The adventuring quest for an adventure quest game

Once upon a time there was a young mage who was ready for adventure. He was gonna take on the world and all its nasty foul inhabitants, conquer wonderful locations and find the wealthiest of treasures – all from the comfort of his own home! He even started a blog with the subtitle ‘solo adventures in a cardboard world’. But where was the adventure while he was so desperately waiting for it, spending his days on cursed islands, in war zones, on Mars, in a galaxy far far away, or just… doing office work?

Oh adventure, where art thou?

Yeah, this is getting frustrating by now.

Right on the brink of the pledge manager for Tainted Grail reopening, that gnawing feeling in my gut turned to mauling and then devouring all of my good intentions to piggyback off of someone else’s pledge. After The 7th Continent, I first thought Tainted Grail was gonna be my, well, grail game – but I decided against it. Which means my search for an adventure game continues. I decided to turn my struggle into art, as all good artists do. So today I am sharing all the games I have considered in the past week or so, and unfortunately, why I don’t think they will be a good fit for me. I honestly don’t know if I will ever find the game that will fit my glass slipper.

What am I looking for in an adventure game? As much as possible from the following list:

• immersion
• replayability and variation
• a sense of progression in leveling
• a sense of progression in the game itself
• sandbox – the option to trod off the beaten path

Heroes of Terrinoth

Could it be that the holy grail was hidden in Terrinoth all along? And that all it took to dig it up was Adam and Brady Sadler revamping their Warhammer Quest adventures?

First, there was Heroes of Terrinoth. It spoke of adventure and exploration in the lands of Terrinoth, but all it gave me was dry mechanisms, number crunching, and a never-ending stream of cannon fodder. I did like the exploding dice and the way you combine those with cards, but that was about it.

Why I sold it: mechanical exercise, basic leveling system, slaughter fest, lack of adventure feel

The 7th Continent

He awoke on a strange island, no idea of how he got here but sure he was meant to do something here. He just did not know how, or what.

Here I was with this huge game that I spent the months (nay, years) before it getting myself all riled up. The 7th Continent was gonna be it. Exploration, adventure, it was all there. Except it wasn’t. I felt lost on this island, not knowing what to do – well, except to go hunting for food because otherwise you were screwed.

Why I sold it: mechanical exercise, lack of direction, too much emphasis on survival, lack of adventure feel, grind

Photo credit: BGG user Asia _ On Table

Tainted Grail

The grail was not in Terrinoth, nor was it on the 7th continent. Could it be here, in the lands of Arthurian legend, somewhere amidst the Wyrdness?

Then there was the temptation of Tainted Grail. Surely this game should be the one thing I had been looking for. I was excited for this game – I really was. But something in the No Pun Included review resonated with me. At first I was angry at them for destroying yet another one of my coveted games, but I realized they were probably right and going all-in was too much of a financial risk for a game that would be fun at first glance, but would probably turn into a chore and a grind.

Why I skipped it: grind, mechanical combat, limited exploration options

Photo credit: BGG user Schwarzsturm

Cthulhu: Death May Die

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”

I was drawn to this game because of the fond memories I have of dying and/or succumbing to madness in Arkham Horror 2nd Edition. Whereas there it was the goal to prevent the Ancient One from awakening, here you actually want to wake them from their slumber to send them to the elysian fields forever.

Why I skipped it: too much luck based, too little control, too little content

Photo credit: Sky Kingdom Games (from BGG)

The Isofarian Guard

Our brave adventurer refound his sanity and looked at the icy vistas of Isofar, tickling his inner Dragonborn.

I was tempted by these icy landscapes that drew me right back to the happy days of playing Skyrim (on my cold but atmosphere-enchancing attic bedroom), and by its bag building mechanic – but all of it looked a bit too simple. Also, am I being too demanding when I want a narrative experience and replayability too – or is that just a pipe dream?

Why I skipped it: replayability, simplicity

Photo credit: BGG user EllenM

Sleeping Gods

What’s this cool storybook adventure game about? For a long time, all our hero had to go on was this singular image of a boat – with a Cthulhu-esque denizen of the deep waters below it. Needless to say, that was pretty much all he needed.

Ryan Laukat is an amazing designer – he makes his own games with his own illustrations and his own artwork and his own storyline. This game is literally a book on whose pages you move, explore – and do a whole lotta other stuff that makes me think this game is just too crowded and unwieldy.

Why I skipped it: lack of adventure feel, bookkeeping

Photo credit: BGG user Zipzapper

Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood

How can a book be a good place to fight a monster? How about an epic battle mat instead?

What if Kingdom Death Monster came in a new format that doesn’t require a payment in kidneys? Then you get Oathsworn, where you fight big epic battles on a special battle mat. Other than that, this game didn’t really trigger my adventure senses, and the fact that there’s just a handful enemies in this game didn’t prove helpful either.

Why I skipped it: lack of adventure feel, replayability

Right, those were the no’s. Only a few maybes left!

Photo credit: City of Games (on BGG)

The City of Kings

Such an epic name for such an epic… spreadsheet? Our brave adventurer ferociously scratched his head, not just wondering if this even was an adventure game, but figuring out the perfect move turn after turn.

This might not so much be an adventure game but a euro game of resource management disguised as one. There are a few random elements – like enemy spawns and, ironically, if you can actually gather anything – but most of it is actually deterministic. I’ve been told this game does come with a pretty hefty rules overhead and an even bigger table presence

Why I could skip it: euro gamy, misplaced randomness, too thinky / AP prone

Photo credit: game designer Jonathan Mariucci (on BGG)

The HEXplore It series

A game of HEXploration, uhh, HEXventure, and more bad puns than you’d think humanly possible. Let me HEXplain…

Hexplore It (I hate capitalization so I’m just gonna write it like this from here on) strikes the perfect balance between two things I dislike in these kinds of character growth games, one being the D&D pencil-erase progression, the other being card-driven, almost tableau-building character progression. Hexplore It games (right now two are out, the third is in late pledge territory, and a fourth is in the making) comes with a modular board and dry erase character boards to mark your progression. Each game in this series has had its flaws, but maybe the third time is the charm.

Why I could skip it: randomness of dice, fiddly rules

Photo credit: BGG user GodzillasTodespranke

Arkham Horror LCG

Maybe Lovecrafts lure is not hidden in a framed board game experience, but better experienced in a card game that leaves something to the imagination – and sanity…

Having read all of Lovecrafts stories, Arkham Horror LCG was one of the first games that caught my eye as I caught the solo gaming bug. Even with having been an avid MTG-player for a considerable time, I dismissed this game based on various reasons, including price and the pre-game deckbuilding. If you’d know me as a Magic player you’d know how ridiculous that claim is. I’m still kinda scared to dive into this game, but I probably will like both the game and the deck tuning aspect of it. I’m not really sure if it really satisfies that adventuring craving I have. I can’t really see my collection without at least one living card game, this one being the prime contender.

Why I could skip it: cheap to get into but expensive to obtain enough variability and replayability

Photo credit: BGG user The Innocent

Dungeon Alliance

Why go outdoors when you can stay indoors, underground, and look for treasures and adventure and fame there?

The other day I and some friends played Pathfinder ACG and I thought I could enjoy a similar game but with, you know, better mechanisms. That’s how I found this game – I looked on BGG for games similar to Pathfinder, and Dungeon Alliance popped up. It’s a deckbuilder even! Checking out reviews though, I think this one won’t be a fit for me – although I could use a beer & pretzels game like this to play when friends come over.

Why I could skip it: brainburny, dungeon crawl (not an adventure game), bland setting, controlling four characters, too long

Photo credit: BGG user darcypennell

Gloomhaven

If there is any land where our brave explorer can find adventure, it is in the lands of Gloomhaven, where hours of adventure await, distributed amongst one hundred different scenarios.

You were waiting for me to mention the big daddy of adventure campaign games, weren’t you? Well, here he is, the big (10 kilograms) elephant in the room. This is probably the closest thing to D&D in a box: with a heavy focus on combat and a lot of bookkeeping. It also looks like setup and teardown are almost two separate games on their on, going by the time it takes.

Why I could skip it: lengthy campaign, bookkeeping, component overload

Photo credit: BGG user Wehomir

Mage Knight

On the skin of his teeth, our dapper protagonist reached the promised land – or so was told in countless stories.

Talk about big daddies – the holy grail of solo gamers. A game many claim every solo gamer should own. However, I’m reluctant to jump in, seeing as how I played and got rid of Renegade (which is supposedly Mage Knight lite) for being too thinky and puzzly for my tastes!

Why I could skip it: too puzzly, too big, too long, too brainburny

Where will adventure take me next?

I keep going back and forth between these six games. Mage Knight – I should probably own this! Gloomhaven – how epic! Hexplore It – ooh, sandboxy! Dungeon Alliance – why, it has deckbuilding. Arkham Horror – deckbuilding *and* adventure! City of Kings – lots of control and very little randomness!

But the bottom line is this – I still have little notion of what games I will actually like, and if I will be getting myself one of these. Also, whether it is even possible to find a game that’s a perfect fit for my tastes.

What are the adventuring games you like? Are there any you can recommend me?

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