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Runebounding, Part I: Base Fantasy
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Often derided for the "generic fantasy" of its setting, Runebound was the adventure game that may have opened the door to the modern era of legacies.
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Talisman (mean fucking drunk): Here. You enter the hills. You encounter a Dragon. You're starting level? Too bad, fuck you, lose a life.
Runebound (you heading to blue and red challenges as a starting character): Do you REALLY want to do that? Nothing but sorrow will come of it if you continue.
I like RB far more than Talisman because you're not on a Monopoly board. I agree with your points, and I would give my eyeteeth for the MIDNIGHT expansion, but the only thing against it is it does have a lot of downtime, especially with more than 3 players.
I remember Uba, many moons ago, stated she disliked Runebound because of the downtime and it felt like you were shopping, not adventuring. That comment stuck with me because it is true in a sense.
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Rliyen wrote: Runebound (you heading to blue and red challenges as a starting character): Do you REALLY want to do that? Nothing but sorrow will come of it if you continue.
Exactly right. There's nothing wrong with dice or randomness in a game. Both of them add tension and excitement (and, it has to be said, can add irritation and frustration, too.) But GW's form of randomness is something that has always bugged me. This is my argument against Dungeonquest: No one wants to flip a tile and simply be dead to a spear trap. It's not entertaining for the player, no matter how much it might be in schadenfreude to everyone else. I like that Runebound lets you strategize about where you're going ("I can do these two greens and then a yellow and then run into Forge to see if I can get that Dragontooth Hammer."), rather than simply: "I guess I'll go here and see what happens."
Rliyen wrote: and I would give my eyeteeth for the MIDNIGHT expansion, but the only thing against it is it does have a lot of downtime, especially with more than 3 players.
I guess I should issue a correction. I don't own the Midnight expansion, either. I was never really interested in that world and I read some really poor opinions of it, so I decided against spending the $ at the time. To be honest, I kind of forgot it existed before just reading your post.
If you mean downtime, in general, re: Runebound, I can understand that. I do kind of hedge with the fact that I tend to find "downtime" issues overblown. When I'm playing a game, I'm actively interested in what other people are doing, both because it's usually entertaining (i.e. That's why we're playing a game together...) and because what they do might impact what I plan to do next. If someone pulls the Dragon Mail in Tamalir and doesn't buy it, maybe I head back there to get it.
Rliyen wrote: I remember Uba, many moons ago, stated she disliked Runebound because of the downtime and it felt like you were shopping, not adventuring. That comment stuck with me because it is true in a sense.
The shopping thing, I get. Since you are accumulating coins rather than stumbling across stuff, I understand how it can feel like that; like you're saving up to buy that cool, new game(!) Again, I've just found that it flows better with how I like to strategize, since you can orient your excursions around a particular town and then venture off somewhere else once you have your new toy.
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jpat wrote: Runebound 2e was my first "modern" board game, back when I was still playing D&D 3.5. I traded it off a long time back, but this article tickled some nostalgia and regret.
I honestly don't play it that much anymore, but it's one of those games on the shelf that always has the potential to be played. My old group were fans, so we played a lot and people would always want to try new combinations of things. If I have the good luck to find a group like that again, I know I'll be glad that I held on to it for this long. Plus, it doesn't take up a ton of space on the shelf. I have the base game, class decks, and all the small expansions in the original box, and the four large expansions in the Frozen Wastes box.
I went looking the other day and prices are crazy, yo. It's too bad that FFG decided to be the licensed game company and abandoned all the Terrinoth stuff.
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Gary Sax wrote: And that Runebound 3rd never got any real steam, that version is supposed to be good.
Yeah. I traded my way into a copy of just the base game of 3rd, as I didn't pursue it when released, since I had so much for 2nd and still enjoyed playing it. The mechanics of 3rd are interesting and I'd definitely play it more if I could find a group that liked adventure games. But the prices/availability for 3rd's expansions, including one that supposedly really "completed" the game (Caught in a Web?) are as outrageous as the stuff for 2nd; probably because the print runs were so limited.
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One thing that 3E has that I dearly wish 2E had are the Quest challenges with the tiered levels of success, keyed to specific map hexes. I think that alone was a huge improvement in the storytelling aspect of these games.
I think Hexplore It! is probably the best modern-day version of Runebound, with its go-anywhere atmosphere, freeform development, and better questing with a bit of survival tacked on.
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I think it is the movement dice thing that really slows the game. I forget now if I got an extra set just so the next player can roll and begin to plot out their move while the other player is working a card. Swapping out the colored quest location chits with glass beads really adds readability and some bling to the board as well.
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