An overview of the Dragonholt legacy
An overview of the Dragonholt legacy
Today, in the latest Legacy of Dragonholt review, we dive into the shared story of the RPG!
Every great story starts somewhere. But before you rush into glory, you must first learn to walk the adventurous path. Your adventure begins with a simple letter from an old friend, but something is wrong ...
- PREPARE FOR THE DESERT: Gather your group of heroes and go to ...
- INTRODUCING THE ORACLE GAME SYSTEM: This narrative adventure game ...
- ROLE PLAY: Play as one of six humanoid races residing ...
A brief overview of Dragonholt's legacy
Gather your group of heroes and go to the edge of Terrinot in the Legacy of Dragonholt!
The first game to use the Oracle system, Legacy of Dragonholt captures the spirit of a role-playing game without the need for a game master. This storytelling game for one to six players allows players to create their own unique hero and embark on six noble tasks. Fight the goblins, prevent the evil gentleman’s complication, and add a new story to your story!
Legacy of Dragonholt is a board game in a shared story in which players will create characters and set out in search. It is based on the Oracle Fantastic Flight Games system and is currently the only game it uses. So if you’re enjoying it, read our review of Legacy of Dragonholt and keep an eye out for FF for similar games coming in the future.
What is the Oracle system?
The Oracle system is the framework in which the story will be told. Players have the skills and take turns reading search booklets. As they progress in their search, the books will invite readers to read certain passages that match the current point of the story.
Players can pick a number of branching paths, and this system allows multiple players to get closer to the situation and leave with a different outcome and story, while continuing the same search.
Further players will continue (and depending on the decisions they make), marking milestones on the story tracking scale that will sometimes be mentioned in books. For example, if you haven't successfully saved an NPC (non-gaming character), you may need to check a box on the story tracking chart.
Later in the game, when you return to this location, your characters may no longer be welcome because they were unable to save the character. Otherwise, if they have saved the NPCs, they can return to the location they celebrate as heroes.
In the game, players create avatars to operate in the world of Terrinoth as they travel to the town of Dragonholt. As you progress, you and your team will decide for yourself how you will react to situations and what paths you will choose.
Unpacking Dragonholt's legacy
As a story-driven role-playing game, Legacy of Dragonholt may not impress you at first when you open the box. Don’t let that fool you, as the game is full of content and some really unique elements that will make you come back for more.
From our review of Legacy of Dragonholt, you may notice that most of the game is very similar to the traditional Pen & Paper RPG. It is true that the field is filled with books.
What is included:
- Basic rules
- Rules for creating characters
- On new roads (1st action) - 50 - 80 min
- Dragonholt Village - 7 chapters of 30-50 minutes
- Whispering leaves - 50-80 min
- Paper faces - 75 - 120 min
- Kharthuun Crypt - 50-80 min
- Silver piece - 50-80 min
- Terror in the prairie - 50-80 min
Legacy of Dragonholt also has 1 set of chips, a deck of items and items (don’t see them yet!) And some very cool items in the game (letter and diary).
There is not much else in the box. No dice or mines , but that's fine. The game is based entirely on stories and will be based on various books while playing. If you don't want to draw on the different worksheets that come with the rules, Fantasy Flight Games has all the sheets available in printable form on its website. here:
How to play Legacy of Dragonholt
This game is completely story based and learning the game is actually very easy. Following some of the introductory rules found in the central policy (and of course reading this review of the Legacy of Dragonholt), you’re basically ready.
First, you need to pull out the Character Creation Policy and create your own character. The book takes you through all aspects of character creation without having any spoilers. Each section of the booklet also has a suitable character with designer notes (Nikki Valens).
There is no wrong way to create a character. I warmly suggest that you don’t try to make a min / max character or party, but let everyone run around the book a bit and make someone they find interesting and would like to play. It will be a much more enjoyable ride if you actually like the character you play.
Character options
Each race has two types to choose from. This can help you choose the direction you want to create the characters. Again, there is no wrong way to choose and the different types will be mostly designed for RP. For example, we humans are either a baronial or a free city. All the Baronials are associated with a noble caste, and the Free Cities are like libertarians. Each page can choose the same classes and abilities, but these details add some fun touch to the background characters.
Race
- People
- Orcs
- Dwarves
- Gnomes
- Elves
- Catfolk
classes
- Pharmacy
- Bard
- Brawler
- Knight
- Sage
- Tat
- Wildlander
What follows is a really fun part (or worst part) of creating characters, depending on your personality. Here you can come up with physical appearance, personality traits and personal history for your character. (There are also pre-prepared characters in this section.)
Are you a deep orc who has wandered the countryside for the last 10 years?
Are you an elf who, with her extended life, has delved into the alchemical and secret arts?
Maybe you are an abnormally short gnome with a chip on his shoulder about his height, who angrily fights into an ax and clenches his ankles with strong blows?
It’s entirely up to you, and the Oracle system gives you a free hand so you can make up your own story.
Skills
Only after all this should skills be chosen.
When gaining skills, you need to follow the archetypes you created in the previous steps.
You can choose from 5-8 skills.
2 - It must be based on your racing skills
2 - It must be based on your class skills
Everything else can be chosen as desired. You should probably justify them with your background.
Stamina
So, you may ask, if I have the option of 5-8 skills, why not simply choose 8?
The answer is that the more skills you have, the less endurance (health) your character will have. So a character who is an expert will be able to do fewer things, but he has a much higher constitution. While the jack-of-all-trades character will almost always be useful, it’s mostly crushed.
When you play a standalone game , the player will receive 4 extra stamina due to increased solo difficulty. When you play a game with two players, each player will receive two more stamina.
Let's get started!
When playing with multiple players, each player will receive 1 chip on the board. Players must decide as a group which actions to take and which player to take. When they make a decision, their activation token will be reversed (exhausted).
When all players have exhausted their activation tokens, all players will turn them right back up (refresh). So there is never one to walk the story and make decisions for everyone. (You know who you are.)
Your first game Legacy of Dragonholt
As you can see from our review of Legacy of Dragonholt, Nikki Valens has created an amazing story that is incredibly easy to pick up and play. Starting Story This New Roads does a great job of learning mechanics when you’re playing.
As the story unfolds, the rules system will gradually and clearly explain all the rules needed to play the game. It doesn’t take a lot of in-depth reading of the rules before that. However, if you need clarification, an alphabetical glossary of information is included in the basic policy.
All you have to do is create your own characters and start reading from On New Roads. This makes my job of explaining the rules super easy and perfect for players who don’t want to get entangled in tons of graphs and charts.
The story will start modestly and small, but will quickly grow into an epic journey.
You will meet interesting characters and get a chance to show off and perform amazing feats.
You may win and you can certainly lose, but as Brandon Sanderson says:
"Life before death, strength before weakness, travel before goal."
—The first ideal of the Knights of Radiant Kaladin is explained by Teft in the Stormlight Archive
Advantages and disadvantages of Dragonholt's legacy
As mentioned in the Legacy of Dragonholt review, the game is completely story-based. This means there are no dice , no Miniatures , and the game lacks a lot of components that many players will be used to seeing coming out of the box. For some players, this could be a big shock. This makes it extremely unique and pushes the boundaries of what is considered a board game.
The side-by-side discussions that take place organically in the game are extremely entertaining and will be remembered long after the campaign is over.
Transition RPG
Legacy of Dragonholt is suitable for families. I honestly see that I am using this game as a gateway for Pen & Paper. No complicated knowledge of the DM or master of the rules is required to control the game and ensure that everyone stays on track. He does all this while still telling a compelling story.
Due to the creation of characters and the use of exhaustion tokens, the game looks very fair and adds part of the strategy the game needs. If your jack-of-all-trades character has performed an action, then he can no longer perform the action until the next level of refresh in the game. This ensures that the group will discuss their strategy of who will do what and in what order, which will add to the social aspect of the board games we all love.
Choose your own adventure
Legacy of Dragonholt is accurately described as a game of your choice. You’ll get caught up in a certain story, but you should go into the game and expect it. There is a certain story and there are more results. Not everyone is good, so don’t expect them to simply blow.
The setting is mostly general fantasy . Some players will enjoy this more than others, but I’ve found that the setting is almost secondary to the story. Even such long-time D&D veterans, we were more focused while playing on the characters we created and on how to accomplish different tasks.
Legacy of Dragonholt and the Oracle system will never be able to compete with the unlimited possibilities of traditional Pen & Paper RPGs, but there is no need. It doesn’t require a large investment of time and can be literally picked up and played as soon as the window is open, which most Pen & Paper RPGs can’t.
Moderate repeatability
The game has a few replays. You will not be able to see everything the game has to offer in one play. Different characters and abilities can guide you in different paths, but there are only so many of them.
From the suggested playing times on the box, players will watch how all the actions throughout the campaign will be completed in 8 - 12 hours. You can probably get 1-2 reps without getting into too many similar situations. It’s not as tall as some, but for an experience available in one field, I find it worth it.
Legacy of Dragonholt Review (TL; DR)
- A completely story oriented game.
- Easy-to-understand rules allow players to create a character and start playing right away.
- No dice or mini, just words and story.
- There are 6 books full of adventures.
- You can play the entire campaign (8 to 12 hours in multiple sessions) 1-2 times without stopping.
Conclusion: a verdict?
Legacy of Dragonholt was created by Nikki Valens, who is today one of the biggest names in the field of board game design. She was behind some great games like Mansions of Madness, Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror . She is known for her amazing creation of the world and we will not argue.
The story, as I mentioned, is child-friendly . EVIDENCE: They serve milk in the inn instead of mead or ale (wtf). As much as I like this game, I find it interesting to make a darker version as well. (We should contact Nikki Christopher Nolan and see what happens ...)
New worlds on the horizon (hopefully)
I can easily see that this system is recreated for any genre. I’d love to see a Sci-Fi version, personally or even a hybrid of the Western and Eldrit horror film Sence Brimstone . Currently, Legacy of Dragonholt is the only game that uses the Oracle system, but I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with. I sincerely hope they expand to more bizarre genres instead of just releasing extensions in the same world.
This is a great game for those who want to try role-playing games without too much hassle and is a great transition game for newcomers to the genre. Personally, I had a lot of fun and I’m very excited to see what Fantasy Flight will decide to do with the Oracle system.
- PREPARE FOR THE DESERT: Gather your group of heroes and go to ...
- INTRODUCING THE ORACLE GAME SYSTEM: This narrative adventure game ...
- ROLE PLAY: Play as one of six humanoid races residing ...
No comments