Runebound lovers, step up

What's up with WoW:TAG anyway? It seems to have a lot of good ideas and similarities to Runebound. I haven't tried WoW:TAG. I only just got Runebound and immediately bought a bunch of expansions after a few solo games.

In both you have varying difficulties in quests. In WoW:TAG you just do a quest and get access to the harder areas on the map. Pretty similar to Runebound when you switch to yellow adventures.

Both have lots of character development, in character stats/talents and by getting better items. And there are new characters/items/whatever released in expansions.

The combat in Runebound sounds more interesting. But a lot of people (I don't understand why) complain about the combat taking too long. So shouldn't the combat in WoW:TAG be a good alternative for them then? Or is that combat too simple? Also in WoW:TAG the combat seems to be a lot more about one-time-use items that you discard (potions).

I have only played Runebound solo so I do not care about the PvP aspect yet, but according to the rules for WoW:TAG there seems to be more interaction/PvP in that game?

So why hasn't WoW:TAG been more successful?
Or is it just that I haven't read the right articles?

I can't explain it. WoW:TAG was a game that looked AMAZING when I read the rule book...literally looked and sounded like everything I was looking for. Then playing it, the entire thing fell flat, definitely less than the sum of its parts.

I think it is the combat. This one-off die thing makes each combat so inconsequential feeling. On top of that, WoW:TAG seems to tell a rather lousy story, truth be told.

I love Runebound too for many reasons already stated. I love how combat has the 4 phases and how you can tweak your character to suit different styles. If you want to kick ass in the "before combat" phase you can enhance that. You can try to have rounded stats or you can make one or two super high. It's good that treasures aren't random loot from monsters because you can use the knowledge of the markets to further tailor your adventurer. That also adds interest because it can become a race to get certain items before others can. The movement dice make perfect sense and work out well. A couple characters have movement skills to get an edge and there are items to enhance travelling as well.

Protoss, I am in the same boat as Ken B. WoW:TAG just leaves me scratching my head. Like Ken says it DOES fall flat. I think part of the problem is that there is really no penalty for getting killed. Shit, we even play a house rule that you lose your equipped weapon and armor when you die - yet that effect is so minor. Advancement comes very quick. I suppose that could be seen as an advantage but it seems to work against the game. The steps are so minor it doesn't FEEL like you are progressing to a badass. By the time you get to the point when you can do "RED" encounters, the game is over. You seldom do more than one! We now play to 10 victory points instead of 8 to drag it out a bit and that helps a little.

The PVP isn't very good. Yeah, there are plenty of spells/abilities that promote it as well as some quests. But PVP battles only last one fucking round then it's over. So 90% of the time you have to wait til the opponent is very wounded to kill them and you have to chase them around all over. Meanwhile, you're holding a huge hand of cards in order to fuck them up but in the end it's useless - you end up wasting too much time for too little gain. The whole while they are doing their quests and getting ahead. Late disclaimer: I've only played a 2p game.

To those who would have to choose between the two, do yourself a favor and get Runebound.

WoW:TAG takes a different approach to the adventure genre that Runebound and Prophecy - If talisman i=s in the middle, Runbound is to it's right and WOW:TAG is to its left. That being said I do like it but it does take a few games to get into.

Basically whereas Runebound is all about character building and progression at the expense of player interaction, WoW:TAG is player interaction at the expense of character progression. The game focuses on screwing other players, rather than building your character and having your own adventure.

Protoss wrote:

In both you have varying difficulties in quests. In WoW:TAG you just do a quest and get access to the harder areas on the map. Pretty similar to Runebound when you switch to yellow adventures.
Both have lots of character development, in character stats/talents and by getting better items. And there are new characters/items/whatever released in expansions.

Well, that is the upgrading system. The difference is that with Runebound you can customise your charcater heaps, with TAG you can't - you just get a standard stat uping. You can also only go up 3 levels, and a level 4 character isn't that much better then a level 1, unlike runebound where your end character is much stronger than the one you start with.

The combat in Runebound sounds more interesting. But a lot of people (I don't understand why) complain about the combat taking too long. So shouldn't the combat in WoW:TAG be a good alternative for them then? Or is that combat too simple? Also in WoW:TAG the combat seems to be a lot more about one-time-use items that you discard (potions).

Runebounds combat is (to me) much better. BUT Tag's is really just a slightly more advanced version of that found in Talisman and Prophecy. So I don't really understand how people can complain about TAGs if they like Talismans, since they are essentially the same thing.

I have only played Runebound solo so I do not care about the PvP aspect yet, but according to the rules for WoW:TAG there seems to be more interaction/PvP in that game?

There is a LOT more PvP, but more so than that there are many ways to screw the other players. In fcat that is what the game is built for. It's basically the interactive part of Talisman (which was normally the spells) taken to an extreme. It's also what sets it apart from the other adventure games.

So why hasn't WoW:TAG been more successful?
Or is it just that I haven't read the right articles?

No idea. I will say it suffers a bit from trying to be too short, which hurts it in the long run. Butr otherwise its a good variation on the adventure game thing.

I just picked up Runebound 2nd in the math trade on TOS. Looking forward to diving into that world, though my wallet may resist... I used to walk through game stores and ignore the stacks of Runebound expansions. Might be a different story now. It begins! :oP

Grudunza wrote:

I just picked up Runebound 2nd in the math trade on TOS. Looking forward to diving into that world, though my wallet may resist... I used to walk through game stores and ignore the stacks of Runebound expansions. Might be a different story now. It begins! :oP

Yes, now it begins
I just bought the base game and after 3-4 solo games (which goes quickly since you can play a solo game in an evening) I have now bought some market decks, challenges decks and one of the alternate adventure decks. Next up is probably a big expansion to get more characters...

PS. I used the excellent shopping guide by Skeletor. Thanks for all the advice in there. It worked out very well. I'm buying more and more...