Fortuna is situated in the Roman Empire, during Caesar's reign.
The players are ambitious Romans striving for influence in the Roman Empire. While striving for power, happiness and wealth, they leave their own village and travel towards the City of Rome. The road to Rome is long and there are many ways to reach your life purpose. As a hardworking farmer you can work the land and grow large quantities of grain and wine. A clever farmer irrigates the land to improve the yield of his harvest. Trading your harvested goods for the best price may bring you the means to move up the ladder of the Roman hierarchy. When will you decide to move on and buy yourself an army of Centurions? Or will you choose the sacred way of Religion and serve the ruthless Roman Gods? Along the way, you will have the opportunity to find happiness and wealth in marriage. Will you take this chance to become happy or not? If you contribute well to the Roman Empire, you will grow in the favor of the Emperor and move further to Rome. Will the citizens of Rome welcome you jubilantly?
Coming nearer to Rome and the Emperor's Palace the tension in the game becomes higher. Which of the players has contributed most to the Empire? And which of the players has saved the city in times of crisis? Just when water and food supplies become exhausted or Centurions are needed to protect Rome against a hostile invasion, only the most prestigious Romans show their courage and value. The Emperor will reward this Roman with golden Fortuna coins, and the deeper the crisis, the richer the reward. When a player has reached the centre of Rome, only the player who has done most for the Emperor and the People of Rome will become Victorious.
Make sure to be in the City of Rome so you are able to take that triumphal march to Victory!
How to win the game?
The player with the highest number of Victory Points at the end of the game wins. The game ends when one player gets to the Center of Rome (the Palace of the Emperor), then this final round is completed. Scoring in the game is partly based on the number of steps you have made towards Rome = each step is one VP. The other Victory Points are scored by collecting the right combination of privilege cards and resources. The VP scored with the privately held privilege cards stays a secret till the end of the game when the total scoring is revealed.
- fun concept
- not enjoyable for the group
- unbalanced
- survival by shifting positions
- competitive cooking/food theme
- party/hidden-identity vibe
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- variable modes — multiple modes via deck layout
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We are AI police.
- SHACKLES OFF MY FEET, YEAH.
References (from this video)
- engaging theme and components
- strong combat and exploration flow
- vendor KS mentions and price point may be high for some
- learning curve for new players
- space exploration, pirate culture, ship upgrades
- space exploration and pirate piracy in a modular space setting
- swashbuckling, adventurous
- Bees
- Mitosis
- Arena the Contest
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bag-building — draw and place items from bags to upgrade ships and crew
- deck construction / hand management — build a hand from a deck to optimize actions
- space combat encounters — engage in battles with space beasts and rival captains
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- these scores are of course completely subjective and quite possibly completely made up
- this new series is going to list new old and newsworthy games that caught our attention within the last month
- for one reason or another these are the top ten games that recently stood out from the crowd to us and are now on our radar
- the kickstarter campaign for the game ended just last week raising over a million dollars in pledges
- we'll be shipping to backers a year from now because that's how Kickstarter works
- you'll feel like a queen bee while playing the Isle of Cats
- not a single butterfly ever makes the round-trip
- this is a sequel of sorts to the 1981 classic game Return to Dark Tower