Daniel (@dungeondive) requested a review copy of The Adventures of because it looked interesting, and it does: pixel art, bright colours, a genuinely charming roster of heroes. This is the first Game Crafter title he’s reviewed that he cannot recommend, and he says it pains him. The game feels like an unfinished prototype.
The practical complaint comes first. The box back lists player tokens, five dice and fifty transparent cubes; none are included. The designer appears to have stripped components to hold the price, but the price is still $65 and the box still makes the claim. He flagged it and heard nothing back.
The design complaint is bigger. It bills itself as an open world, but you roll a D12 and move, and most of the map gives you no reason to go anywhere. Books, a forge, wells, pots — all drawn, none of them doing anything. His fix is obvious and cheap: make each icon a small deck, or even a roll-up lookup chart. Combat is opposed D6 plus modifiers; the fire, ice and poison on scrolls are bolded in red but are just numbers. The Zelda-style dungeon progression he actually likes, but he loses steam by dungeon two.
When a game looks this good but plays this thin, is it worth waiting for a revised edition?