Once upon a time, in a far off land, a young woman set out to write the Tale of Tales, a compilation of the best tales told in every land. Her name was Scheherazade...
The package that arrived today from Milsims contained two games, one was Jim Krohn’s latest wargame, Band of Brothers, the other was this one: Tales of the Arabian Nights in its latest, Z-Man edition. I’ve been playing role-playing games for about 30 years, and I’m a sucker for good stories, so I was very interested to see what the game was like. I quickly grabbed another couple of players, Mark and Jack, and we were set to begin. And then Garth and Ben arrived, and the game ended up being a five-player affair. This was a player more than I was comfortable with, but making someone sit out wasn’t really an option. And so we began, with a poor understanding of the rules, to see our adventures!
...Her initial steps were tentative, into the cities near Baghdad, where she found few tales of true merit, so she headed out for more distant lands. One day, she was caught in a fearful blizzard, which she survived only by her quick wits, but forever after she was distinguished by a shortness of breath and a tendency to tire easily...
One of the delightful aspects of the game swiftly proved to how it evoked the characters we wished to portray. My character (Scheherazade) was established as a curious, beautiful woman, quick-witted and kind to strangers. Meanwhile, Mark’s Sinbad was a far more callous character, more likely to rob an innocent stranger as help them. Garth’s Aladdin began the game far, far away from home, trying to find his way back to Baghdad, but an encounter with a Wizard left him ensorcelled – and at the mercy of the other players as to his actions.
...In the city of Kiev, she met a young man who had been wronged by his brother. Scheherazade aided the man find his brother, and by her schemes he was overthrown and the wealth he had stolen was returned. The identity of the man, who was indeed the Prince of fair Kiev, was revealed as was his love for Scheherazade, which she returned. The two were married in great pomp and festivity, and for a time Scheherazade’s travelling days were ended...
Quite a number of us at the table have played role-playing games, although I think I’m the only active Dungeon Master at present; my reading of the stories used a lot of tricks I’ve learnt over the years I’ve been running games. However, the others did excellent jobs themselves; it isn’t easy to read stories from a book and make them sound interesting, but everyone did pretty well. The fact that a lot of the tales were ones where things didn’t quite go as planned just made them more entertaining – poor Jack spent a lot of the early game being chased by ogres he’d tried to steal from! The fact that we were getting an audience as the game progressed just lent weight to how entertaining the game was; not only for us, but for others!
...but Scheherazade was not yet done with her travels. A trip to Rome revealed many wonders, and kindness to a beggar aided a vizier learn that not all of mankind are cruel. However, the great stories she needed for her Tales of Tales were elusive; the lesser tales were not what she needed!...
Garth’s Aladdin was put under a curse, turned into a girl, and then married a prince. I don’t think that tale is in any tale I’ve ever read in the 1001 Nights! Ben spent the first half of the game not controlling his steps, and rejoiced when he was freed from the enchantment, although he’d picked up about eight skills along the way. Mark wandered the world unheeding of the needs of others, and walked away from an opportunity to explore the Crystal Palace – he was gaining a lot of Destiny points, but few Story points. Jack was imprisoned by the ogres who finally caught him, escaped, and then was recaptured! And I continued my balanced progress towards victory: I needed 10 Destiny and 10 Story points, and those I was able to achieve. It looked like nothing could stop me now...
...and then something did. The disease I’d been struggling with for most of the game (the only person in the game with the Scholarship skill which I needed to cure the disease was myself, and I needed to visit someone else to remove it) slowed my steps so I wasn’t able to reach Baghdad in one turn; instead, I needed to take two turns. That extra turn did it: I was cursed with Avarice, and had to remove it before I could win. I spent Destiny points to remove it and start a Pilgrimmage: from Kiev to Mecca, and from there to Baghdad. About four turns. But, before I could, Mark arrived in Baghdad and announced his victory with a 5 Story/15 Destiny split. I travelled to Baghdad just in case the encounter would remove the “Pilgrimage” status and allow her to win, but that was not the case, and Mark took the game.
...to her great disappointment, she bore no children to her husband, and upon realising she had become impure, with thoughts of acquiring greater wealth than she already had, she resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where she would pray to be absolved of her sins. Of her later travels, no tale tells...
I can quite understand why this game is not to everyone’s taste. Indeed, it’s less of a game than a shared storytelling experience (and one in which disaster is perhaps a stronger component than success); however, it’s one I thoroughly enjoyed. Ben also really loved the game. The game took us about three hours or a little under to play, which is about an hour longer than I thought it took! It’s a game that I’ll have to be selective about the group I play it with, and I think three or four players would be a much better number to play it with, but I’m quite enchanted with the game. I hope I’ll get another game in this Saturday afternoon. It will likely come out infrequently, but with any luck will remain fresh and enjoyable for a while yet.
...but if you should be met by a young woman, who asks you to tell her a tale, who possesses kind eyes and nimble wits, then perhaps you have been found by Scheherazade, and you would be best advised to listen to what she has to say!
The package that arrived today from Milsims contained two games, one was Jim Krohn’s latest wargame, Band of Brothers, the other was this one: Tales of the Arabian Nights in its latest, Z-Man edition. I’ve been playing role-playing games for about 30 years, and I’m a sucker for good stories, so I was very interested to see what the game was like. I quickly grabbed another couple of players, Mark and Jack, and we were set to begin. And then Garth and Ben arrived, and the game ended up being a five-player affair. This was a player more than I was comfortable with, but making someone sit out wasn’t really an option. And so we began, with a poor understanding of the rules, to see our adventures!
...Her initial steps were tentative, into the cities near Baghdad, where she found few tales of true merit, so she headed out for more distant lands. One day, she was caught in a fearful blizzard, which she survived only by her quick wits, but forever after she was distinguished by a shortness of breath and a tendency to tire easily...
One of the delightful aspects of the game swiftly proved to how it evoked the characters we wished to portray. My character (Scheherazade) was established as a curious, beautiful woman, quick-witted and kind to strangers. Meanwhile, Mark’s Sinbad was a far more callous character, more likely to rob an innocent stranger as help them. Garth’s Aladdin began the game far, far away from home, trying to find his way back to Baghdad, but an encounter with a Wizard left him ensorcelled – and at the mercy of the other players as to his actions.
...In the city of Kiev, she met a young man who had been wronged by his brother. Scheherazade aided the man find his brother, and by her schemes he was overthrown and the wealth he had stolen was returned. The identity of the man, who was indeed the Prince of fair Kiev, was revealed as was his love for Scheherazade, which she returned. The two were married in great pomp and festivity, and for a time Scheherazade’s travelling days were ended...
Quite a number of us at the table have played role-playing games, although I think I’m the only active Dungeon Master at present; my reading of the stories used a lot of tricks I’ve learnt over the years I’ve been running games. However, the others did excellent jobs themselves; it isn’t easy to read stories from a book and make them sound interesting, but everyone did pretty well. The fact that a lot of the tales were ones where things didn’t quite go as planned just made them more entertaining – poor Jack spent a lot of the early game being chased by ogres he’d tried to steal from! The fact that we were getting an audience as the game progressed just lent weight to how entertaining the game was; not only for us, but for others!
...but Scheherazade was not yet done with her travels. A trip to Rome revealed many wonders, and kindness to a beggar aided a vizier learn that not all of mankind are cruel. However, the great stories she needed for her Tales of Tales were elusive; the lesser tales were not what she needed!...
Garth’s Aladdin was put under a curse, turned into a girl, and then married a prince. I don’t think that tale is in any tale I’ve ever read in the 1001 Nights! Ben spent the first half of the game not controlling his steps, and rejoiced when he was freed from the enchantment, although he’d picked up about eight skills along the way. Mark wandered the world unheeding of the needs of others, and walked away from an opportunity to explore the Crystal Palace – he was gaining a lot of Destiny points, but few Story points. Jack was imprisoned by the ogres who finally caught him, escaped, and then was recaptured! And I continued my balanced progress towards victory: I needed 10 Destiny and 10 Story points, and those I was able to achieve. It looked like nothing could stop me now...
...and then something did. The disease I’d been struggling with for most of the game (the only person in the game with the Scholarship skill which I needed to cure the disease was myself, and I needed to visit someone else to remove it) slowed my steps so I wasn’t able to reach Baghdad in one turn; instead, I needed to take two turns. That extra turn did it: I was cursed with Avarice, and had to remove it before I could win. I spent Destiny points to remove it and start a Pilgrimmage: from Kiev to Mecca, and from there to Baghdad. About four turns. But, before I could, Mark arrived in Baghdad and announced his victory with a 5 Story/15 Destiny split. I travelled to Baghdad just in case the encounter would remove the “Pilgrimage” status and allow her to win, but that was not the case, and Mark took the game.
...to her great disappointment, she bore no children to her husband, and upon realising she had become impure, with thoughts of acquiring greater wealth than she already had, she resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where she would pray to be absolved of her sins. Of her later travels, no tale tells...
I can quite understand why this game is not to everyone’s taste. Indeed, it’s less of a game than a shared storytelling experience (and one in which disaster is perhaps a stronger component than success); however, it’s one I thoroughly enjoyed. Ben also really loved the game. The game took us about three hours or a little under to play, which is about an hour longer than I thought it took! It’s a game that I’ll have to be selective about the group I play it with, and I think three or four players would be a much better number to play it with, but I’m quite enchanted with the game. I hope I’ll get another game in this Saturday afternoon. It will likely come out infrequently, but with any luck will remain fresh and enjoyable for a while yet.
...but if you should be met by a young woman, who asks you to tell her a tale, who possesses kind eyes and nimble wits, then perhaps you have been found by Scheherazade, and you would be best advised to listen to what she has to say!
