Weekly Trash - Runebound

ubarose wrote:

The thing I disliked the most about Runebound was how much it depended upon drawing what you needed when you needed it at the market. It was like the object of the game was to go shopping. That felt dumb, and I hated it. We started playing with a market varient which we like better.

Which variant? We don't currently use any, but I was considering draw two cards and you can only buy one of them that same turn. That way there'd be some choice and the stacks would fill a bit more. My peeve is that the market stacks don't have much in them usually so there's no point in traveling to any specific town for something you want.

I recently bought a second set of movement dice, but have yet to try them in a game.

metalface13 wrote:

The combat in Runebound is really that lame? I thought it sounded kinda cool, kind of like the combat in Marvel Heroes.

I think the Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic from MH makes it much more interesting and more strategic. But maybe, with the number of combats that will be fought in a game of Runebound, it's better the way it is.

-Jorge

I really enjoy Runebound, except my group complains about the solitaire aspect. So I (almost grudgingly) went a tried a solitaire game (using Mr Skeletor's variant) - I ended up playing it 8 times in 5 days...
After that, I tried a party variant, where 2 players played together as if we were allies - we had a blast. It was more fun than any regular game of Runebound I've played.

I think those are examples of what makes Runebound a good game - that fact that it's so tweakable and that it doesn't fall apart when you make changes to suit your tastes.

Anyone who doesn't rate runebound at least an 8 is a testicle sucker.

I'll remember that, Frank.

The time that Big Lizard brought over Runebound and we played a game, I had a blast. We ended up having to cut the game short because a) it was 2 AM and I had to get up early for travelling the next day, and b) neither of us were powerful enough to take on the dragon lords. However, I recalled the pain in the ass it is when people play and don't read the commentary out loud, so I made a point of doing that in the game. It made the game that much more thematic.

--Mike L.

I think the combat is fine. It took a while to learn the system but once you learn what parts of combat can be skipped because there's no chance of damage and get a grasp on when its best to attack and when to defend, it goes pretty fast. The use of items and allies makes the choices much more interesting and keeps the combat from being completely repetitive.

I'll agree about the dice to the degree that it can be frustrating if you need to get a certain roll and it just isn't coming up. But I think that adds to game. Some things aren't going to be certain. Sometimes you just can't get there from here.

I like the suggestion about a market variant. The few times I've played, the market is under utilized at the beginning because many initial items are expensive or aren't seen as very helpful. Usually I waited for an item reward from an encounter rather than waste time going to a city for a mere potential of getting something worthwhile. If there is more choice early on or segregation of cards based on some criteria, it should make going to market a more viable choice.

BillN

The thing I think that Runebound captures well that many adventure games don't is the sense of forming a party. I mean, in World of Warcraft everybody just is doing their own thing, though you might team up to defeat a tougher foe. And in Descent you do have a party but it's in a highly tactical sense, like Rainbow Six or something..."You take point! You advance and sweep! You guard our rear and keep a line-of-site perimeter!"


Runebound has the whole NPC party member thing going on, which is a big part of D&D. Getting NPC party members is great for two reasons--the players get some help, and as a DM you get a nice target you can actually kill without pissing everyone off too badly.

A lot like those old PC role-playing games...


"JIRTA THE FIERCE has joined the party!"

Sorry to dig up a dead thread, but

Can someone explain how the character expansion decks work? Do you take items/abilities from them from the start? Do you mix them into the item deck? It seems like you'd almost need to have one or more for every player if you were going to keep the game at all fair.

Keep your eye on the front page.

I was wondering when you would continue your buying guide.