How do you play this game?

[Endrid]

So, picked this game up after seeing it in the Humble Bundle.  Played through the first couple of scenarios in "Perils of the Lost Coast" and won both (lost a character in the first one) but the third "Black Fang's Dungeon" is all but impossible to finish in the time allotted.  I must need more people in my party I theorize.  I buy two more toons to fill out a party (mage and ranger).  Try to do the whole scenario over again.  Now I cannot even complete "Brigandoom!"  I time out EVERY time.  

 

I don't understand.  Why does the game get more difficult when I have more toons?  That makes no sense.  How would I ever beat a scenario?  Is it entirely up to RNG cards?  That seems really inefficient.  Like You cannot possibly win with regularity like that.  And I know this is not exactly mature but winning is fun, losing constantly is not.  And timing out is just lame.

 

So what am I missing?  What am I doing wrong?  Where did I go off the rails because this started out fun and has rapidly become boring and lame.

[Hannibal_PJV]

This is actually very easy game to win so you definitely has some wrong strategy in there.

When starting a new party

- remake your character decks (put in cures, big size / Many dice weapons and good armour suitable to character. Also remember if the character is proficient or not!)

- use a balanced croup (normally 3 to 4, with diverce skills that Are usefull in closing locations)

- use character in right locations: a location that They can close

- use blessings with all possible characters when meeting Villains and hensmans and when tryin to close the location

- read and use your powers!

- replay scenarios to improve your decks.

- don't be Afraid to discard cards to explore again (just have healing in just case)

- use scouting powers and cards to find monster and hensmans early enough and arrange decks so that the character with best skills will encounter important cards.

- don't Waste good cards for not important checks.

- discard useless cards at the end of your turn, but remember that cards Are your life, so some consideration is needed.

 

Some links that may be usefull:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87235-best-two-characters-to-pair-with-kyra-and-merisiel-but-are-also-a-good-duo-themselves/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/86321-newbie-asking-for-help-on-cards-and-deckbuilding/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/86805-best-party-discussion/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/86431-comprehensive-video-explanation-of-the-rules/

Deck building at 12min in the above vide, just press the P-icon. The follow who did this video is just "hyperactive" and make that click very quicly ;-) but explain the Main deck building part very well.

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87093-discard-and-recharge-often/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87553-upping-the-game-tips-and-strategy-to-play-larger-parties-in-higher-difficulty/

Edited June 16, 2016 by Hannibal_PJV

[Kgk4569]

So the main feature of the game is the blessings deck, which acts as a timer. There is ALWAYS 30 cards (unless special rules change it).

 

Locations are increased with the amount of characters, but ALWAYS start with 10 cards (again, unless special rules change it).

 

So this means the more characters you have, the less turns you have per character to close out all the locations.

 

Generally it is best to start out with 2 characters, because you will have 4 locations, with 40 cards, to go through in 30 turns.

 

Once you get comfortable with the game (and get over the natural impulse to encounter every card) and get yourself a good feel of the characters and your strategy, THEN you can move to more characters.

 

TLDR: Play with a 2 characters to start, encounter as many cards per turn as possible, close locations as fast as possible.

 

 

Oh, and turn off permadeath.

[HPL_fan]

This game took me a while to really understand.  I'm completely sold at this point though.  Keep retrying and focus in the short term on collecting better cards.  Once you do that for a scenario or two then focus on trying to close locations.  That is easier with better character cards.  I have to go through that for most scenarios.  The trick is...it's fun.  Shifting focus to card collection for a scenario or two takes the pressure off of the timer and have fun finding and using new cards.

[Endrid]

First of all thank you for responding.  Hopefully I can figure this out.  This game seems very interesting, I just do not understand why it has become unplayable suddenly.

 

Some questions...

 

- remake your character decks (put in cures, big size / Many dice weapons and good armour suitable to character. Also remember if the character is proficient or no

 

How?  I do not have any other cards available.  Even after buying a few chests which, in theory, gave me cards I cannot add them to my decks nor use them in any way.  Seems pointless.  I see nowhere I can access or gain access to other cards.

 

- use scouting powers and cards to find monster and hensmans early enough and arrange decks so that the character with best skills will encounter important cards.

 

What are these and where do you find them?  I've found no way to look at more than the top card of a deck and thats all but useless.

 

Thank you.  Some great advise, I tried to use it but am still failing.

[Endrid]

Doesn't the logic that you literally cannot go through all the cards mean that you'll time out frequently and increasingly frequently as you add characters?  It seems like timing out is the accepted and preferred way for a dungeon run to end per this logic.  That cannot be right.  I get the idea of having a person play against the clock and all but this is not a clock.  I can play as quickly as I like and all it means is I lose faster.  That does not seem right.

[Kgk4569]

No, you must use blessings, allies, powers, and spells to go through multiple cards per turn; Taking every opportunity to close a location, thus eliminating the remaining cards.

 

You must split up your party and temporary close locations when you encounter the Villian, so you can hunt him easier.

 

Yes you have a greater chance to time out, that is why you should only start with 2 characters. Find a pair that work well together and learn to use them.

 

Kyra and Merisel are a good combo

Lini and Sajan are my favorite

 

The less characters, the less locations. The less locations, the less cards to go through. The less cards to go through, the less you need to worry about the timer.

[Kgk4569]

Here, this may help:

 

https://www.twitch.tv/obsidian/v/68613004

[Hannibal_PJV]

First of all thank you for responding.  Hopefully I can figure this out.  This game seems very interesting, I just do not understand why it has become unplayable suddenly.

 

Some questions...

 

 

- remake your character decks (put in cures, big size / Many dice weapons and good armour suitable to character. Also remember if the character is proficient or no

 

How?  I do not have any other cards available.  Even after buying a few chests which, in theory, gave me cards I cannot add them to my decks nor use them in any way.  Seems pointless.  I see nowhere I can access or gain access to other cards.

 

- use scouting powers and cards to find monster and hensmans early enough and arrange decks so that the character with best skills will encounter important cards.

 

What are these and where do you find them?  I've found no way to look at more than the top card of a deck and thats all but useless.

 

 

Thank you.  Some great advise, I tried to use it but am still failing.

Deck building

- there is big P icon, but you have to use it before playing any game so immediately after you make new part, look for that big P symbol

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hzscb35nwtl30mb/Photo%207.5.2016%2023.28.41.png?dl=0

 

There Are Many tabs for different card types. Just check the character and right card type and you can modify the deck

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8dl4elmuwoza4lm/Photo%207.5.2016%2023.29.07.png?dl=0

 

Scouting cards:

Augury

Spying class

 

And some others.

[Bajie]

I play Legendary and on Permadeath, 6 player mode.

 

On the blessing deck..30 is just enough..you'll get to a point that you constantly win the scenario even by the 20th turn.

 

On the game being harder as more player unlocks and used..you should try to play the tabletop ^^ it is exactly like that.

 

Early game, focus on getting better weapon/cards. You can see that maybe your using blessings to win against normal monsters, you shouldn't..blessing should be extra explorations..but until you can do that consistently, its better to lose the scenario than die. Save it for henchmen,boss and closing.

 

Spread the characters on locations they good at closing.

 

Start at 2 player. Merisiel is very strong but can become stale, for me at least, immediately.

 

Clear your hand every turn, keep only trash cards if you have a bury or discard ability to boost checks.

 

If you lost a henchmen at a location don't chase it. Go to another location, save it for the when you know and corner a Boss. Sometimes its better to let a Boss go into a locations you can easily explore. ( Ezren on Academy or Thass Dungeon )

[Hannibal_PJV]

Yes, that advises that if you get no usefull cards to your hand during adventure, and discard them at the end of your turn is very usefull! Some cards just don't help you in the task ahead of you.

[jtrowell]

Of coursed it will depend on what character you play, if you have a power that allow you to recharge or discard any card for an effect, then keeping to card to fuel this power instead of recharging or discarding a more useful card might be worth it

 

On the whole, the game is probably the easiest with 3 or maybe 4 characters, as it give you a nice range of different character to cover all kind of locations and have a use for all boons. 5 or 6 characters is harder as you *must* make sure that each turn count, and 2 or 3 is less risky, but can leave you sometimes with some specific locations or banes where you have no ideal character to manage it.

 

Also, before discarding a blessing or ally to get an additionnal explore, always make sure that you still have at least some way to deal with a henchman or villain should you happen to find it (for exemple by having a weapon or attack spell in hand, and maybe with at least one or more blessing held by other characters to support you if needed), as well of course as having a good chance to close the location.

 

There's few things worse that encountering a henchem during your very first exploration, kill it, and then fail to close. In that case, it's usually a good idea to leave the location to another as you won't be able to close it permanently without having to explore the whole location deck, and only come back at it later after having closed enought location that you can eitheir close it temporarly when encountering the villain, or when you think that the villain has fled to this location.

[zeroth_hour]

Hi, can you list your characters and take a screenshot of your decks so we can analyze them?  Also, how often are you losing fights?  How many blessings/etc do you throw at boons?  How many explores do you do a turn?

[Bajie]

Hi, can you list your characters and take a screenshot of your decks so we can analyze them?  Also, how often are you losing fights?  How many blessings/etc do you throw at boons?  How many explores do you do a turn?

I rarely lose fights. 1 or 2 per grinding week..mostly Mamma Graul and most likely on Scenario Power that adds +2 Boss Difficulty for every destroyed Henchmen.

 

Boons, early on you throw everything at em to get em. Its better to get them than to win a scenario at low levels. On average, one party member can explore at least 3x per turn. Seelah on lategame can explore 5x off the bat. But sometimes its better to just safely explore normally, for example, when I play Harsk, I slow play him, I draw once and just scry the next card savng his blessings and cards to Snipe/Assist..if I scry a Monster, then I plan accordingly, Can Harsk destroy it w/o Blessings or Do I send in another character for the encounter?

 

When there is no more monsters on a location except a Henchmen/Boss thats when I aggressively explore.

 

Always get Allies with extra explore, spend 1 blessing on it though as 1:1 trade if you have too but no more than that.

 

For me scrying > extra explore..safer and much more efficient. Augury on Seoni is good. Evade to Top is also a scrylike effect.

Always Augury card type that has most on a location and plan if you want to encounter it or not. If you're low on time, scry for monster and hope you get lucky on a boss or henchmen.

[Hannibal_PJV]

Try this

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qmqz?Rise-of-the-Runelords-We-Need-a-Snapshot-of#1

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r81m?Rise-of-the-Runelords-We-Need-A-Snapshot-of#1

[Urtar37]

Play Lini, she is not super good at first, but she can explore decently and heal a lot, and later on she can't fail anything.

[Thyraxus]

One important factor is properly pacing your explorations: Too few and you run out of time, too many and you're spreading yourself too thin, expending too many resources and then end up facing a bad guy or a check to close a location you can't beat because you spent all cards to get there. For example, don't discard your only blessing you have left in your hand for an extra explore, because that exploration might just mean you run into the villain which you then can't defeat because you would have needed that blessing you just discarded.

 

Take a typical 4 player game: you have 6 locations, so 60 cards to explore in 30 turns (not counting wildcards that add cards to locations or reduce the blessing deck, or special scenario rules etc.). That means if you just try to do one extra exploration per turn past the first free one, you would be able to theoretically explore every card within the time limit. Considering that you only have to dig through all 10 cards of a location in the very worst case (henchman/villain on the bottom or you miss your check-to-close) you will usually have turns to spare which gives you a buffer to recover from setbacks, like a combat check going wrong for example. 

 

The tactics of the game change depending on the number of members in your party. With fewer characters, the focus shifts from not running out of time to staying alive - with a single character you have 30 turns for 30 location cards, so you theoretically don't need any extra explorations at all. But you will have a harder time winning combat because there will be less support in the form of blessings/spells/etc. from other characters. With a larger party it is exactly the opposite - surviving will be easier (lots of support to throw around for tough checks, and probably some healing too) but managing your number of turns becomes a lot more critical.

 

So, in short: definitely try to get more than one exploration per turn, not as many as you can - only as many as you need. Experience will give you an idea what is a good number, but playing a 4-man party (the point where the game is most balanced IMO) and trying to keep up a 2 exploration-per-turn pace (the first free one, plus one extra from a blessing or ally) is usually a good place to start for getting that experience.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Thyraxus

[Yenkin2001]

I have to admit the first scenario took me a number of tries.  While the mechanics of the game of not difficult there are some very subtle strategies.  I did when with the two characters I was handed when I started my account.  Mainly as I am playing on an Android emulator and would prefer a PC version to come out, so I doubt I want to invest much in this game at this time.  This game is a bit depending on RNG and Card order.  So there is the ever present luck factor a bad role is a bad role, and losing your entire hand can really suck.  I have had it where I beat the henchman, then rolled a lousy die on a close condition, believe me that sucks.  But a few early strategies I found.

 

1) be aware of the sites within the scenario, if there are close conditions, try as best  you can to match them to the skills of the particular characters you bring.

2) I found cards/skill that allowed me to recycle my discards back into my hand was extremely useful.  The starting character has a skill that allows him to cast it on himself or another. 

3) Don't waste discards on useless things, either you get the roll or not, but don't sweat it if you don't get a card that is not useful at all or has limited use. it is nice if you can reveal or recharge a card before a role if you are lucky enough to win it, then you get an extra card in the deck. 

4) learn the cards, I made some bad choices where the wording made it sound like it added 1d4, but in fact it replaced the added 1d8. 

5) Where you can if you can banish to get an extra exploration, go for it, you only get 30 turns, there are 40 cards, I had a few games where I split my team only to find the bandits on the bottom.  Finding your henchman on top is great, but don't count on it.

 

 

Keep in mind, even if you loose, you can gain cards, you gold will continue to grow by killing mobs and closing locations.  More ways to loose then there is to win, so you have to live with it, when you do win savour it.

 

 

 

 

[Urtar37]

Also the dice in this game roll terribly, so that might be part of it, that you might just be rolling poor, which means that you fail to banish banes so they get shuffled back in which requires more explorations. I recommend playing the tabletop game because, while sometimes you will still roll bad, they won't constantly roll 1s, and it is good practice so you can get better at the game, plus there are no bugs, which this game has so many of. Good Luck!

Edited April 10, 2017 by Urtar37