A fantasy adventure suitable for families? For some time I've been interested in the fantasy adventure game genre, and its suitability for families. Older children especially seem to enjoy this kind of game, at least, my children do. Does Munchkin would classify as a fantasy adventure game? Even though the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, for the last few days my children have spent hours playing Munchkin, even two player games, simply because they enjoyed immersing themselves in the theme. Certainly a good fantasy adventure game can get excellent replay value, and if it's a good game in its own right (unlike Munchkin), they won't have to twist my arm to join them!

I'm especially curious how Prophecy compares with World of Warcraft the Adventure Game (WoW:TAG), as well as how it compares with Runebound. Full disclosure: I've played Runebound, I've read some reviews of WoW:TAG, and I've watched Scott's video review of Prophecy.

My thoughts are mostly reflections on Prophecy, based purely on Scott's video review (so I'd welcome any corrections if I'm mistaken), and I'd love to hear from people who have played WoW:TAG or Runebound to know how it compares with Prophecy on these points.

1. Components: Prophecy has inferior cardboard bits for characters and not miniatures. In comparison I do love the Runebound miniatures and other quality components. But I find the cartoony artwork of Prophecy a plus, because it's more family friendly, but for the most part the artwork is disappointing, at least, on the cards. The artwork for all the items is the same, in fact in most cases it is just all text with no pictures. Although I understand that this might be improved in the ZMan edition, since I'm basing this comment on Scott's review? The original edition of Prophecy that Scott used in the video seemed to have very inferior components - eg the weapons cards were all generic, and just plain text. I like to SEE my sword or my magic bow! But if that is improved in the Zman edition, it's less of an issue, although I expect it still wouldn't match FFG quality components. I'm not sure how WOW:TAG components compare.

2. Theme: I like the theme of Prophecy in trying to get artifacts, and that you have to defeat its defenders/protectors. That makes a lot of sense, is quite simple to understand, and gives good motive for beating the monsters too. I also like the fact that the theme is more traditional fantasy (eg the kinds of monsters you fight) than Runebound. Quite decent for families and kids, no real issues there for the most part (although I did see some characters that were demons). While the cartoony artwork is clearly inferior to Runebound, on the other hand it makes it less problematic, coz it's clearly fantasy, and not overly "dark" or "strange".

3. Combat: Unlike most other fantasy adventure games, in Prophecy your strength in combat weakens as you weaken. I'm not sure if this is a good idea (although there seem to be ways you can get it back). Scott says he likes this. I suppose playtesting would be the proof of the pudding, but I figure there must be good reasons that other games do this differently. But maybe it's not a big deal. Combat almost seems too simple though, if it's just a matter of health and magic and rolling a die.

4. Characters: The characters in Prophecy seem quite simple, ie. They have Strength and Willpower and that's it. It almost seems too simple. As a result, combat is also very simple, much simpler than Runebound (Runebound involves more choices, and perhaps more interesting decisions within combat and what approach to take to combat). Prophecy has the advantage of being more accessible, but possible disadvantage of being less interesting. This probably isn't a negative for Prophecy, but more a positive for Runebound.

5. Character development: I find that the characters in Runebound seem more distinct and different, plus there are more possibilities for developing them (eg strength in ranged combat, melee combat, or magic). In Prophecy the items also don't seem very interesting or sufficiently unique: in the end, they just give you back health or willpower, or increase it. Contrary to what Scott says - he says he really likes the character development - it seems to me that customizing characters in Prophecy isn't that interesting. It's true that you can increase character abilities, but really it's a very simplistic system of health and willpower. Seems almost a bit bland to me. Especially in conjunction with the artwork, where cards just have text (you don't see that you have a nice looking sword, but just a generic card with text that says +1 to health, no different than a bow and arrow, for example - in this respect it weakens the theme).

6. Gameplay: Gameplay in Prophecy seems fairly simple, the complexity reminds me of Munchkin, but without the humor, and with a map. Are there less decisions and less interesting decisions than Runebound? I'm not sure, there seems to be not as much complexity and depth as Runebound, but I could be wrong on that. There may be more decisions with respect to movement and location than in Runebound. Perophecy does seem to have the advantage of being much easier to learn for kids than Runebound though, and more accessible that way. Could it be too simple?

7. Length: Play time for Prophecy seems excellent. I like Scott's suggestion that winner is person with 2 artifacts, rather than lengthen it unnecessarily and fight each other. Runebound can drag. I'm not sure how WOW:TAG compares.

8. Comparisons: Is Prophecy better than Runebound or World of Warcraft the Adventure Game?
- Scott's criticism of Runebound movement is overstated, I think it's really not too big a deal because movement is only a small part of the game. His criticism of downtime is fair, Runebound is not as good with 3 or more players, but it has the advantage of being good played solitaire. Expansions are a bonus too, plus the quality of the bits is fantastic. Only other minus is possibility of some thematic concerns for some kids and families. But Prophecy's advantage is that you can see different quests and possibilities, so you have more control over movement, and this leads to more interesting decisions about movement.
- I'm really curious how Prophecy compares with WoW:TAG. The artwork of WoW:tAG looks as good quality as Runebound. In his comparative review, Scott says that leveling up in WoW:TAG just unlocks more ports of the board, nothing else really happens - I wonder how true this is? According to Scott, in WoW:tAG the character development is mostly from getting items only, but I don't see this as a weakness. He points out that the game has cards usable just for single combat rather than permanent effects, and that might be a minus point if that's the case.

Overall: It's a tough call, when comparing WoW:tAG, Runebound, and Prophecy! They all look good in their own way, and I'd be hard pressed to pick between them, especially in terms of their suitability for a family with older children and teenagers. But surely there's something that dad can enjoy with them even more than Munchkin.

My comments are mostly about Prophecy, so I'd love to hear from others whether my impressions above are accurate, and how WoW:TAG or Runebound compare with Prophecy on the above points.