Victory In The Magic Realm

As I mentioned earlier, winning in Avalon Hill's Magic Realm comes from meeting or exceeding your self-imposed victory conditions.

The related process of selecting victory conditions is performed at the start of the game. Each player assigns five points to any combination of Great Treasures, Usable Spells, Fame, Notoriety and Gold.

At the end of the game, you measure your performance against those self-imposed victory requirements.

Victory points require that you sometimes collect multiple points in the category, If you assigned one victory point to Gold, you would need to collect 30 Gold to satisfy that objective. For Notoriety, one assigned victory point equals 20 Notoriety. Similarly, for Fame, one victory point equals 10 Fame. One victory point in usable spells means you need to find at least two spells, and for Great Treasures, there is a one-to-one relationship between victory points and treasures possessed.

When I play the Black Knight, for example, I will either assign 1 point to Fame, 2 to Notoriety and 2 to Gold (if I intend to combat native groups) or 3 Fame and 2 Notoriety (if my goal is killing monsters). In the case of 3 Fame and 2 Notoriety, I would need to collect 3x10=30 fame points and 2x20=40 notoriety points to achieve victory.

For someone else, playing the Swordsman, they might assign points to Great Treasures and Gold. Another person, playing the Wizard, might assign most of their points to spells. The choice of victory conditions is left entirely to the player. They might even assign all their points to one category, if they were bold (or especially reckless).

It is critical that you play Magic Realm in keeping with your self-imposed victory conditions. While it's tempting to be opportunistic, straying from your original plan will not result in victory. For example, if the Sorceror player selects Fame and Notoriety as his only victory conditions, he should resist the urge to search for usable spells, even if treasures come into his possession that would yield spells.

Thus Magic Realm really is a player-skill game. You are not competing against the other players, nor against the Dungeon Master. Instead, you are competing against yourself. Can you meet the victory conditions you have set for yourself?