Gen Con Wrap-Up Post 2 - Demos Part 2

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era by Chip Theory Games

We used to play Too Many Bones with some of our buds before they moved away. Now there's a Chip Theory-sized hole in our heart (and we miss our friends too, I guess). We've staved off picking up one of their titles due to the prices, but I'm a sucker for The Elder Scrolls. This looked like it could really scratch that TMB itch while being different enough that we'll be getting a new experience. I lucked out on Sunday - one of the sold-out demo sessions had a few no-shows, so I was able to sit down and play the game myself!

Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era (ES:BotSE?) has a lot of rules. I'm not going to give you a tutorial here - just an overview. The core game loop alternates between exploration and encounters.

During exploration, your party will move around on the overworld, visiting points of interest such as towns, caves, camps, and so on, and sometimes making story decisions. While your party has a main quest with a time limit, you're free to meander and complete side quests during your journey (and doing so might leave you better equipped for the final challenge).

During encounters, focus will move to a hex map where players control their individual characters in combat against enemy units. Some encounters happen on a map that is randomized at setup, then remains static. Others involve delving into a dungeon, so you will need to reach the edge of the visible map to reveal whatever map section is next.

So what makes this stand out to me?

No miniatures. This is a Chip Theory Game, so characters and their health are represented by stacks of custom poker chip-style pieces. This is great if you want to start playing a nice-looking game out of the box instead of taking on a 100-figure painting slog before you get started.

More session-based, less campaign-based. How many 40-session, legacy dungeon crawlers have I made it through? Heck, how many legacy games in general? BotSE’s “campaigns” involve linking ~3 gaming sessions and that's ALL. This is way more accessible for me personally.

High variability. The base game includes 6 provinces (each with their own rules, overworld, and locations) and 9 guilds (which, while I didn't get an explanation, seem to inform the path of your quest and some of the setup procedures). You can pick your character base from any of the major species in Tamriel, from Argonian to Nord. You can pursue different character builds each playthrough. The encounters, the side quests, the enemies, the gear, and so much more are randomized every time you play. This seems like the sort of game that you could just keep playing and have a new experience each time.

Unique character build mechanics. I won't go into too much detail, but I really liked the way that leveling up was handled. Your character sheet contains slots for dice, and as you level up and purchase skills, you grab the associated dice from the supply and slot it into a row on your sheet, coming in from the right. However, if you want to increase a base stat, such as stamina or magicka, you must slot in a stat block into those same rows coming in from the left. This creates a nice visual representation of how your character is growing, and forces you to carefully choose which row you want a skill to be in. If you plan on focusing hard on magicka, you'll want to keep your schools of magic on rows other than your magicka stat row, or they'll end up capped off at a low value as the row fills up.

Satisfying, tactical combat with meaningful decisions to be made with the dice you roll. Much like Too Many Bones, the custom dice represent different skills, and you need to balance the use of them so you don't overexert your character, leaving them open to attack on enemy turns.

The main drawbacks for me are price (~$200 for the base game is brutal), the rules overhead, and possibly session length if it ends up dragging longer than I expect it to.

I greatly enjoyed my demo of BotSE, but I wasn't able to finish an entire session at Gen Con. I'm still likely buying this once it hits retail, but hopefully with a coupon or something to help out on the price point! 

🟣 Devin 🟣

In the Footsteps of Marie Curie by Sorry We Are French

Once again, I found myself in the Hachette room, this time to play through a demo of In the Footsteps of Marie Curie. I really didn’t know what to expect from this one, but I was really excited to give it a try. In this game, you play as scientists working alongside Marie Curie. Throughout the game, you and your opponents will take turns until the timeline marker reaches the last space of the timeline. Different things throughout your turn may trigger the timeline marker to move forward, such as the workshop marker advancing on the workshop tile or collecting activity cards.

Each turn, you will grab the cubes indicated by the workshop marker and put them in the cube tower (which is an awesome component). The tower is designed so some cubes will be stuck in the tower and may fall during later turns. Then you will either collect the amount of cubes allowed, which is indicated on your player board, or write a thesis (which allows you to collect resources). Next, you may perform any of the following actions in any order: purchase an activity card, perform any cube transformations, complete any amount of experiments, and validate your objective. At the end of your turn, check how many cubes you have in your storage and return any excess back to the supply if they exceed your storage capacity, which is indicated on your player board. You gain experiment tiles through timeline events, collecting certain activity cards, and writing theses. Completing these experiment tiles allows you to increase your storage capacity and the amount of cubes you are allowed to take.

Some of the ways to gain points throughout the game are completing experiments, completing your objective, set collections of the activity cards, and cube transformations. I really enjoyed In the Footsteps of Marie Curie and picked it up at the Con before we left. It’s very easy to learn and pretty quick to play, but still offers a lot of strategic depth. 

🔴 Kim 🔴

Star Trek: Captain's Chair by WizKids

David Turczi’s and Nigel Buckle's upcoming game, published by WizKids, and based on the system used in the Imperium line of games. I had a chance to sit down and give the game a try (though I didn't finish a full game). While Captain's Chair is described as a deck-builder, it is a much more strategic and complex game than most deck-builders you may be thinking of. At their core, the rules are fairly straightforward, but as cards begin to interact with each other, the different card zones, the resources available, and the score multiplier tracks, it becomes apparent that carefully planning your turn to maximize the effects is a huge part of the game.

The game comes with highly asymmetric decks for each included Captain. Every time you need to reshuffle your discard pile, you get to add another asymmetric card to your deck, enhancing your Captain's play style. In addition, like in most deck builders, there is a card market to buy cards from. There is also a location row where, to gain control of the cards, you must assign away teams or deploy ships. All this to say that there are many ways for cards to be obtained, all with their own methods.

The love of Star Trek as a franchise is very apparent in every single card. There are some deep cuts in here, and the effects of EVERY card manage to be both mechanically sound and thematically accurate. It's awesome what Turczi has managed to do with the theme in Captain's Chair. A common complaint for Star Trek-themed games is how the theme comes off as detached from the game itself. I believe that Captain's Chair manages to weave the theme into the mechanics splendidly.

If you're a Star Trek fan, enjoy card games, and don't mind a fairly complex (and possibly lengthy) game, you should keep an eye on Captain's Chair! If you can't wait, or want to see if you like this style of game, see if you can try out a copy of Imperium Classics, Legends, or Horizons (which released recently). 

🟣 Devin 🟣

Cities by Devir

The last day of Gen Con, I was able to sit down in the Devir room for a quick demo of Cities by Phil Walker-Harding and Steve Finn. Cities is a city-building game that plays over 8 rounds (4 in a two player game) which has you draft a tile, buildings, a personal objective, and feature tiles each round. Your city will consist of a 3x3 grid of tiles where you will place buildings and feature tiles to score the most points from your personal objectives and the public objectives.

Cities is a very easy to learn game that offers a lot of replayability with the 3 double sided City (public objective) boards. The game goes pretty quickly, and each decision has a lot of consequences (e.g., do I take this item because it benefits me, or take THAT item because it really benefits my opponent?).

🔴 Kim 🔴

Shadow Scar by R. Talsorian Games

I planned on giving more RPGs a go this year, but ultimately I only found time for one. Shadow Scar is a new game and setting from R. Talsorian Games (of Cyberpunk and Witcher RPG fame). I like that they’ve created a fresh, original setting with crisp art, futuristic Japan inspirations, and some character art that gives Legend of Korra vibes.

So, what's it about? In Shadow Scar, you generally play as Scar agents. You're effectively dimension-hopping magical ninjas, eliminating Oni who have put up shop in worlds they shouldn't be in. This means one session could take place in prohibition-era Chicago, while the next mission could take place on a near-future moonbase, while another mission could take place on a planet overrun with sentient plants. I was told the core book will include fleshed-out settings for you to play in, but the concept allows you to take the tone, theme, and genre of your game anywhere you want while still being “in the world” of the game.

On the topic of being ninjas, the game does actually emphasize and reward stealth, and doesn't punish a group for having “the guy in full-plate armor.” Stealth checks are based on the character with the HIGHEST relevant skill, and it's made on behalf of everyone sneaking with them. In addition, rules are included to “assassinate” a target, allowing players to skip combat altogether if they play smart (and if they're lucky). In our demo session, this led to the age-old question of, “are we going in quiet or loud?” As all good heist/ninja missions go, it started out quiet before falling apart and turning into a brawl!

While the demo session was action-focused, there are a number of non-combat skills and abilities on the pre-made characters, implying there are suitable social and investigative elements present as well.

The character sheets were easy to read and laid out well. Once the mechanics were explained, I didn't really need help understanding what my character could do or how they do it.

The game uses a simple but fun d6 system. There are three main attributes with associated skills listed beneath them. When rolling for a test, a player checks the value of an attribute and adds it to the value of the relevant skill. This value is the number of d6 a player rolls for the test, with each 4+ equaling a success. The number of required successes varies based on difficulty, or if the test was opposed by another dice roll.

Players have a meta currency point they can spend to improve their roll results or increase damage, but doing so allows the GM to return the favor in the future (and refresh the point for the player). This creates a nice back-and-forth of cinematic moments both for and against the characters.

Death isn't the end in Shadow Scar, either! The spirit world can play a big part in your stories, and when a player is killed, they become a spirit that can later be revived. This opens a lot of narrative possibilities and lessens the mechanical consequence of death, instead creating an interesting twist to the story.

Overall, I think this would be a fast, easy game to introduce to your group. The setting is versatile and the mechanics are simple to understand. I'm looking forward to seeing what all is included in the core book when it releases. 

🟣 Devin 🟣