You know, it’s odd how quickly my opinion of a game can drop. I don’t think Dragon Rampant is a bad game by any stretch–I believe it delivers a good time in a very luck driven beer and pretzels format. The issue is that it has a lot of odd negative player experiences buried away in its execution.

The game that broke the camel’s back was based off scenario was Scenario 7: The Crystal Gale. As written, it’s a competition to collect crystals scattered about the board. When you touch a crystal, you collect it. When you’ve collected all the crystals, the game ends.

The thought process is that you collect some but fight over the rest. The problem is that the scenario appears to organically resolve quite quickly. The objectives in the middle might be fought over, but appropriate alignment of your faster moving units can guarantee capture. The real variable is whether or not you make all of your activation rolls.

Of course, if you don’t, you lose. Tension is possible–many failed rolls or just plain bad luck on the wrong rolls could create a period of contest but it’s down to the dice luck to make it happen. Between two opponents that are reasonably trying to win, the scenario falls flat.

Not to harp on it too hard: it’s just somewhat slapdash. Many of the scenarios are and really boil down to feeling the same. It seems almost half of them are “Move off the opposite board edge,” with another chunk being “Kill the enemy.” There’s an argument that it’s hard to write anything else between warbands–and I do somewhat agree. Warband sized games do tend to boil down to kill, escape, or hold terrain. But to write and publish a scenario like the one I’ve listed above does feel a bit… odd. Offputting, at least.

So we sat and thought about this–among other things, and of course the topic turned once again to how we’d change the ruleset. As it stands, we’ve drafted a new ruleset altogether to try–I’ll keep the details scant, as with the holidays and my parents in town I’m struggling to properly hold up my end of the bargain. I hope to produce a list builder for our system this week.

But again, that’s a story for another time. For now, I suspect we’re closing the book on Dragon Rampant. I might bring it back to play with my son someday but I can’t say I feel a strong urge to play it again. I’m hoping with the game we build we can make something with a touch more meat on the bones and a lot more consistency in mechanics and intentionality in scenario design.

Right, right. Getting ahead of myself now. Do I recommend Dragon Rampant after all of this? Maybe. This isn’t a review post, so I’ll hold on the tons and tons of detail. Just know you’re getting into something a little more luck-based and silly. Come in with the right mindset and I think you’ll find it worth the low entree fee to get some fun out of some armies you have sitting around. Have a beer, grab some pretzels, roll dice.

Honestly, that sounds like a good idea with or without the wargame.