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Magic Realm (1979)

Average Rating: 7.06/10
Board Game Rank: 463
Thematic Rank: 86
Strategy Game Rank: 291
Information
Designer
Artist
Publisher
Year Published
1979
# of Players
1 − 16
User Suggested # of Players
Best with 3, 4 players
Recommended with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 players
(30 voters) [poll]
Playing Time
240 minutes
Mfg Suggested Ages
12 and up
User Suggested Ages
14 and up
(12 voters) [poll]
Language Dependence
Moderate in-game text - needs crib sheet or paste ups
(9 voters) [poll]
Honors
Subdomain
Category
Mechanic
Expansion
Expands
Family
Primary Name
Magic Realm
Alternate Names
Website
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ObjectID: 22
Description Edit | History

From the 2nd edition rulebook intro for MAGIC REALM:

MAGIC REALM is a game of fantasy adventuring, set in a land filled with monsters, fabulous treasures, great warriors, and magicians. The scene is set in the ruins of a mighty kingdom, now inhabited by sparse groups of natives and swarms of monsters. Beneath it all are the rich remnants of a magical civilization, scattered and lost across the map.
To this scene come the adventurers, seekers of riches and fame, to make a name for themselves in this promising field. Swordsman and Dwarf, Magician and Sorceror, the humans and the half-humans come seeking to loot the legendary riches of a lost civilization. Now you can play the part of one of these adventurers, stepping into an unknown Realm of magic and monsters, battles and treasures.

As a player, you will take on the role of one of the sixteen major characters who are represented in detail in the game. You will control where he goes, what he tries to do, how he handles himself in combat, and much more. In the course of the game, you will run into deadly monsters, tribes of humans ranging from old friends to sworn enemies, and treasures that will enhance your abilities in many ways.

MAGIC REALM is a complex game designed to recapture the suspense and desperate struggles of fantasy literature. The game creates a small but complete fantasy world, where each game is a new adventure with a new map where everything lies hidden at new locations. The game includes many more playing pieces than are actually used in a single playing. The additional pieces are set up and can appear, depending on the directions in which the characters explore, but many of the treasure troves, treasures, and spells will still be set up, unfound, when the game ends, and many of the monsters and natives might never be met. The result is an extremely unpredictable game full of surprises, a game that plays very differently each time it is played.
The complete game system includes hiking, hiding and searching, fatigue, wounds, rest, trade, hiring natives, and combat between characters, monsters, and natives using a variety of weapons on horseback and afoot, as well as many magical effects.

Between exploring a new land where the mountains, caves, valleys, and woods change every game, and not knowing what you will find in each place, you will find each game a new and unpredictable adventure, filled with surprises. You will find this like no other board game you have ever played.

Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 9

See also the list of articles about Magic Realm in The General.

BGG Marketplace
Pg. 1
Good €99.00 17-Mar-2012 flag
Very Good €165.00 3-Jan-2012 flag
Acceptable $50.00 25-Dec-2011 flag
Like New €150.00 12-Aug-2011 flag
Good $110.00 1-May-2011 flag
Good $99.00 7-Nov-2010 flag
Acceptable $90.00 16-Jan-2010 flag
Very Good €399.00 14-Oct-2007 flag
Pg. 1
24d 17m
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More Information Edit | History

From "The Avalon Hill General Index and Company History, 1952-1980"

Magic Realm (1979)
Designed by Richard Hamblen

AH’s first venture into fantasy role playing, albeit in a board game format. MR drew raves for its design innovations, but failed badly in the execution of the rules presentation. A revised rulebook is in the offing. In the meantime, Vol. 16, No. 4 of THE GENERAL (see The GENERAL Vol.16,No.4) is recommended as a source of errata.

The fan-made 3rd edition has been published in several places and cleans up many of the previous rules problems, and though longer, is easier to learn and understand.

Magazine References:

The GENERAL Index Article List:


Redesign

A complete redesign of all the components for this game was published online in 2008. See this thread for pictures and a link to the archive.


Microbadges (click badges to buy)

Original
Redesign
mb Amazon
mb Amazon
mb Berserker
mb Berserker
mb Black Knight
mb Black Knight
mb Captain
mb Captain
mb Druid
mb Druid
mb Dwarf
mb Dwarf
mb Elf
mb Elf
mb Magician
mb Magician
mb Pilgrim
mb Pilgrim
mb Sorcerer
mb Sorcerer
mb Swordsman
mb Swordsman
mb White Knight
mb White Knight
mb Witch
mb Witch
mb Witch King
mb Witch King
mb Wizard
mb Wizard
mb Woods Girl
mb Woods Girl
Versions
[Add Version]
Pg. 1
Magic Realm
Nick: 
Second Edition
Publisher: Avalon Hill
Artist: Chris White (I)
Year: 1986
Product Code: 717
Size: 14.38 x 11.38 x 1.25 inches
2.00 pounds
English
Release Date:   
View
Corrections
Link Image
Magic Realm
Nick: 
First Edition
Publisher: Avalon Hill
Artist: Chris White (I)
Year: 1979
Product Code: 717
Size: 14.38 x 11.38 x 1.25 inches
2.00 pounds
English
Release Date:   
View
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Link Image
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12 Magic Realm Cliff Notes
New to the game-- I read the 2ed, the 3ed rules, MR In Plain English, and even watches the 6 Bookshelf Games tutorials. Then played a few times, but still found there were many little rules and exceptions to keep track of. To remedy, I created some cliff notes. Bullet points for each rules section to easily refer to. There may be typos (I tried to catch them), there may be mistakes. Please let me know and I will addend. Any other constructive comments are also welcome. I hope these prove helpful to all MR players, both new and old.
2012-03-25
32 Magic Realm Book of Quests 3rd ed
This 250-page book is a variant for Magic Realm that replaces the simplistic victory conditions of the regular game with an elaborate, story-based Questing system. Players using the Book of Quests will have a tremendous variety of adventures to choose from, many of which will be utterly unlike anything one can experience in the original game. The Book of Quests actually has only 10 pages of additional rules (and 5 pages of additional optional rules). The bulk of the book is given over to the descriptions of the Quests themselves, and the special conditions that apply to each of these Quests. There's also a significant amount of introductory and explanatory material that has been added to this 3rd edition, to help make learning the Quest system as painless as possible. Players who...
2012-02-25
11 Chits and details for 4 alternate MR character (9-12) (17-20) Player tiles (1-24)
Corrected text in Battle Mage - Should be Medium vulnerability not Heavy (as was). Thanks to galvornman for the spot.
2011-09-05
9 Chits and details for 4 alternate MR character (5-8) (13-16) (21-24)
Alternate characters for Magic Realm 21-24
2011-09-01
8 Chits and details for 4 alternate MR character (1-4)
Alternative Characters for Magic Realm (Barbarian, Elf Outcast, Halfling and Ranger). All files are compatible with Karim Chakroun's MR redesign (and many thanks go to him).
2011-05-18
2 Magic Realm Victory Point Spreadsheet
This is an Excel sheet that will calculate your victory points acccording to the unofficial 3rd ed. rules. It can also be printed as a blank form for manual use in a game (although I've uploaded a separate form for that as a PDF).
2011-04-13
5 Victory Point Sheet
This is just a separate form for adding up your victory points according to the unofficial 3rd ed. rules. There are two on each page; just print & cut the sheets in half.
2011-04-13
19 Player Aid for Unofficial 3rd ed. Rules
This is a concise summary of the turn order & many of the rules. It's on two pages that should be printed back to back. The first page is the day time turn order, and the second is the evening/combat sequence. I hope you find it useful. Please let me know if you find any errors or if there is anything I missed.
2011-04-13
6 MR Game Record
For when you can't finish a game, but wish to later. This will allow you to easily keep track of the current status of the game on the last night you ended it on so that when you set it back up on a later day, you will know exactly how to make it where you last left off. Recommended for groups, usually large ones. Recommended that the first 2 pages of the pdf are printed back to back. You only need to print the first 3 pages, as the rest are just examples on how to use this. Edit: The numbers in the corner of the tiles in the map section I used based on the Karim redesign. For all of you who don't have the redesigned version of the tiles, just state the initials of the tiles where they should be (e.g. "C" should be expanded to "Caves" or "Caverns" as there are 4 tiles that would...
2011-03-03
12 A Roomy Setup Card/Appearance Chart/Treasure Table
This chart prints on three 8.5" x 11" sheets, (good for spray-mounting on illustration board) is roomy and accommodates Dan Evans' Monster and Native counters and the larger 1.16" x 2.0" Fancy Spell and Fancy Treasure cards uploaded by BGG user "AngusBull" (printed on business card stock).
2011-01-05
Statistics
Board Game Rank: 463
Thematic Rank: 86
Strategy Game Rank: 291
Num Ratings: 1278
Average Rating: 7.06
Standard Deviation: 1.97
Num Views: 357361
GeekBuddy Analysis: Analyze
Similarly Rated: View
Avg. Game Weight: 4.5
Fans: 155
Personal Comments: 738
Users Owning: 2215
Users Wanting: 271
Users Trading: 96 [find trade matches]
Has Parts For Trade: 10
Want Parts In Trade: 12
Price History: View
Total Plays: 1516
Plays This Month: 3
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