How is Castle Ravenloft holding Up?

Just curious as I haven't bought it and was contemplating Wrath of Ashadalon when it comes out, due to a comment Skeletor made in a post, how people feel about Castle Ravenloft now?

As Frank said it was all the rage a few months ago, but there is almost no chatter now. I think there is an inherent problem with scenario based Ameritrash that each scenario is playable only so many times, and so the games tend to wear out faster (see the current sentiment about Space Hulk on these forums). My big concern with CR was always that it wouldn't have legs due to being scenario based, and I am wondering if this is the case.

I played it. I liked it. I'm keeping it.

My group played it last weekend (although I was playing on another table). It's holding up pretty well. Even if it weren't scenario based, I think I'd have fun playing straightforward boss hunts all the time - half the scenarios are like that anyway. It's still fun.

My friend offered to buy it from me. I refused, so now he has called dibs on Ashardalon.

Also, I question the assumption that a game needs a constant stream of internet chatter to be recognized as a good game. Sometimes if a game is good enough, you can just shut up and play instead of beating dead horses on the internet.

This is the one game that I'm really missing playing as none of my family want to play it. They think its a "boy game" as my wife likes to call them.

stormseeker75 wrote:

This is the one game that I'm really missing playing as none of my family want to play it. They think its a "boy game" as my wife likes to call them.

My wife refers to it as "nerdery"

I have still only got mine to the table 3 times, but hope to play it more, maybe even this weekend. I also purchased one for my nephew for Christmas.

Death Angel fired Castle Ravenloft.

Its played out for me. I found it to be so maddeningly close to brilliant that all of the minor shortcomings started to wear on me. I got 5 plays out of it and now it is on the for trade pile. I do plan on picking up Wrath of Assclown (or whatever) when it comes out to see if they changed anything. There is still hope!

stormseeker75 wrote:

This is the one game that I'm really missing playing as none of my family want to play it. They think its a "boy game" as my wife likes to call them.

Ha! Actually my wife likes it more than I do, and my non-gamer sister requested a second game after the first. Plus some positive reactions from some other female gamers. I suppose that "D&D" is a dirty word in some cultures - but not in ours, thankfully.

We gave it a try at BGG.Con. As I suspected it's light and delivers ok levels of fun. I'd never buy it but if you invited me over and it was on the table I wouldn't object. Especially if beer was involved.

-Will

I still want to play it a lot. Haven't really had the time to play it more than a couple dozen times though. I think it will go down as a classic of the genre.

Bulwyf wrote:

I'd never buy it but if you invited me over and it was on the table I wouldn't object. Especially if beer was involved.

-Will

There's alot of games that fit in this category.

Ancient_of_MuMu wrote:

As Frank said it was all the rage a few months ago, but there is almost no chatter now. I think there is an inherent problem with scenario based Ameritrash that each scenario is playable only so many times, and so the games tend to wear out faster (see the current sentiment about Space Hulk on these forums). My big concern with CR was always that it wouldn't have legs due to being scenario based, and I am wondering if this is the case.

Disagree with this, as without the Scenarios CR would wear out its welcome even quicker. The only reason I'm holding on to it is so I can play through the remaining scenarios, which are the 'fun' bit of the game. Problem is most scenarios only take effect at the end of the level (end of level boss) so I'm stuck with working through I repetative start and middle section that I am terribly bored of.
Got upto scanrio 6 before I felt I couldn't play anymore. Hoping a rest will re-invigorate me to pick it up again.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Disagree with this, as without the Scenarios CR would wear out its welcome even quicker. The only reason I'm holding on to it is so I can play through the remaining scenarios, which are the 'fun' bit of the game. Problem is most scenarios only take effect at the end of the level (end of level boss) so I'm stuck with working through I repetative start and middle section that I am terribly bored of.
Got upto scanrio 6 before I felt I couldn't play anymore. Hoping a rest will re-invigorate me to pick it up again.

Thus I think it will probably have more legs than Space Hulk. The problem with Space Hulk is that once you have learned each map, the game tends to play out in very similar ways every time and thus gets dull, as you know what you need to do, and the game comes down to a few key dice rolls.

However with CR, there will still be variation in the initial part of the game, with the layout being determined, and the issue with playing the same scenario not affecting the game until late in the piece. The problem Frank has, and others may have, is that this initial exploration phase is too similar and there isn't enough variation there to give the game legs.