DEFENDERS OF THE REALM in Review

Oh LARPers...will ya ever stop? The chubby dude on the far left is my favorite, the one standing next to the lunchlady...wait...is that guy in blackface? Is that TWO guys in blackface?

This week it's Eagle's DEFENDERS OF THE REALM in review, and it's overall a good review as far as the gameplay is concerned...everything else, not so much. This is one where you've got to kind of separate what the game is on the table and what it is on the retailer's shelf. It's also a tough game to recommend due to its unabashed appropriation of the core PANDEMIC mechanics, its price, and the kind of illustrations that might confuse a 14 year old nerd into thinking they're "art".  But the gameplay is good, and I think it's actually better than PANDEMIC all things considered. I think most folks here would like it better than that game as well, but I totally understand why many are balking at it based on the fouls it commits.

I'm really kind of disappointed, at a very personal level, that I know this very talented designer that's done one of the great games of all time, and his second big publication is really kind of a do-over of another successful game and not a more original work. Launius has some _great_ designs sitting around his house, including the best superhero game I've ever played, a really interesting Lovecraft storytelling game, a big post-apocalyptic adventure thing, and an absolutely terrific epic fantasy co-op game that has everything from dungeon crawls to field battles.

So I'm kind of leaving this one up to the reader to determine whether or not there are enough grievances to pass on the game, or if the ugly production and $85 (!!!) price tag are enough to leave it on the shelf. I'm not really sure that I would have bought it myself, not at that price.