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Game description from the publisher:
An age of innovation and discovery is at hand. With war on the horizon and whisperings of a prophetic storm approaching, now is the time to gather all your strength and set out to forge your place in Terrinoth's book of legends!
Rune Age is a deck-building game of adventure and conquest for 1-4 players. (The box says 2-4 players, but 2 of the 4 scenarios include solitaire rules.)
Set in the fantasy realm of Terrinoth (Runebound, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, Runewars, and DungeonQuest), Rune Age puts players in control of one of four races, vying for dominance in a world embroiled in conflict.
Designed by Corey Konieczka, Rune Age is a unique deck-building game that centers around scenarios. The four different scenarios included in Rune Age present alternate win conditions for players, from an all-out war to determine the victor to a cooperative game experience where players all win or lose together. Scenarios not only dictate the win conditions, they also determine which card types will populate Terrinoth (forming the central card pools) and which Event cards will form the Event deck. The Event deck contains thematic challenges, enemies, and happenings that are tied to the chosen scenario, creating a new play environment each turn.
Gameplay in Rune Age centers around players working to develop their individual deck of cards. At the beginning of the game, each player begins with a small assortment of cards in their deck, drawing five cards each turn to carry out their actions. Each player's deck represents their faction's military strength and capabilities. These decks will be formed with their faction-specific Unit cards and a central collection of Neutral Unit cards, Tactics cards, and Gold cards.
While players begin with limited cards in their deck, through cunning and strategic use of their available cards, players can expand their deck to create a destructive force of their own clever design. Will you create brutal deck of formidable Units? Or will you rely on Gold and Influence to acquire neutral forces and powerful Tactics?
Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread {Part 25}
- Extremely powerful and versatile, offering offense, defense, and utility
- Scales incredibly well with upgrades and charges
- Provides a wide array of effects through inscriptions
- Can heal horror and damage while fighting enemies
- The 'Hunt' inscription allows for efficient movement and engagement
- Outclasses other top-tier weapons like Cyclopean Hammer
- High initial cost (4 resources)
- Some scenario effects can counter its strength
- The sheer number of options can be overwhelming
- May not be universally playable in all campaigns or investigator builds
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Charge System — Starts with charges and replenishes them each round, allowing for repeated use of inscribed abilities.
- Combat Focus — Primarily used for fighting, providing bonuses to attack and damage, with inscriptions enhancing its combat effectiveness.
- Customizable — Can be imbued with various inscriptions using charges, each providing different effects like extra damage, clue gathering, healing, or movement.
- Item/Weapon — A melee weapon asset with charges that replenish each round.
- Utility Effects — Inscriptions can also provide non-combat benefits like drawing cards, healing horror/damage, or discovering clues.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We rated each customizable card on three different scoring metrics to determine which customizable cards are the best of the best.
- It's interesting in the design that a few of the customizable cards do nothing or very little at level zero.
- It's good and it's fun and I think it's very interesting. Uh which also is something that I value in Arkham Cards.
- So, this is the one that we actually have like kind of the most conflicting opinions, but we both generally agree it's a strong card.
- It is very versatile. And that's where you can see that we both gave this like a high versatility rating.
- It's a trap. Don't get it. Don't get it. Don't get trapped.
- We think this card is very powerful if you haven't figured that out yet.
- This is your game plan. Like this is what you're doing. This is what you brought your deck to do.
- The sheer number of options can be overwhelming.
- It doesn't work everywhere, but there's some kind of fragility to this card, but I bet you can figure out a way to not have that be an issue.
References (from this video)
- Ice Age
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hello everybody. Welcome to the Dice Tower most boring unboxings in the world
- This is a box made by AEG.
- Well, that looks interesting.
- I reviewed Pirate King before. This is a nicer box for it for sure.
- The embargo is as of the moment that I opened it.
- Rocket Ranchers, herding cats in space.
- Sushi Go Party! is a fun little game. It's quick.
- This is a fun little game, it's quick.
References (from this video)
- Allows players to create their own characters with skill points.
- Creating your own character with skill points
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Character creation — Players can create their own characters and allocate skill points.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Viewer discretion is advised.
- She breaks it and it sucks us into the void.
- Women. [screaming]
- Steam Forge doesn't make good games, but this one could be the outlier.
- Sometimes there are outliers.
- The dead are here and they do not slumber.
- I may not know my flowers, but I know a [ __ ] when I stone door.
- I'm going to make my Pornhub payment. [laughter]
- My grandmother was a fierce warrior and she left me her great sword. Faux spplitter. I don't need it. I'm no father. But maybe you could use it.
- It's literally a little a little dagger. It doesn't Where [ __ ] does this even [ __ ] go? It is actually like super tiny.
- The medallion pops out of the indentation and you take it back.
References (from this video)
- Nostalgic
- True to video game experience
- Simple gameplay
- Grinding and leveling
- Fantasy world
- Quest-based
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Skill leveling — Players can level up multiple skills to 99
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- More and more video games are turned into board games.
- Each of us is going to pitch five video game adaptations, which are board games.