Dorn

A friend of mine picked this pretty much unknown fantasy RPG game up at Essen. It's a Czech game and I like the Czech because they got a very special humor, which you should know if you read the books THE GOOD SOLDIER ŠVEJK or I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND, with the latter being recently made a in my opinion very good and unique film of. So well, because of that and since the game got hexes I was hooked. It has got a handmade look to it (because uhm it is handmade), but I think the graphics are very well done, definitely artistic.

The game play is not very innovative, but I like it. It's not something I would recommend to everyone though. The complexity is about on par with Talisman. One player is the Dark Necromancer and the others have to fight him. They move around picking up artifacts (which open the gate to the Necromancer's tower) and items, while battling the monster which are spawn by the Evil player. The catch is that the game uses no dice, but the (many) characters have very distinguished abilities, so game play is very tactical as the players try to think about the best way of fighting the monsters (or players) each turn. Still, there's enough luck of the draw in picking up items, plus each character gets a special powerful single-use ability and the Necromancer draws several very evil cards and the stronger monsters randomly. The game is a little unbalanced towards the Necromancer, but I don't think that's something negative in its context.

Overall this is a very nice game, which a dungeon crawler, fantasy RPGer might want to check out. It's better than RETURN OF THE HEROES. For collectors I think it's a must have. The edition released at Essen is in Czech and English.

I saw this at Essen and it looked promising. However I was completely out of room luggage wise. I plan to give this a try at the upcoming BGG.Con but I'm beginning to suspect that I'll be kicking myself for passing on this.

Once I get a chance to play it I'll try to post my thoughts about it here.

-Will

Well I didn't get a chance to try this one out. Between working in the library and teaching games I just didn't get a chance. However the Dorn copy in the library was never idle for long and the reports coming back were positive. It looks like I'm going to have to track down my own copy.


-Will

Will,

Did you get a chance to play this game yet?

I've played Frank Branham's copy 3 times. I like it (not as much as Frank- but I like it.) "Play is very tactical" is a understatement. It is almost abstract. You use your move allowence to snatch up as much treasure as possible and park yourslef ina good position. Combat resolution is a flat score. You either have enough damage to kill the monster or you don't. It does have 'just enough' special powers and interesting chrome to make it fun but there are still times when it feels very abstract.

Steve"DungeonCrawler"Avery

It really feels a lot like Descent to me. The basic tactical planning is there, made easier by the diceless resolution system. The game does even have an arc. There is a grab items phase, a kill off the spare monsters phase, and there are a couple of overall strategies.

What is missing is a sense of exploration. There is one scenario, and everything is out in the open save for a handful of one-shot player power cards, and a set of 6/12 overlord cards to vary the proceedings. There are some optional rules to help balance

I am curious as to how to win, though. I've won doing a basic search and early rush on the boss, but I've seen parties be eviscerated using this approach. Have played about 4 times, and I'm not done with it. If the expansion ever comes out, I'll be all over that.

Mr MOTO wrote:

Will,

Did you get a chance to play this game yet?

No I never did. It looks like I'll be making the trip to Essen this year so I'm going to see if I can snag a copy from the used game dealers. I'll also see if CBG has the expansion.

-Will

No problema, Will. I just wondered if you had a chance to play it.

Thanks for the additional insight, Frank and Steve.

I too have played Branham's copy.

I like the game a lot, I think it really does feel like DESCENT without 90% of the overhead.

Frank makes a good point, it doesn't feel like you're exploring so much since the board is laid out and immutable. If they could combine the core system with scenario-based gameplay and more variety, it could be one of the best DCs on the market. It needs a little polish here and there, but by and large I think it's one of the better recent European titles.

It needs a lot more polish. It's not bad, but the bad guy's spells are too expensive and some are just not worth casting at all.

There is a great idea with the treasures where a monster 'pops' out but the way it plays out you are just giving the good guys an easy experience point: it was frustrating to have that treasure be drawn cause it helped the characters.

I played three times as the bad guy and never won, but I saw where I messed up - at least once. In one game I probably would have won but I made a bad attack decision and instead of killing 2-3 guys I only wounded one and then I got trampled. But it was not my spells so much as having some really good monsters out there.

But that is not why I am not crazy about the game. It just needs more oomph and some balancing.

Stephen Avery wrote:

I've played Frank Branham's copy 3 times. I like it (not as much as Frank- but I like it.) "Play is very tactical" is a understatement. It is almost abstract. You use your move allowence to snatch up as much treasure as possible and park yourslef ina good position. Combat resolution is a flat score. You either have enough damage to kill the monster or you don't. It does have 'just enough' special powers and interesting chrome to make it fun but there are still times when it feels very abstract.

Steve"DungeonCrawler"Avery

This sounds utterly awful.

Whenever someone is talking about Dorn, I pretend that I am not from Czech republic...