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It is the late 1930s, and the world is in turmoil. Humanity is on the brink of war as imperialist nations in the Far East and Europe work aggressively to expand their domination. The Nazis have taken control of Germany and now spread darkness across the globe in their hunt for powerful occult artifacts that can give them the upper hand in the days to come. But the spirit of adventure and freedom won't be stamped out so easily. Heroic adventurers from around the world answer the call, racing against time to hunt down ancient artifacts, explore deadly temples, and fight back the powers of darkness from engulfing the world in flames. It is a race of good versus evil, and only a cunning and agile explorer can claim the ultimate prize of... Fortune and Glory!
Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game is a fast-paced game of high adventure, vile villains, edge-of-your-seat danger, and cliffhanger pulp movie action. Players take on the role of a treasure hunter, traveling the globe in search of ancient artifacts and fending off danger and villains at every turn in a quest for the ultimate reward of fortune and glory! So strap on your adventure boots and goggles, fire up the engines on the seaplane, and grab some extra ammo for your revolver...the Nazis already have a head start and in this race for fortune and glory, and there's no prize for second place!
- Cinematic, narrative-driven experience with unpredictable, dynamic scenarios
- Flexible play modes (competitive or cooperative)
- High replayability due to randomized encounters and open-map exploration
- Expansions offer new mechanics, villains, and content
- Complex rules and setup can be intimidating for new players
- Cliffhanger mechanic can be punishing and risky, potentially causing knockouts
- Long play sessions and management of multiple components
- Pulp adventure treasure quest
- Global treasure-hunting adventure across cities, jungles, islands, and ruins
- cinematic, unpredictable, cliffhanger-driven
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Artifact adventures — Artifacts on the board are claimed by overcoming dangerous challenges represented by danger cards; each artifact has fortune value and danger value.
- card crafting — Artifacts on the board are claimed by overcoming dangerous challenges represented by danger cards; each artifact has fortune value and danger value.
- Card-based encounters — Cities and spaces trigger adventure cards with various effects, including gear, allies, or narrative events; some cards have secret icons to be kept.
- Cliffhanger and exertion — During cliffhanger tests, players may take wounds to roll additional adventure dice; taking more wounds increases risk but can accelerate artifact acquisition.
- Combat and injury — When an enemy encounter occurs, both hero and enemy roll a number of dice equal to their combat stats; hits on 4-6 deal damage; defense mitigates hits; wounds can knock a hero out or heal via recovery.
- Combat: Damage Based — When an enemy encounter occurs, both hero and enemy roll a number of dice equal to their combat stats; hits on 4-6 deal damage; defense mitigates hits; wounds can knock a hero out or heal via recovery.
- Danger and cliffhanger system — Danger cards dictate tests; tests require successes on dice; failures lead to a cliffhanger, which can be resolved by passing tests or by ending turn; cliffhangers can be overcome by exerting wounds to add dice.
- End phase and progression — After each round, the end phase cleans up and replenishes artifacts; new locations may be drawn; wounded heroes return to starting city.
- initiative and turn order — At the start of each round, players roll dice to determine initiative; highest roller acts first; ties are re-rolled.
- Movement — On each turn, players roll a die to determine how many spaces they may move on the map; land and city spaces cost movement; sea spaces have printed costs.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- A hallmark of Fortune and Glory is its unpredictability.
- The combination of randomized encounters, open movement across the board, unexpected twists, sudden betrayals, and natural disasters all ensure that no two sessions are the same.
- At its core, Fortune and Glory is a narrative-driven adventure with a goal of providing a cinematic storytelling experience.
- Whichever variation you play, we'll just stick to going over the basic game.
- In its competitive version, players race across the globe to collect the most fortune while also sabotaging each other's efforts.
- Cooperatively, though, the heroes will team up to fight against villains controlled by the game.