Hello again my Paizo friends! Once again we return to your favorite type of news – we got a product review for this edition of the Paizo News Update! Today we’re taking a look at a product that already had a spotlight here on the Update and which some of you may already know: it’s the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Core Set!
The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Core Set is a box set that includes The Dragon’s Demand adventure path AND an introductory ruleset using the Dragon’s Demand to bring new players into the Adventure Card Game and its rules. My review copy also came bundled with an expansion to allow players to experience the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path.
The initial opening of a game can tell you a lot about the game in question (probably why unboxing videos are apparently popular), and opening the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Core Set is no exception. Like the Starfinder Beginner Box, one of the first things visible is the introductory booklet with big bold writing saying “Open this first!”. A little further down, some cracks in the normal Paizo polish are visible, as the dividers used to separate game components are just blocks of foam in cardboard channels. I don’t play board games as much as other reviewers might, but for some reason I expect more from Paizo than just…bricks of foam? I know there’s something to be said for the cost of custom box dividers and allowing for customizability, but I also know that the board game market now has an expectation of a certain level of quality, and so far this isn’t it.
The introductory pamphlet is incredibly helpful, and in fact necessary. My first instinct when opening a new game is to take all the pieces out and arrange them according to type and color and so on, and if I’d done that with the Adventure Card Game I would have been hopelessly lost. While not impossible to work out (especially with the very handy index and cross-references), the rules of the game are complex enough and there are so many rules on each card that it’s largely impossible to play your first game without the introduction.
Again, I don’t know how much of a leg to stand on I have; I play mostly TTRPGs, and those are DENSE, and the board game scene is apparently filled with interconnected games like this; but even still, I feel like there’s a bit of unnecessary complexity. Certainly in line with Paizo at least.
The actual gameplay is…fine, I guess? It plays like a cross between Time Stories and Five Minute Dungeon, with the on-card complexity of a casual Magic: the Gathering game. It’s clearly intended to be played with more than one player. While it’s certainly possible to play alone, it very quickly feels like a game of solitaire with a silly level of complexity.
The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game clearly has a market and a target audience; after all, it’s a sequel, and sequels without an audience don’t get made. I’m not that target audience. Unfortunately, I also have a hard time thinking of who IS the target audience. If that Time Stories-meets-Five Minute Dungeon-meets-M:tG description sounds like you, or you’re a fan of the original, you’re going to have a blast. All I know is, it’s not something I’d recommend to my TTRPG friends, it’s not something I’d recommend to my board game friends, and I would probably rather throw myself off a bridge before trying to explain its rules to a casual gamer like my mother.
This article was contributed by Ben Reece (LongGoneWriter) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
The initial opening of a game can tell you a lot about the game in question (probably why unboxing videos are apparently popular), and opening the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Core Set is no exception. Like the Starfinder Beginner Box, one of the first things visible is the introductory booklet with big bold writing saying “Open this first!”. A little further down, some cracks in the normal Paizo polish are visible, as the dividers used to separate game components are just blocks of foam in cardboard channels. I don’t play board games as much as other reviewers might, but for some reason I expect more from Paizo than just…bricks of foam? I know there’s something to be said for the cost of custom box dividers and allowing for customizability, but I also know that the board game market now has an expectation of a certain level of quality, and so far this isn’t it.
The introductory pamphlet is incredibly helpful, and in fact necessary. My first instinct when opening a new game is to take all the pieces out and arrange them according to type and color and so on, and if I’d done that with the Adventure Card Game I would have been hopelessly lost. While not impossible to work out (especially with the very handy index and cross-references), the rules of the game are complex enough and there are so many rules on each card that it’s largely impossible to play your first game without the introduction.
Again, I don’t know how much of a leg to stand on I have; I play mostly TTRPGs, and those are DENSE, and the board game scene is apparently filled with interconnected games like this; but even still, I feel like there’s a bit of unnecessary complexity. Certainly in line with Paizo at least.
The actual gameplay is…fine, I guess? It plays like a cross between Time Stories and Five Minute Dungeon, with the on-card complexity of a casual Magic: the Gathering game. It’s clearly intended to be played with more than one player. While it’s certainly possible to play alone, it very quickly feels like a game of solitaire with a silly level of complexity.
The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game clearly has a market and a target audience; after all, it’s a sequel, and sequels without an audience don’t get made. I’m not that target audience. Unfortunately, I also have a hard time thinking of who IS the target audience. If that Time Stories-meets-Five Minute Dungeon-meets-M:tG description sounds like you, or you’re a fan of the original, you’re going to have a blast. All I know is, it’s not something I’d recommend to my TTRPG friends, it’s not something I’d recommend to my board game friends, and I would probably rather throw myself off a bridge before trying to explain its rules to a casual gamer like my mother.
This article was contributed by Ben Reece (LongGoneWriter) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
