Labyrinths (2)

I forgot one player last time. It was Aelfric Brownhood (or whatever his english name is). I actually found out that he was a monk... carrying a staff and a mace... ouch. Didn't go well, even though he had well-balanced attributes. A bit weak strength, but high luck (must be some religious thing). What killed me was a magic amulet that strangled me due to... *sigh* low strength. Yeah, after that I decided for Mrishnahk just to get rid of the magic items. They killed Thargrim the first day of playing as well and damaged him another session. Bad thing is I can't play it until I get home again in August. Damn.

I also forgot to mention that the expansion was released in 1987 (a very good ear according to me). And you really get that it's very inspired by Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. If Sir Rohan and Durim Daggerbuckle give it away, then the setting feels like a mix between Moria and Kingdom Under the Mountan with Smaug guarding his treasures. Similar monsters as in the books (giant spiders, orcs, cave trolls/ mountain trolls), a dangerous fire breathing monster lair sitting on treasures from older kingdoms with large diamonds. And you carry around a magic ring with a certain ability that you can choose to help you in your travel.

Unfortunately it seems the new releases don't seem to be as fun to me, with the most significant change being a rework on the whole battle system. In the original you had 3 cards with pictures of your character with the letters A, B and C. One of them has an extra damage note on the bottom if you hit the monster. Then similar cards for the monsters (skeletons, svartálfar, mountain trolls and orcs) but without the extra damage note. Battle simple, A beats B, B beats C and C beats A. If you draw the same letter both gets a hit. The monsters hit points are determined by drawing a monster card, and you choose to attack it, bide your time or try to flee. Now it seems to be some turn-table. No strategy just pure luck. Well, if you are Mrishnahk you just burn them to ashes.

Looking back at this game, it's really fun to play, but on little detail has bugged me. The game board is like 13 squares wide and 10 squares high, but the treasure chamber is just 2 squares. There is no middle were you place it. You also begins every session at one of the four corners and must exit from one of them. So depending on where it is, you have a bit closer to get in and out. If it was 4 squares it wouldn't be a problem or if it was just 1 square wider and higher you would get a perfect middle. Bit of an oversight I think, or it was just not possible to package the board otherwise.