Game: Magic Realm

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

mcknight — 2008-12-01T17:18:32+00:00

instinctive wrote:
Okay, the strategy of sitting there and sniping the native hqs to get their stuff totally works. Final score of 24. But it does feel a bit broken...

Make sure that you click on "Watchful Natives." It was noticed by many Magic Realm players that the strategy of slaughtering the natives was just too easy (try the Witch King with "Fiery Blast" and "World Fades"!). After checking with Richard Hamblen, we discovered that he had intended to include something similar to "Watchful Natives" in the Second Edition rules, but it was cut out at the last minute. "Watchful Natives" doesn't make attacking the native HQ's impossible, but it is rarely cost-free.

Also use the "Extended Treachery," "Grudges and Gratitude," and "Extended Grudges and Gratitude" optional rules from the Third Edition. It can be a real problem to create enemies of a bunch of native groups that regenerate and make it dangerous to hang around the dwellings.

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

Stephan Valkyser — 2008-12-01T13:26:54+00:00

IMHO, winning solo games with all the characters (16 original plus about 48 custom-made characters on the Internet) requires first and foremost experience.
The learning curve in Magic Realm is definitely steep. When you are new to MR, there are many nunances that you just don't see after only two dozen games.
In addition to the documents mentioned by other geeks above, I would recommend the video character examples on

http://www.bookshelfgames.com/mr/mrchardir.html

Just stumbling into the realm and looking for loot is NOT the way to go in MR. Some characters never loot a treasure site in the whole game because they are making their points in other ways.

Speaking about points. I almost never put more than 1 VP in gold, because you usually are better off spending your money to hire natives. These help you to explore the map (if native HQ), kill monsters (fame and notoriety) and loot belongings (gold).

Regarding missions and campaigns:
It took me a while (and a helpful hint here on BGG) to realize that you should not try to fulfill these missions' targets at all. Just take the better relationship with certain groups to hire these natives. Then make your points somewhere else.

Returning to the importance of play experience. I have now played more than a 200 solo games on Realmspeak and my win-loss-record now is at about 50% (win = zero points or better) playing with 3rd edition rules, watchful natives and most of the optional and advanced rules. I have also died in less than 20% of those games, a figure I would have rated absolutely impossible a couple of months ago.

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

instinctive — 2008-12-01T09:11:02+00:00

Okay, the strategy of sitting there and sniping the native hqs to get their stuff totally works. Final score of 24. But it does feel a bit broken...

Thread: Re: Favourite item?

jerol — 2008-12-01T04:01:00+00:00

Toss up...

The Magic Wand is great for spell users. Lucky Charm and Timeless Jewel are the ones that are good for everyone.

I play the Witch King a lot and remember (fondly) one game where I had both the Magic Wand and the Lucky Charm...

Jerol

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

mcknight — 2008-12-01T01:59:29+00:00

instinctive wrote:
Uh... dumb question, but I have M4, my hirelings are move time 4, and we are threatened by giants with move time 5. I run - but my hirelings don't? Do hirelings never run? I can't find a relevant rule.

I thought the ones that could make it would go with me. Is there any way to make your hirelings run?

If you run away, you leave your hirelings to their fate fighting whatever you left in the clearing.

Third Edition Rule 8.3.7e: "Hirelings never do actions. They never run away."

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

Ronaldo — 2008-12-01T01:55:37+00:00

Hirelings don't run away. You would hope for 2 uneventful turns to have them get away from a combat.

I am not an expert by any means. I have won with the Elf twice but me forgetting rules may have involuntarily weighed in the results.

In any event, other spells you could consider are: Peace With Nature (crowd control), See Hidden Signs (extra Search) and Protection From Magic (Curse removal).

I hate taking Great Treasure as a VC as I consider it a bit of a lottery to get. Furthermore, some have a Fame or Notoriety penalty making it harder on the other VCs. If I get one, I just plan to sell it at some point.

One way I enjoyed playing with the Elf is to get the Medium Bow from the Woodfolk and then Hiring them. This makes it hard to run away but you can fight less numerous monsters well, including Armored T monsters. I just hang around the House, try to kill Soldier HQ to get his stuff while waiting for the Woodfolk.

These are just some basic things I tried. I am still a newbie. Hopefully, you will get some of the experts to give some efficient tips. Have fun!

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

instinctive — 2008-12-01T01:45:38+00:00

Uh... dumb question, but I have M4, my hirelings are move time 4, and we are threatened by giants with move time 5. I run - but my hirelings don't? Do hirelings never run? I can't find a relevant rule.

I thought the ones that could make it would go with me. Is there any way to make your hirelings run?

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

instinctive — 2008-12-01T01:12:12+00:00

Thanks I will read through these for some pointers.

For VCs it varies but for a character like the elf or druid it seems to be something like:
1 Great Treasure
0 Spells
1 Fame
1 Notoriety
2 Gold

The spells just slow me down too much - not only is it another thing to roll for with low probability, but you are likely to be cursed and that will cause all sorts of pain. Wither is a game-ender.

I pick 2 Gold because, hey, you can sell anything. But I'm going to start toning it down for the L weight guys since a lot of the pricey items weigh M or more.

Usual spells:

Druid - Guide Spider/Octopus, Remedy (usually)
Elf - Persuade, Control Bats

I'll see if the articles help. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

Ronaldo — 2008-11-30T22:50:02+00:00

What VCs and spells have you been choosing?

Thread: Re: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

mrb88 — 2008-11-30T22:46:57+00:00

Here's a list of Magic Realm session reports that include a successful solo game for each of the 16 characters.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/browse/boardgame/0?usern...

Thread: Arrgh! Solo MR is soooo hard!

instinctive — 2008-11-30T22:32:46+00:00

I am slowly working my way through the characters in alpha order. Finally got a win with the druid. Now the elf is taking forever. I think it's not the toon so much as the fact that it is solo!

With more toons on the board there would be more chits revealed and you could see where you should go faster. Solo, you must explore everything yourself. So often it seems I spend two thirds of the game just moving around trying to find something to loot.

Also: the missions, like War, Revolt, etc. Is it even possible to make use of these in a non-solo game? For solo play they are a joke - by the time I have that much notoriety the clock has run out. Do people play two-month games? I could see them being useful over a longer timespan, but 28 days just seems too short.

Mostly I find meeting the victory requirements to be well-nigh impossible in solo play as soon as you stray from the easiest characters. Is this everyone's experience? Or am I missing something?

Any advanced advice appreciated!

Thread: Re: Learning Magic Realm - A Success Story

grimstuff — 2008-11-30T20:38:26+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience in learning MR. I'm having a similar experience. I started reading the 3e rules and gave up about halfway--which, I think, is a rather noble effort. I now have MRIPE, which is certainly the way to go. I found the videos, however, to be extremely slow and frustrating to follow.

Unfortunately, my learning style dictates that I always have a grasp of the context of whatever I'm trying to learn. I have a hard time omitting peripheral details and focusing in exactly what I need to know in a given instance; focused versus holistic learning, if you will: It seems like it's best to learn MR in an incremental, focused fashion instead of trying to gain a holistic understanding of it for purposes of learning how to play.

Thread: Re: Print-run for Karim's MR Redesign?

grimstuff — 2008-11-30T20:31:21+00:00

Call me crazy, but (no offense to Karim here) I don't really care for the new design. The individual components look good by themselves, but when taken together as a game all spread out on a table, the overly-crisp digital renderings counteract an environmentally-rich fantasy aesthetic.

While I think printing a new version of the game is a worthy cause, I don't think this particular design is quite up to snuff when it comes to laying down $100, as most people here seem ready to do. Again, that's just me, and I'm clearly in the minority here, among those who have already expressed a preference. (Again, I wish no offense to Karim, and think his design is extraordinary for the purposes of individual prints.)

Thread: Re: Print-run for Karim's MR Redesign?

glynnyth — 2008-11-30T19:30:35+00:00

It's worth a 100$ for me too.

Thread: Re: Realmspeak - Does the automatic (random) tile set up not generate connected tiles?

nyhotep — 2008-11-29T12:31:52+00:00

The backside shouldn't count, as tiles don't flip in the early scenarios.

Woods and valleys should be able to trace at least 1 clearing to the borderlands, and the highest such clearing that actually does trace back is where the chapel (and other dwellings) should be placed.

If you genuinely have a random map that doesn't match the rules above, it might be a bug, worth reporting.

Thread: Re: Realmspeak - Does the automatic (random) tile set up not generate connected tiles?

SlyFrog — 2008-11-29T03:23:56+00:00

Colonelgordy wrote:
You should be able to get there, but may to find hidden paths or secret passages to do so.

On the backside of the tile? Because I am positive I can not get there, even with hidden paths, on the front side of the tiles.

Thread: Re: Realmspeak - Does the automatic (random) tile set up not generate connected tiles?

Colonelgordy — 2008-11-29T02:37:56+00:00

may *need* to

Thread: Re: Realmspeak - Does the automatic (random) tile set up not generate connected tiles?

Colonelgordy — 2008-11-29T02:37:18+00:00

You should be able to get there, but may to find hidden paths or secret passages to do so.

Thread: Realmspeak - Does the automatic (random) tile set up not generate connected tiles?

SlyFrog — 2008-11-28T19:35:57+00:00

I love the idea of a random setup for tiles done by the computer.

Having just done it, however, I noticed that it appears the Chapel is not reachable in the game (without perhaps flipping tiles over).

I thought everything had to be reachable in some way for a setup of tiles to be permissible?

(Yes, I am bitter that I have just received a curse and can not get to the Chapel. )

Thread: Re: Learning Magic Realm - A Success Story

Bubslug — 2008-11-26T01:35:48+00:00

Congratulations and welcome to a wonderful game! I enjoyed your article and would second just about everything you've recommended. The main point here is focus and persistence. This is not an "instant gratification" experience like a platform "twitch game," but a study that requires time and effort. You've applied both and it is a nice thing to see. For those wondering what all the fuss is about this game (brought wonderfully back to life via RealmSpeak), and if you like D&D-like fantasy dungeon crawls, you owe it to yourself to get on board!

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Grumpf — 2008-11-24T11:22:57+00:00

Stephan Valkyser wrote:
I found the strategy guide "Magic Realm Strategy for Beginners" by Steven McKnight VERY helpful - even more so the video character examples at Bookshelfgames.com.
Every character has its strengths and weaknesses and plays VERY different from the other characters.
Yep, i have found these really helpful documents. At the moment I am preparing small "character helpsheets" to print and hand out for the players. These will contain summarized and translated versions of the sections from Steven McKnights beginner guide.

for MR beeing more than just Hack 'n Slay. I really appreciate this, and hope my friends will come to love it as well.

Thread: Re: The perfect Pilgrim

Stephan Valkyser — 2008-11-23T23:21:09+00:00

My perfect Pilgrim happened in the certain game where he rode a Warhorse and wielded the Truesteel Sword ...

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Stephan Valkyser — 2008-11-23T23:19:21+00:00

I found the strategy guide "Magic Realm Strategy for Beginners" by Steven McKnight VERY helpful - even more so the video character examples at Bookshelfgames.com.
Every character has its strengths and weaknesses and plays VERY different from the other characters.
Magic Realm really isn't a typical D&D game - it is much more. There is so much strategy involved. If you just stumble into the realm without a plan right from the beginning it is almost impossible to get a victory (> 0 points).
Once again, do have a look at Steves Strategy guide or his Video example with the Amazon! He elaborately explains what he is trying to achieve with the character at hand. Recommended!

Thread: Learning Magic Realm - A Success Story

Ronaldo — 2008-11-23T05:09:05+00:00

I have read a few threads and posts of people voicing some difficulty and, on occasion, some frustration on having difficulty in getting through the rules and into the Magic Realm.

I suspect I could be considered a success story. Unhappily, I did not have anybody who could teach me the game. So, I took full advantage of the wealth of resources available and was able to learn Magic Realm and enjoy what I consider an amazing fantasy-themed boardgame.

I borrowed a copy from a friend in the early 90's and spent one afternoon reading part of the first edition rules just to put the game back in the box without any intention of opening it again.

In the winter of 2007 and decided to buy a copy. I had read some session reports and comments here and felt up to face the challenge. I printed "Magic Realm in Plain English" and "Third Edition Rules". I read MRIPE up to page 42 (up to the point before hiring and magic). I could not make any sense of the game. MRIPE does not have many pictures and examples and Third Edition has all the rules clumped, what is great to understand how they fit together but being newbie unfriendly. I traded the game away and was done with MR.

Later in the summer, I bought the game again. The Video Review was available and I decided to try once again. This is exactly what I needed. It is the missing link for MRIPE. The Video, essentially, makes MRIPE visual. It is the pictures and examples that I was missing.

After watching the videos, I read MRIPE once again up to page 42. I felt confident to play. But, even doing this, I was not ready yet. the characters are complex and it is almost impossible to understand their capabilities by just looking at them.

Still before playing, I made sure to read the "Magic Realm Strategy for Beginners". An article with a couple of pages, going over about 8 characters and their basic strategies.

After this, I got a few games with the Dwarf. This is by far the most newbie friendly character, at least, if you are playing solo. I played a few games with Victory Points placed only in Fame and Notoriety.

Those games were great because I only really needed to understand how to move, hide and fight. I could completely ignore trading, selling, buying, natives and spells.

Furthermore, the Dwarf only has 2 actions per day, making the game shorter. He can handle monsters well. Since I was not looking for treasures, I did not have to mess up the set up cards and I could get a lot of games with the same map and set up card, just rearranging the sound and warning chits on the map.

I tried the Woods Girl, White Knight and Amazon but none of those were as strong and easy as the Dwarf in solo play.

My now 6-year old enjoys helping me during the game and we have teamed up the Dwarf and White Knight a couple of times. No hiring, just the two of them slaying monsters. A lot of fun.

Around March of 2008, my basement flooded and I stopped playing Magic Realm until October. Around that time, I started reading the rules further and got familiar with hiring.

I then tried the White Knight hiring the Order. This is a very powerful combination. And, then the Black Knight hiring the Company. This is a fun, fun experience. Figuring out how to make the big army face the encounters, especially against natives, is challenging and rewarding.

I was still missing the spells. After reading further, I started slow. First the Pilgrim. This was a great game because there was hiring (O3), fighting monsters, natives and learning spells (I was lucky to find the Good Book). I did not get to cast my spell (Exorcize).

Since then I tried the Elf as a powerhouse, with the medium bow and the Woodfolk and, later, "stealthy" with Peace With Nature by himself. Then the Druid, frustrating. And lastly, the Witch with Absorb Essence - fun again.

Since I first got Magic Realm in February 2007, I have spent a fair amount of energy in learning and enjoying it. But, it has been worth every minute of it. I hope my story serves the purpose of being an example that learning Magic Realm is doable and worthwhile and mere mortals like myself can accomplish it.

A suggestion of how to learn Magic Realm:
- Read MRIPE up to page 42.
- Watch the Video Review.
- Read MRIPE again.
- Read Magic Realm Strategy for Beginners.
- Read Monsters And How to Kill Them.
- Play the Dwarf.

Other observations:
- You should have the "Third Edition Rules" because, ultimately, this the place that contains all the answers.
- "The Least You Need To Know To Play Magic Realm" is not a place to learn the game but is an excellent tool to use once you are playing the game to understand what happens when.
- After you got through the characters contained in the BSG, Arthwollipot's website (link found here at the game's page), has an excellent overview of each character, spell, native group with strategy hints.
- Realmspeak is a wonderful implementation of Magic Realm.
- The experienced players are incredibly helpful in answering questions.

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Goldenturkey — 2008-11-22T17:15:19+00:00

I'll second the general feeling on MR. It looks like an amazing game and I went to the effort to build a set from Karim's redesign.

NOW....all I have to do is master the rules and teach my group, so I empathise completely.

I tried to put together a grahpical tutorial a few weeks ago and all that taught me was how little I understood the rules!

You are a brave man.

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Talenn — 2008-11-21T16:19:38+00:00

I find the Swordsman to be quite effective in standard games (ie, basically every man for himself). He can easily manipulate his speed and Clever ability to loot many of the best sites (and irritate the other characters as well ). Be prepared for the other players to hate you if you are doing this right.

In more team-oriented games, I think a good strategy for him is to team up with a heavy fighter (White Knight, Berserker, Dwarf). Between the two, there should be very few encounters that they cant handle. The big guy can keep lighter monsters on his sheet and let the Swordman pick them off with his faster weapon without risk of dying. The heavy character kills off the big monsters and the Swordman scrubs off the small fry.

Thread: Re: Print-run for Karim's MR Redesign?

Solarinus — 2008-11-20T01:29:24+00:00

I think putting me down for $100 would be an understatement.

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Solarinus — 2008-11-19T22:03:55+00:00

I'm a total newbie to Magic Realm, and I had some trouble playing on RealmSpeak for a while. After about 10 times of running headfirst into combat (and getting killed), I realized that Magic Realm is not a "Hack 'n Slash" sort of game. Maybe the best thing to do before your next session is to send your friends a link to the RealmSpeak webpage, as well as a pdf of the rules (maybe 2nd Edition, as I find the "Encounter" approach might give them an easier time learning on their own). Also, I really enjoy the Woods Girl as a solo character, as she's the only one I can win as.

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Grumpf — 2008-11-19T21:37:15+00:00

Corwin1980 wrote:
The swordsman is not a weak character,
Makofan wrote:
The Amazon is an amazing survival character. She is fast and well armored, and can tow a party around the board quickly. If she lucks into a bow or an M* weapon, look out!

Wow, looks like we have a lot to learn Maybe i should change the part about the weak fighters into something like "The weak/fast characters need to be played completely different from the heavy hitters."

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Makofan — 2008-11-19T15:09:18+00:00

The Amazon is an amazing survival character. She is fast and well armored, and can tow a party around the board quickly. If she lucks into a bow or an M* weapon, look out!

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Corwin1980 — 2008-11-19T12:25:26+00:00

The swordsman is not a weak character, albeit somewhat of a weak fighter. He is a great beginner's character. Magic Realm is not always about brutally killing a maximum of monsters to win the game. The swordsman is sort of a burglar who will go treasure hunting while avoiding most of the fighting. His excellent speed assures he will almost always be able to run from dangerous enemies.
I remain convinced that the best way to learn the game (short of having an experienced teacher) is by solo playing Realm Speak again and again (which quickly becomes quite fast) with the rulebook nearby until feeling comfortable.

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Grumpf — 2008-11-19T09:59:43+00:00

Darkmot wrote:
I think you should at least experiencing win in solo before teaching them, so you would know general things to expect. By then, you could warn them if they want to rush into hopeless battle (which we all did at first time) .

Right, a little more experience on my side certainly would have helped. On the other hand, this is a board game after all. I usually do not like to play games where one player has a serious advantage by experience and the winner is clear before the game starts. This causes the game to be less exciting.
I was hoping that we could learn mastering the game together :

Well, maybe i was a bit too optimistic about it, and some more advice would have done a lot of good here. Anyway, it was a nice experience, and we will definitely try the game again soon

Thread: Re: Print-run for Karim's MR Redesign?

jerol — 2008-11-19T04:21:01+00:00

I'm very interested as well... it's worth $200 to me (at least).

The Jerol

Thread: Re: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Darkmot — 2008-11-19T02:37:24+00:00

There goes my hope to teach MR to my friends about half an hour. Oh well..

Good session report. Giving me nice heads up what to expect for teaching newbies. A suggestion though, I think you should at least experiencing win in solo before teaching them, so you would know general things to expect. By then, you could warn them if they want to rush into hopeless battle (which we all did at first time) .

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

mcknight — 2008-11-19T01:16:36+00:00

Ronaldo wrote:
Yuengling12oz wrote:
I'm going to disagree with this one. I'm pretty sure that attacking with hired natives makes the character become unhidden.

I don't think the character becomes unhidden. The question is, can you fatigue a chit and stay hidden?

A character only becomes unhidden in combat if:

1) He lures an (unhired) denizen onto his sheet
2) He is charged by another character who has found "Hidden enemies"
3) He has a hired leader who has found "Hidden enemies" deployed against him
4) He flies away during the Action Phase of the Encounter Step
5) He targets a denizen or character (including himself) during the "Selecting Targets" phase of the Melee Step.
6) He is targeted by another character during the "Selecting Targets" phase of the Melee Step.
7) He chooses to become unhidden

I believe that this is an exhaustive list of how a character who is hidden at the beginning of combat can become unhidden.

So, no, a character doesn't become unhidden when his hired natives attack or are attacked. He can just stay hidden and watch his hirelings deal out death and destruction (if it is the Order against the Goblins), or, on the other hand, witness his hired Rogue Swordsmen get devoured by a Tremendous Dragon.

You can also clearly fatigue Fight chits in the Actions phase of the Encounter Step to alert or unalert a weapon without becoming unhidden. The rules are silent about whether a hidden character can play a Move chit to maneuver or play a Fight chit without selecting a target during the Attacks/Maneuvers phase to fatigue a chit to keep combat going. I think that since it is not forbidden, you can do this, but others may have another opinion.

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

mrb88 — 2008-11-18T22:54:12+00:00

By the end of the Encounter phase, the sheet a hired denizen is put on has been decided. Through Luring, Random Assignment, and Deploying, a hired denizen will either be an attacker on a character's sheet, an attacker on another denizen's sheet ( which could be hired or unhired), or a defender on his own sheet. When he is made an attacker or a defender in the Encounter phase, he becomes unhidden. He and his target will both attack in the Melee phase. This is why hired denizen's don't get a free shot. If at the end of the Encounter phase a hired denizen is not on a Melee sheet, then he is not attacking that round. His only role in the round of combat would be a possible target for a character's attack.

A hidden character can get through the Encounter phase without any attackers on his sheet. During the Selection of Targets step in the Melee phase he can choose a target and will become unhidden. He can choose any valid target in the combat. Since he doesn't have any attackers on his sheet, he gets a free shot. Also during the Selection of Targets step, the character chooses a target for any of his hired denizens who are defenders on their own sheets, but the selection is limited to attackers already on the sheet.

Thread: Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Grumpf — 2008-11-18T22:52:43+00:00

This is the story of me learning Magic Realm and trying to introduce it to some of my friends. The story got quite long without telling too much about the actual game (we played less than one week). If you are looking for a thorough session description with great battles and cunning maneuvers, look elsewhere. This is the story of some MR noobs struggling with the game system

Getting and learning the game

(This section is not really important if you want to know how the session went. Feel free to skip to "The Session". Otherwise, read on and learn a little bit about my personal fight with the rules book)

I bought Magic Realm at OMGEssen2008 without knowing much more about the game than "Those people who manage to learn the game think it is always a blast".

Of course i was eager to try it out, but i had to learn the rules first. The volume of the rules book is intimidating (The game came with Second Edition rules, but i used the third edition rules i found online). Many chapters, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs explain every detail of the game but fail to give a good overview. So, after having a somewhat brief look into the rules, i decided learning from these documents would be impossible.

Other "beginner" help files like "Magic Realm in Plain English (MRIPE)" and "The least you need to know to play Magic Realm" helped somewhat, but still left me with many questions and a general feeling that i would not be able to play or even explain this game.

But then i stumbled over the excellent MR videos from Lawrence from BookShelfGames (link can be found in the "Links" section of the game). The contents of these videos is basically MRIPE read out and enriched with videos showing the stuff and actions described. Somehow, this was exactly what i needed. After viewing all 6 videos and a sample character video, i felt confident that someday i might be able to play this epic game

I downloaded RealmSpeak and had some fun and some frustrating moments seeing all of my solo characters die within 2 weeks. At this point, i decided i was ready to go.

I wanted to use Dan Evans redesigned monster chips, which I had learned to like during some RealmSpeak sessions, so i printed them on sticky paper, pasted them onto cardboard, cut them out and sealed it with acryl spray.
Also, i redesigned the appearance chart with some ideas from the discussion of Karims (great!) Redesign.
]]>

The Session
Two weeks ago, the big day had arrived. I gathered three friends and braced myself. None of us had played an epic (3+ hours) game before, and I was curious wether the would like it or not. I prepared the Setup Card and the map in advance, and seeing the complete setup on our big gaming table was very rewarding. I planned a "beginners version" of MR, without magic, natives and PvP. Additionally i did not want to use the character history sheets (actions should go "on the fly" by group communication).

After giving a short introduction, I started with explaining basic character vs. monster combat, using examples as often as i could. This took about an hour. Some 10-20 minutes later, the rest of the basic rules (available actions, turns and terrain) was explained and we were ready to go. We selected some non-magic characters (White Knight, Dwarf, Woods Girl and Swordsman). My friends formed a team, and I decided to go soloing (playing the Dwarf) and decided to go soloing just to show that it was not absolutely neccesary to team up.
The group went into the mountains, learning the basics of hiding and searching while fighting off 2 snakes on the way. They went on and discovered the Lost Castle (3 treasure sites) on the next tile, disturbing a resting dragon. The Woods Girl saved the day with a lucky roll in the first round of combat, so the path was clear to loot the first site. The Dwarf had visited an almost empty caves tile and fought some monsters without serious problems, but travelling was going oh so slowly).
At this time, we were ~45 minutes in the game. Dennis (playing the Swordsman) was really annoyed by his character, and we all agreed that guy seemed really weak. We agreed on playing a little longer to see wether the group could survive on the Castle.
Some rounds later, the dwarf stumbled into the demon while hidden, and the Woods Girl (separated from the other 2) encountered the flying demon. I dedided to take the chance, missed on the free strike and found myself very dead when the demon rolled a "the target is instantly killed" result. In a similar way, the Woods Girl did not do enough damage on shot 1, and the following Power of the Pit attack from the flying Demon cancelled the second attack (wound all asteriks chits). Needless to say, she did not survive the next round.

This ended our first session quite violently, and we switched to playing some Tichu instead. In retrospective, i think it went quite ok, but far from great. I probably got some rules wrong and completely forgot about the day turn marker, but it was good enough to get a feel for this game.
I was still sure that the game had great qualities, and explained that i hoped with the inclusion of trading and hiring, the characters should be able to get along better. The others (especially Dennis) were a bit more sceptical.

Looking back, Magic Realm must have something special about it. I have not known a game before where people are willing to wade through >1 hour of rules explanations without getting bored.

Conclusions:
- Take care with character selection. Weak fighters (Amazon, Swordsman, Black Knight, Captain) are not meant for big monster hunting, but have specific advantages that allow them to gather points and to contribute to a team in other ways. The players should be aware of this. ~~are not very beginner friendly, especially when playing without hiring and trading, since they are not really good at monster hunting.~~
- Use the character sheets! Let each player denote some goals and allow him to keep track of his own advancements and actions.
- Stay clear of the demons!
- Print out player aids! You need fast access to tables and weapon lengths without having to look into the rules book.

Stay tuned for the next reports

EDIT: Rewrote the part about "weak fighter charackters"

Thread: The perfect Pilgrim

ecraven — 2008-11-18T21:12:53+00:00

Just wanted to share my astonishment at my score at the end of three months: 138.
I spend a few turns hiring two orders, removed the filthy lancers and patrol (those even showed up twice!), got a third order, and went to conquer the Magic Realm. After looting the Lair, the Hoard, and a few minor sites, I had more money than I knew what to do with, and an escort of three Knights of the Order can deal with almost anything. After I picked up lots of pieces of armour and the M*** sword (which imho is perfect for the pilgrim), there was nothing that could hinder ascendancy. Vanquishing the Rogues and the Octopus, I decided that I had had enough after slaughtering scores of dragons, trolls, goblins, bats, and other minor creatures.
Now I understand what people mean by "Amazing luck".
Thanks to all of you for helping me understand, play, and appreciate this wonderful game!
edit: perfect is not meant to imply that I have any idea how to play the pilgrim in a perfect way, but that this has worked out amazingly well for me, even though I wasn't sure what to do most of the time, I always knew I really liked the pilgrim.
edit: of course i got a third *order*, not lancer

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

ecraven — 2008-11-18T18:00:10+00:00

if you read the section of the rules dealing with combat actions (8.3.7) and the one dealing with fatigue and wounds (8.5), you won't find any mention of becoming unhidden when you fatigue a chit, so i'd assume that you can fatigue as much as you want, and still stay hidden.
the "attack of opportunity" only works because monsters choose targets before characters do. hirelings choose after their characters, so that would imply they could do the same, however, rule 8.4.2e states:
if there are no denizens on his sheet, he does not choose a target.
i'd interpret this to mean that a denizen cannot attack if he doesn't have a target on his sheet already (and if he had, that target would attack him in return).
the rules for Deploy/Charge allow to put a denizen on another denizen's sheet. this however would make the first denizen unhidden, so the defender could attack back.
if i understand the rules correctly, the reason why characters can attack out of hiding is because they can choose targets that are *not* on the same sheet where they are (and hirelings cannot do this).
hope this helps, please correct me if i'm wrong

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

Ronaldo — 2008-11-18T17:25:48+00:00

Yuengling12oz wrote:
I'm going to disagree with this one. I'm pretty sure that attacking with hired natives makes the character become unhidden.

I don't think the character becomes unhidden. The question is, can you fatigue a chit and stay hidden?

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

tppytel — 2008-11-18T16:37:20+00:00

Yuengling12oz wrote:
I'm going to disagree with this one. I'm pretty sure that attacking with hired natives makes the character become unhidden.
I didn't see anything indicating that in the combat rules. Perhaps it's mentioned somewhere else. I don't play MR all that often and don't have the rulebook memorized.

I'm also even more sure that natives do not get an attack of opportunity.
Quite possible. I was assuming that hired natives take part in the target selection phase and that you don't need to use them in deployment. But I may be mistaken there.

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

Yuengling12oz — 2008-11-18T15:42:03+00:00

I'm going to disagree with this one. I'm pretty sure that attacking with hired natives makes the character become unhidden. I'm also even more sure that natives do not get an attack of opportunity.

Thread: Re: Redesign - to MR fans : do I deserve it ?

Solarinus — 2008-11-17T21:48:43+00:00

On the Record of Fate, in the Discoveries section for the Cavern, the Enchanted side appears to be incorrect (looks like it was taken from the Deep Woods). I am new to the game, so it is possible that I misinterpreted the Cavern tile. If I am wrong, could someone explain to me how to tell what is a hidden path/secret passage/normal path?

Thread: Re: Walking the Woods

Robrob — 2008-11-17T18:52:19+00:00

Ronaldo wrote:
I read a couple of times and what you guys are saying was my impression. To me, it is just an unfortunate choice of name since there are specific "Woods" tiles. Another difficulty with the nomenclature is "forest" because the tile can be all cave and if you are not in a clearing or roadway, you are in the "forest" even though there is nothing that remotely looks like one.

Yeah, I think "prowling" or "the wilds" would make better or at least less ambiguous terms.

Thread: Re: Walking the Woods

Ronaldo — 2008-11-17T16:57:28+00:00

wtrollkin2000 wrote:
There is no reference to any need for it to be a "woods tile" clearing.

Here's what a search of the 3.1 rules PDF returns when you search for "Walking the Woods":

7.3.4 Walking the Woods: When transformed into a beast that
“walks the woods”, a character or denizen can move from
clearing to clearing within a tile without following the roadways.
He can record and do a Move to any clearing in his tile. He must
follow the roadways normally when he moves from one tile to
another.
a. When he moves, his horses move with him.
b. When a beast moves from clearing to clearing, a follower
can follow it only if he is also a beast or if the clearings are
connected by a roadway. If the clearings are joined by a hidden
path or secret passage, everyone who is following the beast
discovers it.

I read a couple of times and what you guys are saying was my impression. To me, it is just an unfortunate choice of name since there are specific "Woods" tiles. Another difficulty with the nomenclature is "forest" because the tile can be all cave and if you are not in a clearing or roadway, you are in the "forest" even though there is nothing that remotely looks like one.

Thanks for all the help.

Thread: Re: Walking the Woods

wtrollkin2000 — 2008-11-17T15:36:54+00:00

There is no reference to any need for it to be a "woods tile" clearing.

Here's what a search of the 3.1 rules PDF returns when you search for "Walking the Woods":

7.3.4 Walking the Woods: When transformed into a beast that
“walks the woods”, a character or denizen can move from
clearing to clearing within a tile without following the roadways.
He can record and do a Move to any clearing in his tile. He must
follow the roadways normally when he moves from one tile to
another.
a. When he moves, his horses move with him.
b. When a beast moves from clearing to clearing, a follower
can follow it only if he is also a beast or if the clearings are
connected by a roadway. If the clearings are joined by a hidden
path or secret passage, everyone who is following the beast
discovers it.

Thread: Re: Walking the Woods

zara2stra — 2008-11-17T12:06:51+00:00

I can't give you a page from the rules, but when I experimented with walking the woods in Realmspeak, I was able to do it in any clearing. Note that it still took me 2 move phases before I was able to enter mountain clearings, and I could also use only basic phases when in caves.

Thread: Walking the Woods

Ronaldo — 2008-11-17T01:57:41+00:00

Do you need to be on a tile that says "woods" to walk the woods? I suspect not. So, can you walk the woods in any tile?

Thanks

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

Ronaldo — 2008-11-16T23:31:53+00:00

Thanks. Apparently he gets attacked the first round. Hirelings never get a free shot. It has to do with the timing of when they choose targets. Hirelings targets are defined during the assignment phase at the latest while characters don't choose until later and therefore (characters) are able to take a free shot.

Thread: Re: Combat: one hired native and multiple monsters

tppytel — 2008-11-16T22:30:02+00:00

Sounds OK to me. Note in your example that O3 wouldn't even get attacked the first round he comes out of hiding - he gets one free shot.

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Goldenturkey — 2008-11-02T17:37:17+00:00

Carthaginian's re-design with Magic Card pouches for chits and tiles!

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antonmarcelo — 2008-10-11T13:52:45+00:00

Learning Session in Brasil - Classic Version with 5 players

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Dominex — 2008-10-04T18:45:47+00:00

Play 2008 (Modena - Italy)

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Dominex — 2008-10-04T18:42:49+00:00

Play 2008 (Modena - Italy)

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T13:19:38+00:00

Major Counters- top side2

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T10:46:23+00:00

Major Counters- top side1

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T10:42:09+00:00

Major Counters- bottom side2

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T10:41:19+00:00

Major Counters- bottom side1

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T10:28:02+00:00

treasure and spell cards-color BOTTOM HALF

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onthe1 — 2008-09-06T10:26:41+00:00

treasure and spell cards-color TOP HALF