A. Introduction

Magic Realm is a hard nut for a beginner to crack. It’s not just the complexity, the lengthy rule set, and the cryptic rulebook - it’s also a question of once you know (sort of) how to play, what in the world are you supposed to do with your character? In this article, I have described which of the 16 characters are, in my opinion, easiest for beginners to play and what strategies the beginner should employ to get the most out of his or her character. The discussion assumes basic Second or Third Edition Magic Realm rules with no Optional or Advanced Rules unless otherwise mentioned.

The best way into the game is probably Joel Yoder’s “Magic Realm in Plain English” which is posted on the Magic Realm page on www.boardgamegeek.com. Joel presents the Magic Realm rule compendium in paragraph form, but maintaining the structure of the Second Edition Rulebook where the fundamentals of movement, searching, and trading are treated first, followed by combat with monsters. Hired natives and the magic system are relegated to sections at the end, under the well-founded belief that hired natives and magic add greatly to the complexity of the game. The best characters for beginners, therefore, are those that can be played without magic and with minimal use of hired natives.

There are eight non-magic characters which are best for beginners. Roughly in order of ease of play, they are:

1. Amazon, Dwarf, Swordsman, Woods Girl
(these can be played without hiring any natives)
2. Berserker, White Knight
(these two are probably the most fun right out of the box, but you'll want to hire an underling Rogue or Order)
3. Black Knight, Captain
(these two may want to hire a whole group including a hired leader)


I don't recommend magic characters for pure beginners - the White Knight and Woods Girl have one magic chit each, but to first order you can ignore their magic capabilities. The easiest magic users to play are probably:
4. Wizard, Pilgrim
(can almost be played as weak fighters, but they are very vulnerable, even with their spells, unless they are part of a group)

More difficult to play:
5. Sorceror, Elf, Druid
(major magic users!)

Forgetaboutit:
6. Witch, Witch King, Magician
(leave these for the experts!)


B. Character Strategies for Beginners

1. Fighters and Wanderers without Hirelings

a. Amazon

The Amazon, with her full armor, extra move phase, and fast Move chits, can move around the board with relative impunity. She is usually fast enough to run away from any trouble that she can’t chop her way out of. But she doesn’t seem to be able to pile up many Victory Points. She tends to end up serving as a guide for a group of character followers but never really ringing up much benefit for herself.

The problem is that she is seriously underpowered with her original equipment. With her L* Short Sword and her Medium Fight chits she can kill only Medium and unarmored Heavy denizens (Light harm + overswing bonus + one sharpness star vs. a non-armored target = Heavy harm). She can kill off the Heavy Spiders which don’t carry much Fame and Notoriety, but every location that she wants to loot seems to end up cluttered with Tremendous monsters or with Heavy Trolls, Serpents, and Dragons that are all armored and invulnerable to her Short Sword. She can handle Goblins but they tend to come in large numbers and can mess up her shiny armor or, with bad luck, kill her. She can kill many of the natives but rarely the native leaders that are in charge of the natives’ goodies.

What the Amazon desperately needs is an M* weapon which she could use with her Fight H4** chit to deal with Heavy or unarmored Tremendous foes (Medium harm + overswing bonus + one sharpness star vs. non-armored target = Tremendous harm!) Give her an M* weapon and she can pile up Fame and Notoriety by killing Heavy and (unarmored) Tremendous monsters, she can loot treasure sites and kill monsters as they arrive, or she can prey on native groups - taking down the leader HQ and running away, only to come back later and pick up the natives’ possessions scattered across the ground. Her layers of armor give her a nice insurance policy if she takes a hit or two from multiple foes. (Note that a Heavy weapon does her no good - she can’t overswing it to increase her damage, and, lacking an H Move chit, she couldn’t carry it in any case.)

So, from the beginning of the game, the Amazon should be thinking about where she can obtain an M* weapon. There are two possible sources. Her friends the Lancers have four Spears for sale. If she can find them on the board, she can trade in her Short Sword on a Price x2 and get herself a M* Spear. A Spear is a little awkward to use because it doesn’t do anything unless it is alerted. But the Amazon has lots of fast Fight chits that she can use to alert the Spear as an Action in the Encounter Step of combat even if she’s neglected to record an Alert Phase during the day.

But there are certainly times (Goblins!) when it would be nice to have her trusty Short Sword which doesn’t need to be alerted to be effective. If she can score two gold pieces to be able to buy the Spear without giving up the Short Sword, she should take definitely keep both weapons. She can keep the Spear active to deal with the Heavy and Tremendous monsters (for example, the alerted Spear with the Fight H4** undercuts the Giants and outreaches their clubs for a guaranteed kill). If she ends up with smaller, faster foes on her sheet, she can inactivate the Spear and activate the Short Sword as an Action in the Encounter Step, regardless of the speed of the denizens on her sheet.

The only problem with this plan is that the Lancers don’t start on the board, and it can sometimes be a very long wait hanging around the Chapel, dodging the Order whenever they feel like battling, until the Lancers finally show up. The alternate source of an M* weapon is the Guard who have all the unused Medium weapons. The problem is that the Guard don’t have any particularly friendly feelings for the Amazon and are unlikely to part with their M* Ax or Broadsword for less than Price x4 - more than the Amazon can afford without a significant transfusion of gold.

The solution here is to make an alliance with a character who is Friendly with the Guard and can start at the Guardhouse. The Wizard and the Dwarf are good candidates; they could both use a tough, fast armored friend. The Dwarf might well consider it worthwhile to bargain with the Guard to buy the Ax for Price x2 (8 gold) while the Amazon motors over from the Inn to the Guardhouse. Then the Dwarf can sell the Ax to the Amazon and follow her at five clearing per day to the caves, where he longs to be. The Amazon might even find it profitable to stick with the Dwarf and benefit from his Cave Knowledge in exchange for serving as multiple-monster insurance.

The Amazon and Wizard are also a good team, flying across the board through the hidden paths and secret passages. With the Amazon’s M* weapon and the Wizard’s “Fiery Blast,”any monsters that they can’t kill they can run from with the Amazon’s Move M3 speed. (Well, with the exception of large numbers of Bats - but large numbers of Bats are a problem for just about any set of characters.) They are also well-equipped if they decide to prey on natives. And if the Amazon happens to come into possession of a Medium Bow or the M** Truesteel Sword, she can become a true killing machine.