Café de Nuit

This comes out on the 17th. Dark Sun comes out on the 17th.

.........

DAMN YOU, YOU SADISTIC BASTARDS!

Lots of reports from Gencon pouring in on BGG and elsewhere. Consensus seems to be it's a very good co-op "D&D: the boardgame" dungeon crawler. It just happens to be set in Castle Ravenloft, but that's not the theme of the game per se. In other words: pretty much what we expected.

Much like David Lynch's Dune movie, which I loved as a David Lynch fan, but was disappointed with as a fan of the Dune books, I predict I will enjoy this a boardgame fan, but grumble sadly about as a Ravenloft fan.

Videos of un-boxing RL boardgame at GenCon :

Hey, that's next week!

chainsaw druid wrote:Videos of un-boxing RL boardgame at GenCon :

It does look to be a shorter more dungeon crawl version of House on the Hill. With minis you can use in your games (that said I've not used minis or a battlemat before). I'd say that it will be fun but not very ravenlofty.

It looks like a neat Castle Ravenloft product but a poor Ravenloft world product.

Well, it certainly looks to be a fun, fast, cooperative board game game. And the amount of D&D minis included (even unpainted) make it a worthwhile purchase, imho.

Dimitri Mazieres wrote:Well, it certainly looks to be a fun, fast, cooperative board game game. And the amount of D&D minis included (even unpainted) make it a worthwhile purchase, imho.

A friend of mine is planning on buying this just to kitbash the minis into his Descent set. =3


Jeremy Puckett

The Castle Ravenloft boardgame rulebook is now available for free download on Wizard's product webpage, here:

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx ... /207790000

(crossposted from BGG. Never thought that would happen! )

My boargamer side is pleased by the rules. Looks like fun version of Betrayal at House on the Hill meets Pandemic.

My Ravenloft fanboy side is slightly assuaged by a small touch in the rules: This is not actually Castle Ravenloft itself. It's the crypts under Castle Ravenloft. Hence the drab decor, and lack of well known rooms from the module. (and they added a cute bit about the crypts always changing, which is why they don't match up with the map from the module either.)

A nitpick, to be sure, but a nice one.

It struck me as more Betrayal at the House on the Hill meets HeroQuest, but I can see the Pandemic-y elements too. Should be fun, though as you say, not incredibly "Ravenloft-ish".

I seem to remember the crypts from the original (or maybe House of Strahd) being a pretty generic dungeon crawl, with a semi-random monster in each crypt (a banshee in one IIRC, and some hellhounds, and nightmare?), so yeah, setting it there does seem appropriate. Though it does beg the question of how the PCs bypassed the rest of the castle and went straight to the crypts...

Also, the notion of "level up" treasure cards amuses me and reminds me of Munchkin, which may not be what they were going for there.

MatthiasStormcrow wrote:It struck me as more Betrayal at the House on the Hill meets HeroQuest, but I can see the Pandemic-y elements too.

Yup, there are Heroquestish elements, but Betrayal already had most of those too. (dice combat, collecting equipment, etc.) The major diff from Betrayal is the lack of ... well, betrayal. It's all co-op, no traitor, hence the good guys get a mandatory "villanous action". (like the infection in Pandemic or the Evil actions in Shadows over Camelot, though Shadows has a possible traitor too.)

Though it does beg the question of how the PCs bypassed the rest of the castle and went straight to the crypts...

At 1st level, mind you. Maybe they explored the castle for a while at higher level and then got drained. (is there level drain in 4e? probably not...)

Then again, if they know where to go, it's pretty easy to get down there quickly, if I recall the map well. Through the foyer, (avoid or kill the stone dragons) down the great hall, make a right, head down the stairs....

Also, the notion of "level up" treasure cards amuses me and reminds me of Munchkin, which may not be what they were going for there.

yeah, I thought that too. Lets pretend that this treasure is actually some harmless and easily beatable skill challenge that gives you just enough XP to level.

Has this been delayed? It was supposed to ship by yesterday and the new date is Sept 15th.

Strahdsbuddy wrote:Has this been delayed? It was supposed to ship by yesterday and the new date is Sept 15th.

Yes it has. No one seems to know exactly when it's coming. Several dates have appeared in different places. Sometime in the next month or so is the best guess..

Poo! Oh well, most likely I wouldn't be picking this up until sometime near December.