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Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game in Tabletop Games
May 1, 2019
Over 250 unique pieces of high quality artwork (3 more)
Solo play using one character
Massive replayability
An evolving story that's different every time
Can take 4-5 hours with 4 players (1 more)
Can be brutally hard if the dice roll bad
An Epic Narrative Adventure Game for 1 to 4 heroes
Gloom of Kilforth is an epic narrative adventure where you try to complete your saga and defeat the ancient evil bringing the land into gloom.
You start by choosing a character, class and a saga to tell. Your character and class give you your starting stats (combat, knowledge, sneak and influence) while the sagas are 4 chapters long and each chapter requires 2 (or 3 if only playing 1-2 players) keywords to complete. Completing a chapter levels up your character giving you more health and a new skill.
Keywords are found on the cards you encounter as you search the map and are colour coded to give you a hint to where they are most likely to be found.
The map is a 5x5 grid of cards with Sprawl City in the centre and a mix of Forests, Mountains, Plains and Badlands arranged randomly around it.
Every time you enter an empty location, you draw a card from the relevant terrain deck and interact with it.
Encounters are won by rolling a number of d6 dice equal to your skill in the stat list d on the encounter. Success is on a 5 or 6 so playing to your character's strengths is paramount.
Each player starts with 4 health and at the start of each round, you gain action points equal to your current health which makes strategy and stealth the key to early success.
It also means that the game starts slowly but starts to snowball as you complete the chapters of your saga and level up.
At the end of each round, you make camp and draw a night card which causes a location to fall into gloom and possibly trigger an event. A character ending the day on a gloom location will suffer 1 health point loss.
This is the game timer, so you have 25 days to complete your saga, gain more skills and equipment and confront the big bad.
Despite the random encounter draws and the size of each terrain deck (30+ cards each), every card has been carefully designed to fit into the game and let you narrate a unique story as you play.
If you want a unique narrative adventure game with a solid depth of strategy, look no further.
You start by choosing a character, class and a saga to tell. Your character and class give you your starting stats (combat, knowledge, sneak and influence) while the sagas are 4 chapters long and each chapter requires 2 (or 3 if only playing 1-2 players) keywords to complete. Completing a chapter levels up your character giving you more health and a new skill.
Keywords are found on the cards you encounter as you search the map and are colour coded to give you a hint to where they are most likely to be found.
The map is a 5x5 grid of cards with Sprawl City in the centre and a mix of Forests, Mountains, Plains and Badlands arranged randomly around it.
Every time you enter an empty location, you draw a card from the relevant terrain deck and interact with it.
Encounters are won by rolling a number of d6 dice equal to your skill in the stat list d on the encounter. Success is on a 5 or 6 so playing to your character's strengths is paramount.
Each player starts with 4 health and at the start of each round, you gain action points equal to your current health which makes strategy and stealth the key to early success.
It also means that the game starts slowly but starts to snowball as you complete the chapters of your saga and level up.
At the end of each round, you make camp and draw a night card which causes a location to fall into gloom and possibly trigger an event. A character ending the day on a gloom location will suffer 1 health point loss.
This is the game timer, so you have 25 days to complete your saga, gain more skills and equipment and confront the big bad.
Despite the random encounter draws and the size of each terrain deck (30+ cards each), every card has been carefully designed to fit into the game and let you narrate a unique story as you play.
If you want a unique narrative adventure game with a solid depth of strategy, look no further.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Tiny Epic Pirates in Tabletop Games
Dec 28, 2021
Gamelyn Games and Scott Almes have done it again. They’ve managed to create yet another Tiny Epic game with a combo of theme and mechanics that we just couldn’t pass up. When this Kickstarter went live, we were definitely auto-backing it. Now that it’s been fulfilled and we’ve had the opportunity to play it, does it meet all of our high hopes and expectations? Is Tiny Epic Pirates a hidden treasure, or is it fool’s gold?
Disclaimer: I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this review, but rather provide a general overview of the rules and gameplay. -L
Tiny Epic Pirates is a competitive game in which players take on the roles of pirate captains sailing the seas, engaging in combat, trading at various ports, and trying to bury some treasure. Played over a series of rounds, the game ends once a player has buried their 3rd treasure chest. To setup, follow the instructions as detailed in the rulebook – there are simply too many to outline here concisely. Two unique aspects of setup are that the Map cards are shuffled and randomly placed in a 4×4 grid, ensuring a variable setup for each game. The other is that each player will also randomly assign Order tokens on their Wheel (rondel), which means that no two players will have the same setup for a game. Once the Sea has been created, players have prepared their appropriate mats, a market for Booty and Crew have been setup, and tokens/Ships are placed on the map, the game is ready to begin!
Each turn is broken down into 5 steps: Captain’s Order/Deckhands, Sail, Execute Captain’s Order, Trigger Bonus Actions, and Crossing the Ship Line. The first part of every turn is to move your Captain meeple clockwise on your Wheel to select your Captain’s Order for this turn. Moving to the next adjacent space is free, but to skip spaces you must place Deckhand meeples onto the skipped spaces. In future turns, you may have Deckhands coming off the wheel, and you will assign those to other tasks during this step. The next step is to Sail your ship. Every player begins the game with a base speed of 1 Map card, and this can be enhanced throughout gameplay. During this step, you may Sail your ship across Map tiles up to your total allowed distance. After having Sailed, it is time to Execute Captain’s Order. To do this, refer back to your Wheel to see which action your Captain is on, and perform it. Possible actions are to Plunder (steal Booty from settlements), Trade (trade Booty for $ at markets), Crew Up (add up to 4 Crew members to your Ship), Search (gain a one-time benefit from un-searched Map cards), Attack (attack opposing Pirates or Merchant ships at sea), or Hide Out (rest at a Cove and reassign all Deckhands). You may only perform the action that was selected in the Captain’s Order step, regardless of if your placement on a Map card has other actions available.
Once your selected action has been performed, the next step is to Trigger Bonus Actions. Looking at your Captain and Crew cards, if their leftmost icon matches your current Captain’s Order, you may trigger the listed bonus actions. Some bonus actions allow you to perform duplicate Captain’s Orders, but others will earn you money, let you reassign Deckhands, exchange Booty at a different rate, and bury treasure. You don’t need to perform every Bonus Action listed if you so choose, but they may only be performed when their card icon matches your Captain’s Order. The very last step of your turn is to see if you have Crossed the Ship Line. Check your Wheel and see if you have moved from space 5 across the Ship Line to start another circle around the Wheel. If you did not cross the line, then your turn ends and play moves to the next Pirate. If you did cross the Ship Line, then the Merchant and Navy ships will sail a set amount of distance. Merchant ships are simply trying to deliver goods to port, and will be traversing the sea throughout the game. The Navy ship is hunting down Pirates, and will move to attack the current player any time the Ship Line is crossed. When a player has buried their third and final treasure, the round finishes as normal and the game ends. The player who buried all 3 treasures is the winner! In the case of a tie, check the rulebook. 😉
As with most of the Tiny Epic games, I will first start by saying that the size of the box may be small, but the gameplay inside is enormous. There is so much strategy in this one, I think it’s the ‘heaviest’ one in the series so far. You have so many different choices when it comes to strategy, and the gameplay will feel different every time. You could choose to take the offensive and be the aggressor, attacking any and all Ships that you can. Winning combat against Merchant Ships earns you Booty and other resources, while winning combat against opposing Pirates earns you Legend Levels. Your current Legend Level dictates how many spaces you are allowed to Sail, as well as how many dice you can roll during combat. So increasing that level results in better benefits. Maybe you just want to be an honest Pirate and do all of your trading at legal markets, avoiding contact with others and trying to skirt around combat. Maybe you want to try a little of both? The point is, you have choices, and must be able to adapt them based on your opponents’ decisions as well.
A neat element I touched on earlier about this game is the variable setup for each individual player and their Wheel. This really factors into your strategy because you have to know when to use which actions. Do you use a Deckhand to skip a space, or do you burn a turn moving for free to keep that Deckhand right where you want him? And remember, Bonus Actions are only triggered when the matching Captain’s Order is selected, so maybe you have to sacrifice acting in a turn (not being able to perform the selected Captain’s Order) in order to trigger your desired Bonus Action. It’s all about strategy, and that keeps the gameplay engaging at all times.
Just a word of warning though, there is a bit of a learning curve, as there are so many steps and items to consider each turn. Thus the gameplay felt pretty daunting and slow-going my first few plays. But as I became more comfortable with the turn structure and the iconography, it became easier to know what comes next. Another thing to consider is player count. Playing Tiny Epic Pirates at 2 players didn’t really feel that immersive or engaging. With only 2 players on a 4×4 grid, it can be easy to completely avoid each other and skirt around, essentially playing by yourself in a way. With 3 and 4 players, there are more Ships on the map and more opportunities for player interactions and engagement. So it all comes down to what kind of gameplay you want, when selecting your player count.
Components. Again, so far all the Tiny Epic games have had awesome production quality and Tiny Epic Pirates is no exception. The artwork is bright and colorful, the cards and cardboard tokens are sturdy, the meeples are cute, and the actual ships are fun to play with. My only qualms are that two of the player colors – black and blue – are visually similar so in setup it can be tricky to tell them apart. Another qualm is that two of the Booty types (teehee) are a tan and gray color, and the iconography for both on the Map cards are similarly colored. The first few plays I found myself trading the wrong Booty at market because I didn’t check the icon closely enough. These are not game-breakers by any means, but just a heads up so you’re paying attention! As this was a Kickstarter, I did opt for the add-on Pirate Skull dice, and have to honestly say that I prefer the regular game dice better. The ‘knots’ on the corners of the skull dice stop them from continuing to roll, so I felt like I wasn’t really getting a real roll on them. Maybe that’s just my personal opinion, but the regular ol’ game dice are perfectly fine.
How does Tiny Epic Pirates fare in the lineup of the Tiny Epic games? Fairly well, I would say. It’s not one that I would pull out to play with just anybody, as it is a bit of a heavier game, but it is one that I know I would enjoy with my game group. There are a lot of neat elements and mechanics at play here that really work well together and make for an engaging and kind of brain-burning (in a way) game. Although Tiny Epic Pirates might not get as much playtime for me as others in the series, it’s a good one to have and it really embodies the tiny (small box, check) and epic (sweet and strategic gameplay) parts of the title. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a seaworthy 4 / 6.
Disclaimer: I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this review, but rather provide a general overview of the rules and gameplay. -L
Tiny Epic Pirates is a competitive game in which players take on the roles of pirate captains sailing the seas, engaging in combat, trading at various ports, and trying to bury some treasure. Played over a series of rounds, the game ends once a player has buried their 3rd treasure chest. To setup, follow the instructions as detailed in the rulebook – there are simply too many to outline here concisely. Two unique aspects of setup are that the Map cards are shuffled and randomly placed in a 4×4 grid, ensuring a variable setup for each game. The other is that each player will also randomly assign Order tokens on their Wheel (rondel), which means that no two players will have the same setup for a game. Once the Sea has been created, players have prepared their appropriate mats, a market for Booty and Crew have been setup, and tokens/Ships are placed on the map, the game is ready to begin!
Each turn is broken down into 5 steps: Captain’s Order/Deckhands, Sail, Execute Captain’s Order, Trigger Bonus Actions, and Crossing the Ship Line. The first part of every turn is to move your Captain meeple clockwise on your Wheel to select your Captain’s Order for this turn. Moving to the next adjacent space is free, but to skip spaces you must place Deckhand meeples onto the skipped spaces. In future turns, you may have Deckhands coming off the wheel, and you will assign those to other tasks during this step. The next step is to Sail your ship. Every player begins the game with a base speed of 1 Map card, and this can be enhanced throughout gameplay. During this step, you may Sail your ship across Map tiles up to your total allowed distance. After having Sailed, it is time to Execute Captain’s Order. To do this, refer back to your Wheel to see which action your Captain is on, and perform it. Possible actions are to Plunder (steal Booty from settlements), Trade (trade Booty for $ at markets), Crew Up (add up to 4 Crew members to your Ship), Search (gain a one-time benefit from un-searched Map cards), Attack (attack opposing Pirates or Merchant ships at sea), or Hide Out (rest at a Cove and reassign all Deckhands). You may only perform the action that was selected in the Captain’s Order step, regardless of if your placement on a Map card has other actions available.
Once your selected action has been performed, the next step is to Trigger Bonus Actions. Looking at your Captain and Crew cards, if their leftmost icon matches your current Captain’s Order, you may trigger the listed bonus actions. Some bonus actions allow you to perform duplicate Captain’s Orders, but others will earn you money, let you reassign Deckhands, exchange Booty at a different rate, and bury treasure. You don’t need to perform every Bonus Action listed if you so choose, but they may only be performed when their card icon matches your Captain’s Order. The very last step of your turn is to see if you have Crossed the Ship Line. Check your Wheel and see if you have moved from space 5 across the Ship Line to start another circle around the Wheel. If you did not cross the line, then your turn ends and play moves to the next Pirate. If you did cross the Ship Line, then the Merchant and Navy ships will sail a set amount of distance. Merchant ships are simply trying to deliver goods to port, and will be traversing the sea throughout the game. The Navy ship is hunting down Pirates, and will move to attack the current player any time the Ship Line is crossed. When a player has buried their third and final treasure, the round finishes as normal and the game ends. The player who buried all 3 treasures is the winner! In the case of a tie, check the rulebook. 😉
As with most of the Tiny Epic games, I will first start by saying that the size of the box may be small, but the gameplay inside is enormous. There is so much strategy in this one, I think it’s the ‘heaviest’ one in the series so far. You have so many different choices when it comes to strategy, and the gameplay will feel different every time. You could choose to take the offensive and be the aggressor, attacking any and all Ships that you can. Winning combat against Merchant Ships earns you Booty and other resources, while winning combat against opposing Pirates earns you Legend Levels. Your current Legend Level dictates how many spaces you are allowed to Sail, as well as how many dice you can roll during combat. So increasing that level results in better benefits. Maybe you just want to be an honest Pirate and do all of your trading at legal markets, avoiding contact with others and trying to skirt around combat. Maybe you want to try a little of both? The point is, you have choices, and must be able to adapt them based on your opponents’ decisions as well.
A neat element I touched on earlier about this game is the variable setup for each individual player and their Wheel. This really factors into your strategy because you have to know when to use which actions. Do you use a Deckhand to skip a space, or do you burn a turn moving for free to keep that Deckhand right where you want him? And remember, Bonus Actions are only triggered when the matching Captain’s Order is selected, so maybe you have to sacrifice acting in a turn (not being able to perform the selected Captain’s Order) in order to trigger your desired Bonus Action. It’s all about strategy, and that keeps the gameplay engaging at all times.
Just a word of warning though, there is a bit of a learning curve, as there are so many steps and items to consider each turn. Thus the gameplay felt pretty daunting and slow-going my first few plays. But as I became more comfortable with the turn structure and the iconography, it became easier to know what comes next. Another thing to consider is player count. Playing Tiny Epic Pirates at 2 players didn’t really feel that immersive or engaging. With only 2 players on a 4×4 grid, it can be easy to completely avoid each other and skirt around, essentially playing by yourself in a way. With 3 and 4 players, there are more Ships on the map and more opportunities for player interactions and engagement. So it all comes down to what kind of gameplay you want, when selecting your player count.
Components. Again, so far all the Tiny Epic games have had awesome production quality and Tiny Epic Pirates is no exception. The artwork is bright and colorful, the cards and cardboard tokens are sturdy, the meeples are cute, and the actual ships are fun to play with. My only qualms are that two of the player colors – black and blue – are visually similar so in setup it can be tricky to tell them apart. Another qualm is that two of the Booty types (teehee) are a tan and gray color, and the iconography for both on the Map cards are similarly colored. The first few plays I found myself trading the wrong Booty at market because I didn’t check the icon closely enough. These are not game-breakers by any means, but just a heads up so you’re paying attention! As this was a Kickstarter, I did opt for the add-on Pirate Skull dice, and have to honestly say that I prefer the regular game dice better. The ‘knots’ on the corners of the skull dice stop them from continuing to roll, so I felt like I wasn’t really getting a real roll on them. Maybe that’s just my personal opinion, but the regular ol’ game dice are perfectly fine.
How does Tiny Epic Pirates fare in the lineup of the Tiny Epic games? Fairly well, I would say. It’s not one that I would pull out to play with just anybody, as it is a bit of a heavier game, but it is one that I know I would enjoy with my game group. There are a lot of neat elements and mechanics at play here that really work well together and make for an engaging and kind of brain-burning (in a way) game. Although Tiny Epic Pirates might not get as much playtime for me as others in the series, it’s a good one to have and it really embodies the tiny (small box, check) and epic (sweet and strategic gameplay) parts of the title. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a seaworthy 4 / 6.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Deadpool 2 (2018) in Movies
May 20, 2018 (Updated May 20, 2018)
As a superhero movie, the plot was ok, and I thought Julian Dennison did a fantastic job. As a comedy, not so much.
1) The jokes were tired, and already done in DP1. When everyone was cracking up in the first scenes, I looked at my best friend and asked, 'What is everyone laughing at? This sh** is not funny.' How many times does Ryan Reynolds need to make fun of Green Lantern? Seriously, get over it. 2) It was was too long. That's 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life I can never get back. At least it was free with moviepass. 3) Ryan Reynolds was too Ryan Reynolds, rather than the character. Unless, they're supposed to be one of the same? Don't get me wrong, I love Ryan Reynolds comedies (e.g., Waiting/Just Friends), but it was too much. 4) A lot of the scenes were about 5 minutes too long... The unfunny scene at the end where DP just wouldn't go away (no specifics because that'd be a spoiler). 5) You could tell some of the jokes were inserted after the fact because the quality of the sound on it. Yeah, of course they can get away with it sometimes, since RR is wearing the mask... But it was too obvious.
I am surprised that TJ Miller wasn't completely cut from the film (same with Ready Player One), since that seems to be the norm whenever scandals occur now.
1) The jokes were tired, and already done in DP1. When everyone was cracking up in the first scenes, I looked at my best friend and asked, 'What is everyone laughing at? This sh** is not funny.' How many times does Ryan Reynolds need to make fun of Green Lantern? Seriously, get over it. 2) It was was too long. That's 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life I can never get back. At least it was free with moviepass. 3) Ryan Reynolds was too Ryan Reynolds, rather than the character. Unless, they're supposed to be one of the same? Don't get me wrong, I love Ryan Reynolds comedies (e.g., Waiting/Just Friends), but it was too much. 4) A lot of the scenes were about 5 minutes too long... The unfunny scene at the end where DP just wouldn't go away (no specifics because that'd be a spoiler). 5) You could tell some of the jokes were inserted after the fact because the quality of the sound on it. Yeah, of course they can get away with it sometimes, since RR is wearing the mask... But it was too obvious.
I am surprised that TJ Miller wasn't completely cut from the film (same with Ready Player One), since that seems to be the norm whenever scandals occur now.
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