Wednesday, September 9, 2009

What To Do While Visiting The Magic Realm

Magic Realm is a boardgame / roleplaying game hybrid. It uses a set of hexagonal tiles to create a random world map, within which you spend your time adventuring. Since the map is put together by the players prior to play, each time you play, the map will be different, as will the location of the monsters, treasures, and inhabitants.

So what can you do, while visiting the Magic Realm? One of the interesting things about this game is that all of the players can win. That is because, at the beginning of the game, you secretly determine what your objectives are. If, at the end of the game, you meet your objectives, you win.

The objectives are broken down into five categories.

(1) Find ancient Treasure. There are many treasure troves hidden throughout the mountains, forests and caves of the Realm. You can choose the discovering and looting of those treasure troves as your objective. The Dwarf might choose this objective.

(2) Discover new spells. This objective is often taken by the more powerful magic users. There are spell books and other items that supply spells scattered throughout the land. You can spend your time in the Realm trying to locate and learn new spells. The Magician, Sorcerer or Wizard might pursue this option.

(3) Become famous. Killing monsters and undertaking quests can score you fame points. Some players will go monster hunting. or assist the inhabitants of the Realm, to establish their characters' reputations. The White Knight, Pilgrim or Captain might choose this route.

(4) Become notorious. A player can, alternatively, have their character roam the land, wantonly killing monsters, inhabitants AND OTHER CHARACTERS alike, in which case, they would score notoriety points. Characters like the Black Knight, the Witch or the Witch King (Warlock) might choose this objective.

(5) Become rich. There are lots of lost treasures in the Realm. Players can locate those treasures, sell them to the inhabitants, and retire in style. This is an option for any of the characters.

Magic Realm is a game where cooperation and competition are both viable strategies. There are certain characters, such as the Black Knight, Swordsman or the Elf, who cannot be trusted to cooperate (their game-designed "personalities" make it disadvantageous for them to form any long-term alliances, it is easier for them to win by competing). On the other hand, there are certain characters who, when working in concert, can achieve far more than they could individually (for example, the Amazon and the Dwarf).

With so many characters, board combinations, and game objectives, it would take a long time to exhaust all of the possibilities of this role-playing adventure game.

6 comments:

Timeshadows said...

Interesting.
--Thanks for the sneak-peek. :)

Aaron E. Steele said...

Glad to hear you found it interesting. I quite like this game, and feel it's a shame it did not get the support from AH to continue its expansion / development.

Be prepared for more MR posts. I will try to tackle other material as well, though, so that I don't turn into a one-trick pony!

Timeshadows said...

I just got the idea to use similar tiles to make a Jump-Ship route for a sci-fi game.

Sweet. :)

Aaron E. Steele said...

Brilliant. I must admit, I miss my old Traveller 2300 jump route map, if only for the labyrinthine paths that you had to take to travel between the stars.

My old Traveller LBB's are still in the basement, but all my 2300 and original Traveller stuff is, sadly, long gone.

Timeshadows said...

Thanks. :)

I never understood why they didn't simply make the 2300 line part of the Solomani timeline.

Wasted potential.

Oh, wait...
--I think I'm having a turning point! ;)

I do like the LBB Traveller the best.

Aaron E. Steele said...

That would have been cool. They could republish "Imperium" using the 2300 map.

Yes, I the three originals are great. I miss my LBB books 4 through 7.

That and my Zhodani ship floorplans.