Game: Dungeoneer: Haunted Woods of Malthorin

Thread: UK - Haunted Woods available at...

TracyB — 2008-11-05T14:32:52+00:00

...at games-web.co.uk for £5.25
Don't worry about the email referring to August holidays - I received my copy yesterday so the site is still operational.

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Skymarshal — 2008-10-19T12:18:27+00:00

Box front of the new german edition (Truant Verlag - 2008)

Thread: Re: Are players humanoid?

SJBenoist — 2008-05-05T17:12:19+00:00

I'd agree with Mr. Barlow here. That would be my guess at the designer's intent.

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barteus — 2007-12-31T22:47:26+00:00

The Elven Archer meets the Banshee Queen in the Tower.

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jax900 — 2007-08-03T09:55:17+00:00

box back of Polish edition (which in one box contains both: Haunted Woods of Malthorin and Den of Wereats). This compilation is called 'Zemsta Malthorina' (Revenge of Malthorin).

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jax900 — 2007-08-03T09:54:26+00:00

box front of Polish edition (which in one box contains both: Haunted Woods of Malthorin and Den of Wereats). This compilation is called 'Zemsta Malthorina' (Revenge of Malthorin).

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-=Dani=- — 2007-07-15T23:59:05+00:00

Revenge Of Malthorin - Polish edition containing both Den Of The Wererats and Haunted Woods Of Malthorin (cards are in protectors)

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willdesigns — 2007-07-03T04:50:21+00:00

Solo game using my custom rules and a cavetroll miniature hero

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willdesigns — 2007-07-03T04:48:06+00:00

Using a Cavetroll Miniature Hero

Thread: Re: Are players humanoid?

Reprint — 2007-06-03T18:33:37+00:00

barteus wrote:
The Faerie Ring forest site states that as a response, you may pay a price and "humanoids ignore you this combat". We decided that it would

That's an interesting POV. I've always played it that it wouldn't, since the intent of all the other cards in the game are to effect encounter cards, not character cards. When a card says that it effects player characters, it uses the term "hero".

Thread: Are players humanoid?

barteus — 2007-06-03T18:00:37+00:00

The Faerie Ring forest site states that as a response, you may pay a price and "humanoids ignore you this combat". Are other players considered humanoid? IE, can a player pay the price and avoid a personal challenge/combat from another player in the same space? We decided that it would, as the heroes in this set are an elf archer, human druid and centaur ranger, which seem to qualify as humanoid.

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A.Men — 2007-04-20T15:01:55+00:00

character card and pawn - polish edition

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A.Men — 2007-04-20T15:01:19+00:00

character card and pawn - polish edition

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A.Men — 2007-04-20T15:00:43+00:00

character card and pawn - polish edition

Thread: Re: Good set to start with?

abrannan — 2007-03-22T16:36:31+00:00

You miss out on some of the 3 and 4 player interactions with the mini sets, like asking other players to lay off of hero X because you've got a whammy of a monster to play on him, and some of the other mechanics that can prevent a runaway win for one player. But overall the two player sets give you a good feel for the Dungeoneer experience. Haunted woods is also one of the tightest sets thematically, IMO.

Thread: Re: Good set to start with?

slvrdragon41 — 2007-03-22T15:40:05+00:00

Tomb and Vault would have been my preferences for a new player.
Woods and Den are ok, though smaller than the standard decks. The other thing about Woods and Den is that they have some quests that are entirely luck-based, and that was a disappointment. We removed those quests from the deck and made our own to replace them. Neither Den nor Woods is as intriguing to me as Tom and Vault. Probably the poorest of all the sets, but worth having to mix in if you like the game.
Good luck

Thread: Good set to start with?

dulac3 — 2007-03-22T15:00:31+00:00

Hello,

Is the Haunted Woods of Malthorin a good set to start playing Dungeoneer with? I would have preferred to start with Tomb of the Lich Lord, but my local FLGS only has the Haunted Woods and Den of the Wererat packs. I figure if I like this smaller version then maybe I'll be more content to either special order Tomb or get it online and pay the shipping.

Thanks,

DuLac

Thread: Re: Karn Goes Three and Out

donovani — 2007-01-14T07:44:42+00:00

I just posted the solo rules as a variant under the main Dungeoneer game. Take a look at:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1275136

Thread: Re: Karn Goes Three and Out

KingCroc — 2007-01-12T08:29:09+00:00

As a Dungeoneer fan myself, I'm curious to read the rules to your solo variant. I am actually quite a fan of the game, but also found solo play as suggested to be a little dry.

Nice report, too. Sometimes, you slay evil. Sometimes...

Thread: Karn Goes Three and Out

donovani — 2007-01-12T06:57:12+00:00

Tonight I played a satisfying game of Dungeoneer with the Haunted Woods of Malthorin deck with some solitaire house rules I've been developing.

Why house rules? No one seems satisfied with the solo rules that come with Dungeoneer and I didn't like the effects on the "narrative" of the game from some variants I'd seen posted online. The solo game I played tonight had a lot of challenge, I got to put my house rules to the test, and it worked out really well - even though I failed. (!)

WHAT RULES? I use rules where a monster that comes into play remains in that space and the hero has to negotiate their movements with the monster in mind (so I've scrapped "the pack"). Instead after initially running into a monster and defending against its attack, you get to choose whether to stay and fight or try to escape. Escape is basically a Speed Threat equal to the monster's Peril plus the monster's Speed. If you succeed then you can move out of the space, while if you fail the monster has cornered you and gets to make another attack of its choice.

To balance the fact that the monsters stick around, I also limit the number of random encounters you can trigger in a single move to 2. (Because once those encounters are triggered you have to play them out.)

Other rules are modified slightly, like you can search for treasures/boons if you have the luxury of an unoccupied space, and this replaces the automatic draw. I've actually retyped and reorganized all of the rules for Dungeoneer into a single 3-page solo rules set so that you can play them clean and don't have to refer back to the v2.2 rules at all. If anyone wants to see the whole doc I can post it.

SO THE SESSION... Put Karn Darkhoof in charge of 3 fairly straightforward quests in the Woods of Malthorin: Slay the Mutated Vines, Bring the Blessed Draught, and Defy the Thorn Spirit.

The location of the Deep Spring and the Thorn Grove are both well known in Arnum Hamlet (I begin play with the whole map revealed before drawing Quests). So I immediately planned my strategy of heading to Deep Spring to root out the evil vines, draw the draught, and haul it back on my way through to the Thorn Grove.

All went according to plan until I got side-tracked by a Will o' the Wisp. Then suddenly I was fighting a Dark Elf Minion who wouldn't have been such a challenge save that he was imbued with the Elf Prince's Fury. He won the initial attack, but I got in my own attack and claimed a Shield of Luck for my troubles.

Soon I'd defeated the vines, was carrying the draught, had a couple of treasures in my packs for an emergency, and thought I was well on my way to becoming the hero of Arnum. Gray Spider, no problem, Banshee at the Grim Crossway took me to 5 life but that's OK. I'm already 3rd level!

Wait. I just stepped into the Thorn Grove... and I think that's a Viridian Dragon hiding behind the Dark Elf Captain. Uh-oh.

This is where things got fun and strategic. I took an initial hit from the Dark Elf and the Dragon, and was suddenly at 2 life. I quickly tossed back the Potion of Invigoration I'd taken from the Banshee, and then resolved to kill the Dark Elf because at the moment the Dragon was getting a bonus for being in the Forest and a second bonus from his companion. I had to sacrifice my Shield of Luck but succeeded in killing the Dark Elf. On the same turn I still had time to attempt the quest (overcome the Magic Threat) while my Magic was boosted from the Potion. Success! Okay I've finished my three quests and its time to get out of here.

With the Glory I'd accumulated I chose to put on my Elven Boots and attempt an escape. Turns out that 2 Elven Boots don't help much for a 4-legged hero. My odds of escape were good, I needed to roll 3+ to succeed against the Speed Threat of the Viridian Dragon. First roll came up as 1, then the Dragon attacked and tore me up again. Second escape roll was another 1, and that was the last experience Karn had before becoming dinner.

Overall, this was a great session where I got to apply some strategy and then let the combat dice fall where they may.

Thread: In this forest, the trees hit back

TaleSpinner — 2006-09-12T13:57:11+00:00

Before I start, if you're looking for reviews on the game play in Dungeoneer, you should read this review of "Dungeoneer: Tomb of the Lich lord" first.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1026948#1026948

In this review, I'll be going through the new mechanics and interesting cards that have been introduced into the game.

OVERVIEW
A few years back, a friend came to stay over at my place for a visit. He said that he'll be bringing a game along, to which I replied that I didn't have a top-notch computer, so whatever he brought over might not run reasonably well. He mysteriously said not to worry about it, and when he did turn up, he had brought Dungeoneer: Haunted Woods of Malthorin with him. This was the first Dungeoneer deck I'd ever seen, so we sat down and played several games with it over the period of his stay. I was hooked and purchased Dungeoneer: Tomb of the Lich lord shortly after.

Dungeoneer: Haunted Woods of Malthorin (HWoM) is the third deck in the Dungeoneer series. Compared to the first two decks, HWoM is the first single-deck and only supports up to 2 players, although there are variant rules to bring this up to 3. HWoM is also the first "wilderness" deck, which means that the Map Cards are "above-ground", unlike the dungeon-delving of Tomb and Vault. It is the first deck to introduce the idea of "Portals" that link to the underground dungeons of either Tomb or Vault if you decide to combine the sets.

My friend's HWoM deck was brand new and he'd only ever seen Tomb or Vault being played, so when we opened it up and spread out the cards, we were a bit taken aback to see only 10 Map Cards that formed a very small playing area. But, it still played well, and we were surprised to see that the games we had were still very intense and a few even went over 45 minutes.

The backstory of HWoM is that an elven prince dude goes nuts after his betrothed dies and he curses the forest. It's a great setting, and this deck has dark elves and undead popping up everywhere in the forest. Great artwork accompanies the great theme.

HEROES
Karn Darkhoof (Centaur Ranger) Favoured Enemy: at the beginning of the game, choose 1 monster type; this hero has +1 Melee against that monster type.
A heavy-melee, weak-magic hero. The moment you pick him, like any other hard-core gamer you'd want to scan through the deck to see what monster types there are and how many of each. Karn actually ports well in combined deck games, although it gets a bit hard to remember which monster type you picked at the beginning of the game once you've played him a number of times.

Tolin Briarwood (Human Druid) Wilderness Protector: at the beginning of the game, choose any 1 wilderness terrain type, except Urban; this hero has +1 Magic when on that terrain.
We actually had a couple of laughs over why Urban was omitted from the terrain type selection; an Urban Druid who rummages through trash cans and summons domestic animals to his aid sounded actually really cool But anyway, later decks like Dragons or Ice Witch really make Tolin shine because of their exclusive use of a certain terrain-type. Again, it's a little hard to remember which terrain type you picked at the beginning of the game once you've used him a number of times.

Elendus Sulari (Elf Archer) First Strike: this hero wins in the case of a tie in all Melee combats.
Elendus is my favourite hero in this deck, hands down. I've lost count of the number of times I really needed to win a particular combat round, only to have it end in a "stand-off" tie. The ability to win ties is enormous in Dungeoneer with its single d6 combats.

QUESTS
The Quests are faily standard, but some of them have really great effects or themes. I rather like the "Bring the Blessed Draught" quest where you must bring the Draught from the Deep Spring to Arnum Hamlet. However, you can opt to discard the Draught to discard any 1 Bane. This effectively means that if you have this Quest (or if it is a Global Quest), you can pick up the Draught, carry it around while completing other quests, and use to discard nasty Bane cards like "Warp" or "Shift" cards that are played against you. And the great thing is that you can always travel back to the Deep Spring to recharge.

"Bury the Treasure" is another interesting Quest where you have to discard a Treasure in the Sinking Marsh in order to complete it. We've had a couple of games where a player buries his Pet or Familiar or Mercenary (all classified as Treasures) at the Sinking Marsh to complete this Quest. Stuffing the "Taraka Falcon" head-first into the Marsh is a scene one does not quickly forget.

MAP CARDS
As one might guess, most of the Map Cards depict Forest spaces. Some of the interesting ones are like the "Sinking Marsh: Treasures cost 1 less Glory to play here. If you play a Treasure here, you must overcome Speed Threat 6+ or be tipped". This makes treasure-hunting in the Sinking Marsh a nice little side-adventure that players tend to do.

ADVENTURE CARDS
HWoM introduces several interesting new card mechanics and probably has the best Treasures in Dungeoneer.

Elven Boots (4 Glory, Hero, Permanent, Boots): Your hero has +1 Speed. At the end of your turn, discard 1 Peril if you are on a Forest space.
Elven Cloak (3 Glory, Hero, Permanent, Cloak): At the end of your turn, discard 1 Peril; if you are on a Forest space discard 2 Peril insead.
To most veteran Dungeoneer players, Peril is a part of life. You can't avoid it, you'll always gain it, so it's best to be ready for whatever that gets played against you for it. However, there are a couple of cards in this deck like "Elven Boots" and "Elven Cloak" that allow you to discard 1 or 2 Peril if you end your turn on a Forest space. I'm hoping to see more of these "peril discarding" cards in future decks.

Elven Bow (3 Glory, Hero, Permanent, Weapon): When played, pay any # of additional Glory to place that # of tokens on this card. Discard 1 token to add +1 Melee to an attack; your hero is not wounded if your attack fails.
Arguably the best Weapon Treasure out there among all Dungeoneer decks. This practically makes it almost impossible to wound a Hero with Melee; he just pays 1 Glory to add +1 to his Melee and does not get wounded if it fails. The only downside is the limited number of uses, but I've seen people stack 10+ tokens on the Bow, effectively making them Melee-damage-immune for the whole game.

Oaken Staff (3 Glory, Hero, Permanent, Staff): Your hero has +1 Melee. As a Response, you may pay 2 Glory to change 1 attack against your Hero to Melee. Limit once per turn.
By itself, it is a decent item for Melee heroes. Who cares about Magic given that everyone will now have to attack you using your highest stat? However, combined with the "Elven Bow", your hero becomes near impossible to damage. Just pay 2 Glory to convert any Magic attack to Melee, and spend 1 token from the Bow to make yourself immune to Melee damage. If that's not enough, you can combine the staff with the "Invisibility" boon from "Den of the Wererats" and it becomes almost game-breaking. "Invisibility" makes it impossible to attack you via Melee, so with both cards in play, this means that your Hero can effectively ignore any Melee or Magic attacks made against him. Neat, eh?

Malthorin's Geas (5 Peril, Dungeonlord, Instant, Curse): Each player passes 1 uncompleted Personal Quest of his choice to the player to his left. Skip players who have no uncompleted Personal Quests.
An odd ability, one that I've yet to see usefully applied, but it certainly adds some interesting mechanics to the game.

Misten Witch (3 Peril) All other monsters have +1 Magic this combat when Misten Witch attacks on a Forest space. 2 Life, Melee(1): inflicts 1 wound, Magic(3): inflicts 1 wounds, Speed[3].
The Misten Witch is yet another product of that odd sense of humour Thomas has incorporated into his games. Misten Witch Project, anyone?

Malthorin (5 Peril) Not affected by discard effects. 3 Life, Melee(2): inflicts 2 wounds, Magic(4): inflicts 1 wound and opponent is relocated to any non-Forest space of your choice, Speed[3].
A friend told me once about how his brother had continually played Malthorin against him and smacked his hero right across the map. This happened at least 3 times, much to his brother's glee. Imagine how it would have been in a combined deck game. Smacking a hero right into a dungeon would be an interesting experience.

CONCLUSION
HWoM has some of the best Treasures and Heroes in Dungeoneer, and it plays well as a stand-alone. It has a great theme and as the first dungeoneer deck I ever played, I found it easy to pick up.

Thread: Re: Karn's Failure

crixster — 2006-05-31T07:48:55+00:00

amusing lolx but a very good session report nonetheless. CONGRATS

Thread: Dungeoneer Coop Rules

crixster — 2006-05-31T05:16:15+00:00

look for it at www.dungeoneer.net

Thread: Karn's Failure

SatanicEssence — 2005-10-13T00:37:35+00:00

The sun was setting. Rays of magenta and organge over the deep green of the forest. It was a truly magical scene to behold, that is, if you are blind to the truth of this place. Karn Darkhoof stared out over the treetops, seemingly safe in the little valley of Arnum Hamlet. "Bad place for town if you ask me!" Karn grumplily whispered to himself. Knowing that the darkness of night would soon be upon him, he hastened down the small pathway toward the forest. Darkness...probably the worst time to enter this forsaken forest, but Karn knew it was also the time when most of the creatures were sleeping. And that was definently a good thing.

Later, while creeping south through the woods, he came upon a Crossroads that gave him three directional choices. Well, four if he counted going back a choice, which he didn't. He really hadn't any idea which way to choose. All the information he had on his quests was shady at best. Although he did seem to remember something about Faries and the sunset...but what was it? Not wanting to stay in one place too long, he chose west. But wait! "Should I...?" Karn asked himself. Deciding that he should prepare himself more for what will come he sat in the middle of the Crossroads and began to chant.

Remembering the words to something he had not used in a long time proved to be less difficult than he thought. He called upon ancient magic that was seldom called upon in tucked away crevices of the planet like this. It was taking too long, chanting and hand waving, but it was neccessary for what he had to face. He had called upon the Spirit of the Bear.

Now travelling west into the woods, Karn thought about the companion he had split up with at Arnum Hamlet. "Elendus Sulari. I hope your faring well." he said to himself. She is a tremoundoes archer, and not too bad with spellcasting. She should be able to fend for herself. His thoughts for her were interrupted when a faint bluish mist started to encircle him. "The Faerie Ring!" he exclaimed softly. Cursing himself for speaking, he continued onward into the mist.

Lights were flashing all around as he entered the center of the
Faerie Ring. An undeniable feeling of wrongness settled over him. He should not be here. He glanced to the right and saw a Faerie floating dreamily towards him. Without thinking, he whipped out his net and caught the Faerie in it. Fear and worry hot on his mind, he turned and fled. Luck was not with him though. As he was running back the way he came, a Will o' the Wisp stepped out from behind a tree and shot a ball of magical energy at him. Karn was running too fast, and not very adept at magic to even hope that this would not hurt. The magical ball struck him and he was flung high and far. Then he blacked out.

He awoke in a haze of pain. Struggling to his feet, Karn tried to remember what he was doing. Forest. Blue Mist. Faerie. "Faerie!" He looked around and there near his feet was his net, unconcioius faerie still within. "Thank the Gods." he sighed. Lost as he was, he stated walking what he thought was east and soon came upon Arnum Hamlet again. Now that his inner map was straight again, he set off dowm the same path he originally took and stopped again at the crossroads Not for a ancient incantation, but because there was an interesting item hidden away in a bush that he has not seen before. "Hmmmm. Who would just leave this here?" he asked himself. Re-thinking it over, he decided that nobody would just leave it, and the previous owner is probably dead. Armed with his new Oaken Staff, he continuned south.

Soon after that he had come upon what he was looking for. The Tower of Malthorin. Standing near the outer wall, looking up at the towers, a shiver ran down Karn's spine. He crossed the drawbridge and spied a deep, slender well. He walked to it and placed the net in the bucket. Looking down at the expressionless faerie, he sent the bucket to the bottom. Instantly he could feel his strangth growing, his knowledge deepening. The magic of the Quests is strong indeed. Now, onto the main event. To defeat the Dark Heart of the Woods. As he made his way through the outer courtyard, he sensed something strage. A power in the vicinity that he should not feel. It was Elendus...and she was a level 4. "Curses!" he yelled. While he did want her to fair well in her journies, he did not want her to be stronger than he! Oh well, there's always next time.

Thread: Re: User Review

BilboAtBagEnd — 2005-09-30T05:08:33+00:00

A standard role-playing is a very sizeable increase in complexity, actually. Even games with very simple combat/skill-testing systems and skill hierarchies, like Fudge, are more complex than Dungeoneer by two levels of magnitude (one entire level just for setting up your character, and another level for setting up the adventure and goals, which can be done from a "recipe book" but a good RPG experience demands grace from the DM in handling situations on his feet).

Dungeoneer is quite trim, and it's not that the rules are incredibly complex, it's that they're not presented well. If Dungeoneer replicates the RPG experience at all, it's just as an adventure game, a la portable Talisman...

Thread: 1st try with this set

donovani — 2005-08-08T06:10:16+00:00

This was our first try with this 2-player expansion set, and to be fair we had 3 players with the single deck. Not the way it was supposed to be used, but we were a little short on time. (We previously tried the Lich Lord deck with 3 players and it took about 4 hours, so...)

With 3 players the small number of map cards (10) came out really fast and play went by quickly. By the time I was finishing an escort quest I had three monsters doggedly pursuing me. I tried to rush through my quests for a win but was eliminated as a result of the "peril" I had accumulated. (The Druid was about as weak as you'd expect in the face of all these attackers.)

The other players took a more leisurely pace and the game came down to the wire to complete the third (mutual) quest.

As with our previous session of Lich Lord, many questions about the role of monsters in the game arose. It's fun to be Dungeonlord and Hero alternatively, but can one player send their monsters after others? Do monsters follow you until you stop to kill them? The rules get a little sparse in these regards. And truth be told, with few healing options available to players, starting with 6 life points seems pretty stingy.

Overall, though, a fun game, just as our earlier session with Lich Lord was. We have been as true to the rules as we could be (they are a little convoluted) and if we tinker with anything in the future, it will probably be the number of starting life points.

Thread: escort tokens and game aids on Lair page

epilgrim — 2005-05-28T20:27:10+00:00

posted two files with stuff for use in a largre Dungeoneer game world, including a collection of DIY 3-D escort tokens. check them out and enjoy!

Thread: Re:Language dependant?

jhenke — 2005-02-19T05:47:17+00:00

LuZa (#59535),

I don't think most of the Dungeoneers are language independent actually. The two sets I have contain a fair ammount of text on them that is important to the way the cards behave.

I think you'll get the symbols with no trouble actually, but the "action" and "equipment" cards do have text on them.

The dungeon maze cards do not have text on them really and are pretty much language independent.

Thread: Re:Limitless booster item?

jhenke — 2005-02-19T05:44:28+00:00

vlad48 (#72587),

Take this with a grain of salt, since I've not played this expansion--but from what I'm reading in this post--it strikes me that you load the elven bow with a total ammount of tokens at the time you play it; you can not add to it from that point on. It sounds like a bank vault kind of card. You put in what you want and suck your Glory points all the way down at that moment.

I think the reading of getting "the +1 bonus per token only on your character initiating the attack" is a reasonable interpurtation of the card's text explained in this posting... Defense, you have no bonus....offense you do.

Thread: Re:Limitless booster item?

arcane1800 — 2004-12-26T09:58:37+00:00

vlad48 (#72587),

the way we've played with the card, the player only avoids damage when he initiates an attack since when a monster initiates an attack, the player is actually counter attacking and vice versa. by that token the player still takes damage and doesn't get a bonus when attacked by monsters and only receives a bonus when they attack another hero or when they save a movement for their opponent's dungeonlord phase.

not sure if that's the way it's meant to be used but it seems to work fine in our playtest.

Thread: Re:Limitless booster item?

vlad48 — 2004-12-23T16:03:16+00:00

ljw74us (#72419),
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I still get back to my original concern, that while other shield or armor cards are limited to 2-3 uses, this one allows you to add a pile of glory tokens.
When playing a two-level game (using two sets with dungeon and forest sections), you can easily accumulate over a dozen Glory tokens. Under the current text, it would allow you to be saved on each melee combat.
THAT BEING SAID, one other way to read this card is to focus on the word "attack". That is, if the hero with the bow launches the "attack" - a challenge on another hero or monster in a pack - the hero suffers no damage as it is a bow attack from a distance. If the foe's monsters/hero attack you, you do not get any bonus from the bow. This simulates the difference between archery and toe-to-toe melee combat.
(You could see every stacked token as representing an arrow.)
That's the only way I could see using the unlimited initial placement.
- Vlad

Thread: Re:Limitless booster item?

ljw74us — 2004-12-22T17:32:03+00:00

vlad48 (#72336),

OK, let's look at this:

Here is the exact wording from the Elven Bow Card: (Cost to play the card - 3 GLORY)

"When played, pay any # of additional GLORY to place that # of tokens on this card.

Discard 1 token to add +1 Melee to an attack; your hero is not wounded if your attack fails."

At the time you put the card in play and pay the 3 GLORY, you can add # GLORY for tokens. For each ATTACK using the Elven Bow, you can add +1 to the attack by discarding a token and also guarantee you are not wounded on a failed attack.

First off, you only add the token when initially playing the card.

If I see you with the Elven Bow, I either attack with cards that do not use Melee for their attack, OR I pick throwaway ones to try to drain your tokens, since you can't replace them.

If you see the card in play, you just have to deal with it. Sound reasonable?

Thread: Re:Limitless booster item?

vlad48 — 2004-12-22T05:53:58+00:00

vlad48 (#72239),
Just to clarify, the item is the Elf Bow. It allows you to add # glory tokens, that can be used to boost melee rolls --AND make it impossible to take wounds in a melee combat while being used.
That means with 10 tokens, you could avoid any risks at all in 10 melee tokens. This card either needs clarification or a three-token limit.

Thread: Limitless booster item?

vlad48 — 2004-12-21T19:03:52+00:00

One of the treasure artificats in this game allows you to add # Glory tokens (at the time of purchase) for # uses.
Is this really the intent? At times, I've had 8-10 glory tokens - that seems an overly strong bonus, given that other rings/shields in the game only have 2-3 or 4 uses.
(Otherwise love the expansion)
- Vlad

Thread: Session Report

castiglione — 2004-11-17T01:32:38+00:00

Another solitaire session using the modified form of Greg Forster's solitaire rules.

Again, I chose the Druid, although I'm about ready to give up on him. This time around, during the build phases, I could not find the places on the "map" that I was supposed to go to in order to achieve my quests. So I mainly wandered, gather up glory (and peril) points and got attacked from time to time by a giant spider (which stayed as the first monster in the pack) as well as other threats.

Finally, the spring card came up and I was able to go there and load up on some of that magical water to bring back to the ville. In the meantime, I had loaded myself up with as many permenant boons and nice artifacts to achieve my first quest along with drinking deep from the spring and recovering as much of my health as I could. The monster that became enraged by my attempt to achieve the quest was a banshee...and he promptly tore me to pieces.

I think I'll try another character the next time around because the Druid's wimpiness is rather distressing, if not depressing.

All in all, I'm quite happy with the game played with the solitaire rules. I can see how it can be a fun "screw your neighbor" type dungeon crawl game with multiple partners but the solitaire rules do allow you to spend a fun half an hour or so playing a D & D type game without too much fiddliness.

Thread: Session Report

castiglione — 2004-11-16T16:05:22+00:00

I tried another solitaire session but this time, I used a modified version of Greg Forster's excellent solitaire rules. Instead of having three piles of peril cards, I put them all in one pile. During the Dungeonlord phase, cards were drawn from the pile of peril cards until either five cards were drawn OR all the player's peril points were spent OR the player only had one peril point left and he'd already been attacked by a monster. As usual, according to Mr. Forster's rules, any monster that actually attacks you joins the pack until it is killed (the pack being infinite in this case). In this way, one often saves up quite a few peril points until a monster that can actually "spend" them is drawn. Before, I kept getting attacked by the same measly one peril point monster in the deck over and over again and thus didn't accumulate enough peril to merit an attack from one of the "big boys".

I still retained Mr. Forster's rules concerning monsters being enraged by the player trying to complete a quest - this makes "sense" since in a regular game, you not only have to worry about monsters and banes but the fact that some other player may complete all his/her quests before you - such a danger does not exist in a solitaire game so the game must be made commensurately more challenging by including these monsters.

In the game, I played a Druid and quickly discovered that with this "monster enraged by quest" rule, it REALLY pays to accumulate some glory points before hand to get some goodies that can help you in a fight...because that monster you enrage (the first one being a peril 3-4 monster - in my case a giant spider) might be more than you can handle...which was the case during my "adventure" ("adventure" is probably an inappropriate term since it was more akin to "Druid goes out to seek his fortune and disappears without a trace"). My Druid with a readied Oak Staff was no match for the giant spider, which is currently feeding on Druid meat.

Another lesson learned.

Thread: Session Report

castiglione — 2004-11-16T16:05:22+00:00

Another solitaire session using the modified version of Greg Forster's solitaire rules that have been described before hand.

This time again, I played the Druid. Rather than attempting to complete my first quest right away, I wandered about, gaining glory points in an attempt to gather as many treasures that could bolster the Druid's melee combat ability - if anyone has this game, they will note that the Druid's great weakness is his physical combat ability. The Druid may look muscular in the picture on his card but in game terms, the guy is a total wimp!

Unfortunately, the Druid never got a chance to even ATTEMPT to complete his first quest. He was cut down in his prime by a combination attack from a Dark Elf Minion and a Dark Elf Captain even as he was attempting to heal himself at the Deep Spring.

The Druid is tough to play - the guy's got magic up the wazoo...but in a physical confrontation, he gets folded like a lawn chair.

Thread: Session Report

castiglione — 2004-11-15T15:39:22+00:00

I decided to give Greg Forster's solitaire rules for playing Dungeoneer whirl - they are written at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/45327 - of the solitaire rules I've seen posted, these seem to give the best "flavor" of the non-solitaire game.

I played Karn Darkhoof, the Centaur Ranger. My quests were to Slay the Mutated Vines, Bury the Treasure and Bring the Blessed Draught...play proceeded with me wandering about, gathering peril and glory and getting attacked by the single Peril 1 monster in the deck (the Dark Elf Minion)...and getting wounded and wounded in the process. It's pretty sad when the weakest monster can consistently beat up your character. Sigh...anyway, I realized I had to finish my quests as quickly as possible if only to avoid getting beaten up continuously by the weakest monster in the deck. I went to the Deep Spring and get some of the blessed draught...and as per Greg Forster's rules, drew a Peril 3-4 Monster who, for some reason, didn't want to see me bring the draught back to Arnum Hamlet. The monster was a Misten Witch...even with my Magic Protection spell, her sorcerous ways were too much for my centaur ranger and he died an ignoble death in the Deep Spring. Well, better luck next time.

Thread: User Review

castiglione — 2004-11-15T15:38:40+00:00

Dungeoneer: Haunted Woods of Malthorin is a stand-alone card game for two players. It can also be used as an expansion pack for the other Dungeoneer games.

Dungeoneer is, in a nutshell, a card driven dungeon crawl. Cards are played by the player onto himself (for "good stuff" to happen) and onto his opponent (for "bad stuff" to happen). While this is going on, the map is being built with cards drawn from a deck of location cards. The winner is the first player who completes three quests OR the last man standing. In this regard, it is somewhat similar to the paper-and-pencil game Ghoulash in that each player acts as a "dungeonmaster" for the other player in a game reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons.

Haunted Woods of Malthorin came in a standard sized playing card box and contained a deck of 55 cards (31 adventure cards, 10 map cards, 7 quest cards, 3 hero cards, 3 tracker cards and 1 cut out card). The game isn't quite complete in its own right as the player will have to supply several six sided dice (at least two for each player) and some counters to keep track of his peril and glory points.

Pros: Gorgeous artwork. The cards are incredibly well illustrated and are a joy to just hold and look at. The artwork REALLY adds to the theme and atmosphere of the game. I don't know how the artwork of Haunted Woods of Malthorin stacks up against that of the other Dungeoneer games but if it's any sort of barometer of the quality of the art in these games, I'll probably end up getting the rest of the games in the series. The game would be a hollow shell of itself without accompanying artwork on the cards.

Cons: Incredibly fiddly rules. The rules came in a folded up sheet of paper which encompassed eight columns of print - there's a lot of material there. Some points are not entirely clear or are not stated explicitly and must be either gleaned by the player or the player must seek clarification at web-sites (such as this one) and forums. The complexity of the rules is a concern since it may discourage others from trying the game. After all, for a reasonably small increase in complexity, one could just play a standard role-playing game...games like Dungeoneer were probably designed with the goal of re-creating the role-playing experience without all the fiddly rules and the necessity of having to block off an entire night to get through a scenario.

Thread: First Impressions

castiglione — 2004-11-12T19:05:42+00:00

I picked this up recently and gave the rules a quick perusal.

First impressions:

1) The box was MUCH smaller than I thought it'd be. The whole game basically fits into a box the same size as a standard deck of playing cards. The box was TINY. Of course, you have to provide 2 six-sided dice per player as well as two tokens per player but even then, the game is remarkably compact.

2) The rules came on a large fold out sheet of tissue like paper.

3) The artwork is very nice. Very very nice. It certainly adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game.

Being a two-player variant of Dungeoneer, there are only 10 location cards (as opposed to 20 in the original set which was intended for up to four players).

Thread: Re:Language dependant?

LinqMAR — 2004-10-13T12:34:52+00:00

LuZa (#59535),

I would say that this is very language dependent. If you take a look at some of the cards in the pictures provided on BGG, you'll see what I mean.

Thread: Language dependant?

LuZa — 2004-10-13T09:03:25+00:00

Hi,
I'd like to know how much this one is Language dependant, provided I know english well but my girlfriend very very little.

Thread: Re:Cool new stuff

Gabusan — 2004-10-12T11:53:35+00:00

I missed these games on my trip to gen con! Where can I find em now???

Thread: Re:Why only 2 players?

robcannonsoftware — 2004-09-27T11:33:39+00:00

T-Mo (#56580),

The reason they are listed as 2 players is that they are not exactly expansions. They are fully playable games with enough cards for 2 players. Now you can combine them with other sets to play with more players, if you like.

Thread: Re:Why only 2 players?

robcannonsoftware — 2004-09-27T11:33:38+00:00

Thread: Re:Why only 2 players?

zorander — 2004-09-27T04:35:17+00:00

T-Mo wrote:
The basic game lists 2-4 players. Why are the wilderness expansions only listed for 2 players? Are you able to add these expansions to the basic game and play with more than 2 players?

Yes. From what I understand, you can add one of these wilderness expansions to "Vault of the Fiends" or "Tomb of the Lich Lord" and play a 6-player game. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

-zorander

Thread: Why only 2 players?

T-Mo — 2004-09-27T03:36:55+00:00

The basic game lists 2-4 players. Why are the wilderness expansions only listed for 2 players? Are you able to add these expansions to the basic game and play with more than 2 players?

Thread: Re:Cool new stuff

tldenmark — 2004-08-24T20:57:34+00:00

Kalidor (#50556),
>Cool; when are they due out?

Now! Printing is finished and the first two Wilderness sets are on their way to the warehouse. They missed Gen Con by 1 day! Which is ironic. I finished some illustrations for FFG's new Call of Cthulhu CCG a month after these Dungeoneer sets went to press, and somehow Call of Cthulhu still managed to make it to Gen Con!? I have no idea how all that works behind the scenes at the printers.

td

Thread: Re:Cool new stuff

Kalidor — 2004-08-23T20:26:20+00:00

tldenmark (#48250),
Cool; when are they due out?
Atlas's site says nothing about them (at least as far as I saw)

Thread: Cool new stuff

tldenmark — 2004-08-06T02:54:22+00:00

Haunted Woods of Malthorin is a smaller set of 55 cards. It is designed for two players, and it is 100% compatible with other Dungeoneer sets so it may be combined with other sets for more players, but it does not require other sets and may be played on its own.

Features include:

1. Wilderness maps. These do not mix with Dungeon maps, instead they form a separate map that links through a "Portal" (you can see the Portal symbol on the Tower of Malthorin map). So Wilderness represents "upstairs" and Dungeon is "downstairs".

2. Expanded rulesheet. It seems Dungeoneer will never have the "perfect" rules sheet, but this one has been expanded from the 2nd edition, a "2.1" if you will. The actual rules are the same except 1 significant change: declare attack form in the first step of combat (that's how everyone plays it anyway). Unfortunately this expanded rules sheet has left no room for the Campaign rules, so they will appear as a web enhancement along with a large number of other interesting optional rules.

3. 31 new Adventure cards, 3 new Heroes, 10 new Maps, and 7 new Quests.

4. New mechanics include: Weather spell, First Strike, and "Synergy" (many of the cards have extra bonuses when used together), in addition to your favorite mechanics from previous sets like Shifts, Warps, Enhancers and so on.

td