Opening with a passage of John Muir read over the Yosemite valley, Daniel (@dungeondive) sets the tone for Rocky Mountain Man, a solo-to-two-player game of early-1800s fur trappers exploring the Colorado Rockies. You lead a leader and a hired outfit across a hex map, setting beaver traps, managing rations, horses and rifles, and negotiating — or fighting — with the tribal peoples of the land.
He singles out the game’s dedication to history and, notably, the care and respect with which its designers researched and depicted the Ute and other Indigenous peoples. Play is organised into timed seasons: you set a 30-to-60-minute clock, explore until it runs out, then move to the next season, with winter suitably brutal. Movement into unexplored hexes triggers danger draws and a wealth of charts — getting lost, river crossings, combat, discoveries worth victory points you can only bank back in town. It’s a DIY portfolio release: you cut out the multi-use cards yourself and map with washable crayon (Daniel’s switching to transparency sheets). He compares its exploratory feel warmly to Lost Valley and is thoroughly enjoying it.
Rocky Mountain Man makes you bank your discoveries in person before they count as points — no instant uploads for 1800s explorers. Do you enjoy that kind of thematic friction, or does it just get in the way of the fun?