the likes of Fred Hicks, which was cool; also, a lot of people had great things to say about Bulldogs!, which was even cooler.

Speaking of Bulldogs!, my next appointment was to run a session at Games on Demand, which I did. I had four players (one of whom had to drop out at 10pm; the game went until about 11pm), and it was an absolute blast. I used my new Fudge dice, and I have to say I think I killed it in there. It helped that I had some really great, super-enthusiastic players at my table.

And that’s my first day. Tomorrow I hope to spend some time doing demos on the dealers’ floor, and maybe get some games in at Games on Demand; I’d also like to try the new Legend of Drizzt board game. Until tomorrow. Or, later today I guess. Or something. God I’m tired.

I’ve posted this before, but changes have been made, so I thought I’d post my revised GenCon schedule. I think that, initially, I made the rookie mistake of booking too many games, so I’m going to drop a couple of them. This leaves me with only two games scheduled, and plenty of time to do other things, like see the dealers’ floor, go to panels, and horn in on other games with generic tickets.

What it also leaves time for me to do is run some games of Bulldogs! at Games on Demand. I don’t have firm times scheduled yet, but I’m putting some tentative scheduling in below. If you want to play Bulldogs! with me, keep an eye on my Twitter account (@Zelgadas); I’ll be posting info there periodically.

Finally, I would not be completely adverse to running an after-hours game for someone, provided we could get a good-sized group together (four to six is what I’d want). Tweeting at me is probably the best way to organize something like that, though you could also email me at engard at gmail dot com.

• Friday, 1pm: Conquest of Nerath
• Friday, sometime after 6pm: Bulldogs! at Games on Demand
• Saturday, 2pm: Games on Demand (I’ll be playing, not running)
• Saturday, sometime after 6pm: Bulldogs! at Games on Demand

See you in Indy!

I gave some brief initial impressions of this game a little while ago, and regular readers have probably gotten the impression that I like this game quite a bit. I just got done playing a few more games yesterday and I thought, with about twelve games under my belt (since last Tuesday, by the way), ranging from solo games to games with a full compliment of five players, it was about time I actually reviewed Castle Ravenloft.

For those who are unfamiliar, Castle Ravenloft is a D&D-based board game that draws its inspiration from the original D&D module. The rules of the game incorporate elements of 4th Edition D&D, but the combat is streamlined and simplified so that it goes quickly and keeps the game moving. The whole affair is more-or-less a dungeon crawl, albeit one that can have interesting and varied goals and mechanics depending on the scenario you’re playing. It can be played in about an hour (though times can vary from that mean by about thirty minutes, depending on events within the game and the number of players at the table), and it can be played with one to five players.

Overall, I like this game quite a bit. It scratches the D&D itch, it reinforces cooperative play, and it even plays well solo. There are thirteen scenarios in the game (two of them designed for solo play), plus two additional scenarios that Wizards of the Coast have released for free on their web site. Monsters, encounters, treasures, and even the dungeon itself are all randomized in the game, meaning that playing the same adventure twice in a row elicits different play experiences. This leads to a lot of variability in play, which in turn leads to a high degree of replay value. In addition, the game is extremely modular; it would be easy to build your own adventures, characters, monsters, villains, and so forth for the game, leading to even more replay value. In time, I fully expect the online to community to rally around this game and create some really cool stuff.

It’s not all great, though; there are a few issues with the game. First and foremost, the rules can be a little unclear at times. They don’t always spell things out in a comprehensive and unambiguous fashion, and while most of the time this can be mitigated by interpreting rules as strictly as possible, sometimes that just isn’t enough. Furthermore, some cards interact with each other, and with scenario rules, in strange ways that require some interpretation. It would be nice of WotC would create and maintain an official FAQ for the game, so that people can get official answers to some of the questions presented.

There have also been reports of people missing components from their boxes, or having components misprinted, or even having extra components. I didn’t experience any of those problems personally, but the possibility exists (I even heard an account of someone’s game missing all of the cards in the game, rendering it effectively unplayable). Luckily, WotC will replace any lost or damaged components, so if this problem troubles you, contact them.

Finally, there have been complaints about the quality of the components. Specifically, some people think that the cards and tiles are bland and uninteresting. I can definitely see where these people are coming from, even if I don’t agree. The artwork on the monster cards is black and white line art, and there is no artwork aside from a simple design on any of the other cards. The tiles are mostly lacking in any kinds of features or dungeon dressing, whit the exception of the named tiles. As I said, none of this bothers me. Artwork on treasure cards and encounter cards would be nice, but would likely drive up the price, and at $65 the game is already expensive enough. I’m also not convinced that such artwork would really enhance the experience past the first few games; it would cause the game to make a better first impression, but after while you’d probably stop noticing the artwork and paying attention to the rules. As for the artwork on the monster cards, I find it to be clear and communicative, as the depictions of the monsters exactly match their miniatures, leaving little room for guesswork. The tiles are similarly functional; there have already been quite a few questions as to whether things like altars and coffins block movement, and if there were more of these kinds of features on the tiles, those questions would be even more present (of course, this might have prompted WotC to address such a thing in the rulebook).

At this point I’d like to talk about a few of the highlights in the adventure book. I’ve played most of the adventures at this point, and enjoyed them all, but a few really stand out and deserve specific mention.

The game features two introductory adventures, one for solo play and one for group play (“Escape from the Tomb” and “Find the Icon of Ravenloft”, respectively). These are easily the two simplest adventures in the game, using straightforward goals and very few modifications to the core rules. They work well for their intended purpose: to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game. Once you’ve played them a few times, though, there are much more interesting (and complex) adventures to play, and you’ll likely only use them to introduce more new players.

“The Final Transformation” is a fairly complex scenario that sees the players escorting a townsperson, Kavan, into the crypt to find the fountain that can cure his impending vampirism. The catch is that, if he’s left alone or if monsters get too close to him, he turns into a vampire and attacks (temporarily). It’s a tense scenario, and probably one of the more difficult scenarios in the game. It is, however, extremely memorable, and even has a finale sequence that sees a large number of monsters spawning and attacking the party while they defend poor Kavan.

Perhaps my favorite scenario so far is “Horror of the Howling Hag”. This one stretches the mechanics of the game more than any other scenario, using an alternate setup for the board, a specific subset of tiles, and different spawning rules for monsters. The players start the adventure apart, in opposite corners of the crypt, and must find each other and the arcane circle that the hag is using to keep them there. Being isolated is a little scary, especially since the alternate spawning rules allow up to two monsters to spawn on a single tile simultaneously. The hag, herself, is an interesting villain; she doesn’t do a lot of damage, but she continues to keep the heroes separate by teleporting them around the dungeon. It’s a very interesting and challenging experience.

Finally, let me talk about the difficulty of the game. This is a hard game. I’ve lost more games than I’ve won. That said, I’m itching to play more. In Castle Ravenloft, when you lose you’re usually on the verge of winning, which makes you want to try again and do it right. Further, when you win you’re usually on the verge of losing, which makes your victory all the sweeter. I should mention, though, that there are some minor scaling issues in the game. The game scales probably about as well as it can be expected to; monsters, encounters, and villain actions all scale with the number of players in an appropriate way, and keep a fairly consistent level of challenge across numbers of players. There is one thing that the game really can’t account for in scaling, though: diversity of abilities. With one player, you have only a single character’s abilities to pull from, meaning that certain monsters or types of encounters will always be very difficult for you to handle. With five, you have everyone’s abilities to draw on, allowing you to react to events within the dungeon much more effectively. I think that the sweet spot for the game is probably three or four players; there’s enough diversity to allow you to react to a lot, but not so much that you’re prepared for everything. That said, the game is still a lot of fun with one or five, and it does scale much better than many other cooperative games that I’ve played. The scenario that you choose will also affect the difficulty, so with five players, it’s probably best to choose one of the more complex and difficult scenarios.

What I Liked: Almost everything. The game is quick-playing and fun, scratches the D&D itch, plays will with multiple players or in solo play, had a wide variety of adventures to choose from, and has a high degree of modibility and replay value.

What I Didn’t Like: The rules could be a little clearer in places. Hopefully WotC will post a FAQ at some point to mitigate this problem.

The Bottom Line: If you like D&D, you’ll probably like Castle Ravenloft. Even if you have no interest in playing D&D, Castle Ravenloft is a very well-designed cooperative dungeon crawl with a much shorter playing time than other cooperative games (like Arkham Horror) or dungeon crawls (like Descent). I highly recommend it.

I just can’t help meddling with game mechanics, and Castle Ravenloft is just so modular that it presents a lot of opportunities to meddle. You’ve likely already seen my Rust Monster for the game, if you’re a regular reader. Well, here’s a whole adventure, starring said Rust Monster.

First, a caveat or two. This is not a final version of this adventure. I’ve playtested it once, and what I’m posting here is a direct result of that playtest. You may notice that the Rust Monster contained in this adventure is pretty different from the one linked above; that’s deliberate. The original version just didn’t work in play; its AC and hit points were a little too high, and it just didn’t engage heroes often enough. Worse, it never really brought its most feared power (the ability to eat your gear) to bear. I’ve changed that (hopefully). The adventure has also been modified slightly from its original form. Originally I had item drops keyed to named tiles, but they were happening too often. I did a quick count of tiles and found that there were just as many named as unnamed tiles, making the chance of an item drop 50%. Too high. I instead keyed item drops to tiles with white triangles; there are fewer of these than those with black triangles, so the drop rate goes down to around 40%, which is a little more acceptable.

I also increased the goal requirements to escaping with all six lost relics rather than just four, for a couple of reasons. First, getting four took me about twenty minutes, which is way too short a time. Some of this was luck and some of it was because of the aforementioned drop rate, but I don’t want the game to be won that quickly (and I did win). Second, because of all the item drops, this is an item-rich adventure. You’re probably going to have quite a few on you, including the lost relics, so if that Rust Monster eats something, you should have plenty of stuff to throw at it that isn’t a lost relic. Again, playtesting may change this. I’ll have to see. The beauty of this game is that I can playtest it all by my lonesome.

Anyway, here’s the adventure, Lost Relics.