Who are you? Who will you become? What will make you who you are? We all have our own back stories in real life; the major events and people who have shaped our lives and helped us become who we are today. Truth be told, most of our stories are probably not super epic, but in Call to Adventure you get to create an epic story for your character unlike any of us have ever lived.
What is Call to Adventure like?
Call to Adventure is a story driven game where you progress your character from their humble or noble beginnings and see where their lives take them. Will they see tragedy? Will their life be full of noble ventures? Only the runes know.
Practically speaking the game consists of each player attempting challenges in order to add them, as well as their associated effects, to their character. The game consists of three acts represented by three story cards for each act. Each turn the players choose a card from the act they are currently in or any of the previous acts. The cards can be of two different types; story or trait. Trait cards require the character to have certain prerequisites, while the story cards require a roll of the runes.
Each character starts with access to three basic runes as well as runes that tie to their origin card chosen at the beginning of the game. Each story card has two options and each option allows the player to roll/cast the basic runes as well as runes of specific types. If the player has access to those runes then they add them to the basic runes ad cast them to find how many successes they have. Before casting the runes they can also choose to spend experience points on up to three dark runes to their pool. Dark runes can help you succeed, but they might lead you down the dark path of corruption. After casting the runes if the player has more successes than the card requires they add it to their character’s story. In addition to adding the card to their story the player receives rewards which could be rune icons, triumph and tragedy points, story icons or cards.
The first player to have three cards in Act 1 unlocks Act 2 for everyone and the same for Act 3. After one player has 9 cards for their character’s story each other player gets one more turn and then the game ends and points are calculated. Points come from several different sources including the corruption track, story cards obtained, the destiny card chosen at the beginning of the game, chero and antihero cards played, experience tokens and story icons.
Rating
While Call to Adventure may not stay on my shelf, it is a good game. The game is super easy to play and provides good decision points to keep it interesting. Plus, you get to roll runes which surprisingly was a very satisfying experience.
I would say that Call to Adventure would work really well for people who have not played many games before or for those who really get into the story-telling aspect. For newer gamers, the decisions are easy enough that they can make solid choices without having to be too strategic. For the story-tellers this game can be incredible. With each new card taken the player could tell a story about how they failed or achieved greatness through the challenge. It might slow the game down, but for people who love to tell stories, it would be worth it.
The Good
- Good solo/coop modes in addition to the standard mode
- Easy to learn, quick to play and good decision points each turn
The Bad
- Choosing not to do the storytelling aspect makes the game pretty dry
- Some of the rune symbols require referencing the rulebook
Complexity Level
The game is not difficult to learn or play. The only difficulty players may have is remembering what symbol means what on the runes.
Facts
- Players: 1 – 4
- Playing time: 30 – 60 minutes
- Suggested age: 9+
A review copy of Call to Adventure was supplied by Brotherwise Games.
