[UKGE 2016] Things We Want To See - Dark Souls the Board Game

Today I'm writing a preview of the Dark Souls board game that’s currently in the last few days of it’s Kickstarter campaign. 

www.kickstarter.com/projects/steamforged/dark-soulstm-the-board-game

The board game has been developed by Steamforged Games - creators of the excellent fantasy mob football game, Guild Ball. With the third computer game having been released recently and being stated to be the last in the series, it’s an interesting time to be seeing the universe converted into a board game as it’s a vast and rich world to play with.

The Dark Souls board game pulls from the three games in the series, but not their close family of Bloodborn and Demons Souls. Some bosses that have been revealed even come from DLC packs, with one of the stretch goals bringing everyone’s favourite great-sword wielding giant wolf with the infamous the abyss walker Artorias.

The Kickstarter campaign has gone very well, gaining it’s desired funding in only 3 minutes and rapidly tearing through stretch goals which have added lots of content to the core game and various small expansions included in the pledge.

Steamforged Games seem to have kept things moving along smoothly while also remembering not to promise the moon on a stick. They've improved variety of boss behaviour in a lot of the early goals rather than promising more and more add ons, which hopefully should keep each boss feeling true to their flavour and expected behaviours.

While there are some bosses in the Dark Souls series that serve similar purposes, such as there being a lot of giant guys with swords, the options that have been presented seem to offer quite a lot of variety. For example the three possible dragon bosses you could pick up they range from the rather traditional Guardian Dragon through to the cyclopean Kalameet and the horrific Gapping Dragon.

The game is able to be played solo or with jolly cooperation. Players pick a character from the available classes - which have been greatly expanded with stretch goals - and then set off from their bonfire in search of bosses.

The structure of the game involves striking out from the bonfire and exploring adjoining rooms, each one of which could contain enemies, treasure, or a boss.

Bosses have AI decks which dictate their movement, attack patterns and any openings they leave. As their decks don’t get shuffled you can learn the pattern to its movements and get an idea how to anticipate its attacks, at least until it gets to half health and, in typical Dark Souls style, gains a powerful new move and shuffles it routine.

After defeating the mid boss you place a new bonfire room and it becomes a checkpoint in your further adventures. The encounter deck is then swapped with a more difficult version and players can soldier bravely on towards the final boss.

One of the things that really stood out from the game-play videos that can be seen as part of the campaign is the risk reward mechanic that ties stamina to health, players can continue to act and burn through stamina but it fills in the same bar as taking damage so a player that tries to really push the advantage can leave themselves open. It feels very apt for the setting and feels like a great way to emphasise the danger of combat in the Dark Souls series.

While I’ve already backed the game I’m looking forward to getting some hands on time at the Steamforged Games stand at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham in June. (www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk), it feels like it might scratch a similar itch to Kingdom Death while not requiring a multi week commitment to complete a campaign.

-

James

[painting corner] Kingdom Death: Monster - The Dragon King

[unboxing] Kingdom Death: Monster - The Dragon King Expansion

So I got my Dragon King Expansion for Kingdom Death: Monster, and it is gorgeous and the model is incredible and huge.

The expansion adds the Dragon King as a new monster to hunt, that can be added to a regular campaign, or can be the focus of an entire campaign with new rules. The kits also comes with the Dragon King in human form, two "People of the Dragon" figures, and the multipart "Dragon Armour" kit, that makes another 4 figures. Also all the cards and counters to run this might beast.

[actual play] Kingdom Death: Monster - Lantern Year 16 - The Second Saviour

Alcestis led Aeson, Agron and Aethra out to hunt, hoping to find one of the monstrous Antelopes. As they trekked out over the dark expanse of stone faces, a thunderous galloping could be heard. It was the sound of thunder, screams, and gibbering. A horde of Antelope surged through the dark, and for a moment, the hunters glimpsed the entity from which they fled, and their eyes grew wide with terror.

Onwards they travelled, following the stampede. A rumble was heard, and the hunters fled, as a huge worm erupted from the ground. As they fled they came upon a field of grass where the Antelope may have fed. From the field arose a dark cloud. It was a horde of some sort of baby face birds, screaming and chirruping and bloated with tumours. Aethra was pecked almost to death, and the disease was spread to her.

Having fled the swarm of cancer pigeons, they came upon a corpse, and recovered its skull. Onwards they found what may have been a old lantern horde, and gather the remains of some. As as they travelled onwards, the darkness enveloped them. Alcestis though she could hear her own heart pounding from some bloody fruit that hung before her. Aeson was plagued by maddening dreams, while in the darkness Agron and Aethra was attacked, perhaps by the very beast that had stalked the Antelope.

Past the darkness that found a dead antelope, and onwards a faceless statue where they slept to recover from their wounds. And as they neared their prey, a terrified woman came to them, seeking their help in exchange for teaching them. Finally the hunt was nearing the end.

The hunters used the landscape to their advantage, seeing to use the cover provided by the toppled pillars, as the large beast fed.

A well placed lion claw arrow stuck in the rump of the beast, and made it less able to dodge.

Aethra sliced into the beast with her steel sword.

The hunters surround the beast ready to deliver the final blows.

Alcestis drives her lion spear into the Antelope.

The Antelope runs about as the hunters dig up the acanthus plants the beast feeds upon, and also prepare to ambush it as it comes back to feed.

Agron uses his lion katars to deliver a series of deadly blows to the Antelope.

Aethra score a final hit on the Antelope, with such grace that the razor sharp sword slices straight through the monster.

Returning to the camp with their kill, the hunters witness golden lights in the sky. Alcestis gives birth, and the child in a flash of light is taken and returned, their eyes shimmering a green light. This was Odysseus Alcestis, a master of the spear like his mother, and also a Green Saviour.

The tribe constructed a shrine, honouring their ancestors, and the golden light that had blessed them. The tribe now was served by two saviours. And the arrival was well timed, as waiting out in the dark was a Butcher.

Darker Days Radio at the UK Games Expo

Darker Days Radio will be attending the UK Games Expo and looking for what is hot in horror rpgs, war games and board games.

[actual play] Kingdom Death: Monster - Lantern Year 14 + 15 - The Hand of Time

A bit of a heads up I totally forgot to write these up at the time, but there are some significant events for the tribe of Agelasta.

The tribe was ready for the return of the Hand, and it was time for the children of Aiakos to prove their worth. Agarve led Emelus - the Red Saviour - and his siblings, Athamas and Alclemen,  out to face the imposing swordsman.

Needless to say the battle was brutal with the hand, and all but Agarve and Emelus survived the fight, with the Hand teaching Emelus the art of the Swordsman's Promise.

Following the clash of swords with the Hand, the survivors returned to camp, and as the survivors were celebrated, things turned darker. Agarve, filled with zeal and righteousness after surviving the Hand, had been driven mad. She thought herself immortal, and seeing herself as the true leader of the tribe. As so to cement her position she murdered Aiakos.

Lamenting the loss of his father Emelus remained at the camp, and Agarve led Arachne - the last of the tribe founders - Aedon, and Alcestis' son Aedon, on a hunt for a Phoenix.

The journey was long and strange. Aeson was struck by lightning as they ventured over the stone face landscape. It was on the second day they realised they were getting closer, as from above a rain of filth fell from the skies, burning Aeson, and Aedon gathering the droppings of the beast. On the plains they came to a carved face from which they are able to take food, and also where Arachne found a founding stone. It was as they walked on, seeking the Phoenix, that a strong wind blew, and time began to flow strangely. and they watched as Aedon faded away, along with all memory of him.

Fighting the Phoenix required all their might, with Agarve fighting as if possessed, shrugging of wounds that would have killed any lesser mortal. But the Phoenix was eventually killed, but it cost Arachne her life. On returning to the camp Aeson was given the title of Brainless Sneak of the Antelope, and Agarve was now called the Shining Fool of Darkness. Appropriate titles for how many of the camp felt towards the murderer in their midst.