Dread Draw – Is Dread In The Cards For You?
Dread Draw is a competitive fortune-telling game designed by Ryan Miller and published by Upper Deck in 2017 where players take turns playing cards to summon monsters, dealing damage to their opponents, until only one player is left standing. At the end of the game the players attempt to tell the winner’s fortune.
How do you play?
First, randomly determine who will be the starting player. That player shuffles the deck and deals everyone a life deck of ten cards. Players then take turns trying to summon a card, either by drawing one from the main deck or playing one from their reserves. If the card they are attempting to summon has a higher strength than that of their previous card, they successfully summon it. If it doesn’t, that player is eliminated from the round and discards all summoned cards. Play then passes to the player with the lowest strength among their summoned cards. If there is a tie, it passes clockwise to the next lowest player. Play continues until only one player is left in the round, then that player’s monsters deal damage to all the other players. When a player takes damage, they draw that many cards from their life deck, then select one card to keep in their reserves and discard the rest. Players are defeated when they would take damage but have no cards in their life deck. If a player takes damage and has some cards but not equal or greater than the damage taken, they are still in the game. After damage is handled the next round begins. At the end of the game, if the winning player has any cards left in their life deck, they shuffle their life deck and draw cards from it to read their fortune.
Components
The game comes with 100 cards, a six-page rule book, and three foam blocks. My copy was a first printing so it also came with an extra promo card. The foam blocks are included because this box is way bigger than it needs to be. The most logical explanation seems to be that there were originally intended to be expansions at some point, but this is only speculation, and no expansions have ever been released. As it is, it just seems like a lot of wasteful packaging. The rule book has roughly the same dimensions as the box, but it could have easily been smaller, especially given how short it is.
Problems
There are so many issues with this game. The most pressing is that damage feels very unbalanced compared to your starting life total. In my playtests it wasn’t uncommon for a player to deal between six and eight damage in round one. It was also rare, but all too possible, to deal ten or more damage in round one, completely wiping out all other life decks. Games can be over so quickly it doesn’t really feel like you got to do much of anything.
Some things are completely left out of the rules. For instance, what does it mean to banish a card? Is there a difference between taking damage and losing life? I was able to find answers from the designer in the forums on BoardGameGeek, but you shouldn’t have to become an internet detective just to figure out how to play.
There’s no listed upper limit to the number of players, the box just says “2+.” It’s important to think about scaling and at what player counts your game plays best at. Obviously this game can’t scale infinitely; there are only 100 cards & you have to set aside at least 10 for each player while still having enough cards left over for players to draw from. It’s possible that, if the speculation that expansions were planned is true, that the game was meant to be able to vastly scale up, in which case not putting an upper limit on the box itself might seem like a good idea. However, the upper limit for the base game should still be listed in the rule book even if expansions are planned, and potential expansions were never confirmed in the first place.
As a seasoned tarot reader, the fortune-telling aspect was the most interesting selling point to me, but it feels like an afterthought. For starters, there’s no guidebook to offer possible interpretations of cards or card combinations. This might be fine for more intuitive users, but some people might want help interpreting the cards. Plus, the game’s starting life total is so low that often the winner won’t have any cards left in their life deck to read. This could be mitigated by changing the rule that says you can keep playing if you empty your life deck, but it would have the side effect of making this already short game even shorter.
Verdict
There is a certain addicting quality to Dread Draw, though not necessarily because it’s fun. The game feels hollow. You play one game and are left so unsatisfied that you can’t help but try again, looking for something you will never find. It could make for an acceptable filler game if you’ve got nothing better to play. This game had a lot of potential but it fell flat. It gets two out of five cthulhus from me.
(2 / 5)
If you’d still like to give it a try, you can check it out at the link below. Remember that we are an Amazon affiliate and if you buy anything from the links provided, we will get some $ back.
Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a popular fantasy table-top roleplaying game usually played by four to seven people. However, guidelines have been created for how to play with only two people: a dungeon master and one player character. In this article, I will look at the suggestions for two-player Dungeons and Dragons offered by Matt Colville’s MCDM publications. Specifically, I will focus on Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons, which has historically been MCDM’s content focus.
Matt Colville is a well-respected long-time dungeon master who publishes third-party books for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition through his production company MCDM. Through MCDM, he also operates Arcadia, a magazine devoted to optional rules, items, subclasses, and more. It is through both his YouTube channel and Arcadia that I came across rules for playing Two-Player D&D.
Playstyle Options
From what I’ve seen there are two recommended options: 1) Changing the Player, or 2) Changing the Encounters. In the first option, the player character is altered beyond the base rules of D&D to be more powerful. This option I will cover in depth later, as this is what I tried out. The second option is to stick to the base D&D rules but alter encounters to be accessible for one player. This can be accomplished in many ways. A common solution is to scale down combat and skill encounters to meet an accomplishable difficulty to one player character. Others like to introduce non-player characters operated by the dungeon master. Matt Colville has a really great video on what that can look like linked below.
For my own foray into Two-Player D&D, I tried out the Heroic Champions classes created by Will Doyle for Arcadia Issue 22. These classes take the first approach of allowing a player to start the game using alternative rules. In this case, players don’t choose traditional classes but instead a heroic one. At first-level, someone using a Heroic Champion class would have a similar power level to that of four first-level characters.
Within the outlined rules there are three Heroic Champion classes: Heroic Warrior, Spellcaster, and Trickster. Each borrows core elements from either martial, spellcasting, or utility classes respectively. They all gain additional hit points, opportunities for healing, and attacks as well.
The Player Experience
As a player, I had a lot of fun playing Two-Player D&D. Specifically, the experience was very intimate and high stakes. I’d never been emotional about what was happening in a Dungeons and Dragons game until I played in such a setting. Everything about the story was specifically tailored to be about my character and as such the outcome of every situation was directly on my shoulders.
I played the Heroic Warrior class, which was novel as I don’t often play martial classes. It was empowering to be able to cut down my enemies, especially as it fit an emotionally-charged narrative. Often I find in role-playing games that I want to start with a grand backstory of adventure-in-progress but feel limited by the mechanics of being a first-level character. This rules set fixes that idea by making your character truly feel extraordinary instead of just another person with some sword training.
The Gamemaster Experience
My spouse served as the dungeon master during the experience. He also found the gameplay to be a lot of fun. As someone who loves to worldbuild, he found Two-Person D&D to be an awesome opportunity to collaboratively build out a hero of legend. It was also cool from a novel combat scenarios perspective and the ability to think creatively about enemy composition and tactics.
That being said, he also found it to be a lot of extra prep work in terms of combat and encounter preparation. Because everything moves faster with just two people, he needed to have a comprehensive plan for what I would fight, who I would talk to, and what would happen ahead of time in order to best suit the story and my needs as a player. This is in contrast to games with more people in which he felt like he could do more general prep as it aligned with general party goals versus prep specifically aligned with the thoughts, motivations, and backstory of a single individual.
Conclusion
The Two-Player D&D experience was great, and I highly enjoyed the classes by Will Doyle. Matt Colville’s advice was also beneficial to prepare for the experience. I would highly recommend trying out Two-Player Dungeons and Dragons if you are struggling to get a group together or just want a more intimate role-playing experience. It could also be really fun as a private session zero to get to know all the characters in a party individually before introducing them to the larger group.
(4.7 / 5)
To keep up to date about what MCDM is up to and to learn more about the role-playing game they are making, join their Patreon!
“You walk the streets both badge and boogeyman. This city fears you. Resents that it needs you. Refuses to accept that you’re here to stay. And yet that’s your job. To stand in the rain, steam, and shadows amidst the seething crowds and chaos. Relentlessly pursuing what never wants to be found.”
– pg 6 of the Blade Runner Roleplaying Game Starter Set Rule Booklet
The Blade Runner RPG is a tabletop role-playing game released by Free League Publishing in December 2022. The game is based upon the world explored within the Blade Runner movie franchise and the novel that formed the basis for the franchise, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Explore a dark cybernoir world in which corporations rule a planet ravaged for its resources and left for dead. Blade runners, cops charged with finding robots indistinguishable from humans known as replicants, try to stay alive and protect the city. Be vigilant, some blade runners have nobler intentions than others. And replicants and blade runners may have more in common than they know.
The Blade Runner RPG Starter Set features an introductory scenario, abridged rules, four pre-generated characters, and an insane amount of supporting documents and features. It is an introduction to the Blade Runner RPG recommended for one to four players (plus a gamemaster). The Starter Set is available from Free League Publishing for about $50.
The Gamemaster Experience
My spouse took on the role of gamemaster during our playthrough. He found the scenario to be interesting and thematic, to the point where he was compelled to rewatch the movies after reading the scenario the first time through. The supporting materials were effective in dispersing clues in a way that made the gamemaster’s job easier. The story in the introductory scenario was also intriguing and made for a good introduction to the world.
He found some of the scenario and rules booklet to be lacking. Specifically, he found that the scenario challenged the gamemaster to withhold as much information as possible even when it was unclear why. He also felt like the scripted events in response to specific pieces of evidence being shown to suspects were odd. The conditions that had to have been met seemed a little obtuse in the sense that he wouldn’t have expected us to even consider taking those actions. Because of this, he improvised some changes according to what worked better for the playgroup. Additionally, some of the rules weren’t explained quite well enough so we had to make some stuff up while playing. The scenario pointed to the Core Rulebook for further rules explanations, which seems like a bad assumption that someone that would be trying out the system through the Starter Set would also have a Core Rulebook.
A last note would be that while the included materials were impressive, the Rules Booklet’s binding began to fall apart pretty quickly. This was disappointing, especially considering the price point and how often we referred to the Rules Booklet.
The Player Experience
The resources provided within the Blade Runner RPG Starter Set were absolutely delightful. Supporting documents from faux case files to headshots to crime scene photos made the experience more immersive. By far, they were the most elaborate handouts I’ve ever seen in an RPG Starter Set. As a player, I loved how the handouts were used to advance the storytelling and how well they fit within the theme of the game. Through the handouts I was able to use my own detective skills to investigate the crime in addition to my character’s. I also liked the pre-generated characters provided as they had enough details to have fun with their backstory while also adding your own components.
Mechanically, I had a lot of fun as well. Combats are punishing for enemies and players alike, which meant every combat encounter felt high stakes. A single good shot can kill an enemy or a player. This means that every round is heart-racing and rewarding. Outside of combat, skill checks were almost always successful, which felt rewarding but also low stakes at times. This was especially true since only one success is needed in most situations.
My biggest issue as a player was that game is designed for players to split up, which can create an imbalance of experience. For example, one person can get into an exciting high-speed chase while the others spend the same round reading reports or staking out an empty building. This issue can be fixed with a good gamemaster, however, it is an inherent part of the game system that would need to be kept in mind when designing encounters. The Starter Set encounters were tweaked slightly from what was written so that we could have more equitable experiences throughout the game.
Conclusions
Overall, the Blade Runner RPG Starter Set was a lot of fun to play, and I look forward to delving into the Core Rulebook. It is a masterful example of how to convert genre franchises into a role-playing system. The game excels in delivering the desired atmosphere and themes through the rules, content, and introductory scenario. The mechanics are also novel, which was refreshing. I highly recommend the Starter Set for any fans of the Blade Runner franchise but also for anyone looking for an introduction to a cybernoir game experience.
(4 / 5)
Find my review of another game from Free League Publishing, the From the Loop RPG Starter Set, here.
Making new friends can be difficult, but can it really fall into psychological horror? You bet! Buddy Simulator 1984 was released in 2021 by Not A Sailor Studios. You interact with an AI designed to be the perfect best friend, and as time goes on, it becomes more desperate to hold your attention. Going through this game, I felt a wide range of emotions. I flinched at jumpscares, frowned at bad jokes, and smiled at wholesome moments. It was an interesting and unique experience I don’t I’ve ever had with a game in this genre.
If you want to go into this blind, I would recommend you give the demo a try if it seems interesting. Your progress carries over into the main game, so you won’t have to worry about replaying sections. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the review!
An unforgettable, uncomfortable adventure
From text adventure to pixel graphics to 2.5D, Buddy Simulator 1984 ’s graphical variety is one of the ways it disorients and unnerves the player. You can solve a puzzle while the game is a text adventure, only for the game to show you the same puzzle with pixel graphics hours later. Recognition is horror.
The soundtrack for this game includes some pleasant chiptune and other memorable tracks. There are some creepy tracks that do a good job of conveying an uneasy, anxiety inducing atmosphere. It really keeps you on your toes.
I do have some gripes with the game, however. There are often loud sudden jumpscares, not for any plot reason but just to spook you. Trying to figure out the sound mixing while avoiding blowing your eardrums out isn’t fun, and I’ll admit I’ve had the game on mute at certain points. There are multiple endings, and some go by rather quickly. This is the kind of game where you need to see all the endings to understand the story, and if you’re a completionist, go for it! Otherwise I would recommend watching them on YouTube.
This is a game about toxic friendships, attachment, attention, and the lengths one will go to to get it. If you have free time and don’t mind the $9.99 price tag, give this a try!
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Jennifer Weigel
December 18, 2021 at 9:46 pm
Great to see more game reviews and thank you for being so thorough. It seems like this game may be trying to be a lot of things at once and I suspect you are right in that maybe there were going to be expansions. I’ve never played it so I don’t know. It’s too bad they didn’t play up the fortune telling aspect more, that is kind of unique.