Dungeon Universalis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- intro (0:00); core mechanics: (5:59); look at a party (6:47); magic (15:12); character creation (21:51); dark player (46:35); sample encounter (56:57) ; final thoughts (1:09:45) *NOTE: I have made errors in character creation when increasing stats. Each point of stat increase should cost that many development points. Thus, I made my character stronger than she should have been.*
Thanks to the designer for sending me this game.
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Thank you for this wonderful video. You seem to have truly grasped what we wanted to get with this game. Dungeon Universalis is not only a board game, but also an incredibly comprehensive toolbox in which we tried to put everything we ever wished to find in a dungeon crawler as players... Please let us inform all your viewers and subscribers that a reprint of the game will be launched next October on KickStarter. It will include a fully revised English version of the game, two different expansions and lots of other new content, as well as the core game, the miniatures and all the stuff in the original Kickstarter campaign, for those of you who, for any reason, weren´t able to get it then.
And thank YOU for realizing and incredible artistic vision! What you have put into this box is remarkable, and the fact that it really holds together despite the sprawl is something I have never seen yet in a boxed game with this much content and interlocking ideas. I didn't even get to so much of the game in my vid--one of the longest I've published. The campaign; the explanation of the enemies in the bestiary; the variety of scenarios, etc.
I can't wait for even more content!
I played the Spanish original version of this game in Spain the other week. The level of detail for a dungeon crawler like this is incredible.
What an amazing and thorough over-review. Thank you very much.
Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching.
I' ll be waiting for the second kickstarter of this game. Looks super neat!
Likely worth the wait. There is a lot to admire and enjoy about this game and perhaps the 2nd printing will address some of the issues with this one--which are minor, really, given the massive amount of content. It's quite an achievement.
1:06:00 'ish "Cube Ethereal" to me it says, the Cube is Ethereal, but fire can damage it normally. So everything but Fire can it's immune to.
Ty for this tutorial. It has really convinced me to back it, as I always wanted a solo rpg game that felt like one. Gloomhaven, Folklore, etc sortof has that, but not really. This seems to do it very well, although Im sure there will need refinements as one goes along. The devs did a great job
Great video. I wish I had seen this game earlier when it was a kickstarter --- I would have made a purchase. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it and see the designer's comment above: there will be another kickstarter.
Thank you so much for this wonderful overview of such a sprawling and fairly complex game. Your voice is so easy to listen to and makes watching a pleasure :-)
Thank you so much. I'm glad you appreciated the video and I appreciate your comment. :)
This is one of the best reviews of the game i‘ve seen so far. Very well done 👍🏻 and thank you 🙏🏻
I love this thorough video and especially the opening analogy. I was on the fence about backing the 2nd ed. KS, so this review was much more helpful than others out there.
Thanks so much; I appreciate hearing that.
When you did the character creation, the points spent are PER point increase in the stat, the single does not take you to the max. So to go from 4 heath to 7 for your treefolk animist, it actually would have cost you 6 development points, not 2.
Thanks for pointing out my error, as others have. Definitely I played that incorrectly.
Great video, just an advice, when placing the enemies on the map, instead of "creating" each enemy with all its cards, just keep the faction page opened to check the enemy profiles, as well as the last pages of the manual, where you have a table with all the enemies equipment and a list of all the abilities (maybe better if you just print those pages to make them more handy). Also, there are some cardboard tokens to put on the enemies when there are a lot of em to mark which type of equipment they have (long weapon, range weapon, axe, heavy armour, etc), so that way you can easily differenciate which of them have which equipment option and check faster on the equipment list, but at the end all enemies use to have common equipment that you will learn. All that I said will save you A LOT of time when setting up enemies, and will make your games flow faster (this have a learn curve and someone to drive it, as the rest of the game, but it is worth it).
Anyway as you said enemy cards will make this better too, and the creator is working on something similar for next KS ;P
Again, great video, this game needs to be known!
Yes thanks for the comment. Yes I do refer to the bestiary book when playing--when filming it is a different matter. And I have printed out what you suggest and am aware of the tokens. All this said, it's still a lot to manage. Given the massive amount of content and variety there's a way that it is what it is.
Enemy cards are essential and hopefully they will be color-coded in some way: to designate ranged or melee characters, for example, and thus eliminate the need for those tokens (or whatever).
Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@GeekGamers01 yeah, hope so too. At the end, this is like a role game in board, so you dont need a GM, since the one controlling the "evil forces" does not need to know all the game, but you surely need someone who knows the rulebook as well as most of common equipment and abilites to speed up the game
@@RetroRescueGamer I suspect that the designer will be able to do something to tame it down--even offering enemy cards as add on packs or something would be worth it to those who wanted them.
But yes somebody does need to know the rules. As I said in m vid, even though I'm a solo gamer and the solo AI here is thoughtful and works well, to me the best way to experience this game would be as a player with someone else acting as the GM/dark player. It would really feel like a TTRPG with the components of a board game to use.
Take a look on boardgamegeek one of the users is Creating pre-made enemy cards for the different factions with everything to run that character on there cards.
@@John.Greaney Im on the telegram group where those cards are being created, but the game creators are preparing official enemy cards as a expansion for october kickstarter, so I will wait for it
Love the video!
There are some errors when creating your Treefolk Animist character. For example, when you were increasing Intelligence, it would cost you 2 points just to increase Intelligence by 1 point (from 2 to 3). Increasing from 2 to 4 would have cost you 4 points total.
Increasing Agility from 1 to 3 would have required 4 points as well.
Increasing Vitality from 4 to 7 would have cost 6 points due to the class penalty (1pt + 1pt penalty just to go from 4 to 5 and rinse repeat).
So, bottom line is that with only 8 points to spend, this character cannot do increase all of those attributes.
If you want another class type with the "Taming Animals" skill, you can also look at Forester (but, it would only have 1/2 the mana pool of the Animist).
You also spent too much money. 8 for Dire Wolf + 8 for Elf + 2 for Spear + 2 for Strength Potion = 20. You don't have enough money for the Healing Potion.
Thanks for the calculation. I thought I utilized all those penalties but I'll take your word that I didn't. Glad you enjoyed the vid.
I laughed when I saw the components. I thought at first you were mish mashing different games together. -edit- Your enthusiasm is always palpable and inspiring.
Ryan Stoned hah and thanks. I did enjoy this one tho it’s a bit of a bear
Really enjoyed the video. Love the ideas on creating your own stories and scenarios. Your creativity is impressive :-)
Thomas Thanks so much. This game is something that also spurs creative thought given how it is designed.
I've got this and don't know where to even begin but for some reason i still think it's amazing for what it is.
I understand!!
Very nice video! Wonderful explanations and examples. Great!
Excellent video. Do you think this game can easily expand to a solo role playing game?
I think the elements that are important for me are:
1. Lore / Background Flavour / Immersion. I don’t think there are many videos discussing this aspect of the game. Glimpsing the cards you show, they seems to lack flavoured text or lore.
2. Mechanics to solve outside of combat problems. Like the role playing book of Warhammer quest?
3. Over world exploration. Is the map good for creating story? Are there enough Points of interest on them to create a sense of Journey / campaign?
Ultimately as Solo RPG gamer, I am happy to combine a good dungeon crawler with other game rules like Scarlet Heroes / DND to handle aspect which not covered but if the game is already this big, I really hope there is some love put to the aspects I mentioned above.
The map is detailed and would be very useful in creating a story. I’m certain I will be using it at some point in the future for a solo RPG vid.
There are some pages of lore in the book-not of interest to me but they are there and I believe the entire game is based on the authors 2010 novel (in Spanish only I think).
What the game lacks that you ask about--and I spoke of this in my vid-are any mechanics for encounters with monsters or NPCs that aren’t combat based.
@@GeekGamers01 Thanks for the quick reply. It is good to know that you will be using materials from this game for Solo RPG vid. Very much Looking forward to it.
I think this game will work well with Solo RPG rules sets given the flexibility of the components. Those game boards and Furniture tokens alone seems to be pefect fit for RPG scenarios / story telling.
@@MelvLee Yes, I will be using those aspects for sure and hopefully find a way to import some of the many NPC cards and even simple created characters from the game, as there is so much variety.
I feel that the whole game is mainly focused on combat. This may be fine for some, but I was hoping for more non-combat content. Especially as good stories are mainly about character development, the heroes fears, beliefs, grief and overcoming the inner conflicts. Then there is love, romance, hatred, betrayal, intrigues...
All of those things seem to be missing. I was hoping that the next installment of the game would fix that. Sadly the new Kickstarter only provides more of the same-ish. Still seems like a game I will enjoy as a solo gamer. My challenge is going to be in how to come up with my own extensions on the above mentioned shortcomings.
Great video. I'm really sad I missed the recent Kickstarter, been trying to not back so many games and missed the one I really wanted. Hopefully it comes back again
Try dm'ing Oscar, the creator of the game. The game has not been sended to produce yet :)
@@SoundtouchOfficial what would be the best way to messaging him if you know? I been on the hunt for a modern day hero quest and I think I may have found it in this game haha
@@SeipherNL Maybe even check the officcial store then. Extra post production copies might go there. Oscar is active on the dun official faceboon group. Hope it helps!
Wow thats a big footprint!
Big game. Big foot. Yep.
it seems some of the negatives will be eliminated in 2nd editiion, lets see. Thanks for great review!
What a huge, dynamic game. I would love if you make a revisit of this game when they have the next kickstarter so i wont forget to order it.
thanks Kent. I will remember your request. Perhaps if there is new content for it for the next Kickstarter I could show/demo some of that. I will try to remember that. I typically don’t do Kickstarter things but would in this case.
I decided to support the second kickstarter. Since I love Warhammer Quest but it is lacking tactical decisions, I should be happy with DUN.
Thanks for uploading. Always nice to see you reviewing these obscure titles. It wouldn’t fit on my table, the setup takes too long, and the cards are not economic but fun to watch nevertheless.
Glad you enjoyed and yes I totally see why this game isn’t for everyone. It’s for a niche player for sure.
56:00 facing of standees is solved by printing the back in b/w, or alternatively a permanent marker dot on the plastic holder.
Yeah... good ideas but a lot of extra work for an already prep-heavy game. Actually the "back" of the standees have the reference stas on them even though the art is the same front-facing...
The back has the size and number of the standee on it. Also a simple fix for the bases not fitting is to slightly bend the bottom of the standee In a slight v shape. This has them fitting tight.
Also the standees are numbered, so the standee for your elf mercanary is medium no 56.
The bestiary will also tell you which standee to use be if small medium large or giant plus the number. So always a good idea to organise the standees in order. Makes it easy to locate them.
Looking forward to watching this. :)
Sounds like we're on the same page for a lot of our thoughts!
Yep! We are. I will get this out again soon I’m sure. Just not sure how I will use it. It’s so admirable as a work of creation!
I get the impression that this game is more of an adventure building toolkit with tons of resources than a cohesive game by itself. Is that correct?
@@arcubal No, its a full game with like a 100 scenarios all detailed with maps and goals with a several major campaign goals also. It just happens that the game components lend themselves to making your own campaign/stories also, more so than anything that has come before it.
@@paulharper7185 Thank you, Paul. Yes, that´s exactly the definition of what we meant with this game ;-) Do we have your permission to borrow it? Seriously. I liked it a lot. We might use it for the reprint campaign.
At 2:20 you mention setting up monsters, finding them in the book, their weapons cards well I’m pretty sure in the new Kickstarter this issue is rectified.
I hope so!
The new reprint is adding bestiary cards to streamline monster setup
For me it's over the limit I have fixed between management of a game and pleasure...To get this complete exeperience I prefer either an rpg, or a video game...not because of the rules but because of the things to look at if you want the complete experience. The game turn is not difficult at all, even with the good dark AI, but the ennemi management was to heavy for me to get pleasure on the adventure. So in the end I i have to make it lighter with less rules, it can work, but you still have to manage ennemies hit points, check their skill looking at the bestiary book...and not fun for me as a solo gamer. But I think it shines with a group of player dedicated to it.
Totally get what you are saying and I struggled with that question too. How much is too much for a physical game to manage/present? Once you start to consolidate the components to manage them then you start to think about apps and such and at a certain point you think: I may as well play a video game.
I do tend to agree (and I think I said that somewhere in the vid) that the best way to experience this game is probably around the table with someone acting as GM--someone who is willing to put the time in to learn the rules, pre-make the adventure and enemies, and run it smoothly.
@@GeekGamers01 At that point, I think I would much rather play Pathfinder or D&D that has 50 times the content. The draw of this game for me was the balanced VS gameplay of the DP against the Heroes (ala Descent). If I am just GMing and drive the story and manage the balance, and have the time to prep, I will pull out the big books. Like many have said, monster management is way too top heavy to really be enjoyable in its current state when playing as intended.
Today’s the final day of the new Kickstarter and I’ve been going back and forth on this one. With so many rpg to play you must know the burden of being precise with your time and focus. I’ve been enjoying narrative and dungeon crawl skirmish combined through tooling up and following your many videos, and I’m curious how dungeon universalis currently holds in your rotation/valued games? I see a lot of great potential here for solo play but I’d like to know how it’s held up for you compared to some of your other favorites? Thanks for making this video and your help!
The closest thing I can compare is to is Dungeon Saga. Like that one, this comes with many different physical components, and the capacity to modify the rules. It has potentially more depth than DS, but in the version that I have the lack of monster cards makes getting it to the table a challenge.
This game comes right up to the line of being “too much.” I have not been following the second edition developments, but people tell me that they do address some of the issues here.
I suppose it depends what you are really looking for in a game? The bestiaries in this one are very plentiful and perhaps that is a big selling point. I cannot think of any other board game which has such bounty in that area. On the other hand, a lot of the material is challenging to use because it is attempting to put into board game form RPG elementsAnd at a certain point that just doesn’t work.
I know this is an older upload, but I had to comment. “Queen of Dragons” is not a dragon, per se. If you read the faction background, it is for the Unsullied, from “Game of Thrones”, so the queen of dragons is basically Danaeris (Khaleesi), as the “Mother of Dragons”…
The way I read it, the gel cube can be affected by fire. So burn it up.
Yeah that would make sense wouldn’t it. It had too much vitality to waste time on it since it only did 1 damage, and that randomly. If fire would have incinerated it in one swoop, that would have made it more appealing as a target.
Interesting video as always. Nonetheless I really do not know what I should think about this game. On the one hand I find it too fiddly and clumsy for what it is, especially the monster creation in comparison to games like Sword & Sorcery, where the monsters seem to be more unique in their behaviour, and on the other side DUN seems to be very dice-heavy without the hilarious moments, Shadows of Brimstone has to offer.
Yes I see your points and thanks. Glad you enjoyed the vid. I haven't played S&S but from what I know I understand what you are saying. Personally I don't think DUN is dice heavy, however.
Speed and ease of play are paramount in my book (and really, my game group). This game is too much of a slog to be fun.
It is definitely not for everyone, that’s true!
As a boardgame it's neigh on unplayable because of all the looking up of skills and weapons in various locations of the rule book. As an RPG I don't really know, you've still got the faff of statting the monsters which you don't have to in all other RPGs when running pret-a-porter monsters, but you could do it in advance. I'm guessing the game was not playtested with a group that did not know the rules by heart.
Earl of Doncaster I just took it out again and am Basically using the components heavily modified and without a lot of the content, unfortunately, to run a scenario for someone. The lack of card for the monsters was a big mistake I think. On the other hand, if you try to run it just pen and paper it’s nice to have the huge bestiaries.
Interesting; the components are visually appealing. It's not for sale on the official site. Where did you get your copy, GG?
A second KSer will be happening later this year, including the base game and some new stuff.
I think you would like Forests of Adrimon.
I’ve played HEXPlore it (and done a vid on it). Haven’t played the expansion but you are correct: I do really like that system. Very well done.
@@GeekGamers01 You want worlds to lose yourself in, and FoA also lets you focus on the heroes, it's PvE, no need to play evil overlord.
FoA is not an expansion.
FoA has an expansion but the base game is more than enough. The box is worth every penny, it is a labour of love.
This game somehow reminds me of Sword & Sorcery (with the art style, type of components...) but in a more "sandboxy" way. Still, even if it's appealing and beautiful, it looks like too much work to get running. It's too massive.
It is a lot of work you are right! As one might say: not a game that hits the table often
Great video and great looking game by the way where do you find a copy of this at?
See comments below here including from designer. There is going to be a second Kickstarter it seems.
This game looks so flawed, fiddly and excessive. I'm gonna back it!
It would be great to buy a book of riddles and have to solve a real one when your party encounters one in the game.
Thanks for the video. Subscribed.
Welcome to the channel and that's a *great* suggestion (book of riddles!) Love it! Thanks for the comment.
Although not a true Rpg, you might be able to handle what the game lacks using Mythic GM Emulator.
I’m not a big fan of mythic but I’d just create some of my own rules to handle. That’s likely to happen in another vid as I didn’t want to stray too far from presenting the game as is in this vid.
@@GeekGamers01 for random quest and dungeon generation you could use the charts in Advanced Heroquest.
The only major problem with the game is the bestiary. The bestiary does not contain all the information necessary to run a monster in an encounter. So the player is forced to look up weapons on the weapons' tables and skills in the skills' section. Which turns playing the game from a pleasure to the fate of Sisyphus. What the designers of this otherwise good game is publish an updated bestiary and put it up on BGG.
Yes, agreed. If the equipment and skills were explained so you didn't need to look them up... or if they were all on cards... still I don't know. That would be 800 more cards in a game with already over 1,000. It's a conundrum on how to handle so much content in a physical game.
@@GeekGamers01 Actually an updated bestiary would suffice but a card per monster would be the Rolls Royce option. I'm hoping Oscar or somebody else will do an updated bestiary so that I can print it out and actually play the game. I would be willing to do it myself if Oscar would send me an editable bestiary, but I have been less than diplomatic on BGG. 800 cards? There can't be 800 monsters in the bestiaries surely?
@@earlofdoncaster5018 There are 371 profiles in the 1st bestiary alone........
@@paulharper7185 Ouch! How's your project of making cards for DUN? Let me know if there is anything I can do (via PM on BGG).
@@earlofdoncaster5018 I uploaded the template to BBG yesterday, still waiting on it getting approved by BBG. I did the Orc tribes set in cards (as I am playing online today using orcs in Ludics AWESOME online app with buddies from outta state). So really its just getting off the ground. Once the template upload feel free to download and put a faction together and share to the community. Oscar has already approved sharing the templates and the finished stat'd cards so good to go.
I'll stick to d saga
Yep, I can see that.
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Great concept, ugly ass art.. just kills it for me
I don't mind the art but do get how art can ruin a game. That's why I haven't played Spirit Island yet.
Spirit Island is an incredible experience. I had to say this lol!