An Ode to the Otters (Root)

Enter the Riverfolk Company, the titular faction from the first...

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This is excellent, Jexik. Please continue with the rest of the factions, if you're into it. That last line was killer.

Thanks! More is certainly possible. My next favorite faction is the Eyrie Dynasty despite being so different from the RC. Might be hard for me to get excited about writing about the Vagabond... but I definitely know people who enjoy it and can probably explain why.

Super enjoyed this post, it's my kind of content.

All right, I've got at least two fans. I started working on the Eyrie. I'll try to commit to one or two of these per week.

Much of this article had literally been floating in my head for months, so it came a bit easier than some of the other articles likely will. And I still have yet to try out the two newest factions. Maybe Table Top Simulator will give me that chance?

www.twitch.tv/videos/587538815

To the point discussed here, interesting to watch the Leder team who are obviously extremely experienced playtesting Root drop money all over the Riverfolk to get a leg up. Of course, the Riverfolk also start off at 1 dollar cards (with a bird and an ambush available!) but still.

That was an interesting game. I think it's really group experience-oriented. Humans by nature are prone to avoiding risk. Giving Funds to the Otters or Acolytes to the Lizards is risky because they're resources that they can make use of. However, as we know, it's often the risk-takers who win games. Those guys have played a fair amount of Root and seemed quite familiar with their factions, except for the Lizard player, so they were more than willing to take risks in the name of furthering their own game; often irrespective of how much it contributed to someone else's. That makes for not only an interesting game, but a far more dynamic one that's memorable, even if you lose.

The other side of it is that they were Leder Games' staff playing for a Twitch audience, so they probably knew that the idea was to show off what everyone can do so the game was entertaining for observers, as well.

Yeah, they showed remarkable restraint in not buying when prices were super low. I think it's gotta be group dependent to some extent. I get away with card prices at 2 and 3 pretty regularly. The otter player also did a little more battling than I would have (like when they all dunked on the Duchy player in mid-game, which was maybe warranted- I haven't seen the Duchy in action much yet). He also did some weird sequencing things - I often open a turn by drawing a card or two unless I'm for sure gonna be battling and need to see the die results. That way I can see if I want to craft what is drawn... I usually try to get up to 5 cards which in turn allows me to set my prices higher I think because I have more good cards. He also sat on the Charm Offensive, which I think is a really good card for the Otters to craft themselves. (At start of birdsong, draw a card and someone else gets a point, 1 bunny to craft).

It was still a close game though so it's hard to find too much at fault. The birds had a decree that was nearly impossible to put into turmoil with all of those bird cards.

Jexik wrote: It was still a close game though so it's hard to find too much at fault. The birds had a decree that was nearly impossible to put into turmoil with all of those bird cards.

Right. And that's exactly what I mean about risk. That decree was crazy. If he ever lost it, his point total would've been savaged. But it also gave him incredible versatility and was why he kept buying bird cards from the Riverfolk.