Where Everybody Knows Your Name (The Red Dragon Inn)

Oh, lad, it's good to see you.  Step inside and join the party, all your friends are here.  The drinking is just getting started, and the night promises to be full of surprises, and humour, at least to me and the barmaid.  Who knows what might happen in the Red Dragon Inn?



GAME DESCRIPTION:  The Red Dragon Inn is a card game for 2 to 4 players (with additional players depending on expansions) published by SlugFest Games.

SET-UP:  Each player takes a board, and 1 red and 1 clear token.  Place the Red token on the 20, which represents your Fortitude, or health.  The clear is placed on the 0, and represents your Alcohol level.  Each player takes a character deck, and places it in the deck area, and draws 7 cards.  Shuffle the Drink deck and place it in the middle, and give each player 10 gold coins.

TURNS:  Each player follows the turn order on the board.  First, the player may discard any cards from their hand, and draw back up to 7.  Then, the player may play 1 action during the Action phase.  The player then goes to the Order Drinks, and gives any other player a Drink card from the deck face-down without looking at it into their Drink Me! pile.  Finally, the player Drinks the top card from their Drink Me! pile.

TYPES:  There are several types of cards in this game, all located at the top.  The first is Action, and only one can be played by the current player on their turn per turn.  Anytime cards can be played...well, anytime, and Sometimes cards can only be played in response to an appropriate effect. 



GAMBLING:  "Gambling? I'm In" cards are also a standard action.  Gambling is a mini-game where each player tosses in a coin into the "pot" for the ante, and the current player is in control.  The next player may play any Gambling or Cheat card in their hand, and control passes to them.  If a player cannot or chooses not to play a card, they "pass".  If a round goes where all players pass and it goes back to the player who was in control, they win the pot.

DRINKS:  There are several types of drinks.  Most either raise the players Alcohol level, or lower their Fortitude.  Some are events, where players are forced to follow an effect on the card, and the cards involved are usually drawn from Drink deck.  Chasers, or drinks with a plus next to the number, force the player to draw the next drink from their Drink Me! pile, or ignore if there are none.  If, however, there are no drinks during the Drink phase, the player starts to sober up and loses 1 Alcohol level.



KICKED OUT:  If a player has run out of gold either at the end of a gambling session, or during normal play, they are eliminated, and kicked out of the Inn.  If a players Fortitude and Alcohol level ever match or pass, they become too drunk and are kicked out.  Half that player's gold is distributed among the rest of the players, and the other half, and any remainder, is given to the inn.  The last remaining player wins.  If there are none, everyone loses.

CONCLUSION:  Red Dragon Inn is a competitive, back stabbing, revenge seeking kind of game.  It's a great laugh with a solid theme.  The first set might not seem like much, as the cards don't differ much between characters, but the later editions add much more chaos to the game.  This is an Expandalone, or a game that can stand on its own, or be added into other versions of itself, like Munchkin.  This is the kind of game that can be easily frustrating if you allow it, or a lot of fun if you can get past that initial barrier.  The fun comes from the vindictive nature of the game, and plotting who should get out first.  Just make sure when you start, you don't make enemies too quickly.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:  The one thing that I will not do, but has been mentioned, is a real drinking game.  A couple of my friends are going to attempt it, and it seems like there's some real thought being put into the game.  If this strikes your fancy, go ahead, it appears to be just the thing to make the game just that more crazy.  Remember: Drink Responsibly, don't drink and drive, and be safe.

All Magic Comes With a Price (Once Upon a Time)

Once upon a time, 6 young adults played a card game.  But it was not just any card game, this was a game filled with danger, horror, and a girl who had no idea what she was doing.  In a land where anything could happen, a story was crafted.  True, no one would remember the story months later, and no one would want to hear it again, but it was a story they enjoyed making.  And all that came from 4 classic words:  Once Upon a Time.



GAME DESCRIPTION:  Once Upon a Time is a storytelling card game published by Atlas Games for 2-6 players.  Players craft a story over a period of time using cards, attempting to "de-rail" the story in their favor.

SET-UP: Each player is dealt a hand of cards, the number depending on the number of players, and 1 Happy Ever After card.  All players determine who starts.

STORY:  Each player has a set of story-telling cards.  The first player starts telling a story.  Anytime something important to the story is said, the player may lay down that kind of card.  If, however, it's just a minor detail mentioned in a list, or a throwaway line, the player cannot play a matching card.  If a player wishes to no longer keep the story going, they may pass.  They then draw a card, and may discard one, and the story passes to the left.



INTERRUPT:  A player may interrupt and take control of the story in 2 ways.  If a player mentions something, and another player has a card that matches, they may play it immediately.  The second way is that some cards have Interrupt on them, which allow them to play them to interrupt a matching types of card (Place, Character, Item, Event, Aspect).  In both cases, the previous story-teller must draw a card, and the other player continues the story with that card.  Players may also lose the story to the player to the left if the player starts rambling or pauses too long.

WINNING:  Once a player has played all their cards, they may not add any new elements to the story, and they may close the story by revealing and reading their Happily Ever After to win.  If all players agree it does not match the story, that player must draw a new Happily Ever After card, and a new Story card, and the story passes to the left.



CONCLUSION:  Once Upon a Time is a pretty fun improvisational-style game.  This is a game that most people can play, and is a stronger game then something like Aye, Dark Overlord, being open enough for players to allow their creative juices flow, but structured enough to avoid giving players choice fatigue.  A pretty solid game for all ages, and enough for most to get a good experience out of it.

It's the Sex Bob-ombs! (Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Card Game)

Welcome to the final week of VG Month, a look into Video Games as Tabletop games.  This week, we close off by traveling to the rich, drama filled world of Scott Pilgrim.  But with a successful comic, a well received movie, and a solid actual video game, is there a place in the Pilgrim verse for a physical game?  This is Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Card Game. 



GAME DESCRIPTION:  Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Card Game is a deckbuilder published by Renegade Game Studios for 1-4 players.  Players take on the role of Scott and his friends to defeat the Evil Exes.

SET-UP:  Scott Pilgrim is odd in that all the cards are double sided, and players are able to look at both sides of the card in their hand.  In order to set up, each player places their character card and all cards with the characters face in the top right in front of them, shuffling and keeping it face-down to prevent peeking.  Shuffle the remaining cards and place them in two separate piles.  Take 1 Evil Ex and place it between the two decks, applying any effects to all cards.

PLOTLINE:  Now, place the top card from both decks and place them in a column, making 2 rows called the Plotline.  The first player then adds 1 card from the top of either deck to the right of any card, and may also Eliminate, or remove from the game completely, 1 card from the top of the deck.  The next player then does the same, until there are 2 rows of cards equal to the number of players.  Players may not look at the opposite side of any card in the Plotline.  The first player draws 4 cards to begin, while other players draw 5.



ACQUISITION:  Before the first phase, the current player may Eliminate the top of either or both Plotline decks.  Then, the player may play any cards from their hand.  Each blue Story card generates 1 of 3 resources, indicated the top left of all blue Story cards, on the opposite side of Combat.  Cards with the 3 arrows generate any type of resources.  Any card that generates multiple resources can only be used for 1 resource.  These resources are used to buy cards in the Plotline, with their buying price in the top right.  Any card except Challenges can be bought, with Power Up! cards going in front, and any other being discarded.  Once the player chooses not to buy anymore, they discard their hand and may either continue to the fight phase, or skip it and draw 6 cards.

FIGHT:  Players choosing to fight first declare which Challenge card they are fighting and draw 5 cards, using the Combat side.  If the card has a VS Draw, the player to the right draws the number indicated, and places them next to the Challenge, with any Drama cards drawn giving the challenge the indicated bonus.  The player may then exchange any 1 card from their hand with any drawn card. 

COMBO:  On the back of each card is a list of "Combo's", which is given when you play a particular set of cards in a certain order, with the "Button" hit indicated on the top left.  These will give you a specific amount of points against the Challenge when played in the right order.  Then, when a Combo is shown, players may play another Combo below it.  If no Combo's can be played, the player "Button Mashes" by just playing cards, each one with 1 point against the Challenge.  Any cards requiring a specific card must be played before the required card, not after.  If a player Succeeds in matching or beating the number, or Fails by not matching the number, the player follows the effect on the card.



DRAMA:  Each deck starts with a set amount of Drama.  Drama is used only in VS Draw and cards that require Matching Drama, which is when you play that card, you play a Drama with it.

WINNING:  Players win by gathering Victory Points, indicated by the Black Star of certain cards. the player who gathers the Victory Points indicated on the Evil Ex card in the small star wins, or if another victory condition is indicated by an Evil Ex.

CONCLUSION:  Scott Pilgrim's Card Game is a deck builder, complete with deck construction and thinning, Victory Points for winning, battles, and manipulating luck and RNG for your benefit.  If you'd like my opinion on most deckbuilders, go check out my review on DC Deckbuilder.  As for this one, does it stack up against most deck builders, and does it differentiate itself enough?  There are definitely some interesting ideas, such as the combo's, the elimination phase, and the double-sided cards.  The elimination and double-sided provide speed to a genre that, frankly, could use it.  In addition, the ability to solo or play co-operative, while not original to this game, is still a nice variance to this game.  I will say it's kind of a slog to only have 1 boss per game, and getting unlucky still happens in games like these.  But I think it's a simple game with the right theme, and plays pretty smooth, a nice way to round out Video Game Month.