Lands of Galzyr: The best bimble boardgame?

 

Mor the frilled lizard makes his way towards
the small town of Chabahr, and the two quests available there.

A slow walk in spring

I previously shared some early thoughts about Lands of Galzyr, a narrative driven open-world adventure game featuring anthropomorphised characters. I've recently been playing the game more (solo) and stumbled across a term that I think perfectly describes the experience:

bimble (verb)

[intransitive] (British English, informal) 

to walk or travel without hurrying

• We spent the morning bimbling around the market.
• I bimbled into town.

(Oxford Learners Dictionaries dot com)

In L.o.G. your character will 'bimble' around the world and experience small stories. Called 'scenes' in the game and the (webapp) storybook, these are often stand alone, but they may also be small chains as part of a quest. These are available for any character to choose and pick up from a 'noticeboard' of random quests next to the board once they visit the town where the quest is located. Over the course of a single game you'll measure your success on how much prestige you gain by completing scenes.

Track your prestige over the course of your adventure.

Does this sound like the kind of experience you want? 

For many boardgamers, the answer is a firm 'no'. 

They want the excitement and motivation of a story driven by a strong and obvious goal, such as discovering (and ultimately fighting) a great evil. In L.o.G the pleasure to be had from the game comes from the world unfolding (and changing over time) before you as you 'bimble around', the characters and situations you encounter, and the ongoing and self-contained nature of the experience. To use another term that is common, it is a very 'cosy' game.

Personally, bimbling around in L.o.G is an experience that makes a nice break from many of the other games that I enjoy. I like the well-written scenes, the generally low stakes (although there are some quests dealing with morality), the quick pace (as a solo player, about an hour), and the simplicity of the mechanisms. Compare this with a game like Hexplore It: Valley of the Dead King, which I also really enjoy! A race against time where the whole focus of the game is levelling up to face a final climactic battle against a deadly foe.

The appventure continues

Yes, L.o.G uses a web app. I think it is handled well and is an essential component of the success of the game (the included sountrack really adds to the experience IMHO). If nothing else, the massive amount of text in the game seems unfeasible to have as a printed book. I also noticed after coming back to the game that the downloadable website had been updated - another benefit. 

For more info about apps in boardgames, Daniel over at the Dungeon Dive on YouTube posted a good comparison of three of his favorites that use apps to great effect:

• Lands of Galzyr
• Mansions of Madness 2e
• Freelancers

Video below and on YouTube. If you are even remotely interested in thoughtful takes on Dungeon crawl and adventure boardgames you should subscribe!

Thanks for reading!

Descent- Solo play with the Road to Legend app

Stepping foot on the Road to Legend.

Since finishing painting the monsters and heroes of Descent: Journeys in the Dark I've been exploring solo games using the free 'Road to Legend' app. This app (for iOS, android, PC) turns the base game into a fully cooperative experience for up to four players. Whereas usually you would play against the Overlord (another player), now the app takes control of the monsters so no-one in your group needs to be the 'bad guy'.

The best part? 

The map is hidden. New rooms are only revealed when a member of your party opens a door. Unlike the base game (or some games like Gloomhaven) you never know what is behind the next door. Will it be an abandoned throne room, a long, silent corridor, or a small room with a party of Goblins? 

Although some boardgamers have concerns about using an app I really like the convenience they bring. In this case the software instructs you on where to initially place the enemies and instructs you on how they will play their turn. However, although it manages some admin the players usually would (such as gold) it actually doesn't intrude as much as you might think! You move the miniatures around and roll all the dice, track wounds and conditions (stunned, immobilized etc.) and manipulate your cards outside the app. To me, this is the best of both worlds. The app is giving me a world to play in and enemies to battle against, but it feel hands-on as I fight and puzzle my way through a campaign. More dice chucking and less pencil pushing!

For a taste of that, here are some photos. 

Hounded by a pack of Barghests, our heroes - 'The Friends of the Flame' - have advanced deeper
into the Crypt - only to disturb an elemental...

Leoric of the Book (R) desperately looses two arcane bolts

Jayne (foreground) tries to stay away from the Shadow Dragon.
Will her arrows fly true?

Back in town, the app provides has a marketplace to buy and 
sell equipment with treasure accrued from your explorations.

As well as providing the A.I. (instructions) for the monsters, 
it also uses their special abilities and thrown other challenges at you.
Here my party has been diseased. Not helpful when under attack!

After moving out of their starting zone, another group (Blackjack's Bastards) now face
renewed attack from the rear - and an elemental ahead.

Led by Grisban the Thirsty (in red), the gang rushes on, desperately
trying to fight their way past the enemies blocking the narrow tunnels.

Leoric of the Book and Avric provide backup for Grisban (R),
but the enemies keep coming and the arrows are flying thick and fast.

Now imagine this with some suitably epic music playing through my tablet. I have recently really enjoyed '2-Hours Epic Music | THE POWER OF EPIC MUSIC - Best Of Collection - Vol.5 - 2019, Pandora Journey'

To sum up, I'm really enjoying the Road to Legend app. I'm just really gutted that the campaigns are very limited in number, and that the best ones require physical expansions that are so expensive and rare now! (I'm looking at you Shadow of Nerekhall...)

Happy dungeon delving everyone.

:-)