PnP Review – Let's Game More

1-4 Players

Designer: Roman Solar

Artist: Roman Solar

Publisher: One Page Creations

Players take the roll of adventures, going into dangerous dungeons full of monsters and treasures. But they have only a day before they perish never to be seen again. Will the heroes find wonders or Blight?

How to Play

At the beginning of each turn, a player rolls 3d6. One of the dice will be assigned to the color, one for time and one for growth.

Using the color selected, the players mark on the time track equal to the time die. For each section filled with the same color, player can mark sections on equipment or abilities. But each of those tracks can only eve have one color.

After that, one of the monster will have a boost for one attribute (chosen by the color) equal to the growth die. This can give the monsters more speed, range, attack, defense etc.

Finally, the player moves equal to the speed added to the time die. On the way, they can get treasures, gems to power up equipment, and face monsters.

When time reaches the last space, and if players managed to either damage all monsters or get all the treasure and get back to the exit, they win.

Rules and Components

In term of components, the game really tries to cram everything in one page, as per the name of the company. Well, sort of. The abilities of each adventurer is not referenced in any way on the main page, neither are monsters abilities. Those are relegated to a second helper page, and I’m honestly glad. It would be just too much. But, even with all the big elements and huge art, the sheet itself is functional and works well even later in the game.

Rules are well written, and quite extensive for a game that is not super complex. The game does have a few quirky characteristics, which makes the flow of the explanation a little off at times, but after playing the game it gets clearer. There are a couple of places where wording could be clearer, but nothing too egregious.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

This game’s quirky, as I mentioned, because there are a bunch of expectations with the theme and genre that are not met. You dont need to defeat enemies, and after a single hit they are out of the game. Also, they guard the treasure, but you can just grab that and speed out (a feat that is quite funny when you imagine a full plate wearing paladin doing it).

This game is not exactly a dungeon crawler, but a dungeon looter per se. But, honestly, once the flow clicks with you, it’s a dynamic and a bit frantic game where I had a lot of fun. Also, the characters and monsters feel well realized, even in their simplicity, and the leveling system is quite flexible.

Score: 7.5/10

Theme and Art

This game has a very particular look and feel that I think people will either love for the gritty nostalgia or hate because it’s weird. Make that quadruple for the fully colored sheets, that are really funky. For me, it reminds me of very old school tabletop RPGs, sitting on my fiends table at midnight surrounded by junk food and colored dice.

As I mentioned on the gameplay, the individual characters and monsters have a lot of personality that, for the most part, shines through. There are spots where theme and gameplay disconnect, specially with leveling (defeating a monster does not actually give you anything in terms of treasure or experience). However, I do appreciate that those were done in order to keep the game simple and fluid.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

Dicebound Heroes is a game made to itch that very specific scratch of just becoming going head first into a crazy adventure where every second counts. It’s frantic, non-stop and quick. And it last just as long as it needs to.

Every aspect of this game is fairly niche, to the look and feel to the rule set, but since I’m in that niche I cannot help but have a good time with it.

Rules and Components: 7.5

Gameplay: 7.5

Art and Theme: 7.5

Score: 7.5

PnP Review, Review

Let’s Review More: The Tracker

December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Denis Kurdiukov

Artist: Denis Kurdiukov

Publisher: Nuka Zombee

The world outside is a horrible nightmare, full of zombies, mutated beasts, and horrible people just waiting to take you and everything you have. But you insist in going on and trying to find a way to save a little girl. But is your will strong enough or are you going to succumb along the way?

How To Play

Setup is just getting the sheet, it already has all the resources and starting situation. You also need 8 dice, 4 of each color and a marker for your position. On each turn, you may do some trades with the locals for clues, but most often you will try to go to a new area for clues are resources.

To get into a dangerous area, first you spend a water roll your 4 dice to create your pool, and set one of the enemy dice as the danger of the area as stated on the map. One die at a time, you assign one die for the scout test, roll another for the enemy and assign a final one if needed. If you match or exceed, scout is successful and you proceed to battle. If not, you just lost time and a water.

Battle is similar, you assign your dice then roll two for the enemy. If it is enough, you win the loot, if not you lose a medpack and, if able, spend bullets to finish off or accept defeat.

Each time you get a clue from locals or secure an area, you mark the clue or number into the main quest grid. Your goal is to make a continuous path from the starting arrow to the finish where the girl is. If you are able to do that and defeat the final boss, you win. If you ever run out of resources, you lose.

Rules and Components

The iconography is pretty clear for the most part, and it may seem overwhelming at first it does make sense once you start playing the game. Even though there are a ton of icons, I never felt the game got too cramped or messy as I went along.

Rules are, as usual for Nuka Zombee, laid out nicely in a kind of a comic book flow type of way. Rules are organized progressively, as if you are playing the game and reading the rules along for the first time, explaining as they are needed in the play. It’s an interesting approach, but not the most friendly at times.

It takes a bit to really internalize everything, but this is a game with a fairly unique flow and I honestly don’t know if any other layout would be better beneficial. I do appreciate the lengths they go for different examples.

On the other hand, there are terms and functionalities there are left to be understood by context, and I usually prefer things clearly laid out, like spending bullets to adjust dice or finishing off enemies.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

Unlike many games within the genre of apocalyptic survival, this game never feels oppressive. Instead it takes the other common facet of such games, dwindling resources, and makes it the heart of the problem. You know what is your dice pool BEFORE deciding where to go, and it’s up to you to be open in terms of choices and how much you’re willing to spend to achieve a certain objective.

It is a slow and analytical game, where along with the resource management, luck mitigation is key. You will have to take risks, no questions, but it’s all about how and when. That being said, it is also a game of patience and repetition, and getting into the game knowing that it is not going to be an in and out situation. You will never win quickly, and very rarely will lose quickly either.

Score: 9/10

Theme and Art

The artwork is stark and evocative, and it does a great job in setting the mood. The muted color scheme also adds to the feel, while also helping the game sheet feel less overwhelming.

The setting is left vague, only with a brief explanation of what is the current situation and not how it got there. It is left to the player to fill in the gaps. But I didn’t feel that this stopped me from being immersed into the theme and caring for the characters around me.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

The Tracker is a tense, methodical and analytical roll and write with a continuous sense of dread and slowly building up your path to the end. And I described this game as slow many times during this review, but yet not once I felt the game was sluggish. Instead, it is a game that takes its time in progressing, and encourages the player to do the same. It is also engaging for the whole duration, and the scouting and combat setup is both thinky and exciting.

In the PnP realm, this one for me easily stands out if you read the description and see yourself in this world and you understand the pace of the game you’re getting into. But, if those things are for you, you will find here a well crafted and well designed game that will reward smart plays and will engage your brain (or leave them on the floor if you’re not careful enough).

Rules and Components: 7.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 8 / 10

PnP Review

Let’s Preview More: Rollin’ Campus

December 3, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-5 Players

Designer: Rafael Lozano

Publisher: My Turn Games

Link for the Campaign

Live (or re-live) the days of university in Rollin’ Campus. Using dice, live the Greek life, get a lousy job, try to live up to your family expectations, and maybe, just maybe, go get some study done. But is this an A+ effort or does it just flunk the rest?

How to Play

At the start of each turn, first thing is to activate your add-ons. These will give you free bumps on their respective tracks and additional moves if you assign dice to them.

Then the active player rolls the event dice and all the regular dice. The events affect everyone, adding some tracks, preventing others from being used or other various effects.

Then the active player will use a number of dice depending on the player count. Each dice is associated to one of six tracks: study, classroom, Greek life, student job, sports and, least but not less important, PARTY TIME.

Each track will move in different ways. Study and classroom are complementary to advance in classes, sorority / fraternity house will move up in groups, sport are a simple linear (well, spiral really) and so on. Moving up the tracks will also give you movement on other tracks. There are also three tracks that cannot be directly be assigned but move according to the others: money, family expectations and maturity.

After a certain number of turns, game ends. Each track gives you a number of points according to completion. There is also happiness and sadness tracks that are accounted, most points win.

Rules and Components

Rules are well organized and nicely illustrated. They are a bit sparse, leaving some areas unclear, but this is an early prototype and, as it appears with my interactions with the designer, they are quite keen on improving quickly.

The sheet itself is super duper busy. I mean, we have tracks and tracks and tracks. But, I appreciate how the iconography is clear and easy to distinguish, and I feel a big Hadrian’s Wall influence, which is always a compliment.

I would love to see this as a double sheet just to have bigger icons. That might be my old man’s eyes, but I prefer to have clearer glance. And, again, that might be a possibility in the future.

Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, this takes great influence in big ping-pong-y comborific roll and writes and condenses it down to a 10-15 ordeal which, at least for me, the exact length it needed to be. Most games I end with that feeling that I wish I just had a turn or two more to squeeze in more points. That leaves you wanting to be even better next time.

I also quite enjoy how different the tracks feel. While I’m not totally sure about the balance as it is now, that is something that could be easily tweaked. But in my many games, be it as a nerdy hard working fellow or a party time jock, my scores have been all within a fine range.

Theme and Art

The way each track abstracts the experience with it is really smart. Some jobs earn more, but leave you unhappy, while working on the library pays nothing, but it does make you smarter. Being good at sports is tiresome, but makes you mature and your family proud. And you have to party either too little or so. much to become a legend. Anything else is just waste of time.

The sheet itself has a nice sloppy look, it does feel like college. The icons are a bit bland and generic, but then again they look very Microsoft Word-ish, which is entirely appropriate. That’s how I would put it: this looks, very thematically, as a college student was creating it.

And the reason why I say it is like this by design is because the rules are other materials related to the game are beautifully illustrated with very refined art.

Conclusion

Rollin’ Campus is a game with purposed contradiction: it is comborific but quick, smart but chaotic, tense but silly. It’s great game if you want something the offers the feel of intricate strategy but in a coffee break (or beer break more appropriately) timeframe. There are some refinements needed from now to release, but not that gets in the way of fun.

PnP Review

PnP Review: Lepra

November 2, 2024November 2, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Denis Kurdiukov

Artist: Denis Kurdiukov

Publisher: Nuka Zombee

In Lepra, you’re trying to survive a horrible plague and find a cure before your town is consumed. Is your destiny to be the saviour or are you down with the sickness?

How to Play

To setup the game, you just need two sheets and two pairs of dice of different colors. First, you roll all 4 dice, with each color being one coordinate. That square on the map is hit by the plague and crossed. If that spot is already taken, you find the first spot without plague in each direction and cross them. Then, for free, you can quarantine one spot on the map. Quarantined squares can take one hit from the plague before succumbing to it.

Then, you can use any of the four dice to take one dice action, and you can also use resources you acquired to take spend actions. Resources other than coins need to be spent in groups, so if to earned 3 food and needs to spend 1, the last one is lost.

Each of the four areas must be filled in different ways. The cross needs to be filled from the bottom up, and only takes resources, the graveyard needs to be filled one column at a time, the harbor needs to be filled one row at a time and with values summing to a specific value, and the workshops can be filled freely, and give you bonuses for completed rows and columns.

Each area at a certain point gives you an ingredient for the cure. If you find all four you win the game. However, if you ever have a 2×8 area of a 5 square cross, you lose.

Rules and Components

I know rules for PnPs, specially ones just released, are in constant evolution, but Lepra already starts with a mostly well written piece. There are a few areas where the wording could have been better, but I do also appreciate the faq in the end. I complained about the layout of Nuka Zombee’s rules for Recycled, and I do feel like it’s much better here.

The sheets, however, are totally too dark. I understand the thematic reason for if, and while I do appreciate it, it gets in the way of good usability. Explanations on how each area works are written near them on the sheet, which is good. But it’s red on a very dark background, and while it is readable on the pdf, when printed it becomes quite hard.

Score: 6.5 / 10

Gameplay

In its essence, Lepra is a games about action economy and “just enough” spending. With a single dice action per turn, you have to be precise on when and where to spend it to get you close to victory. Since you spend resources in bunches, ideally you gather and spend the exact amount, as the surplus could be used elsewhere. That ties in, for example, with the harbor. It’s quite interesting how to obtain a good amount of a certain resource you will earn less of the other.

Some actions gives you purges, which completely burn down a house, preventing the plague from hitting or spreading from there. Obtaining those in the right time and spending them in the exact spots is crucial for victory. However, if you take too long obtaining more purges you can leave yourself unprotected from the lose conditions.

In a practical sense, it’s a very straightforward game, but it’s also one that challenges your decision making to have a chance of wining.

Score: 7.5 / 10

Theme and Art

As I mentioned, Lepra is very theme focused. All areas make thematic sense, in a super abstracted sense of course, and the visual is striking and stark, as the theme requires.

There is one area, I few, it’s quite lacking, which is the village itself. It doesn’t feel alive, or meaningful other than the puzzle that the game imposes. But it does feel like a deliberate to keep the game simple and streamlined. And, after exploring the expansions, I feel even more like that’s the case as this issue is addressed on those. In China, we have the wall parts, Africa has the wells and Aztec has the ritual sacrifices, all giving more personality to your people.

But, since we are just considering the base, I feel like it was a missed opportunity to not give meaning to your people, and that makes it trivial in a sense to put them in harm’s way or to sacrifice them. And that is so central to the theme of the game.

Score: 7/10

Conclusion

Lepra is a slow burning and tense game with a very streamlined and elegant set of rules. The challenge is that to win you have to walk on the edge of risk and efficiency, and that is exciting.

But, it’s not groundbreaking or particularly memorable. I will absolutely play this from time to time, and I feel like it rewards replay for the honing of your skills. But it’s not one that will stick with you after you put it away, something I felt on the past couple of Nuka Zombee’s games.

Rules and Components: 6.5/10

Gameplay: 7. 5/10

Theme and Artwork: 7/10

Score: 7/10

PnP Review

PnP Review : Recycled

August 14, 2024August 14, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Nuka Zombee

Artist: Nuka Zombee

Publisher: Nuka Zombee Games

In a distant future, you are a lone scientist left behind in a remote planet, where you have to use your wits and science to survive. But is game mechanically solid or does it make you feel like garbage?

How to Play

On each turn, you roll 3 dice. Two will be used to take actions, and the last one will be used to check for accidents.

For the action, each dice gives you action points to use for various actions, or you can combine both to take a single action. Excess action points are lost. The actions are basically build building, either directly or through multi phase for some of them, or to generate resources.

Most buildings generate resources locally, meaning that it will be marked and spent from the building itself, and each building has a maximum capacity, usually 6.

The left over dice is combined with another roll to check for accidents, which will usually drain some resources. The lower the roll the worst the loss.

You win the game if you manage to survive 75 rounds, or if you build and produce everything needed for the rescue. You lose if you ever spend your last food, oxygen, sanity or radiation.

Rules and Components

While not being a rules heavy game, Recycled does have a lot of nuances to the game flow and actions. Luckily, the rule book does a good job in explaining everything and giving examples. The descriptions could be a little more xkmpl te and the examples a little more extensive, but they do good job.

I am not a big fan of the layout, though. While it looks great and it does use the same style of the components, it is organized in diagrams and tables instead of a regular sequential rule book. That might be a personal issue, but to. my neurodivergent brain it’s just a bit too busy.

The components are great. Both sheets are not only well illustrated, but they are easy to consult, and have all the information needed readily. All resources in this game are circles, and the circles mean something different in each building. However, the building symbols are distinguished enough that you can internalize quickly their meanings.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay

Recycled feels very different from most PnP roll and writes. It’s a continuous slow burn where you need to be methodical in your approach and assess the areas of risk and work towards them. Nothing is done quickly and you can’t just turn around and solve an issue in a turn.

The dice mechanism is really interesting. You can either use your big dice to get a lot done, and risk worst accidents, or you can do less actions and be safer. And, what’s best, it’s not a constant choice, it’s all about timing and reading the situation.

This game, interestingly, does not have mitigation. You have to make due with whatever you have. However, double or triple 1s are a safe turn, at least. But that also. mean that you really have to look ahead and plan for worst case scenarios.

The one thing is that 75 turns is quite a lot, and unless I’m required to play for it, like with the pioneer expansion where you cannot build the shuttle, surviving that long does not feel like a good path when compared to the shuttle.

Score: 8.5/10

Theme and Art

Recycled uses a retro-futuristic aesthetic, full of nobs and dials and switches. It has a very grim, mechanic and barren look, which works perfectly with the theme. Even the tjr a are marked with tallies as if written on a wall. Honestly, you could not read a single. line of description and get exactly what is going on.

One thing that is not an issue so much as it is a missed opportunity, but the additional planets have different setup and different starting resources, but they don’t have particular mechanisms. Infected planet does not feel particularly infected or hot planet does not feel particularly hot.

Score: 9/10

Conclusion

Recycled really stands out from other print and play games. The word that defines this game is methodical, and it wears it on its sleeves the entire time. Despite being just two pages, it fills its longer playtime with meaningful decisions and a intensity thinky game arc that requires attention and planing.

And that whole feel ties with its theme. It is deliberately desolate and scenario scientific, and it reminds me so much of many sci-fi books that go to this more realistic approach.

It is not, I believe, a game for everyone, specially on the PnP realm. It’s slow and long, contrary to the norm. But it is smartly designed and it shows from the first play. It is also tough and quite the nail biter.

Rules and Components: 8/10

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Theme and Art: 9/10

Score: 8.5/10

PnP Review

PnP Review: Trimod

July 28, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Rômulo Machado

Artist: Rômulo Machado

Publisher: Reaver Workshop

Trimod is an adventure game that takes place in exactly 3 cards. That’s it! But are 3 cards enough will it leave you wanting more?

How to Play

To setup. the game, you need to get the 3 cards for the campaign. Put one cube on each starting resource and on the 0 of the modifier, you only attribute.

On each turn, you chose where to move on the map. If it’s a numbered location you resolve its encounter, if it’s a symbol you roll on the event table to see which one is triggered, and then resolve it.

Most times you will resolve a location or event with a roll. There will be a result if you roll equal or under a number and/or one if you roll equal or higher. Then you roll a d6 and apply your current modifier.

You win a game of Trimod if you are able to resolve all locations or the main quest, and you lose if your modifier falls below – 2.

Rules and Components

This is an important section for this game because of its very design. Trimod is, gameplay wise, Pentamod. There are 5 card faces you need to actively use, the main quest, map, encounter, events and side quests. This means that you have to keep flipping cards over the whole game. It’s not ideal, but it’s functional.

However, it also mean that you can’t mark things like available side quest, events you already faced and your location. It all has to be by memory, which is an element I don’t really like. Trimod is a 10 minute game, though, so that is less of an issue.

Rules are well written and clear, and you can pretty confidently play a game after the first read. However, a huge issue is that the rules are formated to be printed and assembled as a booklet. If you do that, no problems. But I’d you, like me, read on the pdf, the pages are all over the place and you have to keep jumping between the sections.

Score: 6/10

Gameplay

Trimod is a dice rolling fest. Each turn is a dice roll of two until you either win or lose. But it’s also a very intuitive and fluid game, that does condense an adventure in its time frame.

There is a surprising amount of control over your outcome. You’re given resources to. mitigate your luck, and the different paths allow you to reduce your bad outcomes or try to push for better results.

However, it is snowball-y. Bad results lead to more bad results, good results lead to more good results. If you don’t start well it can feel. a bit jarring to keep going knowing that you’ll have a much harder time. But, again, it’s a quick enough game that you can just go again easily.

Score: 7/10

Theme and Art

This game has 3 cards, so it would be easy to have it all dedicated to gameplay. It’s not the case. Everything has a thematic element to it. Every location has a short description, every event has a name and a thematic hook, and each adventure has a full page just for its story. It is a lot of dedication to make the player feel in a film fledged world.

The art style is clearly inspired by classic fantasy books and TTRPGs, and it shines with personality of each distinctive adventure.

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

Trimod is game built on a restriction, and I’m always fascinated by this style of design. I feel like most of its flaws are inherent to the 3 card limit, but it does rise above that to deliver an enjoyable experience.

But one thing is Trimod the game as it exists now. But, for me, Trimod is a system all on its on, and one I would love to see expanded upon. It can fit any theme, there are a lot of clever new mechanisms that could be introduced, and even more variations of Quests and events for the existing adventures. I hope Reaver Workshop keeps exploring it.

Rules and Components : 6/10

Gameplay: 7/10

Theme and Art: 8/10

Score: 7/10

PnP Review

PnP Review: Legend of Hexdom

July 24, 2024July 24, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-100 Players

Designer: Papermage Games

Artist: Papermage Games

Publisher: Papermage Games

We go to a world full of adventures, monsters and hexes in this fantasy roll and write. But is this a world where dangers bring epic adventures, or is it hexed from the curses of the dark minions?

How to Play

To setup, each player needs a map, an encounter table and a character. Game will go until a certain number of boss monsters are defeated, depending on the number of players.

Each turn 3 dice will be rolled. Each player will chose one for movement and two for encounters or battles. The movement die will determinate how much the player will move, if they go into special terrain, like mountains or water, and how many provisions they need to spend. Players can never move into the same terrain twice, and if they can’t move they are out.

The other two dice are used for either encounters, where players get or trade for resources and/or levels of weapons, or fighting monsters. To fight a monster a player needs to either have the necessary weapon levels or pay in life the difference. Both the encounters and the monsters available depend on the terrain type the player is in. If they are in villages or castles they can chose that or the terrain its on.

Bosses can only be fought in each of the six castles, and they require not only weapon levels, but also a special item (or additional life). Once a certain number of them are defeated, depending on the game type, the game is over.

Rules and Components

Beginning with the rules you’ll start to see a trend with this game: high quality, if not a bit of excess. The rules are well laid out, detailed and with plenty of illustrations and examples. It also has quite a bit of thematic flare to it. It also details every enemy, character and scenario. With all that, it is a huge 100+ page beast.

Initially this game was released with a full page with one map and encounter table for each character. The problem is that there are 300 maps over 3 scenarios, and 16 different characters. Luckily, one stretch goal was hit that broke that down into 3 parts, so you just need to print the 16 characters, 8 encounter table for each of the 3 campaigns, and the maps. Again, there are 300 of them. Honestly, print a sample that and you’ll be fine.

But let’s analyze those parts. The character and encounter tables are clear and easy to understand and use. I wish the spaces to mark your stuff, specially food and life, were bigger. It can get a bit messy. But it’s mostly fine.

The map is clear and feels big, but it’s also a bit busy. Since you have to mark all of your travel, halfway through the game it can get chaotic. I highly suggest having a meeple to. mark your current location.

Score: 8.5 / 10

Gameplay

This game plays a bit like trying to fix a leaking boat on the water. You need to get food, get more life, improve your weapons, and not get stuck, and usually you have to spend or forego one for the other. You will be in constant fear of defeat, but with careful planing you can turn around and get powerful.

There is never a dull moment in Legend of Hexdom. Every turn is tense and exciting, and filled with grueling decisions. But making your plans work and getting the bosses make you feel that much better.

Score: 8.5/10

Theme and Art

The theme is classic adventures in a dangerous Kingdom deal, and it’s heavily inspired by old school JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. But what’s cool is that Papermage took its time to give every character, enemy and boss its own personality and a little backstory. This is going above and beyond for theme, and I appreciate that.

Art style is very distinctive, and it will either trigger your nostalgia or it will fall flat. It is well done, but simplistic. But it fits well with the package and it integrates with the theme.

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

Legend of Hexdom is an excessive game. Almost everything is almost too much, and that usually comes at the cost of good design.

Luckily, that’s not the case here. This is a cohesive, well rounded and well balanced game. Games are exciting and have a great arc, ending just when they should. It’s a well. designed game that just happens to have an absurd amount of extra stuff.

Rules and Components	8.5/10
Gameplay	8.5/10
Theme and Art	8/10
Score	8.3/10

PnP Review

PnP Review: Warriors & Writings

July 21, 2024July 21, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Nathan Wells

Artist: Murzabaev Roman

Publisher: Nice @ Dice Games

Pulling out from the old days of TTRPGs, Warriors & Writings throw you in a dungeon to find treasures, fight monsters and confront the big boss. But is this a treasure to be hoarded or does it deserve its place in the darkest of pits?

Disclosure

A copy of the base game was very generously donated by the designer for this review. However, I will do my best to give my full honest opinion.

How to Play

To setup the game, each player needs their own character sheet (that can be different) and a map sheet (that should be the same), as well as one map reference and one action reference to be shared.

The game goes for 40 turns, and during each turn two dice are rolled, and players use them to take actions. There are no basic actions in the game, all actions available are in the character sheets, and they are mostly about moving or attacking. Players go around the map fighting monsters, getting treasure and exploring. The goal is to defeat the map boss, and then have the most gold.

Solo gameplay is the same, you’re just aiming to beat your own score in gold while still defeating the boss under 40 turns.

Rules and Components

Rules are well written and clear, leaving little room for doubts even on initial plays. They also have plenty of examples of gameplay, which is always appreciated.

Components are easy to use, with simple symbology and plenty of references to simply consultation during play. Unlike most print and play games that you could just print and use as a one time use, W&W is a game that requires laminating, specially the character sheet. There is a lot of writing and erasing resources, and can get quite messy at times.

For the map, the way it’s intended to be used is to write your path as you go, but I found that this too can get messy and confusing, specially if you are returning a lot to the same places. There is one particular map, the Wizard’s Tower, where this becomes particularly bad as it requires you to walk the same paths multiple times. I found that using a meeple or token makes it considerably better.

SCORE: 8/10

Gameplay

It can seem that 40 turns is a lot, but this game is snappy. Turns are lightning fast, and those 40 turns go quickly. It is a thinky one though, as on one hand you’re trying to bolt to the boss, but you also need to get treasure along the way. Time is your main enemy here, and often you need to leave stuff behind or just tank the hits.

Also, each character and map require its own strategy, and it does change a lot. One thing, more noticeable on solo than on multiplayer, is that the rolls can really make or break a run. Yes, there is mitigation in the form of grit, but if you’re rolling a lot of lows you’re going to move slower and have a harder time.

Still, it’s a game where you rarely feel out of options or just going through the motions. It’s engaging and a ton of fun.

SCORE: 8.5/10

Theme and Art

I’ll preface this section saying that will be a huge caveat on my analysis. Bear with me.

Theme is clear, it unapologetically evokes the old TTRPGs in every aspect, and it does so very successfully. It is a distilled down version of a dungeon run on those games, but every aspect feels thematic. The two characters are very distinctive, with the knight lunging forward while the mage needs to move slower and manage their mana. The three maps on the base game are also filled with unique and interesting twists that make them come alive.

This game art is pretty bare bones. Aside from the illustration on the cover of the rules, everything is just black and white writing, boxes and icons. There is no illustration of the characters, no backdrops or details on the map or on the characters.

But, as for the caveat, this look is exactly what you would get on the TSR age of Dungeons and Dragons. A cool artwork for the cover, and just black and white inside. If you lived that, like I did, it feels right at home. It was a bold, but I feel like a deliberate one. But it’s one that needs that nostalgia from the player to work.

SCORE: 7.5/10

Conclusion

I tried my best to keep my review as neutral as possible, analyzing the game on a modern lens, and on that we find a simple looking but intensely engaging and highly thematic dungeon crawler.

But I feel like I am the exact niche this game appeals to. I didn’t just play TTRPGs, that was my childhood and teenage years. So I felt at home, every aspect clicking in a special way that triggers my nostalgia bad.

In either case, I would give this one a go. The decision space alone is enough to make interesting games.

Rules and Components	8/10
Gameplay	8.5/10
Theme and Art	7.5/10
Final Score	8/10

PnP Review

PnP Review: Mich in the Downgeon

June 28, 2024July 17, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-5 Players

Designer: Alexz Martinez

Publisher: RAWR! Games

Follow Mich, an adventurous cat into the dangerous downgeon, where they will face enemies, find treasure and seek the precious golden fish. But will this adventure make you purr with excitement or does it spell CATastrophe?

Gameplay

Turns are shared are divided in two phases. First, during exploration, two cards are revealed. Players then draw both anywhere that is connected to existing paths already drawn. Any shapes you form during this phase turn into resources, depending on the size and shape. Additionally, if you complete rows you get additional bonuses. There is also a map specific card that have its own specific effect and triggers a re-shuffle.

Then, on the action phase, players spend their resources for various actions. Torches and maps allow you to draw additional paths, swords lets you fight enemies, gems and chests give you even more resources.

Game continues until players can’t draw more paths or some map specific conditions, like 4 dragon attacks.

Solo Gameplay

Each map has solo specific rules on how the dungeon card acts and some additional end game triggers, as well as a threshold of golden fish for a victory. On the first one you take damage you get fish on when the dragon attacks, the second the thief keeps stealing resources and yo have to prevent him, and on the third you have to prevent too many monsters from rising.

Components

The art has an anime-ish style, and it’s vibrant and exciting. The game is mostly based on iconography, but the icons are easy to understand.

Rules are mostly fine, but there are a few areas that could have been clearer. Things are left implied, but nothing too game breaking.

The only possible issue is production, and your mileage may vary on this, is that you do have to print a lot of cards. As someone that lacks the proper techniques, it was a bit of work. Other than that, you just need a sheet for each player.

Conclusion

Out of the gate, there is something that bothered me about this game: the dungeon specific cards. They advance the game somehow to an end, and they can be quite swingy. Luckily, when you draw them, you reshuffle whatever was drawn and put on the bottom, so it gives you time before you face them again. But, depending on how the draw went, the game can be a bit too quick, specially on the solo version.

When the game is allowed to fire at all cylinders, it can be thrilling. The map fills quickly, and the game is fairly generous with resources. That can create action turns where you can Chain many effects and have super exciting moments. “I fill this area, get a sword, kill that enemy, get a map, fill more areas…”. If the variation does not bother you, Mich is absolutely a game to try. Each map does feel. unique, and equipment cards can have pretty changing effects, so there is replay value. Plus, even on the worst of luck, it’s a quick enough game to just pick up and play again.

Score: 8/10

PnP Review

PnP Review : Treasures Lost

June 26, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-99 Players

Designer: Nuka Zombee

Artist: Nuka Zombee

Publisher: Nuka Zombee Games

Another print and play roll and write, this time all about managing time and finding valuable treasures. But are those treasures found or is the value forever lost?

Gameplay

Turns are shared, and on players’ turns, first someone roll a single d6. Players move according to the table, that involve some orthogonal steps, and depending on the roll some diagonal or passing easier through traps.

Things on this game don’t really hurt you. You don’t even have a health bar or something similar. Everything affects your time. Warps halt you in place, enemies get you stuck until you beat them, traps cost you extra movement.

Players go until they run out of turns on the day track on each of three stages of the scenario. There are also a few spots that are for the night that players can extend to, but at the cost of time on the next map.

The goal is to go around collecting coins and treasure. Gems go on their on tracks, chests must be paired with keys, and coins go in a grid to collect resources when rows and columns are complete. However, how each one work varies by character. The apothecary favours blood gems, the Explorer likes the artifact, and the rascal doesn’t even need keys for chests. It’s all very thematic.

Solo Gameplay

There are no differences between the multiplayer and single player game, aside from beating your own score or beating your opponent’s. The track itself has bronze, silver and gold crowns to mark your score for a quick reference.

Components

The game really looks gorgeous. All the dungeons are thematic to their region and have details on their specific version. The characters are also well illustrated and have tons of thematic touches. I mentioned before, each track is different, but also each ability has a name and adds to the personality.

But absolutely none of this interferes with the usability of the game. Icons are clear, things are easy to manage on the gameplay, and nothing adds complexity. This is, after all, a simple game.

But, even though the game is simple, the rules could have been a little clearer. There are some instances that something is implied and can be understood, specially around movement, but I would prefer it to be spelled out.

Conclusion

Treasures Lost is easy to pick and play and very dynamic. I like the fact that they simplified the risks on just time, and everything is about efficiency. Do you risk fighting that monster and getting stuck, or is the way around more guaranteed? Do you count on that movement that leaves you needing a diagonal step to be worth it? I also love how thematic it feels. Each scenario has its own quirks, each character does truly feel unique on its own, but it never gets too complex. Over the first couple of turns you already got what the game is about. But every second I spend on it I feel the tension and the excitement of treasure hunting.

Score: 8.5/10