Daniel Kearns
United States
Bloomington
Indiana
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I'm familiar with the base set of Runebound. I have read the rules to Zanaga but have not played it.
I want to like Runebound but it is hanging by a thread and I do not want to risk another bad experience.
I think you add ritual tokens whenever:
1) A challenge on an adventure token is drawn.
2) A wandering monster is added.
and you add tokens to the ritual track whenever:
1) A challenge card is defeated.
2) The wandering monster track has 6 cards already and the left most card is replaced when a new one is added.
Thus, ritual tokens are added on almost every players turn. The only time they don't seem to be added is when a character ends a turn in town.
If this is correct, I suspect there will be a scaling problem.
With one player, the primal god awakes after 6-10 turns depending on the ritual cards. This seems reasonable and I can imagine that it works quite well.
With two players, the primal god awakes in half that time.
With three players, the primal god awakes in a third that time and so on...
And since all players are independent, adding players doesn't make the game any easier. Rather, it seems to get incrementally difficult with each extra player for no good reason.
We use the accelerated leveling rules (1+lvl) but if you used the level rules as written, I don't think anyone would even make second level before the primal god awakens.
Am I reading this correctly? It seems so out of whack that I presume I have the whole ritual mechanic wrong.
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Ed Browne
United States
Terre Haute
Indiana
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I don't think it is happening quite as quickly as you are estimating.
You draw a ritual token every time you draw an encounter. If you escape from an encounter, then it becomes a roaming monster. The roaming monster track won't move unless one is added.
So, basically, the most tokens you might have to place in a turn is one each. Then three rituals have to be finished to wake up the Primal God. Each of those rituals is going to have an average of three tokens needed to set them off. So only if you were very unlucky, or determined, you might get a PG up in 9 moves. It's usually longer as players aren't really wanting him to wake up.
But this still acts as a timer to move the characters along so the game doesn't take as long. There are many features designed into this expansion to speed up the game as well as to give players options. For a more indepth look at these, see my review:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7068396#7068396
This is, by far, my favorite Runebound expansion. It has some elements that might speed up and enhance your basic game experience as well.
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Daniel Kearns
United States
Bloomington
Indiana
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Thanks for the reply.
So the only time you add a wandering monster is when you run from an encounter?
I thought you must add a wandering monster at the end of your turn whenever if didn't resolve an challenge at an adventure counter.
p. 8 Example of a roaming monster check. ... Since Maliki did not attempt an adventure counter..., he must now make a roaming monster check"
Further, I looked through the green level rituals and out of twelve cards, there are 27 token slots, so the average number of tokens per ritual is actually closer to 2 than 3.
Finally, I'm still not clear on how the rituals scale with more players. Am I right that the clock ticks faster with each player added beyond one?
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Ed Browne
United States
Terre Haute
Indiana
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dkearns wrote: Thanks for the reply.
So the only time you add a wandering monster is when you run from an encounter?
I thought you must add a wandering monster at the end of your turn whenever if didn't resolve an challenge at an adventure counter.
p. 8 Example of a roaming monster check. ... Since Maliki did not attempt an adventure counter..., he must now make a roaming monster check"
Further, I looked through the green level rituals and out of twelve cards, there are 27 token slots, so the average number of tokens per ritual is actually closer to 2 than 3.
Finally, I'm still not clear on how the rituals scale with more players. Am I right that the clock ticks faster with each player added beyond one?
A roaming monster check means checking the roaming monsters out already and only drawing one if you are in a terrain that isn't present already. But either way, you will only fight one encounter (roaming or jewel) per turn to get a ritual token. Unless, of course, there is a ritual out that makes you draw two... 
The literal answer to your question is that I guess you could say the "clock ticks faster" in that the Primal God will wake up in less turns per player the more players you have. I usually don't find this an issue with 2 players and don't usually play any version of Runebound with more than 2 players. There are also lots of things added to the expansion that allow you to move and level quicker. The market stack also cycles faster so you can gain access to better items/allies more quickly.
You have to play to the pace of your real enemy, the Primal God, rather than they other players. Even though there is only one "winner" we usually are playing it sorta co-operatively as we want the Primal God to be beaten and feel it's a victory even if the other player wins.
This expansion doesn't support "turtling." Which means it'll be over in an hour or two less time than the original. That's a plus in my book. If you move along quickly, you'll be able to keep up in most instances.
From being able to use rest dice after you roll terrain dice, to using tokens to auto-escape from impossible encounters, to getting to choose your "boss monster," to knowing the boss's strengths and weaknesses, to getting to pick items and allies from huge stacks of market cards, the game is built to be quicker. And the roaming monsters often let you "cherry pick" encounters that will be easier or more beneficial to you.
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Posted Sat Jul 9, 2011 9:04 pm
