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How many of you are gamers? How many of you have shelves full of dusty old games you bought years ago and played once or never?
Ever feel like dragging one of those old games out for a spin to relive the days of badly-cast dice and warped cardboard matrix tables?
Check out this timeless classic: I've had it for over twenty years, and I'd never played it. I am not even sure I'd ever even opened the box. I think I bought it for a dollar at a game store desperately trying to get dead weight off its shelves.
Apparently I am not the only one who's never played Witchlord: its entry on BoardGameGeek has not a single review or rating. You can't even find copies for sale on ebay.
So last night, we cracked the ancient, musty box and decided to see just how well this one-shot effort from a designer and a company that seems to have faded into the mists of time holds up, thirty years after it was published.
( In which a cowardly barbarian and a bard both wind up as statuary. )
Ever feel like dragging one of those old games out for a spin to relive the days of badly-cast dice and warped cardboard matrix tables?
Check out this timeless classic: I've had it for over twenty years, and I'd never played it. I am not even sure I'd ever even opened the box. I think I bought it for a dollar at a game store desperately trying to get dead weight off its shelves.
Witchlord is the natural adaptation of fantasy role gaming converted into a board game. There is a distinct advantage to fantasy role gaming from a board; and that is it gets rid of the need for a Game Master or scenario creator. The board, cards and matrix tables contain all the information necessary and the dice determine the outcome of your adventure. No human arbitrator is necessary.
All the passages, rooms, treasure and monsters are randomly generated. This makes no two adventures ever the same. Each time you enter the Witchlord's Castle you can expect a completely different scenario stocked with new treasure and monsters. As the player moves around the board, he will receive information about the configurations of the Witchlord's Castle. This will enable the player to plot his progress on the graph paper given.
The player will choose one of the six Adventure Classes to play. this determines the player's spell and weapon capability.
The player's objective in the game is to collect proficiency points. This is done by the slaying of monsters and the collection of treasure. Encounters and treasure are dictated by the playing cards and matrix tables. When the player reaches the 10th stratum or proficiency level, he must do battle with one of the Witchlord's generals. If the General is vanquished, the the player has won and earned safe passage out of Witchlord's Castle.
The Witchlord Game can be played as a single scenario, or as a campaign game.
Apparently I am not the only one who's never played Witchlord: its entry on BoardGameGeek has not a single review or rating. You can't even find copies for sale on ebay.
So last night, we cracked the ancient, musty box and decided to see just how well this one-shot effort from a designer and a company that seems to have faded into the mists of time holds up, thirty years after it was published.
( In which a cowardly barbarian and a bard both wind up as statuary. )
