To boldly go...
Welcome to this week's Monday Morning Meeple. Or rather Monday Afternoon Meeple, seeing as how I got distracted this morning by painting a bunch of dwarven slayers! This week's post will mostly likely be a shorter one, as there wasn't much new out last week that piqued my fancy, but nevertheless there are a few things to dicuss!
On the table...
This week I haven't played much in the way of board games, let alone new games. However, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion made a welcome return to our table. Meeple Games managed to get a number of copies in when it was released, which were quickly snapped up in a matter of days, and I managed to snag one of the last few copies due to a bit of FOMO. I bought it as a gateway to the larger and more expansive Gloomhaven that I backed on Kickstarter years ago and which has been sat on my shelves not doing much.
Jaws of the Lion definitely achieves what it sets out to do, i.e. introduce new players to the Gloomhaven setting and style of gameplay, with the intention of laying out the groundwork before player's move on to the games bigger and older brother. The first five scenarios are supposed to be the tutorial to the game, culminating with your first boss battle. Scenarios 1 through 3 introduce new rules with each mission and increasing complexity in the games card based action mechanics—an exceptionally tightly designed experience that presents difficult choices but allows you to chain together some pretty spectacular moves across your turns. Your hand of cards also represents your stamina. As you play through your cards over the course of the game, being forced to remove cards each time you need to refresh your hand, your characters slowly becomes exhausted. If you aren't able to play two cards on your turn, your character collapses, their energy depleted, unable to continue. Likewise, if a character is reduced to 0 hit points, they also go down. If every character becomes exhausted, then the players' lose.
The introductory scenarios are a relatively gentle lead in to the gameplay. That is before it presents you with scenario 4, where the gloves truly come off for the first time and you begin to realise that hand management and very careful planning and coordination goes a lot of the way towards victory. Scenario 4 is wickedly punishing—so much so that we took to BGG and reddit to find out if others were struggling as much as us. It turns out this mission is a bit notorious in ramping up the difficulty levels to high. Still, after four attempts, we did succeed, and at least the game lets you amass XP and gold across each time you fail, a kind of balancing mechanism to reward you once you finally overcome a challenge you have been stuck on for a while.
We're currently on scenario 9 and, whilst there have been a few scenarios that we've had to run through twice after failing the first attempt, it is only scenario 4 that has caused us the most grievances. Therefore, if you find yourself stuck on this mission, don't worry—you will overcome it eventually!
Jaws of the Lion is one of the most tightly designed games I have played in some time, though. It truly is a pleasure to play though, to get a grip on the parameters of each scenario, and plan a way to win through. Defeat can be a bit crushing, especially when you begin to realise that you're in a no win situation, but victory swings to the other way, with such a feeling of relief and elation that you've managed to pull off what at times seemed impossible. I have to admit that there has been victory shouts and high fives after some of our most recent plays!
The story for the game is also compelling as well. The narrative is well written and constructed and optional scenarios integrate well. Even the city events, which you have to encounter after each main scenario, are interesting. The only thing I might criticise is that the game does lack meaningful choices. For example, once you reach scenarios 7 and 8, you have to pick one to undertake. Whichever you do essentially leads to the same scenario in the end. Now, we've only played up to scenario and this is roughly halfway through the campaign, so I cannot comment on what choices may yet be waiting for us, but this seemingly branching narrative structure, only to be brought back on course feels a little off. However, Jaws of the Lion isn't an pen and paper RPG, no matter that this style of game inspires it, and perhaps this might be asking too much. I am hoping that Gloomhaven itself allows to more meaningful choice when we go eventually get round to delving into it...
Jaws of the Lion is currently on backorder at the shop and we'll definitely be announcing when it's back on our shelves, so keep an eye on our social media or sign up to the newsletter to find out when that happens. Or if you're desperate for it, we can always put your name down for a copy and reserve you one when it arrives!
On the shelves...
This week I've been mainly reading through the Star Trek: Adventures core rulebook, and RPG book that I have had for a while now. I have previously played in the playtest for the rules and run the starter set for friends before, as well as a one-shot for Meeple's own RPG Nights. However, I'm about to embark on a new ST:A campaign with one of my RPG groups and I am excited to boldly go where no-one has gone before.
Star Trek: Adventures runs on Modiphius' 2d20 system, a relatively simple mechanic where the GM tells you what combination of Attribute and Discipline you need to use to figure out the Target Number you need to roll under on two twenty-side dice. For example, trying to squeeze more power out of your ships engines may mean using the Control Attribute (11) and your Engineering Discipline (3) giving a Target Number of 14. If you rolled a 14 and 12 on your dice, then you'd have achieved two successes. If a die rolls a 1, then this counts for two successes, while if you roll a 20 then a complication arises, which may affect a range of things, ranging from your character to the environment itself. Some tasks will be more difficult, requiring more successes.
In order to improve your odds of succeeding, the game has two mechanics called Momentum and Determination. Every player character has a number of Determination points, starting at one and going no higher than three. These can be spent to add a d20 to your dice pool that acts as an automatic 1—i.e. rolling two successes—and so is quite powerful. Momentum is generated by overachieving on tasks. Each success over the number required to achieve a task generates a point of Momentum, and Momentum can be spent for a number of effects, from additional damage to buying more dice. It can be spent straight away or can be stored in a group pool, meaning your successes can fuel your teams efforts. Conversely, the GM gets a mechanic called Threat, which they can use to throw a spanner in the works at the worst time, making things more difficult for you and your crew
The system is really neat and works very well at the table. It also, and perhaps most importantly, does a really good job of emulating the varied events of a Star Trek episode. I have to say, I am really looking forward to setting foot back onto a star ship in the 24th century once more!
We recently got ST:A back into the shop, and there are a whole host of supplements for the game, touching on the different quadrants of the galaxy, as well as discussing the various divisions in Star Fleet, such as the Command Division or Security Division. Plus, if you've ever wanted to play as Klingons, the new Klingon Empire rulebook released recently too! And if Star Trek isn't your cup of tea, the 2d20 system has been modified for a range of licences, including John Carter of Mars, Conan, and the upcoming Dune RPG.
In other news...
While not expressly gaming related, I wanted to briefly draw your eye to the BBC's Lovecraft Investigations podcast. Being a massive fan of all things Lovecraftian, this show is right up my alley. Presented as a modern retelling in a true crime style, the show covers three of Lovecraft's works: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Whisperer in Darkness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It ties all of them together with an overarching narrative that cleverly blends together Lovecraft's own stories, various conspiracy theories and real world paranormal events. It comes highly recommended and it's got my head swimming with ideas for a Delta Green or modern Call of Cthulhu game already!
It's also Secret Cthanta time over on RPG Geek too. Yes, that's not a spelling error—Secret Cthanta is RPG Geek's Cthulhu themed secret santa event, where faithful cultists around the world surprise their fellows with tomes of eldritch madness—or RPGs—in time for the holiday season. I've been taking part now for seven years and it has been great fun every time. This year I've probably splurged a bit too much over the usual limit of $40, but I hope my target will appreciate the bundle of books they will be imminently receiving.
That's all for now!
That's all for this week. There are some interesting things on the horizon though. I'm expecting the new Mansions of Madness for Call of Cthulhu to arrive in store this coming week. Plus, Celestial Realms for L5R should arrive too. And not to mention that I should be receiving my boxed set for the rodent based indie OSR RPG Mausritter soon too, as well as Chtantamas presents, and a heap of books from various Kickstarters will be arriving over the forthcoming weeks. So expect lots to talk about!
In the meantime, let us know what games you've been playing! Is there a new release that's captured your attention, or is there something on the horizon that you're dying to get to your gaming table? We'd love to hear about it!
Looking for any of the games mentioned?
Then check out Meeple Games! If we don’t have what you want in stock, then just give us a shout via email or Facebook and look to order it in for you.
Now, back to those dwarves...
