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Day 2146. November 16, 2022. Lagos...
You just need to look at Bob Jenkins' portrait to know that he wasn't cut out for investigation work in the Miskatonic museum. His used car pitch did little to help him when he tried to put out the fire in the hallway. Not even Mandy Thomson, a bonified book nerd could help him. That hallway burned, and burned, and burned...:strip_icc()/pic7189186.jpg)
Sorry Bob.
It was not an easy start in this morning's obligatory session of Elder Sign. Armed with a plethora of red and yellow dice extras, Bob Jenkins died the most miserable of deaths one could ever not hope for. Burned alive. It sure appeased the Ancient Ones, but it also put the fear of death in his partner. Mandy retreated to a more doable security office, hoping to forget the dying echoes of Bob. She couldn't.
But come the following midnight, Mandy ventured inside the Miskatonic once more. And as before, she wasn't alone. Richard "barechested" Pickman did little to help in the next thirty minutes, but he sure managed to keep Mandy's spirits dialed on sanguinity rather than sobering for dead car salesmen.:strip_icc()/pic7189187.jpg)
The amazing duo that never happened.
As an Ancient One, Yig is fairly easy to deal with as long as we don't draw cultists from the cookie box. And for a midmorning solo, its positively short eight doom token track is also very welcomed. In a blink of an eye, the portal was breached, and all adventures forgot so that Many could deal with the monster's anger.
It was blind luck that Mandy had the necessary items before she could even fight the reptilian beast. A good thing since I'd failed to read Yig's text as I played, and a serendipitous last-minute adventure rewarded me with two of the three items to discard. Regardless, I wouldn't have saved anything for the encounter with Yig. The whole game feels like walking on a razor's edge. Use all items at your disposal to win, and hope the rewards will carry you to the next one. If not, chances are, Mandy would join crispy Jenkins in the afterlife.
I also had yet to read the rules for Ancient One encounters, preferring instead to keep them under wraps for when that time did come.
Basically, it's a boss fight. All other rules are summarily discarded to force players' attention to the grand finale. It's an orgy of dice rolls after dice rolls with little to no downside when you fail. At least against Yig. Or I misread something because even when Mandy didn't score a single hit, the book nerd easily endured the penalties.
Success felt certain for the five minutes I rolled the dice non-stop until my first victory in Elder Sign put a stop to it. A good thing because my rolling 20-month-old partner was getting hungry.:strip_icc()/pic7189188.jpg)
One down! How many to go?
I'm still ambivalent about Elder Sign. On the one hand, I love the ease of play and laid-back demeanor it offers, paired with a quick setup and some emergent narrative. Even if it stutters a little in the later department. On the other hand, the whole game is one big dice mitigation fest. Which has got me curious about the expansions enough not just to hang on to the game for now but also to procure the Unseen Forces expansion, regarded as the obligatory first step into the wider Elder Sign world.
As I cleared the museum turned fighting arena, my thoughts went to another museum-style board game I played last night. The Gallerist couldn't be further away from Elder Sign in the random spectrum of our hobby, but some deterministic strategizing with a game was due. Also, it seems a waste to not ride the momentum of rules revival for such a big game without at least scoring one or two solo sessions.:strip_icc()/pic7189214.jpg)
Another kind of Bob.
I might not be able to squeeze a full play in half an hour. But after years of playing one stone per day with Go, I'm sure that a few Chess-like moves each night will be enjoyed.
One year ago: ...knockin' on hell's door...One year later: ...finding tara...
Photos & Images: ZombieBoard
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