A Stroll Through Nalos — A Roll Player Adventures Review
Same dice, same characters, new adventures. Bring back some old favorites or choose one out of the box, but decide quickly as Dragul forces are massing again!
Game Attributes Block
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Art Direction/Artists: JJ Ariosa
Designer: Keith Matejka, Peter Andrew Ryan, James William Ryan
Initial Year: 2021
Expected Play Time: 90–150 min / adventure
Age Range: 14+
Number of Players: 1–4
Game Type: Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, Resource Management
Unboxing
Theme and What Is It?
As part of the army of Nalos, your past exploits have endeared yourself to some of the leadership. You are given missions to complete to aid in the defense of your people against the Dragul and whatever machinations they are plotting. It is all up to you as to how you proceed — show mercy, fight to the death, skulk around in the shadows. You’ll need both your mind and might to win the day!
Initial Impressions
I encountered this game on Kickstarter, being a fan of the Roll Player game. Watching the early reviews and play-throughs and I knew this was for me.
Gameplay Mechanics
Goal
The goal of Roll Player Adventures is to make it through the adventures with a unique story to tell. There are really no win conditions outside of making it to the conclusion of the Adventure Books.
Setup
Players can import a favorite character from playing the Roll Player game and its expansions or use one of the many pre-generated characters. Fill out the player sheet and select the applicable market cards (Weapons, Armor, Skills, etc.) and Class card for your player. Fill your Player Board with Stamina cubes equal to your attribute values.
Fill out the party journal sheet per the number of players in the group.
Have the dice bag at hand with the supplemental card decks that will be referenced in the adventures. Choose the appropriate Adventure Book (they are played in numerical order) and lay out the associated map. Fill out the map according to the Adventure Book.
Turns
There are no formal turns for the game. One of the players reads the Adventure Book, presenting the storyline and situations where the group decides which path to take. Another manages the book of encounters and another for skillsets; these books are referenced when the group runs into an encounter or must perform a skill test to proceed within the story.
When in combat or skill test, players use their resources (stamina, cards, tokens, etc.) to create and manipulate the dice pool in an attempt to overcome the challenge.
As the players make their choices, accumulate and use resources, and overcome challenges they will eventually reach the conclusion of the adventure. It is at this point the players can advance their characters or group capabilities by spending XP and gold. Information on the party journal is recorded and either the game is put away or the table is prepared for the next adventure.
Game Build Quality
This game’s components are top notch all the way. Premium box, thick/chunky cardboard for tokens, glossy pages for books, the books used often are spiral bound, and custom trays for components. My only nit is that the trays don’t explicitly accommodate the storage of character cards between adventures, some envelopes, baggies, or something would have been nice to keep the party journal, player cards, etc. together.
Artistic Direction
JJ Ariosa is all over this game, just like in Roll Player — I love the continuity to make the game feel like an extension of the original board game. There are unique art pieces all over, including character portraits, that can’t help but catch your eye. The Adventure Books, supplemental books, and rulebook are well laid out and easy to use.
Fun Factor
This isn’t your typical board game as it engages the group at the same time, allowing for debate to decide how to proceed, and requiring cooperation in effort to succeed with your plans. There is a little extra fun in importing well-loved characters you have created using the Roll Player game and putting them through the paces in a semi-roleplaying way.
Age Range & Weight
The age range for the game is 14+. Now it could purely be because of the mass of tiny components to the game, but even in the first adventure there are situations where players are faced with moral dilemmas in how they are to proceed, not to mention descriptions that might be a bit much for younger players. The complexity of the ruleset is low (12 or even 10 years old could play given the linear nature of the game and well-presented rules), even for the amount of components is so much, there isn’t much needed to actually execute a given adventure and each player is responsible for a portion of the resources at hand. But the more difficult part is understanding what each of your cards do, even with the guide at the back of the rulebook to help you.
Conclusions
I’ve made it through some adventures, but not completed the series yet with the group of characters I initially picked — traditional RPG classes: Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Rogue. The storyline is compelling and the feel of the game takes you back to those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. You and your group not only make decisions, big and small, but your ability to succeed or fail at tasks also influences the result of the story. Replayability (or re-readability) is always a concern with a game structured as this, but that is why there are so many options for characters, so many paths to take even if the first choice you make only has 2 options. I can’t wait for more and look forward to playing the expansion as well.
Theme & What Is It — 4
Initial Impressions — 5
Gameplay Mechanics — 4
Game Build Quality — 5
Artistic Direction — 5
Fun Factor — 5
Age Range & Weight — 4
Conclusions — 4.6
