Darrington Press released a new rulebook today. You can find it here: darringtonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Queen-by-Midnight-Rulebook-September-2023.pdf
Yeah Dr Lux feels like she’s just waiting on 8o’clock but when she goes full Beast mode! Watch out! Rosaline is probably my favorite princess to play right now because of how she works with that trance power
Excellent review. I definitely think the criticisms were valid. I still feel like the new rulebook didn't really address everything you mentioned, but it got closer. What I don't understand is if you specifically design an insert so the object only needs to be assembled once, why waste 2 whole pages of the rule book on something you'll never use again?!? If they would have just included a separate piece of printer paper with the instructions on the front and back for the assembly they could have used the last 2 pages of the rule book for card explanations. As for the cards fitting into the box, we bagged each character individually so their vault, starting cards, war chest, and allegiance cards (along with any tokens the character uses) were in individual small bags. It makes for WAY easier setup and everything still fits in the box perfectly and there's plenty of room for more characters if they ever release any. I also used a small plastic container you can get for 10/$1.25 at the Dollar Tree to put the loyalty tokens in so I can just pop off the lid, setup the tower, and hand a bag, a board, and a clout track to each player and you're basically ready to start in under a couple minutes. I wouldn't bother using the insert the way they suggest because it doesn't work as well.
Just got the game thanks for making me feel justified in my confusion! we had identical questions and I too felt uncomfortable making assumptions. I love deck building games and I have no idea how someone new to them would manage to play this.
The other thing I noticed upon buying an early release version of the game...they didn't specify where you should and shouldnt pull apart the cardboard pieces for the clock tower. I feel like with a 3D element like the tower, you not only need to have blind play tests, but blind building of the element to see where confusions can pop up. Glad to see updated rulebooks will specify that, but man it was frustrating to find out I'd messed up the making of the clock tower. It could be fixed, but it still bugs me.
I had a question about a card that I ultimately didnt buy. It said "banish 2 cards from your hand" Then on the next line, you got hp, or clout, or some other benefit. My question was, if I dont have any cards in hand to banish first, can I still play that card? The benefit didnt seem tied to that initial banish, but I was unsure if I had to torch two cards to even use that card.
I don’t have the rulebook handy but I would assume with something like that that if you can’t complete the first part then you can’t do the second part. I think you have to be able to completely fulfill the conditions on the card
@@mobiusprimal I feel like there was somewhere in the rulebook or the online faq sheet or the new rulebook that addressed needing to be able to fully complete the card but I could be misremembering. I’d need to check that and see the actual card to be sure but you may be right
@PlaytheGameHQ Right on. Regardless though, I think this is another example of an incomplete ruleset, and ambiguity where RTFC doesn't answer all questions.
I played this game a few days ago with my siblings and we all really enjoyed it, but the missing rules did get kinda annoying. We assumed cards only get replaced when you pay 2 clout, and not when it's bought, so most of us just didn't use the bazaar as we didn't want to risk 2 clout just for the chance to buy a bazaar card when we could instead refresh our vault, which has a much higher chance to have cards we'd want to buy. And the armory limit only occured to me halfway through and it wasn't in the rules so we continued with it being limitless. But besides those issues the gameplay was very fun once we got going, the different princesses are very fun and unique that as soon as we ended, we wanted to play again either as a new princess because of how different they feel, or as the same princess as we thought we'd play better. And the when the ultimates started coming down everyone around the table was very excited to find out what they did and who would get screwed over. Plus it felt suprisingly fast once people knew their gameplan, there was basically no times when someone was bored waiting for it to be their turn again. That new rulebook is so much better.
The card you mention at 13 mins clearly says if your opponent has already mitigated damage from you in that turn you then deal your major damage instead of rolling die... so not rolling the die first then if the enemy mitigates you deal major. It's pretty clear, not confusing at all.
No, it' doesn't say "already", it just says if your opponent has blocked and attack. Which, yes, as an adult and active gamer reading that, I can surmise that it's previously, but the 14 year old read it differently, where the top of the card applies damage, it's blocked, and the bottom of the card says if you've blocked an attack. He read those as step 1 and step 2 instead of as a single instruction and we had to have a discussion about what it meant. You can say it's not confusing at all, and it's obviously not for you, but our real world experience playing that game was that there was confusion about how to interpret the card. If they had worded it the way you said they did, with the word "already" that would have also made it crystal clear. The frustration was the lack of any real reference material, for both this card and any other cards in the game, which most heavier games that have a bunch of cards will have a couple of pages dedicated to clearing up any sort of confusion or potential confusion. If this had been the only issue we had it wouldn't have been a big deal, but this was compounded on top of an utterly terrible rulebook that left so many things to decide for ourselves, so we felt it more than we otherwise would have if it were an isolated incident.
I have just watched the game designer building the tower and putting it in the box without dismantling it. Also, in that video there's how to put away the rest of the components.
Yeah, the tower goes in whole, which is great. It would be awful if you had to dismantle it every time. But even when everything goes where it’s supposed to the insert is just a hair too tight and the end cards sit proud because the bottom of the insert has a slight curve in the bottom corners just due to the nature of the vacuum forming so you have to put a few cards somewhere else so the edges don’t get damaged.
The only reason I bought this game is because I like Critical Role. However, I won’t be dishonest and lie because I like Critical Role. Played it yesterday. A great game brutally ruined by it’s rulebook. Before Queen by Midnight, I didn’t even know a bad rulebook existed… Unfortunately, the rulebook is so incomplete that we, with our gamer group, decided to add our own rules as we play. I wish they spend the money for a good rulebook writer. I mean, haven’t you ever play-tested? If a player has a question or confusion, the answer has to be in the rulebook. The maker of the game can’t drop by my living room to explain when I have a question, like in the play-through video of Critical Role. Also, this game wasn’t cheap! This experience was frustrating. I’m not planning to purchase games from Darrington Press anymore.
Totally agree, and the most frustrating part is that there's a new, fantastic rulebook available on their website that answers all of those questions but there's no way to let buyers know it's there. Hopefully they learned their lesson on this one and will do more blind playtesting going forward because it truly is a fantastic game that has enough unique elements to make it worthwhile, but yeah the rulebook that shipped with it just kills the experience.
Don't know what is uglier, the cover art or that cardboard monstrosity growth on the table. People bash those beige cover arts from Early 2000s euros, but those did not evoke second hand embarrassment.
Darrington Press released a new rulebook today. You can find it here: darringtonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Queen-by-Midnight-Rulebook-September-2023.pdf
Really excited to play this one. Thanks for sharing your breakdown on the game!
Hope you enjoy it!
Yeah Dr Lux feels like she’s just waiting on 8o’clock but when she goes full Beast mode! Watch out!
Rosaline is probably my favorite princess to play right now because of how she works with that trance power
Ah man, I was ready to be excited for this one, but now it's down to a wait-and-see. Any plans to do a playthrough?
That would be fun! We don’t have it currently in the line up though.
Excellent review. I definitely think the criticisms were valid. I still feel like the new rulebook didn't really address everything you mentioned, but it got closer. What I don't understand is if you specifically design an insert so the object only needs to be assembled once, why waste 2 whole pages of the rule book on something you'll never use again?!? If they would have just included a separate piece of printer paper with the instructions on the front and back for the assembly they could have used the last 2 pages of the rule book for card explanations.
As for the cards fitting into the box, we bagged each character individually so their vault, starting cards, war chest, and allegiance cards (along with any tokens the character uses) were in individual small bags. It makes for WAY easier setup and everything still fits in the box perfectly and there's plenty of room for more characters if they ever release any. I also used a small plastic container you can get for 10/$1.25 at the Dollar Tree to put the loyalty tokens in so I can just pop off the lid, setup the tower, and hand a bag, a board, and a clout track to each player and you're basically ready to start in under a couple minutes. I wouldn't bother using the insert the way they suggest because it doesn't work as well.
Ty for the thorough review! Looks very interesting, even with the drawbacks. Hopefully an updated version of the rulebook will be shipped with it soon
There's a new rulebook on the website now, and it will ship with any subsequent printings of the game.
Just got the game thanks for making me feel justified in my confusion! we had identical questions and I too felt uncomfortable making assumptions. I love deck building games and I have no idea how someone new to them would manage to play this.
The other thing I noticed upon buying an early release version of the game...they didn't specify where you should and shouldnt pull apart the cardboard pieces for the clock tower.
I feel like with a 3D element like the tower, you not only need to have blind play tests, but blind building of the element to see where confusions can pop up. Glad to see updated rulebooks will specify that, but man it was frustrating to find out I'd messed up the making of the clock tower. It could be fixed, but it still bugs me.
I keep hoping Darrington press will release a good game all around rules and all
I had a question about a card that I ultimately didnt buy. It said "banish 2 cards from your hand"
Then on the next line, you got hp, or clout, or some other benefit.
My question was, if I dont have any cards in hand to banish first, can I still play that card?
The benefit didnt seem tied to that initial banish, but I was unsure if I had to torch two cards to even use that card.
I don’t have the rulebook handy but I would assume with something like that that if you can’t complete the first part then you can’t do the second part. I think you have to be able to completely fulfill the conditions on the card
@PlaytheGameHQ See I would assume if that was the case, it would say "banish two cards from your hand. If you do, gain *benefit*"
@@mobiusprimal I feel like there was somewhere in the rulebook or the online faq sheet or the new rulebook that addressed needing to be able to fully complete the card but I could be misremembering. I’d need to check that and see the actual card to be sure but you may be right
@PlaytheGameHQ Right on. Regardless though, I think this is another example of an incomplete ruleset, and ambiguity where RTFC doesn't answer all questions.
I played this game a few days ago with my siblings and we all really enjoyed it, but the missing rules did get kinda annoying. We assumed cards only get replaced when you pay 2 clout, and not when it's bought, so most of us just didn't use the bazaar as we didn't want to risk 2 clout just for the chance to buy a bazaar card when we could instead refresh our vault, which has a much higher chance to have cards we'd want to buy. And the armory limit only occured to me halfway through and it wasn't in the rules so we continued with it being limitless.
But besides those issues the gameplay was very fun once we got going, the different princesses are very fun and unique that as soon as we ended, we wanted to play again either as a new princess because of how different they feel, or as the same princess as we thought we'd play better. And the when the ultimates started coming down everyone around the table was very excited to find out what they did and who would get screwed over. Plus it felt suprisingly fast once people knew their gameplan, there was basically no times when someone was bored waiting for it to be their turn again.
That new rulebook is so much better.
Glad you enjoyed it, and glad you found the new rulebook - it makes for a much more enjoyable experience!
The card you mention at 13 mins clearly says if your opponent has already mitigated damage from you in that turn you then deal your major damage instead of rolling die... so not rolling the die first then if the enemy mitigates you deal major. It's pretty clear, not confusing at all.
No, it' doesn't say "already", it just says if your opponent has blocked and attack. Which, yes, as an adult and active gamer reading that, I can surmise that it's previously, but the 14 year old read it differently, where the top of the card applies damage, it's blocked, and the bottom of the card says if you've blocked an attack. He read those as step 1 and step 2 instead of as a single instruction and we had to have a discussion about what it meant. You can say it's not confusing at all, and it's obviously not for you, but our real world experience playing that game was that there was confusion about how to interpret the card. If they had worded it the way you said they did, with the word "already" that would have also made it crystal clear. The frustration was the lack of any real reference material, for both this card and any other cards in the game, which most heavier games that have a bunch of cards will have a couple of pages dedicated to clearing up any sort of confusion or potential confusion. If this had been the only issue we had it wouldn't have been a big deal, but this was compounded on top of an utterly terrible rulebook that left so many things to decide for ourselves, so we felt it more than we otherwise would have if it were an isolated incident.
I have just watched the game designer building the tower and putting it in the box without dismantling it. Also, in that video there's how to put away the rest of the components.
Yeah, the tower goes in whole, which is great. It would be awful if you had to dismantle it every time. But even when everything goes where it’s supposed to the insert is just a hair too tight and the end cards sit proud because the bottom of the insert has a slight curve in the bottom corners just due to the nature of the vacuum forming so you have to put a few cards somewhere else so the edges don’t get damaged.
The only reason I bought this game is because I like Critical Role. However, I won’t be dishonest and lie because I like Critical Role.
Played it yesterday. A great game brutally ruined by it’s rulebook. Before Queen by Midnight, I didn’t even know a bad rulebook existed… Unfortunately, the rulebook is so incomplete that we, with our gamer group, decided to add our own rules as we play. I wish they spend the money for a good rulebook writer. I mean, haven’t you ever play-tested? If a player has a question or confusion, the answer has to be in the rulebook. The maker of the game can’t drop by my living room to explain when I have a question, like in the play-through video of Critical Role. Also, this game wasn’t cheap!
This experience was frustrating. I’m not planning to purchase games from Darrington Press anymore.
Totally agree, and the most frustrating part is that there's a new, fantastic rulebook available on their website that answers all of those questions but there's no way to let buyers know it's there. Hopefully they learned their lesson on this one and will do more blind playtesting going forward because it truly is a fantastic game that has enough unique elements to make it worthwhile, but yeah the rulebook that shipped with it just kills the experience.
Don't know what is uglier, the cover art or that cardboard monstrosity growth on the table. People bash those beige cover arts from Early 2000s euros, but those did not evoke second hand embarrassment.
😆 it’s not for everyone, and I’m super picky but I actually think the mood of the design works for me
I think it looks really good myself. The artwork is what made it stand out