Mage Knight: Star Trek edition vs. Robinson Crusoe

I feel anxious and unhappy right now, and am pretty sure that buying a big game will make all of my problems go away. This Wellbutrin quit working.

Which game is more fun for the solo gamer, yet has some actual narrative goodness? Mage whatever: STar Trek, or the venerable Robinson Crusoe? Or that Submarine game that Barnes sold? Or should I just break down and get Pax Pamir and force someone to play it with me?

I don't feel there's a strong narrative in Mage Knight, unfortunately. I think there is some narrative but the overriding feeling of the game is solving a puzzle turn to turn. I think it's a great game that has a lot to offer but I think Robinson Crusoe is a more enjoyable experience.

Personally, Robinson Crusoe.

Though hey, I said we could play Pax Pamir! Let's set it up and feed that hunger!

Mage Knight

I don't really like it much with other players actually. Robinson Crusoe didn't do a great deal for me.

It's too early for anything VS Star Trek Frontiers.

I like the mechanics of Mage Knight (it's a fun solo puzzle solver) but I don't think theme is its strong point. I feel you could use the same system and slap any theme on and it would still work okay.

My vote will have to go for Mage Knight. While Robinson Crusoe is a great co-op game I feel that Mage Knight can be considered one of the best solitaire games ever made. Robinson Crusoe as a system is one where you get beaten down every turn, every turn is worse than the last until you finally die of starvation, wounds, or weather exposure. Mage Knight however is a power fantasy in an adventure game skin, you start weak but you really feel your power increase as you play. By the end of the game you've leveled up several times, recruited powerful allies, added amazing spells, acquired skill tokens, increased your hand size several times, and also gotten artifacts, gem stones and advanced cards to add to your deck.

I just find Mage Knight plays better for me since I really appreciate the power curve and how I feel like my options grow as the game goes on. I also feel like Mage Knight really rewards you for coming up with creative solutions to problems that you wouldn't find unless you stare at your cards for a few minutes.

Get Pax Porfiriana Collector's Edition along with Pax Pamir. You can play PF with Ricky Royal's solo variant and PF or PP with people.

Dan Thurot wrote: Personally, Robinson Crusoe.

Though hey, I said we could play Pax Pamir! Let's set it up and feed that hunger!

Yeah, but you sold the game! I don't want to drag you through a game you got rid of!

I haven't played the Star Trek version, but regular Mage Knight is such a brain burner that the theme fades too far into the background. Robinson Crusoe has a lousy rulebook and a few too many rules and symbols, but delivers more theme.

Shellhead wrote: I haven't played the Star Trek version, but regular Mage Knight is such a brain burner that the theme fades too far into the background. Robinson Crusoe has a lousy rulebook and a few too many rules and symbols, but delivers more theme.

Agree. I couldn't get into Mage Knight because it felt like a series of puzzles strung together and, unless the later scenarios make more sense, boiled down to "so here's a bunch of things you can do". Robinson Crusoe's mechanics serve its theme, and it's a good game as well. I don't think I'd play Robinson Crusoe solo though.

I had two copies. Now just one. Trust me, Pax Pamir isn't one I'll be getting rid of anytime soon.

I love both, but fuck Robinson Crusoe here. I love all things Vlaada has made, he can do no wrong. Pitting two Vlaada games against each other would be an abortion of the Trashdome system.

SaMoKo wrote: I love both, but fuck Robinson Crusoe here. I love all things Vlaada has made, he can do no wrong. Pitting two Vlaada games against each other would be an abortion of the Trashdome system.

Wait, so is this a vote for Mage Knight: Star Trek then?

I ordered Pax Pamir.

Robinson Crusoe is, in many ways, the modernized, highly refined remake of Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival--as with the original, it is a given fact that you will, at some point, die a horrible, horrible death. This time, though, it won't also include the indignity of doing so in a sea of indistinguishable green hexiness. In the case of Outdoor Survival, that death mostly felt like it was the result of "not much game actually here" syndrome; RC, on the other hand, *actively hates you and wants you to suffer for every poor decision you've ever made.

I really dig the game, but, it's also one of the few solitaire experiences where I considered a nerd-rage table-flip on myself....

Mage Knight, on the other hand, could kinda be replaced by a nice vintage copy of Conquest and the experience would still end up feeling pretty similar at its core--like one of working out some of the more brutal solo Chess or Go problems. [Enjoy Mage Knight too, but, Shellhead's spot-on. Puzzle tunnel-vision sets in in a hurry, at least for me.]