Insanity By Design - "Castles Of Mad King Ludwig"

I was first introduced to Castles of Mad King Ludwig during the last DaveCon. For my introductory thoughts about the game you click on the link right hur.

So impressed was I by the game that I decided to buy it. This happened just days before an harmonic convergence of sorts: after months of waiting patiently I finally found myself not scheduled to work on the evening of Wednesday October the 19'th and, even better, it was my turn to pick a game. Guess what I picked.

PLAYER COLOR SELECTION

Andrew...Red

Chad...Green

Me...Blue

John...Yellow

After placing a cavernous Vestibule just off of his Foyer for a single point, Andrew quickly attached two external locations: a Terrace Gardens and the Coach House for eight more points. After tacking on a one-point Kitchen and earning a re-score Completion Bonus he finally added a set of Stairs so that he could take placing some subterranean options. To this he added a one-point Armory, which he quickly closed off with a second set of steps leading back up to the main floor.

Around this time Andrew confessed that he was pretty confused by the iconography on the Room tiles. He thought that the Room type was represented by the graphic in the middle of the tile instead of the small symbol in the lower right hand corner or, for that matter, the dominant color on the tile itself. For the record I did explain this but Dean just so happened to be playing the Mad Max video game in the same room so Andrew was all "SQUIRREL!!!"   

But that's the thing about Andrew: even when he makes a few miss-steps at the start of a game, he's quick to recognize this and make an effective course correction. Even though the only points he'd scored thus far were from the face value of his Rooms, he quickly turned things around and ended up being a major contender in the game.

Plus, I don't know how conscious or deliberate this was, but two of the Rooms he placed just so happened to dove-tail perfectly with the King's Favor requests for Living and Food Rooms.

Seriously, he's like some sort of board-gaming savant.

Chad also seemed a slightly disoriented at the beginning of the game but for an entirely different reason. After adding a Sauna, a Tasso Room and a Broom Closet to his west wing for a total of seven points and an outdoor Stables and Food Prep Room to the East for another six, John and I began to warn him about the dangers of painting himself into a corner. Indeed, at this stage he only had two doorways left to expand from!

Eventually he took our advice, tacking on a a set of stairs leading to the basement and a long-ass Hallway which culminated in a one-point Meat Locker.

Maybe this was his strategy all along since closing off four Rooms in quick succession gave him several Completion Rewards, which included picking up two new Bonus Cards, stacking the Room Card pile with a couple of custom picks and nabbing an extra Room purchase.

Like Andrew, his Room adjacency scoring was kinda low. Sorry but placing a Food Prep Room next to your Stables is just plain gross. Remind me never to eat at Chad's place. Horse steak tartar, anyone?   

As for me, I really wish that I'd taken a moment to re-read my first play through of the game, particularly this little chestnut:

"Even though I exploited all three of my initial Bonus Cards reasonably well, I...dropped the ball regarding the Room Completion Awards and zeroing in on those valuable King's Favor rewards."

As a result, my second play through reminds me of that classic adage: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." Ergo, I pretty much ended up making the exact same mistakes this time around.

Actually, I'm being a bit harsh on myself. I did manage to generate a lot of recurring points between adjacent and completed Rooms. As for the King's Favor tiles, wellll...let's just say that went a tad rogue.   

For starters I tacked on a Gallery of Mirrors to the west for three points and then added a downstairs passage for an additional two. This ended, as all things eventually do, with The Hole which gave me three more points and the chance to install a free bonus Hallway to my whimsical east wing.

I added a Sitting Room to this new pathway for four points, a Queen's Bedroom to the south for three more (with a bonus point coming courtesy of The Hole) and an adjacent Dirt Room for two more.

Sealing off these last two chambers earned me a couple of Completion Rewards, so I plopped two 350-square foot tiles on top of the Room deck and bought a second set of stairs leading down. This got me a two-point adjacency bonus as well as yet another freakin' turn. Looking to keep my underground options open I constructed another staircase leading down and then built the Knight Room which matched perfectly with the Queen's Bedroom.

Sure, I was linking a lot of Stairs and chambers together for points but only two of the Rooms I'd placed so far addressed the King's Favor. I know that I have a problem with authority figures, but does this have to apply to board games as well? *sigh*    

Having played Castles of Mad King Ludwig several times before, John kept a laser-like focus on his goals. He tacked a Green House onto his Foyer for four points which he soon closed off with a Lilac Cabinet for an additional five. Sealing off the Green House was great since it have him a $10,000.00 "closing bonus". Noice.

Unlike Andrew, John gave himself the option to build underground right away. He added a set of steps leading downstairs which culminated in a Secret Lair for one point. Since this completed his Staircase, he built an extended Hallway just off of the Lilac Cabinet in the East Wing.

John then dropped a Bottomless Pit right in next to his Secret Lair for three points, nabbing one bonus thanks to his Green House. Since this sealed off two Downstairs Rooms at once, it gave John the freedom to execute any bonus action he wanted. He opted for another room purchase, which turned out to be a two-point Larder. This was later capped off with the introduction of a Laundry Room next door, which, once again, polished off two chambers in one play. This also tapped back into his Secret Lair for two more bonus points!

This earned John yet another extra turn, which he used to slot a Nap Room right in next to his Lilac Cabinet. With that room completed he re-scored the same nook for another five points! Polishing off the Laundry Room also gave him an opportunity to pick up a brand new secret Bonus Card.

He finished up this impressive first half by finishing off his Nap Room with an adjacent Focus Room for five more points, which, in turn, let him seed the Room Deck with several developments of his choosing.

So, not only did John generate a metric shit-ton of in-game points, he also picked up a slew of Completion Bonuses, all the while keeping the Living Room and Square Room King's Favor requirements firmly in mind. 

As the game's main objectives started to sink in, Andrew's efforts continued to improve. He earned a staggering seven points for completing work on his Foyer with an Audience Room. This, in turn,  gave him a free Hallway which he placed next to the Terrace Gardens. This didn't accomplish much until he added the West Tapestry Room up north for two points, closing off the Terrace Gardens and scoring a valuable $10,000.00 cash bonus. Later he added a Salon right next door, giving him a three-point placement reward and keeping him in close contention for the Living Room King's Favor.

Andrew picked up yet another $10,000.00 windfall when he completed his Coach House with an adjacent Hallway. This fueled the purchase of a Dressing Room which polished off his two-point west-wing Kitchen, giving him a pair of adjacency bonus points plus a free freakin' turn! After buying and placing a Choo-Choo Train Room for five points, Andrew completed a respectable come-back by swiping a Servants Quarters away from me, which he placed across the hall from the Train Room. This nabbed him four placement points plus an additional two for being next to a Hallway. 

Overall, a pretty impressive effort. By the time the game was over he had three Living Rooms plus a slew of Large Rooms which directly addressed two of the King's Favors. 

Meanwhile, Chad was in full rebound mode. After killing off any possibility of expanding his castle out west, he had to rely on his eastern corridors to fuel new growth. He started by delving underground, placing a Mold Room for two Points and earning a permanent perk for every future Food Room placed in his Castle. This also sealed off a flight of steps, giving him the privilege of placing another Hallway just off of the first corridor.

Chad then dropped a Nine Pin bowling Alley right next to this for a respectable five points. Speaking from experience, this thing can be annoying to complete, but Chad did it by installing a Sewing Room next door, claiming five bonus Veeps in the process. Even more impressive: he cleanly avoided any negative adjacency penalties in the process.

Taking note of how well John was daisy-chaining Completion Rewards together, Chad dropped a series of smaller square rooms into the north wing of his mansion. He then sealed up his Meat Locker (not code for something, by he way) by tacking on a four-point Study next door. This earned Chad a bonus turn, which he used to install a Pantry for two more points. On his very next turn he built a one-point Cloak Room next door, completing a tidy little two-for-one. This allowed him to snag another Bonus Card as a well as second turn.

This extra purchase came in the form of the East Tapestry Chamber placed just off of the Study. Not only did this net him three placement Veeps he also managed to wring a three-point adjacency bonus out of it.

This completed a pretty friggin' impressive comeback for Chad. After cutting off just about every possible avenue for expansion and failing to generate many in-game points, he'd been trailing for most of the game. But by cherry-picking a slew of mysterious and maddening Bonus Cards and paying close attention to the King's Favors it looked like he still might be a contender. 

As for me, I couldn't help but feel as if my early lead was slipping away. Even though I kept getting some decently-consistent in-game points, I completely lost focus of the King's Favors.

I continued to delve deep underground, adding a Fungus Room just off of the Knight Room for three points. Having completed a second underground chamber, I took a bonus action, building a Guest Bedroom off the Foyer for more three points. This finally completed my starting space so I installed a below-ground corridor which I later capped off with a sexy, swingin' Venus Grotto. Even though this ridiculous thing was only worth a single point, it did give me one additional point for every Hall and Stairs I had on my Castle, which, as the time, was four.

An a subsequent turn I added the Great Hall to the Gallery of Mirrors for three points, one for the Hall and two for the Gallery's adjacency bonus. Sealing this thing up also gave me the privilege of re-scoring the same chamber once again. Not too shabby!

Still, I couldn't help but feel as if I'd lost focus towards the end of the game. My final two moves were unremarkable: adding the Upper Hall didn't accomplish much and the Billiards Room was just worth a straight-up four points.

Since I hadn't been actively gunning for the Kings Favor's, I silently hoped that my in-game points and my secret objective Bonus Cards would be enough to carry me through to victory.

John, on the other hand, continued to be right on-point. Keeping the Square Room Favor locked in his gun-sights, John tacked on the appropriately-named Focus Room for five more points, sealing off the adjoining Nap Room and giving him the ability to stack the Room deck with some last-minute choice picks.

Just off of this chamber he added a Buttery which was later sealed off by a massive Forum for six points. This imposed a slight adjacency penalty, but John just went for it, knowing full well that he was in a desperate race with Andrew over the Large Room King's Favor.

Just before we drew the last few Room Cards John snuck in two more savvy maneuvers. He added the Berchta Room for three points and then closed off the Forum with an adjoining four-point Parlor,  earning him a five Victory Point completion bonus in the process.

By the time the game ended, John had a dog in just about every race. He was a contender for Living Rooms, Square Rooms, Food Rooms and Large Rooms. But all that was left now was to tally up the final points and determine the victor.   

END-GAME SCORING

IN-GAME POINTS

Chad...44 Points

John...60 Points

Andrew...62 Points

Me...62 Points

KING'S FAVORS

LIVING ROOMS

Chad (2)...1 Point

Me (2)...1 Point

John (3)...6 Points

Andrew (3)...6 Points

FOOD ROOMS

Me (0)...0 Points

Andrew (1)...2 Points

John (2)...4 Points

Chad (3)...8 Points

SQUARE ROOMS

Me (0)...0 Points

Andrew (1)...2 Points

Chad (4)...6 Points

John (4)...6 Points

LARGE ROOMS

Chad (3)...1 point

John (3)...1 Point 

Me (4)...4 Points

Andrew (9)... 8 Points

DEPLETED PILES

John (0)...0 Points

Chad (1)...2 Points

Andrew (2)...4 Points

Me (3)...6 Points 

BONUS CARDS

ANDREW

Two Points per 200 Square Foot Room (1): 2 Points

Three Points per 400 Square Foot Room (1): 3 Points

CHAD

Three Points per Food Room (3): 9 Points

Two Points per 150 Square Foot Room (1): 2 Points

Two Points per Downstairs Room (1): 2 Points

Two Points per 300 Square Foot Room (2): 4 Points

Seven Points for All Eight Room Types: 7 Points

ME

One Point per 5000 Coin (3): 3 Points

Two Points per Living Rooms (2): 4 Points

Three Points per 350 square foot Rooms (3): 9 Points

JOHN

One Point Per Round Room (6)...6 Points

Three Points Per 600 square foot Room (0)...0 Points

Two Points Per Utility Room (2)...4 Points

Two Points Per 100 Square Foot Room (4)...8 Points

REMAINING MONEY (ONE POINT per $10,000.00)

John...0 Points

Chad...0 Points

Me...1 Point

Andrew...2 Points

FINAL SCORES

Chad...86

Me...90

Andrew...91

John...95

Winner: John! 

***

 

REVIEW

PROS

• You'd be forgiven for thinking that Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a solitaire game that you just so happen to play with two to three other people...but you'd be wrong. You really need to pay attention to what your rivals are doing and set the Room values accordingly. When you're the Master Builder, always remember that people will be paying you for their improvements but the downside is that you'll be buying last. As such, you really need to price what you want high enough to deter everyone else but no so high that it completely drains your own coffers. You also don't want to give any cheap and easy points away to your opponents. This simple, elegant, economic heart of the game holds a vast amount of appeal for me.
• Between the King's Favors, the random Rooms and your Bonus Cards, there are a slew of strategic variables to contend with on every turn. And the really amazing thing is that these variables change radically from game to game, so even veteran players are challenged every time out. 
• I love how you get punished for self-indulgence. After all, the game's called Castles of Mad King Ludwig, not Castles of Your Self-Entitled Ass. Sure, you can deliver a stellar, points-soaked, in-game performance but unless you play attention to the King's Favors, you're gonna get your ass handed to you.
• The Bonus Cards alone offer a ridiculous amount of options to pursue. Even though you start the game with only two of them, you can pick up more via clever tile placement and customize your strategy as you go. Plus: if you pick up a Bonus Card that works in tandem with one of the King's Favors then...BAM! Double impact!       
• There's just something inherently satisfying about putting together these tiny, little make-pretend castles. It might not earn me the win but I always enjoy putting interesting layouts together and scoring big points with thematic and logical adjacencies. 
• For such a deep, Euro-style tile-laying game, there are only six pages of rules. At it's heart, the game play is extremely straightforward. I had everyone up and playing within a few short minutes.
• It's also a relatively quick game. Our game started casually around 7:30 pm and we were done by 9. After several plays I'm confident that you could probably get the play time down to about an hour or so. 
• The tiles are whimsical, colorful and made of reasonably-good cardboard stock. Thanks to the Contract, Room and Corridor Boards, every component has a home when it's not in play. Bonus points: that Master Builder token to toadly bad-ass. 

CONS

• Actually the rule book is a bit too short. Case in point: the manual lists every possible way you can get points whenever a new Room is placed, but some illustrated examples would have been super-helpful in locking all of this down. 
• The tiles are nice and all, but I kinda wish they'd gone with hand drawn art instead of the generic, PhotoShopped graphics that we ended up with. When you consider the game's steep price tag (my retail copy was $79.99), it should have been prettier then Cobie Smulders. Yes, we all know that's impossible, but it's good to have lofty goals. Just look at Ludwig's real-life architects. 
• I highly recommend that everyone reads the rules before sitting down to play your first game. Reason being: it's super-easy to miss sources for points so the more people who are familiar with the rules, the better chance you'll catch any oversights. I also suggest that go around the table and audit everyone's score from turn to turn. Not only will this cut down on errors, everyone will learn from these examples.  

***

I absolutely adore this game, to the point where I want to become King Ludwig wealthy and play it twenty-four, seven with a constant revolving conveyor belt of willing participants. Between the charming theme, the stunning level of strategic diversity and the quick, speedy game play, I really think this one is a great addition to anyone's game library.

I give Castles of Mad King Ludwig five pips outta six with a tilt waaaaay up towards those fairy-tale turrets! 

***

Have you ever wanted to build a house with a "Flute" Room, a "Train" Room, a "Meat Locker", a Dungeon, an "Oratory", a Last Tango In Paris Buttery, and rooms called the "Pink Cabinet" and "The Hole" all placed next to your super-secret sex Grotto? Then click on the following image to learn more about Castles of Mad King Ludwig and make sure this blog keeps bringin' the cray-cray.

Games Even A Mom Will Love - "Survive: Escape from Atlantis!"

Survive: Escape from Atlantis! was originally published by Parker Brothers way back in 1982.
Yes, this cut-throat, designer-made, Eurogame / Ameritreasure mash-up with  *gasp* movement points was actually brought to us by the same guys who gave us Clue, Payday, Monopoly, and Risk.

Man, I wish Survive! had garnered the sort of pop culture immortality that some of those other games received. Payday, I'm lookin' in your direction.

Unlike its iconic brethren, the original Survive! went out of print and languished in obscurity for many years it. Fondly remembered by wistful Gen X-ers, the game was quick to pop up on Board Game Geek reprint wish lists. Eventually it was picked up by Stronghold Games whoreleased a lovely new edition back in February of 2011. It was an instant smash, earning a well-deserved spot in the "super-conflict-y" section of many game collections. 

In Survive! players randomly create a beautiful island using different elevations of Beach, Forest and Mountain tiles and then populate it with Meeples of varying values. The island might look pretty but it has one slight flaw: it's breaking up and sinking into the ocean. Players must compete with their opponents over limited space on the rescue Ships to get their Meeples off the foundering land to any of the four corner islands.

As if this wasn't bad enough, the tiles start introducing dangerous Creatures onto the board. Whales smash occupied Boats, putting slow-moving Swimmers into the water. Sharks merrily feast on these tasty, water-logged flesh-bags. And, finally, Sea Serpents are complete assholes since they smash boats and eat people.

First all the Beach hexes disappear underneath the briny deep, followed by the Forest and finally the Mountains. Eventually one of the Mountain Tiles will reveal a Volcano underneath which nukes everything that remains on the board. Players then add up the value of all their rescued Meeples and whoever has the highest total wins the game.

Looking to find the full rules map to help get you offa this crazy rock? Then click on the following link to start plotting your best escape plan!  

***

Cheryl's mom Sheila came up to visit this past weekend which is always great 'cuz she loves playing games. Cheryl not so much, but since it's two against one, GAMEZ RULE!!!

Contrary to the belief that you should never play contentious games with loved ones, I floated the idea of playing Survive! and they seemed down with the plan. The only thing left was to randomize the island, pick our colors and distribute our l'il plastic minions.  

COLOR SELECTION

Cheryl...Blue

Me...Green

Sheila...Red

Cheryl jumped out to a quick lead when she managed to beach one of her rescue Ships and crawl its two occupants out to safety, all under the baleful eye of a completely sedentary Sea Serpent. I didn't know it at the time, but this scene would be oft-repeated during the course of the game.

Sheila quickly followed suit but when I tried to pull off the same maneuver I got ganked.

Cheryl continued to add to her momentum by using a "Winds Favor You" Tile plus three Action Points to get another two Meeples to safety! Curse her hide!

Sheila experienced her first casualty when a Shark was drawn to her sinking tile and promptly got its Om, Nom, Nom-on.

I experienced a brief moment of respite when I navigated a fully-loaded boat to shore and rescued three of my people. This seemed to draw the collective ire of my two rivals (as well as the dice gods) who set about making sure that this would never, ever happen again.

They started by siccing a pissed-off whale on another one of my fully-loaded boats.

All of which got flushed down the pooper when Sheila reveled a freakin' Whirlpool under the adjacent Tile. *le sigh*

On more then one occasion there was a beastie sitting right next to Cheryl or Sheila's peeps but I just couldn't follow up with a matching Creature Die roll.

Needless to say they didn't seem to have the same issue. Here they are gleefully curb-stomping yet another one of my manned boats with a Sea Serpent during the very next turn.

And just when I was about to enact some revenge by attacking one of Cheryl's fully-stocked Ships with a Whale, she dropped a perfectly-timed "I-Five-Finger-Death-Punch-'Free-Willy'-Right-In-His- Stoopid-Blow-Hole" Tile on the table. Curse her inhuman luck!  

Sheila and Cheryl kept using their hot dice to beat me like a red-headed step-child. On the following turn, one of my two remaining Meeples got gobbled up by yet another Sea Serpent. Where the hell were you guys on my watch?!?

At first, two of Cheryl's people on the high ground were unfazed when a Whirlpool appeared nearby.

   
In a desperate gambit for second place, I attacked one of Sheila's boats with a rabid Whale, dumping them in the drink. I tried to chum the waters for a Sea Serpent or Shark-A-Licious follow-up, but I just couldn't get the right die face to come up. As a result, she had plenty of time to move a rescue Ship out, pick them up, give them blankies, serve them some hot cocoa and bring them leisurely back to shore. She even managed to get one of these two arseholes to safety before the proverbial lava hit the fan.

Speaking of, I got a tiny blip of satisfaction when I "yoinked" the Mountain tile out from underneath two of Cheryl's remaining Meeples, revealing another Whirlpool in the process. I waved merrily as these two little blue turds circled the commode and then vanished into oblivion. Good riddance!

Unfortunately that would be my last gasp at vengeance. On the very next Tile draw, the Volcano was revealed killing our last remaining Meeples.

Needless to say I wasn't feeling too good going into our final score tally.

FINAL SCORES

Me...6 Points

Sheila...19 Points

Cheryl...23 Points

  

CHERYL WINS!!!

***

As someone who's consistently (and erroneously, i might add) perceived as some kind of "game guru", I often find myself going into games like this with a giant target on my chest. But I honestly don't think that's what happened here. Cheryl and Sheila both rolled exceptionally well with the Creature Die and did what they were supposed to do: kill rival Meeples. Unfortunately they all turned out to me my Meeples. I just wish that I'd had a modicum of their good fortune! 

***

REVIEW

PROS

• It's easy! Thanks to a simple turn order, clear iconography on the Tiles and a "cheat sheet" on the back of the rule-book, the game is simple to get into and quick to play.
• It's tense! You're gonna be on edge whenever one of your rescue boats tries to maneuver past a Whale or make a landing on a rescue island with a Sea Serpent lurking nearby. Nails will be bitten down to the quick whenever that Creature Die is cast!  
• It's pretty! The current edition in print right now is definitely the best one yet. The board and the Tile art is absolutely gorgeous. Previous editions had unnecessarily-confusing Tile graphics and the Meeple colors were problematic. This new version takes care of all of those niggling issues.
• It's variable! Random island generation, Meeple placement and Tile removal all create a reasonably-varied experience from game to game.
• It's naaaasty! There's something gloriously antisocial about using a Tile to pick up a Sea Serpent, drop it right next to an opponent's fully-loaded Boat and then plow right through it with a matching die roll. Er, so I'm told.      

CONS

• The game is incredibly cut-throat, so you definitely don't wanna play it with people you owe money to. If your gamer fiends are, shall we say, rather "passionate", then you might want to consider getting them to sign a waiver before they sit down to play. 
• As you can tell from this session report, if luck and your table-mates are all against you, then you're in for a pretty rocky ride. 

***

All told, Survive: Escape From Atlantis! is a fun, light game that makes for a pretty obvious choice when your friends want to play a very competitive game of strategy. Yes, luck and rivalries will certainly have an influence on who ultimately emerges victorious, but the game's beautiful trappings, darkly humorous catastrophes and blatantly-aggro strategies are sure to keep everyone entertained over its short n' not-so-sweet forty-five-minute play time.

As such, I give Survive: Escape From Atlantis! four pips outta six with a tilt up towards the top of a Mountain Tile!

 

***

Looking to do your best Booker-T impersonation as one of your lone Meeples waves and pilots a Ship away from the crowded shore? Then click on the image below to learn more about Survive! and help this blog...ahem...survive!      

RPG Review: "Death Frost Doom"

James Edward Raggi IV is an ex-pat American RPG fan, horror movie nut, and heavy metal enthusiast who just so happens to live in Finland. Why Finland? Well, for one, it's one of the METAL-est places on the planet. And secondly, Finland is apparently blessed with an inordinate amount of impossibly hot women. 

Sorry, I digress.

An accomplished indie game designer, James started his career by developing supplements for Old School role-playing games. In order to broaden his creative and financial prospects, Raggi decided to parley the freedoms offered by the d20 Open Gaming License to come up with his own system. Heavily steeped in the earliest incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons but with an eye on updated mechanics and thematic maturity, he developed a framework that would resonate with nostalgic grognards and intrigue curious newbies.

But he still needed a flagship adventure to kick the whole thing off in style, so, on July 22'nd 2009, Death Frost Doom lurched kicking and screaming into our unsuspecting world. Informed by such diverse-yet-unifying interests as horror movies, Lovecraftian oddities, and death metal, the dark, twisted, and psychologically-troubling quest resonated big time with fans. It delivered on a silent promise to make fantasy role-playing games discordant, perverse, frightening and edgy again. Adults weaned on the now all-too-familiar D&D tropes felt gloriously off-kilter again. 

The adventure resonated big time with gamers and pretty soon Raggi's upstart little company was selling tens of thousands of box sets, hard covers, books and PDF's. And then, at the height of it all, Death Frost Doom vanished. The lean and mean introduction to LotFP's own unique brand of "weird fantasy role-playing" had drifted out of print, leaving newer fans desperate for a comeback. Eventually demand for the module became so rabid that Raggi was forced to ponder a return to the well.

Originally Raggi had hoped that his first print of Death Frost Doom would attain a mythical "(Un)holy Grail" status. As a music nut he states in the introduction that "the idea of an out of print 'album' appealed to me. Death Frost Doom was that cult rarity that you only physically had if you were there at the time, that out-of-print first album of a band that had gone on to greater success". In the same breath he also wisely concedes that it's "ridiculous" to have one of his most popular titles locked away in the vault like some sort of Disney-scale asshole.

His compromise: turn the whole thing kit-and-caboodle over to RPG-impresario and celebrated Vornheim author Zak Smith. This strategy was inspired genius; collectors could lord their original edition over people as proof of their indie cred while a slick new incarnation would be coveted by newcomers and veterans alike. The final product, in Smith's own words, maintains the "horror-short-story tone and structure" while replacing as many "handed down bits as possible...with more creepy magic".

So, here then are my observations about Death Frost Doom 2.0:

• The maps are very clear and the iconography used to depict The Shrine is particularly helpful. Those mini monster portraits provide great at-a-glance reminders as to where every arch-fiend is located. 
• The production kicks off with two jet black title pages before the stark declaration of DEATH FROST DOOM pops up. Wow. So scare. Very mood. Much atmosfear.  
• I'm delighted that the main motivator that drives the adventures to THE SCARY-ASS CABIN ON THE HILL is good, old-fashioned filthy lucre. Smith and Raggi provide plenty of suggestions as to how you can incorporate Death Frost Doom into an existing campaign if you don't want to run it as a one-shot. 
• Throughout the entire adventure there's plenty of informal humor to help offset the unrelentingly grim subject matter. I'm particularly fond of: "if time's really short or your players hate your NPC's, start at the Graveyard".
• I really appreciate all the branching options available to the players in tackling their ascent on the mountain.
• Being a major huge sucker for random tables I was thoroughly amused by the whole "Where Is Zeke?" chart. Things like this really spice up the game for both players and game masters alike, especially if they've run it before. One minor quibble: the last time I checked "Crying" isn't a place. 
• Another nice touch: Smith and Raggi provide no less than four different incarnations for Zeke, who is essentially Death Frost Doom's answer to Crazy Ralph from Friday the 13'th. Each one has its own appeal but personally I'm a fan of the William Faulkner / Nick Cave option which should be served up with a mandatory shot of bourbon. Whatever option you pick there's plenty of conversational grist for your PC's to chew on.
• I really dig the eerie, slow-burn build up to The Peak, which even comes with a thoughtful accompanying musical suggestion. Hoary settings like the Graveyard and spooky trappings like the tree all help contribute to the foreboding mood. Once the adventurers get inside the Cabin, the wiggins get cranked up to "11" thanks to some Seven-style magical runes on the wall and a Necronomicon-style tome just lying around like a particularly-unholy copy of InStyle. 
• Between the ominous-looking trap door and the stag head mounted on the living room wall, Raggi should probably mail a couple of royalty bucks to Sam Raimi. 
• Speaking of, I'm almost 100% sure that Smith and Raggi deliberately left these early horror movie tropes lying around just to lull PC's into a false sense of security. As soon as they walk inside that Cabin most players will probably expect the same ol' "ooga-booga" they've seen a million times before. Little do they know that Death Frost Doom's secret goal is to annihilate every one of those expectations by shattering the collective minds, hearts and souls of all who are foolish enough to venture inside.
• Raggi and Smith hint at what's to come with some early "WTF?!?" moments like the painting in the Cabin's sitting room and the globes in the High Priest's quarters.
• Did I mention that I loves me some random percentage die charts? The one for "Lotus Powder" is particularly good and can actually be used in a bunch of different situations.
• Things quickly get hella-punishing in the Crypt. In case you haven't already figured this out, it's probably a good idea to have a ream of pre-made character sheets lying close by. 

• Several things in the adventure can only be triggered by a seemingly-random combination of player actions, some of which are so unrelated that they'll never be discovered. Two examples of this are the eyes and the marbles of the clock or the hands in the table chamber. Thankfully most of the puzzles have enough clues for observant and wily PC's to pick up on. For example, not only does the organ in the chapel call back to previous discoveries it also rewards players with a cheeky sense of humor.
• By the time your PC's are finished running rampant in the adventure like ADD-stricken toddlers who've been gobbling chocolate-covered coffee beans like Pez, the game master is gonna have a lot of side notes to contend with. Personally I love this but all of the conditional things triggered during the adventure are going to have a lingering effect on both your PC's and your campaign. As such, Death Frost Doom wouldn't be my first suggestion for neophyte game masters to run but veteran campaigners are gonna have a blast with this consistently-surprising living nightmare. 
• I really dig the skull-themed timing mechanism. Not only is it creepy enough to unnerve the most jaded dungeon crawler it also forces game masters to brush up on their time-keeping rules. Minor demerit: it forces game masters to brush up on their time-keeping rules, which, IMHO also makes Death Frost Doom a less-than-idyllic pick for inexperienced Dee-Ehms.  
• In a refreshing bit of design candor The Crypt comes complete with not one but two indoor terlets!
• Raggi and Smith provide some great rules for raiding a library. The books themselves are gruesomely sadistic and hideously creative.
• Puzzles and traps like the The Eye of Many Eyes and the various Fountains exhibit an unrestrained level of imaginative cruelty.
• Raggi and Smith pull no punches when it comes to the subject matter, tapping into some supremely disturbing shit including, but not limited to, a museum of dead children and the charming female inquisitor Eizethrat Nexx.
• What I like most about the adventure is that it's not all about incessant combat. There aren't a ton of monsters but the ones you do encounter are baffling, memorable and psychologically troubling. Plus each one seems to have their own unique powers and motivations which is pretty impressive. And even though I'm not particularly fond of monsters that steal experience points, it actually feels kinda apropos here. Besides, you can always tweak this if you find it a bit too punishing.
• In terms of nuts-n'-bolts writing, Death Frost Doom contains some fantastically-vivid passages. I challenge anyone to find a description like cool in any other RPG product: "the streaks of discolored liquid will be seen sliding along the walls and ceiling and seeping into the stone like rain against a car window in high wind." Anachronistic, maybe. Evocative, absolutely.
• The central secret at the heart of the adventure is gleefully subversive. Once again Raggi and Smith give us no less than four different ways game masters can manifest this.
• The kooky effects produced by translating the various manuscripts found lying around the Crypt are darkly amusing and patently evil.
• Under the "Why-Hasn't-Someone-Thought-Of-This-Already" category, the "Internet image search" suggestion for some of the monsters is another great idea. After all, what self-respecting DM hasn't Googled up an image for the express purpose of scaring the fertilizer out of your players?

• It was a nice touch for Raggi to include Laura Jalo's original oddball artwork. Having said that the cosmetic face-lift is greatly appreciate since the new interior art by Jez Gordon and cover art by Yannick Bouchard are all top-notch.

***

As a Tomb of Horrors for the modern age, Death Frost Doom is a fantastic addition to any game master's pantheon of fantasy RPG torture devices. And while the mental agility required to contend with all of the time-keeping and persistent, world-altering actions makes it an intimidating choice for tenderfoot game masters, old grognards like me will find a lot to like here. If you've been gleefully murdering player characters for decades, Death Frost Doom is the perfect nightmare fuel with which to torture your players. My advice: pick up a copy and run it as a one-shot around Halloween!

For being well-written, innovative, consistently smart, darkly humorous, well-organized, heartlessly vicious and impossibly imaginative, Death Frost Doom scores six pips outta six.

***

Looking to turn your friends into drooling, mentally enfeebled shadows of Tom Hanks in Mazes & Monsters? Then click on the following image to learn more about Death Frost Doom and help this blog become a Great Old One.

I Am Ninja...You Can't See Me - "Specter Ops: Shadow of Babel"

I immediately bought Fury of Dracula when it was re-published back in 2005 for two reasons:

1.  I like horror-themed games.
2.  I like hidden movement games. 

Unfortunately even Fantasy Flight's version, reprinted from the highly-thematic but rather-dated Games Workshop 1987 original, is still pretty fiddly.

So color me delighted when designer Emerson Matsuuchi recently delivered a modernized take on hidden movement games in the form of Specter Ops: Shadow of Babel.

Here's the mission briefing directly from Plaid Hat Games:

Stealth, the search, the fight, and the thrill of the hunt. Specter Ops: Shadow of Babel puts you and 1-4 friends in the middle of a war for society that's fought in the shadows.
Specter Ops Board and Setup

On one side, a lone A.R.K. agent infiltrates a Raxxon facility, seeking to retrieve three mission targets and escape alive. Equipped with unique skills and tools, the agent moves in secret.

On the other side, two or more genetically enhanced Raxxon hunters, alerted to the intruder's presence, take no prisoners as they attempt to eliminate the A.R.K. agent before a successful escape. Super-human mutations and keen coordination aid them in their duty to destroy Raxxon's enemies.

Each turn, the A.R.K. agent marks their moves secretly, indicating their board location only if they pass through a hunter's line of sight. If the A.R.K. player can collect three out of four mission objectives and escape without losing all their life points, they win. Four agents to choose from as well as 12 equipment cards means a variety of strategies and experiences are possible.

The Raxxon hunters move every turn as well, and drive a vehicle that rushes across the board and detects the motion of the A.R.K. agent. Every time a hunter gets the A.R.K. agent in their line of sight, they have a chance to do damage to the agent. Four hunters, all with different powers, complement the four agents, and all eight characters are represented by high quality miniatures.Specter Ops: Shadow of Babel features a streamlined ruleset great for veteran and rookie gamers alike. Several game modes accommodate 2-5 players who must utilize strategy, deduction, and stealth to win. Plot your moves in secret or hunt down the intruder. Specter Ops is an exciting stealth game that belongs in every gamer's collection.

Looking for all the intel on this one? Then click on the following link to download the full rules!

***

Way back on June 10'th I experienced a harmonic convergence of sorts: I.E. I wasn't working and it was actually my turn to pick a game. So naturally I went with this, the latest HAWTNESS and it certainly didn't take a lot of arm twisting to rope Andrew, Dean, John, and Mike into a game.

John did his usual awesome job teaching the game to us but he was hesitant to play the Agent again since he'd been stuck with that particular role during his last three outings. We did a random draw for this hot-potato and the responsibility fell on Mike, who seemed less-than-enthused with the prospects.

We then drew our random Hunter roles and here's what we ended up with:

ANDREW - THE GUN

ME...THE BEAST

DEAN...THE PUPPET

JOHN...THE PROPHET

Side note: in a five-player game of Specter Ops one Hunter will always be designated as a secret sympathizer. In order to set this up, the Agent player passes a Secret Role Card out to each Hunter, with one clearly marked with the red-themed "Agent" graphic. Whoever gets this card has to try and help the Agent complete their mission and escape.

Naturally, the other Hunters have no idea who this traitor is at the beginning of the game.

So, after Mike surreptitiously passed the Secret Role Cards out to us we were on out way! 

***

As The Puppet, Dean drove drove our Vehicle close to Mike's entry point (!), which is always N1 on the map. We immediate hopped out and tried to hone in on his position.

For some oddly-inexplicable reason, John decided to climb right back into the Vehicle on his very next turn. Hmmmmmm. Dean then used his Remote Sensor ability to trigger the Vehicle's Motion Tracker, but he didn't pick up anything. Next up I used my Quadrupedal Movement to bound five spaces into the vanguard, looking to sniff out some enemy movement next turn. Finally Andrew moved up one space and took point at a crossroads in an effort to maximize his Quick Draw ability.

When Dean set off another fruitless Motion Tracker sensor ping some of us began to wonder why he took this useless action a second time. Using my Enhanced Senses I took a goof whiff of the surrounding air and discovered that there was nothing within my vicinity. John triggered his Post-Cognition ability and discovered that Mike had been at R1 two turns ago. Andrew remained in overwatch, waiting for something to cross his path.

John decided to pop out of the Vehicle again. Um, ooookay. Thinking that I was too far away from Mike I moved up another five spaces and prepared to survey the air again.

In what appeared to be a random gamble, John charged down a nearby corridor, hoping to spot something but to no avail. With the Vehicle still parked on N14, Dean triggered the Motion Sensor once again, revealing that Mike was somewhere in the north-east quadrant of the board!  I rushed over to Q5 and, to my surprise, spotted The Spider just chillin' out at Q9!

When Mike tried to rabbit Andrew snapped off a Quick Draw shot, but the -2 range penalty resulted in a miss. During Andrew's main turn he tried to cut off Mike's anticipated escape route by hustling over to a better vantage point. I tried to guess Mike's position and pounce on him but I was completely off. In an attempt to guess Mike's path, Dean moved south and spotted Le Araignée trying to make a break for it at L11. He fired off a quick shot, nailing him for a point of damage! At this stage, Mike was starting to feel like a rat at a terrier convention. 

  
In a desperate bid get away, Mike dropped a Smoke Grenade on L8, leaving a Last Seen Token behind at L10. Unfortunately the gambit didn't work. I tore after him, ending up in J9 where I delivered a point of damage to the Agent! Dean tried to converge on this position for a shot but whiffed on a roll of "1". Andrew moved up one space to try and leverage his Sniper Shot. John shifted his position one space south to keep Mike from sneaking out along the main avenue.

In an attempt to polish Mike off, Dean booked over to L12 but couldn't see him. Meanwhile, John casually drifted over to K15, making it fairly clear who the Agent sympathizer was! I took a gamble and raced over to M10 but the slippery bastard wasn't there. Since I'd only moved three spaces I decided to prospect the air for clues using with my Enhanced Senses and discovered that he was "close"! Hunkered down in his little hidey-hole, Andrew waited patiently for Mike to rear his arachnid head. Sure enough, he tried to make a dash for it at N13, giving Andrew a chance to activate his Quick Draw for another hit!

Andrew rushed over to where Mike was last seen at O13 and got off another shot. Unfortunately he rolled a "4", which was a miss. After trying to estimate how far Mike could have dared to move I ran directly to R14. Sure enough, the poor bastard was standing in that very same spot! In doing so my Brutal Strength caused two damage to him, which was the equivalent of making a wish and ripping ol' web-head limb from pneumatic limb!

HUNTERS WIN!

And John was revealed as the dirty, filthy traitor!

***

The game only took about an hour or so to play and was over by Round Nine. I'm really kicking myself for not playing a second match; instead we chose to play another game that I didn't like as much and we didn't end up finishing. If I had my time back I definitely would have had a second bash at Specter Ops instead, perhaps with another random person acting as the Agent.

And that's not to say that Mike didn't do a good job. In fact, I know that I probably wouldn't have done much better. Sure, there were a couple of early tells and maybe he didn't exploit his connection to John all that well, but the Agent's job is definitely the harder one. Clearly the person who has the most experience in the game should take on this role.

And hey, let's face it, we were a pretty tenacious bunch who, by some minor miracle, actually worked really well together.

***

REVIEW

PROS

• Just look at that gorgeous board with its embossed co-ordinates, twisty corridors and colorful quadrants! Movement Sheets, figures, cards, tokens...it's all beautifully realized.
• Simplicity. Unlike the bloated and fiddly Fury of Dracula, this one is simple, elegant and easy to jump into. There's only eight pages of rules and that includes thematic lore, set-up, four and five player tweaks and - "Yay!" - an index. Line of Sight and Ranged fire rules have the potential to be very complicated, but in Specter Ops these elements are incredibly intuitive and thematic. Super-seriously, this sucka is as lean and mean as The Beast!   
• There's plenty of variety. The Hunters and Agents all play quite different from one another thanks to multiple special abilities. Add in Agent Equipment, the Hunter Vehicle, the Motion Sensor and variable Mission Objective points and you've got a pretty decent amount of re-playability. Plus, with just with one play you quickly realize just how infinitely expandable the concept is.  
• Genuine tension. The cat-and-mouse game play is really friggin' fun. Even though Mike didn't get as far as he wanted to, it was still a very tense and frantic experience. I can only imagine what it must be like when the Agent keeps slipping ninja-style out of those Hunter dragnets and then starts flipping over one Mission Objective Tokens after another. Plus, as a Hunter, it's viscerally thrilling to spot your prey and then swarm over them like a pack of rabid hyenas. 
• Set-up time is ridiculously quick.

 CONS

• Clearly the game's sweet spot is with two or three players. I think four players would be okay but the five-player Traitor mechanic feels like an afterthought that was just boiler-plated onto the rules. It makes the game feel clunkier than it ought to be. 

***

Hey, look, if you dig games like Scotland Yard, Specter Ops is a must-buy. What designer Emerson Matsuuchi understands more than his predecessors is that hidden movement is complicated enough without adding a bunch of unrelated rules and concepts. Not only is the secret progress mechanic as intuitive and fool-proof as possible, he also managed to resist the urge to tack on a bunch of "chrome", I.E. irrelevant mush.

Specter Ops is the high-water mark for hidden movement games and it easily earns five pips outta six with a tilt up towards the Raxxon Global headquarters building.  

***

Wanna hunt your buddy down like a dog in the street? Then click on the following pic to learn more about Specter Ops: Shadow of Babel and help keep this blog free of corporate influence!