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June 09, 2022

Where are all the Dice.

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M Updated
Big Pile of Dice
There Will Be Games

For the past two weeks Me, the Good Doctor, Slick Nick and Bien have been playing Runewars, 1st trying to learn the thing and then again trying to get over the rules and actually play it. This is not going to be a review of that game, one that I think I like but need more time with.

Anyway I digress...  we were playing and I was trying to get Bobby Tweaks interested in trying  it out. He, like Robert Martin, is a fan of Quest for the Dragolords and as I am sure most of you know these two game scratch a similar itch.  As I begin to describe the mechanics of the game the fact that it is diceless comes up.  I notice the skepticism on Rob's face immediately, and he replies. "All Games are better with dice"  and that my friends is what I want to talk about.

Dice over the past few decades have been demonized, at least within certain gaming circles, as evil random entities and ruin games by taking all the thought out of them. Now most of you know this is not true, but it seems that this poisonous group-think has begun to infect F:AT's favorite game producer: FFG.  Now to their credit they are coming up with some rather nifty ways of randomizing with cards, Runewars being the most advanced example (5 decks for the price of one) but to me something doesn't seem right here.  First, drawing a card seems awfully impersonal to me. I do not know why, but when I toss the dice I feels to me like my own work. Flipping a card and testing my "Top-Deck Skills" just doesn't do the same thing for me. Worse, the way the table tends to be in a game like Runewars,  some players probably can not reach the fate deck without knocking over their own plastic hoards, so another player draws the cards for them... this is even more of a let down since now it was somebody else's Top-Deck Karma messing with my battle.  My last problem with cards is that they can and often are counted. I have already seen player aids on BGG that have the fate deck breakdown, and you know there will be guys out there like Will "Fucking" Kenyon who will know these numbers and be able to predict their chances all the time.  And again here is another problem, unlike a normal toss of the die where the odd's are the same and can be counted on, the odds with the fate deck fluctuate, sometimes falling to 0%.  In a game where you have 6 turns of play there is little time to wait on a battle, were not talking risk here with a ton of battles where losing one will only be a minor setback.  The battles in Runewars, especially between the players are usually fairly significant. 

Again it may seem like I am picking on runewars, but I am not. I see these issues in all of the recent games that have card driven battle systems. Especially where there is no hand management involved.

So I am asking what you all think, FFG bring back the dice? Yes of no? Why? 

I say yes. I think they are worth the extra time they add to a game.  (Another pet peeve for another time).  They add a bit of consistency and a chance for errors, and above all they make things like combat personal.

As for Runewars, I will continue to play it and I have hope that much like TI3 FFg will listen tot he comments and fix things in the expansions...cuz we know they are coming. 

 

-M

 

There Will Be Games

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