Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
I cheat at Tales of the Arabian Nights. I do. I admit it. Oh, please don't misunderstand. I don't cheat for my own benefit. No, I cheat whenever I hear a story that I like.
Here's an example: my wife starts off the game in a far-off city because an angry djinn had transported her there. Her character, Scheherazade, then enters a small town and is struck by lightning (yet also finds a magical lightning-scimitar in a cave on the very same encounter. Cool coincidence!). Her flesh is burned and she gains the Wounded status while also losing her Seduction ability.
Within a few turns, she has another enounter with a mysterious man who helps her while she is wandering through the desert. The encounter paragraph says little more than "the man falls in love with you" and she has the choice to accept his love and get Married. But instead of leaving it at that, she embellishes the story.
"As I lie in the desert, thirsting for water," she says, "a handsome man comes and gives me a drink and takes me back to his humble home in the city. He dresses my sunburns, and I am beginning to look beautiful again, and he falls in love with me. After just a few days, he confesses his love and begs me to marry him".
I stop her. Technically, her encounter had ended and it was going to be my turn, but I thought I'd add something to her story.
"Y'know, if this handsome man cleaned you up," I interject, "you should probably remove your Wounded status. I mean, he wouldn't just let his beloved continue on in her journeys in such a way, would he?".
My wife smirked and erased her Wounded status.
"Do I get my Seduction skill back?" she asks.
"The fact that you could make a man fall in love with you after your flesh was burned by a lightning bolt proves that you've got what it takes to seduce".
She grins and checks the little box for the Seduction ability on her player mat.
See? I cheat at Tales of the Arabian Nights.
courtesy UniversalHead
What?!? We just blew 3 hours?
Another insightful reviewer remarked that Tales is a game no one wants to win, because everyone wants to keep exploring and questing and reading the stories. This is spot-on. You can play this game for several hours and you'll not want to stop. When my wife and I play, we'll often increase the point goal just to keep playing. "Let's play to 20" we say at the beginning. "Is it okay if we play to 25?" my wife asks midway through the game. "How about we play to 30?" I say toward the end.
When I originally reviewed this game back in January, 2010, I labeled Tales as "D&D Lite". I take that back. Today, I'm going to label Tales as "Dixit, Gamer's Edition". This is a game for storytellers. Yes, there is a game here. It's random, true, and you can't min/max every aspect (personally, I consider that a good thing), but this is more than a storybook. It's a game and a story wrapped into one 8-pound box of thematic deliciousness. And I love it.
Based on the various complaints about this game being too long and too fiddly when you play with more than four, I should have never, ever enjoyed this game: the very first time I played, we played with six. Freakin' SIX. And it took us over four hours. The fact that I and my group still love this game is a testament to how good it truly is.
The gameplay itself is straightforward: your current Wealth level determines how far you can move on land and on water. You move along interconnected cities and wilderness locations in pursuit of your goals. Then, you draw an Encounter card, the "reader" looks up the number, asks how you'll react to the encounter, and a paragraph is read from the hefty Book of Tales. Your turn is done. Next player, please take your turn.
Mechanically, the game is too simplistic, fiddly, way too random, and many of the encounters in the Book of Tales feel disjointed and short. I totally understand why this game falls flat with some groups. But, like any good "storyteller" in Dixit or any good dungeon master in a pen-and-paper RPG, you need to realize that the game is more than just cards, points, and flavor text. You need to embellish. Certainly, a group can play Dixit in the most boring way possible with each person declaring matter-of-factly "This card has a man and a flute on it". Certainly, a DM can suck the fun out of an RPG adventure by simply calling out commands and stats in a monotone voice "you see a goblin with an AC of 3. Roll to hit." Certainly, this can ruin the experience for these sort of games. Yet, when someone decides to go beyond the written text and embellish the story, that's when things come alive. That's when people laugh, groan, and cheer. That's when 3 hours roll by and people are willing to stay out past 1 am on a work night just because they're having so much fun.
Some complaints center around the randomness of the stories, how the various paragraphs don't often connect and - worse yet - often time they'll contradict what's happening on the board (like a sea captain attacking your ship and taking you prisoner when you're in the middle of a city). I say to these people: you're not doing it right. Get creative. Go beyond the simple text in the Book of Tales. Make references to previous happenings. Make the game eventful and colorful and wild. Cheat a little, if only for the sake of making the storyline more interesting. If the paragraph doesn't make much sense, change it a bit. If the encounter doesn't seem to match your location, then use your imagination and make it work. You're the storyteller. You need to tell the story.
courtesy UniversalHead
Cheat a little?
Some might have read the above paragraph and instantly been turned off to the game. I'm sorry. I realize that I could have put it differently, especially by the "cheat a little" part, but after about 3 seconds of deliberation, I decided to keep my sentence that way. If you're looking to "win" Tales of the Arabian Nights, if you hope to max out your character, create a perfect build, overcome every encounter, and make a winning strategy, then this game is absolutely NOT for you. Close the review. Click elsewhere. Go play Caylus. No hard feelings, okay?
When people complain that there's barely a "game" here, I agree wholeheartedly. Look, folks, I'm not going to sit here and preach at you and tell you that Tales is some sort of strategic masterpiece. I'm not going to try to convince you that you'll play this game every night for the rest of your life. I'm not going to downplay the rampant and obvious randomness in this game. Yes, the randomness is probably as bad as you've heard. I admit it.
But, if you're willing to accept the above "flaws" and roll with it, then you might just fall in love with this game like I have. If I had to tack down the two things I truly enjoy about Tales, those two things would be the storytelling and the replayability.
I've already mentioned the storytelling, but let's go over it again. Every turn, the current player will encounter something, whether it's a Vengeful Princess or a Disguised Hunchback. Then, after deciding how you want to interact with this denizen of the desert, the "reader" looks up a paragraph in the Book of Tales and reads it to you, hopefully with a lot of emphasis and embellishment. There are over 2000 individual encounters in the Book of Tales. The odds of getting the same paragraph in the same game are very low, but even if you just so happen to get the exact same paragraph, in my opinion that's where the storyteller comes in, because if they're doing their job, it won't feel like the exact same paragraph, because the storyteller should take your situation into account. On top of that, it really helps if each player narrates their turn and describes what their character is trying to do or what they're thinking. It adds vibrancy to the experience, not only for the current player, but also for everyone else who is listening.
If you want each and every paragraph to mesh perfectly and craft a masterful story each and every session, then I'm sorry, but neither Tales nor any boardgame I can think of will do that. However, if you treat the Book of Tales as a template for your creativity, then the game will shine.
What about the replayability? Well, I've already addressed the common-but-misplaced question "what happens if you get the same encounter?", but this game isn't just about the enounters. There are quest cards, too. Now, in this aspect, you might repeat a quest again after several games (I think there are a total of only 20 quest cards), but remember, this game is about the experience, not just the naked mechanics. There are also 30 treasure cards, each with an exotic power, and treasures tend to be fairly rare in this game, so it's always a thrill to gain a treasure and try it out. Also, in the Encounter deck there are a lot of "city cards" that depict a particular city on the board and a d6 chart. Go to that city, spend the card, and roll against the chart to see what happens. These cards are like mini-quests, and I think that the presence of these city cards helps mitigate the fact that the Quest deck isn't very sizable. Of course, it helps to narrate why you're visiting that city and perhaps invent your own little "flavor text" to describe what's going on.
The treasures and quests add even more opportunities to bring your story alive. One time, when I was exploring the Cave of Wonders, I drew a treasure card and it just so happened to be the Magic Lamp. Of course, I made sure to give a vivid tale of how I found it, and it was yet another neat little coincidence. I won't lie. These obvious coincidences are uncommon, but it's fun when they do happen.
courtesy UniversalHead
Complaints, Criticisms, and my Verdict
By now, it should be obvious that I really love Tales. Still, I have one major complaint: the fiddly bits. If you plan on playing this game, do yourself a favor, jump to the file section, and download UniversalHead's player sheets (iirc, he also worked for Z-MAN on this game). Laminate them, and use an erasable marker to track your statuses and skills. You'll thank me later. Out of the box, you have to wrestle with a lot of small chits and chips, and there's a huge (110+ cards) deck of cards devoted only to statuses. The game can certainly be played with all the cards and the tokens, but it's just a bit messier than I would have liked.
Some people complain about the victory conditions, so let's address that. Before the game, you pick an arbitrary number of Destiny and Story points that total up to 15, 20, 30, or whatever number everyone agrees upon. Once you attain this number, you run back to Baghdad and declare, "Nyah nyah! I WIN!" and the game is over. It can feel a bit anticlimactic in a game that focuses so heavily on story, so I always encourage players to give a fun epilogue for their character to wrap up their story. Additionally, there is a "Sultan" variant by BGG user John Ray Jr (find it in the file section of the original version, not the Z-MAN update) that changes the game-end condition. Or, you can use the Merchant variant (an official expansion for the original version that has been re-worked for the Z-MAN edition), which allows players to trade goods across the map while they encounter fiends and damsels in distress. Or, the game can be played almost like a pure roleplaying experience where the players will literally stand up and act out their story with the other players. Or, you could add the "player interaction" variant that lets players use their skills against one another. These things are all optional, but they add even more flavor to a game that already has the flavor and richness of a 2-pound kobe steak.
courtesy Haggis
I love Tales. I won't play it every night. I probably won't play it every week, even. But that's because I like to savor the experience. I don't play this as a boardgame. I play this for different reasons, for the story and for the thrill of being a storyteller in a grand adventure. Even as a 2p game between my wife and me, it's a fantastic game. I like to light some candles, put in a custom-made CD of various oud and Arabic instrumental songs (as well as the occassional Aladdin-esque orchestral piece) to heighten the mood of the game. No, I'm not quite so devoted that I dress up in a costume, but for me, this game is all about the experience.
If you have doubts that you would like this game, y'know, I wouldn't usually say this about a game that I love, but I'd say that you should listen to your doubts and skip Tales of the Arabian Nights. This game is going to appeal to a certain sort of person. You might not be that sort of person.
However, if you are that sort of person, then I hope I've given you a good idea of what this game is like. This game is my Dixit. The mechanics are simple and random, but the opportunities for a night of fun and creative storytelling are what makes it tick for me.
-
ronaldinho @boardspace.net
Taiwan
-
You must have no imagination.
ziiiiiiiiiiiiiing
-
Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
drunkenKOALA wrote: You must have no imagination.
ziiiiiiiiiiiiiing
My imagination comes alive when I play real games. 
-
Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
-
There's no game here.
There's a mild form of entertainment, but no game.
I know Dixit.
This game is no Dixit.
-
Mike Windsor
United States
Fort Worth
Texas
-
I cheat for the benefit of my daughter. Some of the things that can happen to you (a) prevent you from winning, and (b) can be absurdly hard to get rid of. We just end up ignoring them -- if you got the points, you win, no matter how cursed, sex changed, or anything else you might be (Who could resist the story of Alladin, who leaves home as a boy and returns as a
man ... uh woman?)
-
Ian Allen
United States
Madison
Alabama
-
1st play - Fun!
2nd play - amusing...
3rd play - a bit irritating
4th play - drudgery, waiting for death
5th play - not going to happen!
-
Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
Geosphere wrote: There's no game here.
There's a mild form of entertainment, but no game.
I know Dixit.
This game is no Dixit.
Not sure if srs. 
I'll make you a retheme where you use wooden rabbits to travel across "Dream Land" where women with oversized cage-skirts turn you into a fish and capture you, and where you get imprisoned in a snail-shell jail cell, and where you encounter bird-monks.
Wait. That actually sounds pretty neat. 
-
Oliver Paul
Iceland
Reykjavik
-
This game sounds almost like if people sat around a table, each with a different (yet similarly themed) Choose Your Own Adventure book, and took turns reading it. First one to the end wins!
Multiplayer reading.
-
Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
murksofus wrote: This game sounds almost like if people sat around a table, each with a different (yet similarly themed) Choose Your Own Adventure book, and took turns reading it. First one to the end wins!
Multiplayer reading.
That's almost exactly what it is. But I suppose most games can be boiled down to a boring, lifeless explanation if you really try. Dominion is multiplayer card shuffling. Chess is multiplayer move-memorization. Etc.
Attacking other players, playing as a merchant, going for treasure, pursuing quests/mini-quests, trying to shake bad statuses, and looking for a way into the various Places of Power adds a lot of variety. But if this isn't the sort of game for you, no amount of explanation will change that. Different strokes, I guess.
-
I am glad that Johnny Jaws is my friend.
United States
Enumclaw
Washington
I know who I am. I'm the ant playin' the ant, disguised as another ant!
-
glookose wrote: 1st play - Fun!
2nd play - amusing...
3rd play - a bit irritating
4th play - drudgery, waiting for death
5th play - not going to happen!
6th play - at the gamer's table who I traded it away to.
A good review though, thanks for posting.
-
Tom B
United States
Naperville
ILLINOIS
-
slate43 wrote: glookose wrote: 1st play - Fun!
2nd play - amusing...
3rd play - a bit irritating
4th play - drudgery, waiting for death
5th play - not going to happen! 6th play - at the gamer's table who I traded it away to. A good review though, thanks for posting.
I was lucky and saw enough people trading this after the second play that I never had to buy it. I understand why people like it but this "game" was not for me.
-
Joe Rogers
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
-
Yeah, I don't play Tales often, but when I do, I enjoy it. One of my frustrations with the game is that many of the choices you make often end in some bad result. Rare is the one where you receive a treasure or some benefit.
-
Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
Thanks everyone for your comments, even the negative ones. Not everyone is going to like this game but I still appreciate the dissent.
joeyj1220 wrote: Yeah, I don't play Tales often, but when I do, I enjoy it. One of my frustrations with the game is that many of the choices you make often end in some bad result. Rare is the one where you receive a treasure or some benefit.
@ the bolded
That's why I like pursuing the Quests and mini-quests, because the reward is usually a good one. If you're aiming to win, pursuing quests doesn't hurt.
-
Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
-
Aurendrosl wrote:
*cool stuff deleted*
See? I cheat at Tales of the Arabian Nights.
You're *fixing* the game, by turning it into more of a roleplaying game than its original boardgame. (In your example, you took the role of the Game master, while, your wife was a player.) And if the AN game system *was* a more logical flow of events, rather than a disjointed series of encounters, it would be a *much* better game.
It's too bad that AN doesn't chuck its fiddly boardgame rules (I say this with irony as an avid AT gamer) for a storytelling / roleplaying system. AN has a good number of creative, imaginative ideas that come off as a "monster of the week" tv series.
-
Peaceful Gamin'
Canada
Vancouver
BC
Looking for a playtester/editor/translator for your cool new game? Contact us, we're free (but we ask to be mentioned in the acknowledgements, and a copy of the game would be a nice gesture, but not necessary).
Looking for a playtester/editor/translator for your cool new game? Contact us, we're free (but we ask to be mentioned in the acknowledgements, and a copy of the game would be a nice gesture, but not necessary).
-
slate43 wrote: glookose wrote: 1st play - Fun!
2nd play - amusing...
3rd play - a bit irritating
4th play - drudgery, waiting for death
5th play - not going to happen! 6th play - at the gamer's table who I traded it away to. A good review though, thanks for posting.
Huh, interesting.
Great review, though! 
-
Paul Imboden
United States
Chicago
Illinois
-
Aurendrosl wrote: However, if you are that sort of person, then I hope I've given you a good idea of what this game is like. This game is my Dixit. The mechanics are simple and random, but the opportunities for a night of fun and creative storytelling are what makes it tick for me.
I disagreed with virtually everything you said about Dixit... and agreed with virtually everything you said about Arabian Nights.
I'm glad you found a game that gets you that excited, that you can share with your loved ones and friends, and that encourages you to house-rule for better gameplay. That's awesome, brother.
-
Eric Flood
United States
Sunnyvale
California
-
In case you're unaware...
http://zmangames.com/boardgames/files/arabian_nights/Storyte...
It's rules are loose, but it's the way I prefer to play. It really helps to string together some of the narrative arc that can otherwise feel disjointed.
-
Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
-
Sam and Max wrote: You're *fixing* the game, by turning it into more of a roleplaying game than its original boardgame. (In your example, you took the role of the Game master, while, your wife was a player.) And if the AN game system *was* a more logical flow of events, rather than a disjointed series of encounters, it would be a *much* better game.
It's too bad that AN doesn't chuck its fiddly boardgame rules (I say this with irony as an avid AT gamer) for a storytelling / roleplaying system. AN has a good number of creative, imaginative ideas that come off as a "monster of the week" tv series.
As someone who seems to have done a lot of "fixing" to a lot of games on his "owned" list, it's odd when you make it sound like "fixing" is a bad thing.
That aside, I don't see how we're "fixing" the game as opposed to just rolling with the spirit of the game. Is it "fixing" Cosmic Encounter when you backstab and double-cross (something not explicit in the cards or the rules)? Is it "fixing" Catan when the game becomes focused on trading and diplomacy while the dice-rolls and resource-gathering takes a back seat?
-
Adam
United States
Grand Prairie
Texas
-
I hate this game.
-
Jim Wilde
Canada
Edmonton
Alberta
-
I love this review, and feel this is how Arabian Nights should be approached. It's not a typical board game... has a lot more storytelling to it, though not to the level of a storytelling RPG. Great review!
-
Gabe Alvaro
United States
Berkeley
California
-
What is it about yet another review of this game that brings out the haters?
Anyway, spot on review. Props for telling people NOT to play it. I'd sure hate for one of them to ruin your fun.
-
Was George Orwell an Optimist?
United States
Corvallis
Oregon
-
I think comparing Arabian Nights to Dixit makes good sense. I enjoy both in a somewhat similar fashion. For me, the key differences are that Tales of the Arabian Nights is much longer and its imaginitive elements are far more structured. With Arabian Nights, the interaction is primarily with the game engine, providing a vehicle for the players to delve into a familiar fantasy millieu. Dixit is more open-ended, with its lovely pictures serving as open windows inviting you to peer into the minds of the players at the table.
-
Steve Duff
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
-
Great review. Really gets across what's fun about this game.
Yeah, we bring out Arabian Nights every few months, it's fun just to do something different every so often. Caylus and AN are both on my game shelves.
-
Mike Clarke
Canada
New Westminster
B.C.
-
Wow Brian...for a Tasteless Brute you sure are full of surprises.
 I LOVE how you tweaked the game for your wife. I play this game with mine too and it's always a great experience.
In a game like this, you get out it, what you put into it. It's not all random either, doing something stupid will usually get you in trouble. Playing like you're invincible will too.
I think the designer wrote that it was crafted with the morals of its time and place so I usually try to bear that in mind when I play. It doesn't always work of course. After all, it is the Arabian Nights and they are fantastical stories but in some ways like Dixit, it's fun trying to see into the mind of the designer to deliver the best answer.
-
Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
-
Aurendrosl wrote: As someone who seems to have done a lot of "fixing" to a lot of games on his "owned" list, it's odd when you make it sound like "fixing" is a bad thing.
That aside, I don't see how we're "fixing" the game as opposed to just rolling with the spirit of the game.
I write variant mechanics but don't go as far as you did. You stopped being a player and became a gamemaster. That changes the game from a boardgame into a roleplaying game.
Which is not always bad thing. I know many games, particularly roleplaying games, which have good content and bad mechanics. RPGs are rife with gamemasters who must "roll with the spirit" of the game (usually because the players are dumb as bricks but that's another discussion...)
But when you say you are "rolling with the spirit" of the game, that implies to me that you don't find the mechanics of the game able to convey the content. In my book, a variant of rules under one page is one thing, having to shift from a boardgame to a roleplaying game is another.
-
|
|
Posted Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:25 pm
