First Wednesday Game Night

I have been meaning to make it to Boardgame Night at Endgame for some time. I'm glad I finally did. If there is a local game shop in your area that does this kind of open gaming you really owe it to yourself to go. I've been so enthralled by my own four monsters, this was a good reminder to get out and throw some cards and dice. Next time I'll be sure to sample some of the other games (that means you, King of Tokyo!) But for this Wednesday, we had some fresh blood in Wandering Monster.

Boardgame night

For a "fast food" round of Wandering Monster, we set out eight parties of adventurers for four monster players. Our goal was to finish a game in 90 minutes. I believed it could be done, and with the full faith of two players who had never seen a Lepus, plus one who knew his ways all too well, we set to it. Competition was fierce; here were some of the highlights.

Will Fearsome Claws win it for me?

Ooze was a first time player. He made a bold move against a party engrossed in inspecting a locked door. But without taking the time to inspect them himself, they proved more than a match. He lost his initial power of Sprinter, and the burst of speed it afforded, but respawned at his own starting space. By a stroke of luck, those stalwart adventurers wandered toward the ooze again, but turned their backs at the last moment, ignorant -- as always -- of their fate.

Now apprised of their strength, Ooze threw down some cards for their combat value and overwhelmed these adventurers' formidable defenses. They became our first of many casualties, and Ooze claimed first blood!
Our next confrontation came as the other three players vied to sink their mouth parts into Party #3. My troll was on the far side of the dungeon looking for some mighty powers, so I never saw how savory a morsel this was. The others seemed to really want some though.

"If party #3 survives this round I'll eat my hat."

Lepus got himself into position, risking all in a Monster vs Monster throwdown with the superior Ogre. A good roll put him on top, forcing the Ogre to sit out one round. Ooze meanwhile played a Dungeonmaster card, Wizard Remembers the Way, sending the adventurers in a random direction. Whatever the outcome, they would no longer be facing conveniently away from the bunny. There was a one in three chance they would swing back and face the ooze himself, but he took the chance because he had already been deprived of his starting power, and really had nothing left to lose! As you can see above, it went well for him. They showed him their backs. However, it was the Lepus's turn, and he deployed his Ceiling Crawler ability to sneak up, over, and past the adventurers to the Font of Slime. The slime granted him the dreaded Acid Breath, which he immediately put to use to clear Party #3 from the dungeon. The rabbit perhaps could be heard to mutter, "If I can't have them, nobody can!"
There were plenty more ploys, some more monster on monster grudge matches, and a few adventurers turning the tables on us hungry monsters. I for one had adventurers turn on me and send me back to a Spawn Pit. It keeps the action fresh though, so I don't mind.
The end game as often is the case was a close showdown. Ooze was across the board having carefully and effectively dealt with a crafty group whom I had sent through a difficult stone portal. The rest of us were angling for the last couple of groups. Ogre got the second to last one, only to be slowed by a Choke DM card. My troll and the Lepus raced for last bite.

End game at Endgame

Lepus had the legs for it, and having previously inspected this wayward bunch, played enough DM cards for the bonus and final feast! All in about 90 minutes, as advertised.
Now it was time to show our eatings and declare a winner. Although still gagging on that last bite, Ogre came out on top, with ten in total of two parties, beating Ooze with eight. And that last mouthful? "Almost Seven Dwarves." No wonder he found it a lot to swallow.
I'm sure to make Endgame a regular if not weekly event. If you're in the Oakland area, I hope to see you there.

Wandering Monster in the Windy City

My day job took me to Chicago for the Code4Lib conference. When I heard there was going to be a game night for coders in libraries, I knew what I had to do. I loaded my four friends into the carry-on and signed up for a table.

Chicago in February

After I played two games of Tsuro, there was a break in the nearby Zombie Dice game, and I found a couple of players willing to try Wandering Monster. We made an accommodation to their inexperience and the limited amount of time we had, throttling the game to a single course of six parties of adventurers. I'm calling this, along with the pre-printed map board, the Fast Food edition. I still had a full tutorial of turn actions to do but we got up to speed. The game itself took about 90 minutes and had a few classic encounters.

The game set out in Fast Food mode

There was a fine moment when the Ooze player gained a power from one of the Glowing Orb rooms. Then the "room service" roll cleared it, and he got to just sit there one more turn and soak up the power. It doesn't happen very often -- it's not supposed to -- but it sure feels good when you quickly become, for example, a massive, leaping blob with acid breath.
Right at the end both of my opponents had a chance to gang up on me. You can see my ogre above, on one side of a sealed stone portal. There was a party of adventurers on the other side facing the other way. They were positioned perfectly for me to ambush and eat them. But the ooze played a Dungeonmaster card and turned them to face me. Then the Lepus player brought out a Lockpick card and my party stepped through the portal into my space. They went from savory snack to deadly peril in a moment. Fortunately, I had been saving a Critical Fumble DM card for such a case, and I got them in the end. But it cost me the card, and just possibly, the game, as I was still on the other side of the portal from the last group, and those portals do nothing if not slow you down.
In the end, the Lepus simply positioned himself a safe distance behind the last party, moved in, and took them with his Fearsome Claws while they meticulously searched an unexplored room.

The bunny digests his winnings

To top it off, by ending his move on that Throbbing Orb space, the Lepus gained a third monster power. But since it was the end of the game, he had to settle for total victory. The final score when we showed our adventurer cards was Ogre: 2, Ooze: 4, and Lepus: 8.

New Cards

This is just a quick note to let you know, if you're following the action, there are a couple new cards to keep things interesting.

Critical Fumble is a classic, and you always love getting a chance to throw it down and go head-to-head with a party of adventurers. I refined it a bit to cover a few other combat situations. Normally you have to plan at least as far ahead as the beginning of your move, but sometimes you have to whip it out when the almost-seven dwarf miners come charging around the corner.
Monstrous Speed and Rumor Mill are new. These just seemed like things either I or some of my play testers thought would make things more interesting. And making things interesting is what Dungeonmaster cards are all about.