Red Raven Games RVM015 Near and Far Board Game

Product Information

Both the Campaign mode and the Character mode have their own set of rules on how to play, and their own set of quests to read from the book. The quest book is big, clearly laid out and intelligently they have spiral bound it. Making it easy to read. The Arcade mode has adventure cardsinstead of using the quest book. This helps stop you accidentally learning spoilers to the main through arcade play.

All this means is that you lose the rest of your go. There is no negative aspect to being the defender except you cannot spend your Hearts to modify you die roll. On one side of the coin, Near and Far is a game about equipping an adventuring party by visiting various buildings in town. On the other side, players make choices about which locations outside of town to visit and, possibly, have adventures requiring heroic choices. The results of these and the placement of camps deliver journey points, the victory currency of the game. Characters available on the main board can join your party for a price. In Near and Far, you and up to three friends explore many different maps in a search for the Last Ruin, recruiting adventurers, hunting for treasure, and competing to be the most storied traveler. You must collect food and equipment at town for long journeys to mysterious locales, making sure not to forget enough weapons to fight off bandits, living statues, and rusty robots! Sometimes in your travels you’ll run into something unique and one of your friends will read what happens to you from a book of stories, giving you a choice of how to react, creating a new and memorable tale each time you play. Ultimately, a variety of sources deliver journey points in Near and Far. Placing camps on the map, defeating bandits on a journey, acquiring reputation from paying money and encounters, and acquiring artifacts by paying resources all gain players points. Whatever the source, the player with the most at the end wins. The map booklet also acts as the main map board. The double-sided main board has worker placement spaces for equipping the party as well as the mine for gaining money or gems. Game Experience:

Contributors

Popular Mechanics, Inverse, and Stuff each cited Near and Far as one of the best board games of 2017, with Matt Thrower of Stuff describing it as "a rare game that can satisfy the desire for both story and strategy at once." [8] [4] [12] Expansion [ edit ] Near and Far is a sequel to Above and Below and includes a book of encounters. This time players read over ten game sessions to reach the end of the story. Each chapter is played on a completely new map with unique art and adventures. a b Herkewitz, William (September 29, 2017). "The 50 Best New Board Games". Popular Mechanics . Retrieved October 7, 2017. This module includes a new General Store tile which you place over the top of the General Store on the town board. It has slightly altered actions and gives players another way to place camps.

Artist, designer and publisher Ryan Laukat’s success with blending the storytelling + resource management in Above and Below has the potential to be duplicated in a new sequel. Near and Far is a storytelling and resource management game in the same thematic world as his previous game. Players occupy the role of adventurers forming a party of heroes, journeying through the landscape completing tasks for fame and fortune. While there are a lot of activities in the game, the player who utilizes the presented opportunities best to gain victory (journey) points will ultimately win.

Categories

Four wanderers search for the Last Ruin, a city that legends say contains an artifact that will grant the greatest desires of the heart. A lost love, redemption, acceptance, a family rejoined– these are the fires that fuel the wanderers’ journeys, but can they overcome their own greed and inner demons on the way?

It all feels a lot like playing an old Fighting Fantasy game book, and Near and Far does a decent job of maintaining interest in the campaign from one game to the next. But it also highlights what, for me, was the game’s greatest flaw. While the unfolding narrative is a lot of fun, it doesn’t quite sit comfortably with the route-building, stat-boosting, more mechanical aspects that make up the bulk of the game. Actual in-character plot decisions are the highlights of every session, but opportunities to enjoy them are sparse. Everything else feels slightly muted by comparison, like having to finish your homework before you’re allowed to play video games. This is also the case when it comes to player interaction. Near and Far tells personal stories, and as such, there’s not much that players will do with each other. Even the duels in town that occur when one player wishes to visit a location occupied by another are not really filled with drama. The real element of tension between players mostly comes from competition over limited game resources. To find out about duelling go to chapter five. To find out about fighting go to chapter five (b). Chapter Five Near and Far is a board game for 2 to 4 players designed by Ryan Laukat and published by Red Raven Games in 2017. In this map based storytelling board game, [1] players seek fame and fortune and the eventual discovery of a mysterious last ruin. [2] The gameplay blends resource management with a storybook, with players controlling heroes that equip and provision themselves in a town, and then set out to explore the map, setting up camps and completing quests. [3] The game is a sequel to Laukat's Above and Below, which is set in the same fictional universe (Arzium). [4]

What is this about an Atlas you ask? Ingeniously to aid in the immersion of the story based aspect of the game. Instead of just having one game board which would mean visiting the same locations again and again and again….add infinitum. If you are in the market for a ruthlessly opportunistic route-building game, better options are available. Via Nebula and Yamataï both cover similar ground in interesting ways and, while they don’t have anything approaching Near and Far’s narrative appeal, are both fantastic games in their own right. a b Famularo, Jessica (February 8, 2017). "The Best Board Games Releasing in 2017". Inverse . Retrieved September 1, 2017. What is this Questing thing? For each game session you will have a certain number of quest tokens based on the number of players. These will usually be fairly randomly placed across the map (there are a very few minor restrictions). When you reach a quest location you will have the relevant quest read out to you along with two choices of action. An example of this might be In addition, if a player stops on a location with a book icon, the indicated adventure is read from the Adventure Book which presents a light roleplaying encounter to the active player. This usually involves a player making a roll against their “skill” or “combat” score to determine success with the hopes of gaining resources and reputation.