Game: Drakon - 2nd Edition

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B Weage — 2008-03-31T20:44:05+00:00

!st Edition - Visual Tile Manifest

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Martin Ralya — 2008-03-20T03:00:15+00:00

Clearer, head-on shot of the box front (improving on existing shot)

Thread: Re: Longer game (escape) variant

arkayn — 2008-03-19T18:59:25+00:00

I have to try some of these rules out, but for the most part I like them. My wife and I broke open Drakon 3ed last night after I had played only online on gametableonline before (and I think it was 1ed). Personally, I strongly disagree with people that say Drakon is no good for 2 players. I think it's a great strategy/duel sort of game. A lot of the strategy breaks down for 3+ players, because it's more of a free for all, and everyone tries to screw over whoever's in the lead. The only problem with playing 2p is that it can end a little too quickly. We always play the Escape variant, and I think next time we play, we will go to 15 gold (remember 3ed has coins worth 2g and 3g).

Anyway, long story short, I'm going to try out some of your variant rules and see if I can adapt them to 3ed. For one thing, I don't like completely killing the Magic Harp square. I think I will play with it this way:

Magic Harp works as described in 3ed, except in addition, a player who lands on a Magic Harp square may move Drakon up to 1 square (perhaps restrict it to either an unoccupied square, or a Magic Harp square (which can be occupied)). This is mostly to allow for Magic Harp loops, but give the player a chance to break out of them by moving Drakon onto themselves and getting sent back to start. It also gives a minor benefit in letting them block off another player's route.

Anyway, some of the other rules look interesting. Will have to play with costs of abilities to make it work for 3ed, and have to decide if you are allowed to make change from the hoard. I think the Knight's ability is a little too strong, especially since other players' abilities encourage them to use up coins, whereas once the Knight has a coin, it's pretty much his for good, barring just a few ways of losing coins.

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josephc4 — 2008-02-23T20:18:00+00:00

People category. Photo rights - lily_bloomers.

Thread: Re: This Could Get Ugly

JonnyG — 2008-01-27T00:13:40+00:00

Most games take about 30 - 45 minutes. Although we have had some situations come up that extend to 90, but that seems to be the exception.

Thread: Re: This Could Get Ugly

Hendal — 2008-01-26T22:41:56+00:00

THinking of getting this one, liked the review. I have other FF games and like them, I like the idea that Jolly from KODT designed it, so I figure he gets some of my $.

Easy game to learn, better with more people, how long does a game usually take?

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justrag — 2008-01-07T07:36:49+00:00

Polish edition box cover

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justrag — 2008-01-07T07:33:36+00:00

Six characters and the dragon from Polish edition

Thread: Re: Longer game (escape) variant

Prokonsul Piotrus — 2008-01-04T00:58:39+00:00

Dunno Just thought I could make a long game out of a short one. For those times you want a longer one but only have Drakon around...

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Aleks — 2007-12-20T15:48:34+00:00

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Aleks — 2007-12-20T15:47:51+00:00

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Aleks — 2007-12-20T15:47:09+00:00

Thread: Re: Longer game (escape) variant

johnweldy — 2007-12-15T14:26:02+00:00

Some neat ideas, but why would you want to play Drakon for 2 hours? It's charm is in being a lighter, shorter game.

Thread: Longer game (escape) variant

Prokonsul Piotrus — 2007-12-15T01:20:15+00:00

After playing a few Drakon games, it has been my opinion that the game is not very balanced. Since then I've been tweaking the rules - primarily, what different tiles do - to get a better result. I am quite happy with my latest variant; the game last for ~2 hours, and are pretty intense, often ending AFTER we have played all the tiles.

Important note: this variant includes the expansion tiles (see Drakon Expansion 1 - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3624), although it should be easy to apply it to the no-expansion set.

Rules changes:
* to win, a player must have 5 or more gold AND a "key" token AND enter the Escape tile. You cannot win by entering a key or teleport tiles (this prolongs the game by making the number of 'win' tiles smaller)
* when Drakon captures a player and resets him to starting point, he loses all of his gold, not one (this further prolongs the game)
* Master Key: the player entering here gets a "key" token. They are one use (but you can carry more than one). Their uses: 1) move illegally through twin doors 2) needed to escape the dungeon and win 3) open a Locked Chest (See below)
* Locked Chest: if you have a key, open to get three coins and a map token (the expansion treasure chest rules didn't make much sense and nobody wanted to use them anyway)
* Mind Control Orb: the ability was moved to The Harp tile, the Orb is has been retitled "Mind Read Orb" and allows the entering player to look at the hand of another one
* The Harp: replaced with the Mind Control Orb (see above; The Harp could create a loop and lock somebody in place pernamently)
* Magical Vortex (red teleport): now requires 1 coin to activate. This prevents the 'teleport/coin' evil combo which has quickly became the gamebreaker in our early games
* Map Chamber: take the chamber from the bank, not a player (having seen a teleport combo with this, and one player raping the hands of all others, this had to be addressed)
* Dragon's Bargain: lose a tile of your choice from your hand (to balance the new Map Chamber)
* Friendly Visit: I don't play with it because I find it illogical (person-teleport?)
* Well: spend one coin, roll a die: 1-3 nothing, 4-get your coin back, 5-get two coins, 6-teleport to a another well square of your choice.

I am also tweaking the character abilities, but the below has not been perfected (i.e. I have not played enough with those to be sure they are balanced). The idea is to allow players to use their abilities more than once, and to balance it by having them to pay gold for their use.

Wizard:
* 2 coins: move illegally one space in any direction
* 4 coins: teleport

Thief:
* free: steal a coin from a character standing in your square. You can't move this turn; this can't be used if you have moved.
* 1 coin: exchange for a key token
* 2 coins: exchange your remaining coins with those of a character standing in your square. You can't move this turn; this can't be used if you have moved.

Amazon:
* 1 coin: move an extra square; skip the action on the square you pass. Use only once per round.
* 2 coins: move an extra square; skip the action on the square you pass. Can be used during any players turn, but if you use it not during yours skip the action of the square you pass AND the square you end up at.

Dwarf:
* free: exchange two tiles for a new set from of map tiles from the bank. You can't move this turn; this can't be used if you have moved.
* 2 coins: exchange your entire hand for a new set of map tiles from the bank. You can't move this turn; this can't be used if you have moved.

Knight:
* free, permanent: you can never be stolen coins from. To avoid penalizing players to your left and right, they 'steal a coin from a player on your left or right' skip you and steal from the person next to you. If you are taken by the Drakon and reset to the beginning you can keep half of your coins, rounded down.

Barbarian:
* free: push somebody, they have to move legally and can chose where but don't get to execute the action of the tile they enter.
* 1 coin: after the push, you can steal a map from them (as in the old Map Chamber) OR two coins

Thread: Re: A new end game for Drakon

alcazar84 — 2007-11-07T15:35:01+00:00

I am most fond of the "escape" variant. After acquiring the necessary amount of gold (I've always played 4), the character needs to escape from the dungeon by moving to a key or vortex tile. It adds a few turns to the game, allowing other players to try to steal gold from the leading player, provided he does not have the coin-key or coin-vortex combo going. In those cases, it is really hard to stop the player from winning unless the coin tile is rotated or one of the tiles is destroyed or moved.

Thread: Re: Drakon online?

alcazar84 — 2007-11-07T15:27:56+00:00

Sadly, yes it is true, GameTableOnline (http://www.gametableonline.com) no longer has Drakon. Their license with Fantasy Flight Games expired, and FFG did not want to renew it. That's OK, though, GTO has plenty of other games online to play.

- Scott

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Typse2Fsat — 2007-10-10T00:32:41+00:00

Drakon 1st Edition - Hero Ability Counters, front and back

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Typse2Fsat — 2007-10-09T23:18:19+00:00

Drakon 1st Edition - Rules Cover

Thread: This Could Get Ugly

El Hidalgo — 2007-06-24T09:06:03+00:00

Drakon is a Tile Laying game from Fantasy Flight. Up to six players can play this game and the Dungeon Dwelling Dragon is, unfortunately, a mere figurehead in the game.

GAME COMPONENTS
Tiles
The tiles are on thick stock and well drawn. All tile backs have a picture of the sleeping dragon. Tile faces contain dungeon rooms with doors and arrows, as well as symbols in the center of some that allow players landing on those tiles to take certain actions.

Player Pieces and Markers
Player pieces and markers are also depicted on thick card stock. There are two for each character. One to put on a stand and move around the tiles on the gaming table, and the other to indicate when that player has used his special ability.

Gold Tokens
Ahhh! What would dungeon crawling be without gold!? There are a number of gold tokens each player will try to accumulate in order to win the game.

Rule Book/Page
The rule book comes in six different languages...but no Japanese! Oh well! The good news is that the rules all fit on one standard page.

GAME PLAY
The objective is simple. Be the first player to accumulate five gold tokens and you win the game.

Players can do one of two things. Either you can move your playing piece...OR...you can lay down a tile. Never both!

All players start in the middle of the dungeon with the sleeping dragon. It is our job to sneak away...and at least have five gold to show for our efforts!

Players get four tiles. If a tile is played, they draw up to four before the turn passes on to the next player. One can move their piece and thus not play a tile. The only way to get rid of tiles is to play them. No discards!

Tiles are placed so that arrows can lead into rooms or out of rooms. Arrows can never be pointed tip to tip with each other. Players can only enter other chambers or exit their own chamber by following the arrows on their present tiles

Thats it!

CADILLAC FEATURES
What makes this game move up to a strategic level are the icons on the tiles. Some tiles have no icons. But then there are these...

Magic Portal
You can switch a played tile with one of yours

Wishing Well
One of your gold is discarded to the Dragons Hoard. No chance of recovery.

Destroy a Chamber
Discard a tile of your choice and place it at the bottom of the draw pile.

Drakons Due
Drop one of your coins on the dragons lair. If you pass through the start chamber you can try to pick it up.

Map Chamber
Remove a tile from your opponents hand. You get one extra for the rest of the game and they get one less...ouch!

Find Gold
You get to pick up a gold token!

Heavy Gale
Land on this tile and you have to move three more tiles in any legal direction!

Strong Wind
Land on this tile and you have to move two more tiles in any legal direction.

Mind Control
Land on this and you get to move your opponents one tile in any legal direction.

Master Key
On the next turn the player may exit in any direction irrespective of the directions of arrows on the tiles

Rotate a Chamber
The player may rotate a chamber of their own choosing in any legal direction.

Steal a Coin
This tile allows the player to steal a coin from the player to their left or the player to their right. There are two different symbols for each direction to steal from.

Magical Vortex
This allows a player to go to any tile on the gaming area.

COMMENTS

This game is best played with three or more players. It is not interesting at all as a two player game. With three players it gets a bit more cut throat. With four...well I can only imagine but would like to get some more people in on it.

It is not too difficult to lay down tiles to create a gold pick up loop. That is where using a Gold Chamber with Magical Vortex or Heavy Gale would allow a player to gain a coin on each turn in a quick and easy manner. This is where Stealing a coin tiles, Destroy Chamber Tiles, Mind Control, and Rotate tiles all come in handy. Just because you are no where near the gold it does not mean you cannot use the magic of the dungeon to pilfer your share.

The Basic game does not use any special abilities. In a variant the players all get one special ability that they can use only once in the game.

I give this game good marks. A 6 or 7. Simple, quick, fun, involving enough thought and planning with the tile laying mechanic to make it challenging. We will be coming back to this one soon. Hopefully with more players. Six dungeon crawlers could make getting five coins a Herculean task!!! It could get ugly! Give it a try! You will like it!

Thread: Request: 2nd edition characters scan

XehutL — 2006-10-21T20:22:23+00:00

Hallo,

could someone scan all the characters (both figures and markers) from the 2nd edition and post them here on BGG as an image, please?
I'm slightly disapointed with that "new" ability marker from 3rd edition and I cannot find those characters large enough for printing anywhere.

Thanks,
-X-

Thread: Re: A new end game for Drakon

kdiddy13 — 2006-09-01T20:58:29+00:00

That's an interesting idea. It may work well even with the new version.

I've heard the new version has upped the end number of gold to 10(?) and several different valued gold pieces, and as I understand those values are hidden, so you never really know how much any one player has, only your own worth.

Thread: A new end game for Drakon

Oldman20 — 2006-08-30T16:07:47+00:00

I enjoy the game Drakon very much. However, as been noted in many places, the end game can become problematic. As soon as one person gains four gold, then the game changes and everyone starts working together to stop that one player from getting their fifth gold. Eventually a second player gets four gold, and then the remaining players work to keep both players from getting gold. Finally the containment breaks down and someone finally gets their fifth gold and wins the game.

To avoid this scenario, several people have imposed a "no table talk conspiracy" rule. While this can solve the problem, it isn't very elegant, and people who can see what is going on often feel frustrated that they can't point out a brilliant strategy to the current player.

I have a different solution to the end game problem. At the beginning of the game make a special pool of gold which contains three pieces of gold for each player in the game (the number of 3 gold per player could be changed). Whenever a player gets a piece of gold, take it from this pool. If during play, a player loses gold (e.g. moving into the wishing well), do not place the gold back into this pool, but place it with all the rest of the gold counters. As soon as a player takes the last piece of gold from this special pool, then a new condition is imposed on all players. In order to play in any subsequent turn, a player must give a piece of gold to the dragon (i.e. discard it). When a player has no gold to give the dragon, then that player is out of the game. If a player lands on a "take a gold" tile, the player can take the gold from the regular gold stash. After five rounds of having the dragon take one gold from each player, the dragon ups the ante to two gold per turn per player. The last player standing wins.

This solves a couple of problems. First, there is no magic number of gold that a person gets that everyone has to stop at all costs. Second, even if you don't have the most gold, it isn't necessarily worth your while to stop someone from taking that last piece of gold. You can still survive for several turns and may be able to get your self into a get gold loop.

I know that a new edition of Drakon is coming out and perhaps this end game problem is solved. However, I thought that I would offer my two cents.

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

volnon — 2006-06-28T02:04:51+00:00

Fantastic! I have been looking for the 2nd edition, but will now stop and wait for the 3rd! Can't wait to get my hands on those new tiles and figures! sa-weet!

Thread: L.I.B.O. (Long Island Boardgaming Organization)

slyde — 2006-04-10T19:12:31+00:00

At a recent LIBO gameday, Anna Maria, C.K., Bill, Brian, and Andrew got together to play a game of Drakon. The group decided to pick their characters based solely on what the figures looked like. No one had any knowledge of what each character’s special power was until character selection was over. Anna Maria chose the Amazon, C.K. picked the Thief, Bill got the Dwarf, Brian chose the Wizard, and Andrew picked the Knight.

The early part of the game went relatively uneventfully, with not even one player grabbing any gold for the first 20 minutes of play. Every player was playing very defensively, trying to position themselves in a potentially profitable area, but waiting for others to make the first move to grab gold. At one point, Bill was the one to finally place the first gold tile into the dungeon, and was in a good position to quickly grab it, but the group worked together to thwart him, and was able to rotate the room, blocking Bill’s access to it.

Finally, Brian was the first player to manage to grab a gold piece, but C.K. quickly landed on a Steal tile and was able to whisk it away from Brian. C.K. managed to grab a second gold, followed by Brian grabbing one.

Gold started to come to the players quite fast after that, as players started throwing down their gold tiles, in an effort to not be left out of the ensuing gold rush. Bill and Andrew quickly grabbed one gold each. In a mad flurry of gold stealing, Anna Maria stole one gold from C.K., and Brian stole one from Bill.

Gold started to come even faster for some players. Thanks to some lucky tile deals, Andrew was able to play 4 gold tiles in a row, quickly moving to the head of the pack in points. His gold fortune could have taken him to his forth and fifth gold, if C.K. hadn’t rotated a key room in Andrew’s path, slowing down his plans considerably.

In the end, it was C.K.’s combination of being in an area of the board where he could steal from other players multiple times, plus stealing even more using his thief ability, than gave him his fifth gold, and the win.

The final score was C.K. 5, Brian, Anna Maria, Andrew 3, and Bill 2.

Thread: Drakon - Session Report

gschloesser — 2006-03-15T23:33:21+00:00

Lately, I’ve been attempting to bring older titles to the table, not only to share them with the group, but also to play them again myself. This week, Drakon and Nicht die Bohne were selected.

Since it has been quite some time since I last played Drakon, I’ll repeat my description of the game from my August 29, 2001 report:

The theme is familiar, but does have an interesting twist. A brave, yet foolhardy band of adventurers ventured into a vast cave to slay the dreaded dragon Drakon and confiscate its loot. The twist here is that the dragon proved superior and battered the party mercilessly. Bruised and bloodied, the party's fate was in the claws of the mighty beast. Drakon decided to toy with the hapless humans, offering them a challenge. The first to make his (or her) way through its vast lair and discover five gold coins would be granted freedom. The remainder of the party would be lunch. This immediately ends any thought of cooperation as each person is out to save his own hide!

The game mechanics and rules are extremely simple. It is essentially a tile-laying game, with each player attempting to create a short, quick path to coins while laying or destroying tiles to hinder the efforts of their opponents. First to secure five gold coins wins ... if you can trust a dragon!

Players all begin on the central lair tile and build the labyrinth from that point. Each player begins with a hand of five tiles and has two simple options on his turn:

1) Play a tile to the board; OR
2) Move his pawn one space.

The tiles are the central focus of the game. When tiles are placed onto the board, they must be placed adjacent to a previously laid tile. Plus, there are direction arrows on the tiles which must be followed. These arrows cause all sorts of placement problems, giving the game the puzzle-like feel it possesses.

Moving onto a tile triggers whatever action is depicted upon it. There are a large variety of actions, including:

Gold Coin: Find a coin! Take a coin from the general supply.

Drakon's Due: Drakon demands a coin. You must pay a coin into his central lair.

Destruction: Destroy a vacant tile of your choice. This is nasty and can break up a nice 'coin route' that an opponent has established.

Portal: Jump your pawn to any other tile. VERY powerful.

Strong Wind: The players next move pushes him two spaces as opposed to the normal one space. This can be beneficial, or harmful, depending upon where it is located.

Gale: Same as above, but the pawn is moved three spaces.

Steal a Coin: Steal a coin from the player on your left or right, depending upon the tile.

Switch Tile: Switch a tile on the board with one from your hand.

Rotate Tile: Change the orientation of one of the tiles on the board. This, too, can cause some chaos if it forces players to move in alternative directions.

Mind Control: Move an opponent's pawn one space. This is usually cruel, cruel, cruel!

There are a few others, but you get the idea. As mentioned, the general idea is to lay a path of tiles which will be beneficial to you. The danger, of course, is that if it is beneficial to you, it will most likely assist your opponents, too. So, I've found it wise to attempt to strike out on your own and build a path. Otherwise, you will find your opponents taking advantage of the tile-laying work you have performed.

A player cannot blindly pursue his own objective, however. One must constantly keep a wary eye on his opponents and gauge just how close they are to victory. Often, players are forced to temporarily abandon their quest in order to erect obstacles in the path of an opponent who is close to victory. It can sometimes be a tough choice: "Do I go ahead and move onto the coin tile and hope that Jim will place a tile to stop Erin, or do I go ahead and place this 'Drakon's Due' tile next to Erin's location?"

There has been considerable discussion and debate on just how much 'table-talk' is allowed during this game. I'm of the opinion that players should not be allowed to openly conspire and plan methods in which to 'get' a particular person. Otherwise, the game can quickly degenerate into a "me against everyone else" scenario, vastly prolonging the game and draining it of much of the fun. This also opens up the very real possibility of having one player dominate the game's discussion, flow and progress, which is never a pretty thing.

I do believe it is quite acceptable to point out such things as "Jim will get his fifth coin on his next turn if we don't stop him!". But to take it further and allow players to openly discuss and plan on how to stop Jim steps over the boundary. It is probably best to establish the guidelines for this before the game begins so there are no clashes or conflicts later.

The game is quite tense, with several players usually approaching victory, only to have it snatched from their grasp by their opponents. It can be frustrating, but in a fun sort of way. I find the game quite challenging. Using the restrictions on 'open conspiring' I discussed above, the game can usually be played to completion in 30 - 45 minutes, which is just about perfect for this type of game. There are advanced rules which give each character a special power, but I have yet to play using these rules.

**

Well, I can strike that last sentence, as I’ve now played several times using the advanced rules. Truthfully, they aren’t so “advanced”, as they are actually quite simple. They also don’t add much to the game, so I can take ‘em or leave ‘em.

Rhonda, Gail, Alison, Paul and I scurried through the dragon’s lair, hoping to be the first to find five coins and bribe our way to freedom. Rhonda, Alison and I headed north, while Gail and Paul sought coins to the east. Paul seemed to have a handful of “coin” tiles, but we were able to throw obstacles in his path, and remove a few of those tiles.

Our group developed a loop which would enable us to scoop several coins, but it was foiled by our opponents. However, I used a well-placed theft tile to steal two coins from Paul, and also managed to use the gale to blow myself onto a teleport tile. My opponents were unable to find the right combination to foil my plans, so I was able to teleport to a coin tile and collect my fifth coin. Freedom was mine!

Finals: Greg 5, Alison 4, Rhonda 3, Paul 3, Gail 2

Ratings: All 6’s

Thread: Drakon online?

kabrush — 2006-03-12T22:32:55+00:00

Is Drakon no longer available at Games Table? Pity if that's true, as I've just discovered it was on Games Table (or that there was such a thing as Games Table). Really like this game.

Thread: Dungeon-bashing turned on it's head.

The Bellman — 2006-02-24T23:13:53+00:00

In Drakon, the adventurer’s worst nightmare has happened; you *used* to be a cohesive group of level-headed dungeon-delvers. But then the dragon whose hoard you were hoping to plunder woke up, captured the whole lot of you, and decided to play a fun little game. The first adventurer to wander Drakon’s dungeon and collect five gold pieces goes free; the others become lunch.

So the idea is to explore the maze, gather the gold and screw over the other players. A nice and compact little theme for a pretty decent game.

The game comes with a little marker for each player, a pile of cardboard gold markers, and a slew of room tiles. At the start of the game, each player’s marker is placed on the Start tile (with a picture of Drakon herself on it).

Each player receives a ‘hand’ of four tiles with which to build the maze. On a player’s turn, he may either lay a tile, or move his marker to an adjacent tile.

Each tile has up to four (and may have none whatsoever) exits, marked by arrows pointing outward from the edge of the tile. When placing a tile, players are not allowed to place it so that there are two arrows pointing toward each other, and it must join up with an already placed tile, but otherwise are unrestricted. If a player lays a tile, he picks another from the face down pile to bring his hand back up to four.

Movement is simply a case of moving your adventurer along one of the arrows into an adjacent tile. Note that as no two arrows are allowed to point at each other, you will be (generally) unable to move back the way you have come. This is Very Important.

Finally, most of the rooms have a special symbol on them, and any adventurers entering such a room have to follow the symbol’s instructions. These range from the simple (gain one gold) to the useful (on next move teleport to any tile in play) to the annoying (move one opponent to any legal tile) to the drastic (destroy any unoccupied tile) to the devious (steal one gold from the player on your left (or right)). It is these symbols which add the level of interaction that makes the game worth playing.

That, very basically, is the game. You keep laying tiles and moving adventurers until one of the players has amassed five gold pieces, and that player wins. Of course, having three or four gold pieces usually draws the wrath and ire of the other players, who then do their best to stop you from gathering any more.

Players can work together to prevent someone from achieving a goal. For example, being able to lay a tile *or* move can be a hindrance, but if I lay a ‘Destroy any unoccupied tile’ tile next to your adventurer, you can move into it to destroy that ‘Gain one gold’ tile that the next guy (with four gold) was going to move into to win the game.

Of course, it is more devious than that, because you have then made a move that you may not have wanted to, and gone wildly off course (I, of course, knew this, which is why I put the tile next to you in the first place – it screws up the leader, and inconveniences you at the same time). So, while useful, alliances do not last very long at all.

There is also an advanced version of the game, where each adventurer gets one special ability that they can use once during the game (the wizard, for example, can move through one wall, or against one arrow once in the game). I have never played this version myself, but can see the possibilities for added mayhem (without becoming too chaotic).

The game plays quickly, and is very easy to learn. It is quite enjoyable on the whole, with excruciating strategies and damning cabals rising and falling throughout. But...

The production values are, whilst sturdy, a bitch to assemble. The room tiles are well and truly stuck to the sprues, and a craft knife is a necessity to get the blasted things off without ripping the cardboard. The character markers need to be pushed into clear plastic bases slightly too small, so bending and ripping the bottom of the markers is pretty unavoidable (in trying to avoid just this I managed to snap one of the bases in half – and having glued it all back together, it is no longer clear).

The artwork is rather good though, with the exception that the Magical Vortex tiles and the Gold Piece tiles can easily be confused with a quick glance. Otherwise it all looks quite impressive, with very different character art (you get a Wizard, a Barbarian, a Thief, a Dwarf, a Knight and an Amazon), all with different coloured backgrounds.

My only other moan is that it … well … it doesn’t *feel* as though we are in a dungeon! I’m not exactly sure if I can put my finger on it, but it feels … *false*, somehow.

Maybe it is the way that something you do over *here* can affect a room way over *there*, or maybe it is that all the rooms are exactly the same size. But whatever it is, I never get the feeling of crawling through a wide maze desperately searching for gold.

However, as a game it succeeds quite well, even if the theme isn’t an exact match. I do recommend the game for a bit of a filler or a break from your regular games, as it is quick and easy. But I don’t think it will be too long before the novelty wears off and it is resigned to the back of the games cupboard...

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

zombiegod — 2006-02-18T15:42:53+00:00

Sold the 2nd Edition yesterday on eBay with expansion. Got a lovely space waiting for the 3rd Edition.

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

Aljovin — 2006-02-18T15:39:18+00:00

It's OOP? I wanted to buy it! What? New edition? With plastic minis? Can I pre-order? Any idea on when it will come out?

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

Colors — 2006-02-05T06:12:29+00:00

Can't Wait.

::Jumps up and Down cheering!::

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

zombiegod — 2006-01-31T11:03:42+00:00

Taken from FFG RANTS:

Today, I have an extra special treat. Well, actually, I don’t know if it’s extra special, but it’s special, anyway. Some of you might be familiar with a little game of ours called Drakon. Well, over the past month, we’ve revisited that beloved classic and given it a significant facelift. John Goodenough is the developer on the project, so, I’ll leave it to him to tell you about some of the new optional game variants we’ve added. I, however, will tell you about all the cool new goodies! First and foremost, the new edition of Drakon will include new plastic figures. Yes, now Drakon’s menacing form can lumber through your dungeon in three dimensions, with dreams of devouring your beautifully sculpted avatar dancing through her head. Second, the new edition will also include larger tiles! The new tiles will be 2.5x2.5 inches compared to the old tiles which were a miniscule 2x2. Of course, the tiles will feature new dungeon designs created by yours truly and redesigned icons by the great sage of FFG graphic designers, Brian Schomburg.

So it sounds like the Drakon from the expansion IS included

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

mangler103 — 2006-01-31T01:49:46+00:00

I got the 1st edition through trade, but I'd definitely consider this one as well.

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

kdiddy13 — 2006-01-31T01:43:30+00:00

I cannot wait. I've been waiting for this edition, putting off buying the older editions just for this one.... Sweet.

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

zombiegod — 2006-01-28T12:59:51+00:00

Taken from FFG - RANTS:

Some of the games FFG is designing this year will be simultaniously printed internationally. One of these games that I am excited about is the new edition of Drakon. We are just getting the new cover art in right now. This successful Silver Line game has been out of print for quite awhile and we get requests for it all the time. Our new edition will be released in the same sized box as our recent edition of Through the Desert (if you’re familiar with it). There are more tiles than in the original game and new art. Most importantly we will be putting plastic figures in the new edition. It is going to be a real nice package.

Thread: Re: New Edition Forthcoming

zombiegod — 2006-01-28T10:36:36+00:00

I've had both editions. I upped to the 2nd Edition so that I could purchase the expansion pack. With this 3d Edition release I am still interested.

The plastic figures I imagine will be in the same great league as the ones from Doom and Descent.

I am a bit disappointed that I will be losing the ability to use the expansion pack. But I hope that it will either be included as standard (more tiles!?) or will be released at a later date.

Roll on!

Thread: Re: List of Components?

echdareez — 2006-01-28T06:15:28+00:00

Hi there,

Taken from : http://www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/drakon.htm
According to this, there should be 64 tiles in the base set. No further details unfortunately but perhaps it'll be of any help.

goodluck,
/dimi

Thread: New Edition Forthcoming

anarchy — 2006-01-28T05:58:30+00:00

According to the Rants page at FFG, there is a new edition coming out in 2006. Larger box, larger and/or more tiles and plastic figures.

Thread: Re: List of Components?

Kobra1 — 2005-12-24T02:18:02+00:00

I want to split it down to just the main game, whats the components of that?

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

Bandit Ripshawd — 2005-09-06T02:48:37+00:00

This was an easy one...

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

Stevve15 — 2005-09-06T01:37:39+00:00

Checking in.. since I started I might as well finish the race

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

richtoosoon — 2005-09-05T15:35:07+00:00

I'm here!

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

xandryyte — 2005-09-05T15:34:48+00:00

Checking in

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

schenker — 2005-09-05T15:32:26+00:00

Hello!

Thread: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

snipy3 — 2005-09-05T15:17:52+00:00

Please don’t post here if you are not one of the competitors. Moderators, please don’t remove this thread for the sake of the contestants until they complete the first leg of this race. I will post telling you when the leg is over, which won't be long. Thank you.

Clue:
Find out which BGG user has contributed the most session reports to Board Game Geek. Use his first name in the search bar, and the game that comes up first alphabetically will be the page with your next clue. Don’t forget to check in here so I know you have read this clue.

The competitors are:
Bandit Ripshawd
Richtoosoon
Scfishman
Schenker
Stevve15
Xandryyte

Thread: Re: Drakon is Gra Roku 2004 in Poland!

uiek — 2005-06-14T09:57:46+00:00

here You can read some more informations in English
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/PDF/grarokupress.pdf

Thread: Drakon is Gra Roku 2004 in Poland!

uiek — 2005-06-12T09:01:55+00:00

I am happy to announce that players in Poland have decided to give Drakon the name of Gra Roku 2004 (Game of the year 2004).
They did it in an internet election which was organised by www.gry-planszowe.pl

Official site of the prize -> www.nagroda.gry-planszowe.pl

Thread: Re:List of Components?

tpancoast — 2005-04-13T23:25:52+00:00

Thanks guys. It helped me too.

Thread: Re:List of Components?

Alashar — 2005-03-30T05:59:17+00:00

That should do it. All present and accounted for. ''

It's great to have your list posted here. It should help out anybody else in my predicament. ''

Thanks for the effort to post it. It's much appreciated.

Thread: Session Report

latindog — 2005-03-14T04:59:53+00:00

I recently had the opportunity to play this game with 3 other members of LIBO, the Long Island Boardgaming Organization, John, Chris and Debbie. We all began the game by adding empty or relatively useless rooms to the accessible parts of the dungeon and then started placing valuable tiles in inaccessible areas that were adjacent to the tiles but lacked entrances. I had a few valuable tiles in my hand (a gold tile, a map tile and a Vortex tile that enabled me to go anywhere) so I decided to strike out on my own and build up some distance from the others. I then played my valuable cards in succession, taking a gold, stealing a gold tile from Chris through the map and ultimately taking two more gold coins while still intending to play the Vortex to teleport over to a gold laden portion of the board where Chris and Debbie were located. Unfortuately, Debbie had used her thieving power on Chris to take a gold, had earned a few gold by following in his three card gold path and ultimately earned her fifth and final gold by landing on a steal a gold tile and taking another gold from Chris.

Thread: Re:List of Components?

zombiegod — 2005-02-18T14:23:37+00:00

Hi,

I have no chance of splitting the components back down into base & expansion sets. So here is what you should have for Drakon base game & Expansion 1:

32 Gold Tokens

x1 drakon Tile
x3 Magical Vortex
x3 Destroy a Chamber
x3 Magical Shift
x3 Map Chamber
x3 Steal a Coin - Right
x3 Steal a Coin - Left
x3 Drakon's Due
x5 Empty (1 Exit)
x8 Empty (2 Adjacent Exits)
x5 Empty (2 Opposite Exits)
x4 Empty (3 Exits)
x3 Master Key
x5 Gold (1 Exit)
x5 Gold (2 Opposite Exits)
x2 Gold (3 Exits)
x6 Gold (2 Adjacent Exits)
x2 Double Gold
x3 Strong Wind
x3 Heavy Gale
x3 Wishing Well
x3 Mind Control Orb
x3 Rotate a Chamber
x2 Escape
x4 Secret Passage
x2 Drakon's Bargain
x4 Drakon Moves
x2 Friendly Visit
x2 The Void
X2 Base Structure
x2 Locked Chest
x2 Magic Harp
x2 Tornado
x2 Floating Room
x2 Small Room
x2 Moving Chambers

Hope this helps,
Rob.

Thread: List of Components?

Alashar — 2005-02-18T09:20:28+00:00

I picked up a used copy of this and the expansion recently, and have been attempting to verify the contents of the games. Alas! the rules don't specify the number of components!! '' I've checked through every article and link on the Geek, and don't see them spelled out anywhere. ''
My primary concern is the number of tiles, as the coins and character pieces seem to all be there. For the main game, for most of the chamber tiles, I have 3 of each, the exceptions being "Find a Gold" with 10, and the starting tile, which just has 1, naturally. Of the blank chambers, I have 3 with 1 exit only, 9 with 2 exits, and 2 with 3 exits.
For the expansion, most of the new special chambers came with 2 for each, the exceptions being "Secret Passage" and "Drakon Moves", which both came with 4. Of the additional blank chambers, I have 2 with 1 exit only, 4 with 2 exits, and 2 with 3 exits. Lastly, there are an additional 8 "Find a Gold" tiles. I have more confidence that my expansion is complete because the rule book at least specifies that there are 48 tiles included, which is what I count.
If there are any Drakon aficionados around who know it well, it would be great to have this count verified. I suppose a List of Components/Tiles might be helpful to other geeks down the road. ''
Hey, we need a dragon icon in our Smilies!!!

Thread: User Review

captkayoss — 2004-10-22T15:25:59+00:00

Introduction

Trapped in the dragon’s lair with fellow adventurers, only one can escape – the first to collect five gold coins; the losers become the dragon’s dinner.

Game Play and Rules

Drakon is a very simple dungeon crawl, which in spite of its dungeon crawl theme, actually is more reminiscent of a tile laying racing game. The rules are easily mastered, even by the most novice gamers. Each player begins the game with a “hand” of four tiles; these tiles will be used to create the game board and they have arrows, doors, and special icons which dictate play. On his turn a player may either place a tile and then draw another, or move his hero one space and take any action (if required) on the tile. There are placement rules for the tiles, which are likewise simple: a tile must be placed adjacent to another tile already in play, and arrows on the tiles may not be situated in such a way that two arrows are facing each other. When moving, heroes may not move “against” the direction of the arrows. It’s that easy!

An optional rule allows players’ heroes variable powers.

The game play is fast, casual and almost always cutthroat, though styles tend to vary among players. Some prefer to sit back allowing the map to unfold before moving, while others tend to branch of to their own section and create a “scoring loop” which will propel them to victory. There’s not a lot of deep thought or strategy required, however there are several tactics available.

This is a difficult game with which to draw comparisons. It is as light as typical filler, but usually longer. It’s themed as a dungeon crawl but there is no combat. What can be said of it is this: it is fun, intuitive, and easy to play with almost any age group and it is easy concoct house rules to make this more to your liking.

Summary

This is a fun game to play with children because it is easy to pick up and play, with minimal rules to remember. Nobody will accuse this of being a brain burner, but there is enough happening here to make it enjoyable to play with an adult group as well.

Physical quality and value rating: 7. Like so many of Fantasy Flight’s Silver Line Games, this was designed to be of reasonable quality and low price. While I can’t yell “outstanding,” I certainly don’t find fault either. It is probably worthy of note here that I have the second edition, which is “compatible” with the expansion.

Game Play rating: 6. This may seem contradictory, but this is one of the “friendliest” screw your neighbor games that I’ve played. This rating isn’t a knock, but for a cut-throat game, it doesn’t produce the kind of tension that other cut-throat game do. This can be viewed as good or bad, depending on your group.

Overall tilt: This is a good game, tons of fun! One of the “problems” is the possibilities of one player laying out endless loops, but even that can be overcome by savvy players. This game can be improved in my opinion with the expansion and one or two of the house rule found in the “Drakon freebies” link here on the ‘Geek.

Thread: Quick Comments

shadowdf47 — 2004-09-14T03:42:58+00:00

This has been an old favorite of mine. It is a fun little dungeon crawl game. I have the old first edition, so I don't know if there were changes in second edition. But basically, you play an adventurer trying to collect 5 gold before the dragon eats you. The dungeon is build by tiles you have in your hand (3 to start). On your turn you have the choice to either lay a tile, adding to the dungeon, or moving. When you move into a room there will ususally be a special effect: destroy another room, take a gold, steal a gold, etc.) It's quick and a lot of fun. The advanced rules allow for each charater to have a different power. While there are definitely powers that can be used more often, the other powers have a bigger effect. The game is good with or without the powers. One of my all-time fav filler games.

Thread: Session Report

snipy3 — 2004-07-25T22:17:39+00:00

After playing LIFE (which by the way was not my pick) I selected Drakon. My sister had never played before, but she caught on within four turns. She went one way, I went the other, but I ended up using a Magic Vortex to move my character to one of her coin spaces. She then destroyed a chamber, leaving half of the dungeon empty and the other half with just us. The game dragged on for about another 20 minutes, with tiles laying everywhere. I finally got a break and when I forced her to move to the heavy gale space she tried to set it up so she would get her fifth coin. I got lucky and landed on rotate a chamber and she ended up going off into several blank spaces. I landed on 2 more coin spaces in a row to come back and win.

Aaron - 5
Jessica - 4

Thread: Session Report

snipy3 — 2004-07-25T22:17:39+00:00

We played a series of 4 Drakon games this afternoon as we waited for the mail to come (you see, we sent our Gamecube in to be fixed using Best Buy's no hassle program, we were supposed to get it within 7-10 days but now it's been two months and they said it would arrive today, but it didn't). The first game went to me thanks to a lucky placement of two coins spaces and a steal space linked to the start in a circle, so I continually walked around that and won 5-3. The next game was all me thanks to a line of coin spaces and steal spaces: 5-0. Logan placed a magical vortex right next to a coin space in game 3 and continued to collect until he won 5-0. The final game was our closest, with the game playing out like it would take forever until I placed a key space right next to a coin that would've otherwise taken forever to get to: 5-3.

Total Coins:
Aaron - 15
Logan - 11

Total Wins:
Aaron - 3
Logan - 1

Thread: Session Report

dwarf — 2004-07-21T19:19:43+00:00

After E&T, Chad, Rami and me played Drakon. While not familiar with the tiles since it was my first game, I did my best to figure what to do with my tiles.

Chad took an early lead in gold coins with 2, Rami had one, and I had none.

When Rami got his 2nd gold, I stole it from him. Than in turn Chad stole the coin from me on his turn for his 3rd coin of the game. We all laughed about that move.

I had really no clue what what best. Some tiles are more powerful than other. Hard to tell which ones are better than others in a first game.

Chad won with 5 coins, Rami had 2 and I finished with 1.

Thread: User Review

JayHuber — 2004-06-06T17:37:51+00:00

I played my frist game of Drakon on New Year's Eve. It is now June 6th, and I have played it well over 100 times. How is this possible? I got my co-workers hooked and we play virtually every day over lunch. I also got my family hooked, and we sometimes get together and play as many as 5 or 6 games in an evening. All told, I have played Drakon with 14 people in the last 5 months, and everybody loves it.

What is so special about Drakon? For starters, it offers a wonderful balance of luck and strategy. Enough luck that it is never the same game twice; yet enough strategy that it is as deep as chess.

Another factor is that the game is very adaptable. Short on time? Play to 5 gold. In the mood for a longer game? Play to 10. This just scratches the surface. We have invented dozens of variations, and this keeps the game fresh. I will document these separately, but I cannot resist at least mentioning the most important one: teams. The idea is to have two teams (ideally consisting of two players, but two teams of three works fine if you have enough time on your hands). By having two teams, you avoid the frustrating dynamic that emerges when there are 3 or more players struggling to get the gold.

The Expansion #1 (the only expansion to date) is well worth the money. In fact, I would say that it is the only way to play Drakon. It offers a collection of new tiles that add a tremendous boost in strategy and fun. Plus, it brings Drakon onto the board, chasing players through the dungeon. After playing with the expansion, I cannot imagine playing the base game alone.

The character abilities are an excellent touch to the game, but we normally omit these in order to keep games shorter. Two of the characters, Wizard and Amazon, have special movement abilities that offer additional choices at every move. This is just one more thing for everyone to think about when deciding what to do on their turn. As I mentioned before, Drakon is as deep as chess, and over lunch, there is no need to make it any deeper Just this week, we thought of a way to play with character abilities without bogging down every turn: secret abilities. Everyone draws a character token from a hat and keeps it secret. Since you don't know who has what ability (until they use it, obviously), or even which abilities are in the game (with 5 or fewer players), you don't really take the abilities into account when looking ahead in the game (except for your own ability). Of course, as players do reveal their abilities, it can often come as a surprise.

I guess I've gone off on another tangent about how we play Drakon. Let me focus on the game itself. Players have a secret hand of tiles (which are dungeon rooms), and on their turn they may either lay a tile (and replace it), or move their hero. The goal is to be the first one to obtain a certain number of gold coins. You get coins from specially marked rooms. Some rooms are empty, but most have some sort of effect. Besides coins, there are rooms to steal coins (or tiles) from other players, teleport, move other heros, destroy rooms, rotate rooms, switch rooms, buy rooms off the board and into your hand, move more spaces than normal, etc. What keeps Drakon fun after 100 games is that the dungeons are always different, and always surprising. Just when you thought you had a great thing going, an opponent plays a Magical Harp (which forces you to move onto it, most likely taking you in a direction you don't want to go). But then you might use the Escape Tile (which lets you move onto it as you place it) to jump back into your "Loop of Awesomeness".

Allow me to share some tips on playing the game. This is by no means a through list, just some things that occur to me right now...

1) The Steal Left / Steal Right chambers are among the most powerful, as they not only give you a gold, but also take one away from an opponent.

2) The Magical Shift and Magical Harp are also very powerful.

3) The Rotate Chamber is easy for beginners to overlook, but experienced players know to fear its effects.

4) The Magical Vortex is great, but is vulnerable to the Mind Orb. The Master Key is less powerful, but less vulnerable to the Mind Orb.

5) It is important to be the first player to place the Drakon Moves tile, as this allows you to position the dragon on any unoccupied room.

6) It is sometimes helpful to move into the dragon - as a way of teleporting yourself back to the Start Chamber (especially when you don't yet have any gold).

7) Don't move Drakon onto another player until you consider the implications of sending them back to the Start Chamber.

8) If you do want to attack another player with Drakon, see if you can force the other player to take a turn or two first. For example, let's say I'm on a room with only one arrow pointing out. Rather than sending Drakon into my room, send her into the next room - that way I have to waste a turn moving my hero onto Drakon.

9) It is often a good idea to play a blank tile in the path of an opponent. This keeps them busy, prevents them from building cycles, and hopefully gets a better tile into your hand.

10) A hand with all good tiles is a liability - as it is ofen necessary to place a tile in your opponent's path, so as to prevent them from building a cycle.

Let me wrap this up by saying that I cannot recommend Drakon highly enough. It is a wonderful strategy game with enough left to chance that it can be fun after playing many, many times.

Thread: Re:About the telepotals

zombiegod — 2004-03-25T15:06:50+00:00

Curtis Anderson (#31397),

That's just plain nasty, I love it

Thread: Re:About the telepotals

Curtis Anderson — 2004-03-25T00:15:31+00:00

RogMcK (#31331),
But it's really so much fun to get to the mind-control orb when an opponent's standing on a teleportal.

Thread: Re:About the telepotals

zombiegod — 2004-03-24T17:01:52+00:00

RogMcK wrote:
I have one problem with it, though. The teleportals (or whatever they are called) seem very cheap, as they allow a player to jump into another player's room sequence.

I wouldn't call it a problem. The Teleport Tiles don't always appear every game, and even when they do appear - jumping into another players tracks won't necessarily benefit you to the extent of surpassing his coin tally. Friendly Visit (expansion) works in almost the same manner, but likewise is far from cheap.

There's also the problem of a very cheap two-room sequence.

There are a number of ways to disrupt 'two room' coin collecting trails; Rotate chamber, Destroy Chamber, Mind Control, as well as the Drakon if using the expansion, it's no big deal if there are a few backstabbing players involved.