Flashback Friday - Runebound - Love it or hate it? Do you still play it?

I will always have a soft spot for Runebound. Still own 2nd edition and a bit of expansion stuff for it. I have never played 3rd edition though I did watch it being played, and I'm not really keen to start flipping cardboard tokens around, just seems silly to me. It has been a while since I have actually played it, though I most certainly would if someone suggested it.

I’ll do it! I’ll do it!

KEN’S BACK!

Michael Barnes wrote: I’ll do it! I’ll do it!

KEN’S BACK!

What? What's wrong with my back? Do I have something on it? GET IT OFF MAN GET IT OFF

Ken B. wrote: ... and I'm not really keen to start flipping cardboard tokens around, just seems silly to me.
...

You need to make the first comment on the 3E review

Have you been away ?

Southernman wrote:

Ken B. wrote: ... and I'm not really keen to start flipping cardboard tokens around, just seems silly to me.
...

You need to make the first comment on the 3E review

Have you been away ?

No, I have been over here in the corner the whole time, just fiddling with my bits.


That came out wrong.


Or did it?

Two posts in like five years and one of them is about bit-fiddling.

Michael Barnes wrote: Two posts in like five years and one of them is about bit-fiddling.

I can't tell if that's disapproval for the half low-brow humor or disappointment it wasn't 2-for-2.

I've soloed 2nd ed. a lot and also played it every now and then with three or at most four players. We usually skipped the stupid PvP rules and had a lot of the small expansion stuff in there. What worked for me was definitely the story telling part and the sheer amount of dice chucking. Yes, the combat system was a bit samey at times, but there was just enough decisions each round to make a lot of the encounters interesting. And it does have a lot of small stories. You can go on small quests, but a lot of the encounters also interact - such as when defeating "Mother of Ferrox" gives you a one time "defeat a Ferrox-encounter" ability. It may not be much, but it was enough to make the board seem sort of connected.

I never got to play The Frozen Wastes, but I digged the things I read about it. I would love it if they brought it back for 3rd ed.

Michael Barnes wrote: I’ll do it! I’ll do it!

KEN’S BACK!

Frozen Wastes is the rare game I regret not buying when it came out. If only we had FOMO back then I wouldn't have to sigh at the $100+ it would cost now.

So, since I'm the resident person who will admit to liking the generic Terrinoth setting and owns basically every game ever put there (except Runewars Miniatures; no build-and-paint minis, ever again), I'll say this:

For all those people glorifying Talisman: Runebound is better than Talisman. You don't roll d6s and move in a single direction around a board. You roll the equivalent of d6s and can move in SIX different directions. You have PvP, but it's actually a challenge based on stats and multiple pieces of equipment and not just whomever found the Runesword first. And, best of all, you have the large box adventures, which totally change the way the game is played. The big expansions don't just add another board to d6-walk through. They alter the essence of the game, while you're still playing Runebound.

I never played 1st Ed, but that doesn't matter, because it only existed for a few months until they decided that having d20s was inferior to 2 d10s. That's pretty much the only real change between the 1st and 2nd "editions". I've also never played 3rd Ed, since that was a radical change. Just like with Talisman, 2nd Ed is the only way to go.

And what a way. You can spend $8 and get a totally different storyline for the base game, that sometimes changes the main board (Cataclysm) or sometimes changes the endgame conditions (Scepter of Kyros) or sometimes just gives you different enemies to fight at the end (Avatars of Kelnov.) Or you can use the bigger expansions (four of them) and fight on entirely new maps with entirely new environmental conditions, enemy decks, and win conditions. Talisman doesn't even come close to the variety that Runebound 2nd Ed afforded the average player, even if only a couple expansions were in use; counting the 8 or 9 that did nothing but add new enemies, quests, and magic items.

I haven't played 3rd Ed, although I've heard a lot of positive comments about the refinements in the same way that 2nd Ed Descent is better than 1st. But I've never failed to have a good time with Runebound "2nd" Ed and I doubt I ever will, especially since so many rarely tapped resources like the class decks exist to make the diversity of characters, classes, small expansions, and large expansions so huge.

Michael Barnes wrote: I’ll do it! I’ll do it!

KEN’S BACK! ...is sexy :3

This is the game I've been trying to try, but never really got to it. I like how it looks, the concept (especially that it has a "main story")... the combat is okay I think. But I doubt if one enemy is really different from the others.

Well earlier in thread I said, even though I'd never seen this before, I'd look out to play 3E from Josh's description of it. But then others have given decent recollections of 2E, especially with the big box expansions, so I decided to look out for either version. So browsing BGG Marketplace, like you do, I saw someone was selling a copy of 2E with three big box and five small card expansions for the price (or not much more) that the game by itself seemed to go - so I thought what the hell, what's one more game, and bought it.
The guys I play with all like the other FFG Terrinoth games (and they play Talisman when there's nothing on at their Warhammer nights) as well as M&M and Firefly so I can see this being played - even if it's initially just the base game then one each of the big box expansions.
I just need to win the 'TWBG Ganz Der Schon Tournament of Champions' now so Mr Barnes promised prize can pay for it.