Top 4! Campaign Games w Procedurally Generated Narratives
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- While huge narrative campaign games with their huge books full of text have taken over crowdfunding, it's possible to feel like you're playing a very satisfying story that's fully gamified, even across a large campaign. Here are my top 4 solo narrative board games with emergent stories.
Narrative games discussion - • Narrative board games ...
Brett Nugent's modular dungeon terrain channel - @NuggetsDungeonTerrain
Deep, Abandoned - preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
Four Against Darkness - amzn.to/3IsI9gM
five leagues from the borderland - preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
The dungeon terrain I use - Modulheim - preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
Also discussed: Hoplomachus Victorum
0:00 Intro
01:25 PGCG 4
08:30 PGCG 3
14:00 PGCG 2
21:41 PGCG 1
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So thrilled to hear what you have to say about Deep, Abandoned... Thanks. So many of the main objectives were mentioned; you really get what I was going for.
I've gotta let people know it's what they've been looking for! And I'm excited to try The Strays when these trenches finish printing
Appreciate the kind words on Victorum. It's really nice to see someone engage with it the way it was designed to be engaged with, especially vis-a-vis the way the length of the campaign tends to smooth out irregularities in the RNG.
It's a truly wonderful game, and I'm really looking forward to the expansion content, too.
I've played 3 campaigns of Logan's Heroes and have loved every one!
I just late pledges for Hoplomachus all-in not too long ago, excited for that
Thanks for the feedback on our game Four Against Darkness! :)
Despite there being no alliteration in your message, I think you might be responsible for some of the harder game books. See how I consistently recommend 4AN for overworld adventure?
Also, concerning 4AD, a new town-building supplement just came out called 'Treacheries of the Troublesome Towns'. It is a full town adventure generator for Four Against Darkness. It is published in two books, totalling over 400 pages of information.
Oh yeah, bought it day one! It was cool to see it at the top of the charts on DTRPG. Like I said in the video, I haven't gotten the chance to print it and dive in, but it's top of the pile
Thank you for your insights on these games.
I only recently found your channel and very happy I have! I’m off to get Four Against Darkenss and Five Leagues From the Borderlands. Cheers!
Glad to have you! The entertainment to cost ratios on those games are very high, so I think you made good choices
I just discovered the channel, discovered gamebooks a few months back by stumbling on to 4ad on Amazon and impulse buying like 8 books 😅
Five Leagues is an absolute gem.
I've used 5 parasecs to create the campaign element combined with the Core Space gameplay. That's a great combination because Core Space is a nice package of mechanics, mat, terrain, character development, loot, and it looks amazing.
That sounds great! I don't have a good set of scifi terrain, yet. After I finish printing these trenches, that might be my next big project
Agree on Core Space, great game and nifty, simple to play with terrain
Well sir, you’ve convinced me. I had never heard of the Victorum game and I was excited to find out your top pick was Five Leagues from the Borderlands.
When it comes to procedurally quest systems, 5 Leagues honestly doesn't even have competition. No slight to the other games because they're not trying to do what 5 Leagues is.
Ivan's got some kind of expansion coming with some sort of persistent foe, like a nemesis. exciting!
Merry Christmas 🎄 and a Happy New Year 🎆
Merry Christmas!
Very good list. I’ve spent much time mulling over the different ways people add narrative to their games. And I’ve solidly landed in the camp of preferring it to come out of the gameplay itself and letting my brain put the pieces together. Games that pull you out of that flow state to have you read a bit of fiction on an event card that may or may not align with the actual game state really started to frustrate me.
So I’m on a quest to only spend my time and money on those style of games that help frame a narrative through the actual play.
Through trial and error, I've definitely found myself in the same place. I have some kickstarters that I'm going to be selling unopened because those big narrative games seemed appealing, and then I found it just isn't how my brain works. You should check out Shadows of Malice if you haven't. I posted a video on it yesterday. Tough learning experience, but really creates events organically in a way I appreciated
I FEEL THAT 2D6dungeon falls into this group too. You also draw the dungeon. I tried your against darkness, but it didn't click for me, but this did. I love rolling on tables.
I really enjoy the stories that come out of my play and that the writer encourages creative use of the dungeons you generate using 2d6 dungeons, which makes the story that comes out even more interesting. He just launched an overland expansion last month-I backed it, of course - that I'm very much looking forward to receiving.
Oh yeah, It definitely fits. I had considered it for this but thought it would be weird to include both it and 4AD, and 4AD has more content and I think is more accessible because it doesn't often have table entries that refer to table entries, and sometimes the table nesting gets pretty deep with 2D6, or at least feels like it. I think it somehow still flows very smoothly, but i could see it putting someone new to this sort of game off.
But it's honestly a mindblowing game, that so much story and excitement can come out of a book that is literally 99% tables. And that it still flows. And the amount of value... It could have been broken up into a book per maybe 2 levels of dungeon, so 5 books, and it would still be a good deal. The creator is so generous to give that much for such a low price.
I'm getting the overland, too. Should be amazing!
I'm very much enjoying Four Against Darkness.
It's like someone reverse engineered a full, complete open -world video game and then converted RPG rulesets into more boardgame like rules and behavior.
So it's not complex like physics, but it can be as incredibly deep as you wish.
And it carries a similar feeling of old choose-your-own-adventure books, but you are playing, discovering and writing it.
Completely accessible to many people.
With just the base book, it's such a simple game. But then, like you said, it can be infinitely built upon. I almost wish beginners didn't know about the rest of the library, because just the existence of so much extra material seems to scare some people away
Psyched abut Five Leagues -- just ordered a copy!
That is one game where I can say with 99% certainty that if it sounds good to you, you will enjoy it. The whole process can be overwhelming even though it's amazingly laid out. I printed it twice: once in a whole book, once by chapter. Each chapter has a cover sheet listing it's steps, and you just go through the chapters in order every round. It's easy to understand and well-organized, there's just a lot to do
@@JAlanRykerGames What kind of inexpensive general terrain would you recommend (like maybe what you have pictured)? I have a bunch of standees from GMing Pathfinder 2, so although they're not beautiful minis, they'll suffice for play
@@TableTopTroubadour I think Pathfinder standees look great. I 3D print my terrain. There's a lot of free stuff on thingiverse, and then I use modulheim for my rooms: preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/417307/ruins-of-modulheim-1 If you have a 3D printer, we can talk more details. My printer has paid for itself easily, but I know that's a jump. I plan to do a video or two about mine.
I actually use Loke battle mats for most skirmish dungeons, just because setting up a dungeon manually takes so long. They make pairs of books that have paired layouts, so you lay them side-by-side and get a whole table of dungeon. www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Books-of-Battle-Mats/dp/1912803089
@@JAlanRykerGames Cleveland Public Library has 3D printing at cost, so I'm golden -- submit them stl files, wait 2-5 days, and go pick them up
@@TableTopTroubadour that's amazing! Yes, definitely get modulheim. The second set has floors that have inch grids on them if you intend to play as a board game. I don't use them often (because I use them on my mat), but it's useful on roofs so you know how far your archers are moving if your'e using the grid for movement. The single walls of the first set though have been supported to stand up on their own better, so I don't know which I'd get. email me at the contact address on my channel page and I can send you some photos and a ton of links to good stuff on thingiverse
As a mainly solo gamer, I'm so glad I found this channel, but furious it took me this long.
The channel hasn't been around long, so I'd say you're getting in on the ground floor. I'm enjoying your comments and very glad to have you on board!
@@JAlanRykerGames I figured you had been around for a year or so based purely on the sub count and how you seem to have your format nailed down. Just checked and saw that it's 2 months old. Yeah, I can't be TOO mad at TH-cam.
I've been debating on starting my own little channel at some point; it's always encouraging seeing someone else do it. You definitely get some inspiration credit if I ever do
@@CGoody564 That's very nice of you to say!
As you can see, you don't need good production value or fancy editing. I use a normal webcam, the free apps snagit and hitfilm, my phone camera... I did buy a mic and an arm to hold my camera when filming my tabletop, which was $70 together. I say if you feel the urge, give it shot! A lot of board gamers seem to need a board game adjacent hobby, like deal hunting or miniature painting. I think content creation is a very satisfying one.
@@JAlanRykerGames great advice. Lackluster video quality is forgivable; poor audio can actually push people away. Was looking in to getting a little mixer/soundboard and cardioid mic for somewhere under $150 (want the soundboard for live stuff, that can always be fun)
Thanks for the screen-cap suggestions as well. I was looking for something better. I don't know if it'll help or be of much use, but I did snag Sony Vegas Premier 19 from humble bundle not too long ago, so I need an excuse to play around with that as well
Edit: Deal-hunting is probably more of an addiction than a hobby for me at this point. You have no idea how much time I spend scouring for deals, interesting clearance stuff, etc. It's a real problem 😅
@@CGoody564 sounds like you know more about this world than I do, so I'm sure you can jump right in!
I 100% feel you on the deal hunting problem. I would go through times where I was shopping for hours a day, just like you describe. It was affecting my mental health. I honestly didn't even consider content creation as a solution, but with having videos to plan and make and great people such as yourself to talk to, I've stopped deal hunting almost entirely. I do still have an alarm on my phone that announces the gamenerdz deal of the day dropping at noon. I should delete it, but my whole family shouts "game nerdz!" whenever it goes off and it's too cute.
If cohesive, reactive worlds with a global arc is what you’re looking for, there’s quite a lot anno 2023. Zerywia, Grimm World, Lands of Galzyr, Warhammer Quest the ACG, Aftermath, etc.
What held me off from Victorum was the lack of dice mitigation. What files have been published for mitigating?
I don't really want cohesive reactive worlds guided by entries in a gamebook. It makes me feel like I'm not in control. I have Zerywia coming with the hope it will feel more like some other overland adventure games where I'm in control, pursuing stories that take my interest, like Fallout, Witcher Old World, Eldritch Horror... Aftermath I quit very early. It's nice they gave you control between missions, but the missions felt very on rails. That's what my previous video was about.
I love dice mitigation, Sanctum is one of my all-time favorite games, and Hoplomachus Victorum has little. Yet it's my favorite game. With the Mercury's Boots campaign rules, you can use opportunity event cards to reroll. You get three by spending a turn in certain locations on the map. It's not a lot, but for me it's just enough. The campaign structure itself does more to mitigate bad luck that this new rule, though. You'll find the new ruleset here www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/iv4tfht7dha3k57uklfxn/h?rlkey=8ejbkrrtzy1zxmqf4942eppj8&dl=0
@@JAlanRykerGames Thank you!
I didn't say gamebook. I consider adventure game books a separate genre.
@@JAlanRykerGames I've never really consolidated these thoughts in my own mind, but when I hear you say it, I feel the exact same way. I vastly prefer emergent narrative with RNG and chaotic elements, compared to playing someone else's structured inevitabilities/novel
@@TableTopTroubadour I definitely came to all this kind of unconsciously, too. really, putting it all into words while making this video helped to clarify my thoughts on it. I assumed that I'd like these big story games. I still have some trickling in from kickstarter that I guess I'll sell unopened.
Five Leagues is great, my only problem is the delves, there is no sense of exploration while doing them.
Yeah, I think you're right. It has the exploration markers, but those have limited results and you know the layout of the level. I want dungeon tiles when I'm dungeon crawling, that are placed as I open doors. The game does at least give you a sense of discovery on the overworld map.
Great list! Have you tried D100 Dungeon? I have that but haven’t had chance to try yet, same as Hoplo Victorum (staring at me unapologetically from my game shelf as i write this). Hopefully in 2024! Have a great new year!
haha we all have games mean-mugging us. I've got D100 printed out and haven't tried it yet.
Hey, one thing about hoplo: if it's been intimidating you at all, don't let it. it's not hard. I don't know how it got the weight score it did, sometimes the tactical decisions get a bit brain burny, but it's easy to learn and play, especially if you're into skirmish games, and you only need to learn a few new keywords in every different stadium, because the warriors of each nation specialize.
Happy new years to you too! May every new game you learn be a keeper
Where can one find/purchase the STL files for The Strays? Thanks!
I am not sure if it's being offered outside of the original kickstarter. Just FYI, as they are 3D scans, they'll need reorienting / tweaking. I'm trying to tag @NuggetsDungeonTerrain and I don't think it's working, but he has the pinned comment on this post, so you can ask him directly if it's possible if this doesn't work.
Have you tried Earthborne Rangers? I think you may find it interesting
Thanks! I haven't, but I'm convinced. I checked it out due to people's comments and it sounds really interesting. I had been planning to avoid crowdfunding for awhile, but I will probably back the expansion.
I started my channel to promote a little known tame known as Five Parsecs from Home (2e). Talking about games really does work! I hope you can add to the success of Deep, Abandoned the same way!
Thanks! I see you've covered weasel-tech, too, a game I own the rules for but haven't tried yet. I'll have to give those a watch. Ivan's a great designer
@@JAlanRykerGames Ha! You're answering to the person that made Ivan click the format for Weasel-Tech. Welcome to the weaseldom.
@@neuzd that's cool! I'm ready to dive into weaseldom after how much I love 5 Leagues. I own a handful more Nordic Weasel games I haven't played, so I'm locked and loaded, just need to find the time!
Have you played D100 Dungeon, by Martin Knight? It's my favorite of the tables-based RPG games (referring to your 4AD review). With the World Builder book (and the rest of them, for that matter), it's a terrific solo imaginative serial-crawler. I'd recommend you give it a shot!
And again, if you like emergent narrative, AND Hoplomachus, Too Many Bones will be your favorite game. Period. It's insanely expensive when you inevitably become a completionist, but they have their year-end bundle sales on their website now to help ease the pain a bit.
I have D100 Dungeon but haven't played it yet. I do intend to. I've heard it's great with the world builder
oh no, a sale... I'm going to check it out
Hey, so question for you: have you tried 2D6 Dungeon? It has the same number of tables as any 6 4AD books combined, yet somehow plays so smoothly. If you don't have it, there's a kickstarter going, though I don't know if I would kickstart the original game, might just buy it outright to have it now, but there might be a discount. I am in for the new overland hexcrawl rules, though.
@@JAlanRykerGames I haven't but I've almost pulled the trigger a couple times. Now that you prompted me to buy Five Leagues, I'll put it on hold for a while.