Order of the Stick game?

[shaylon]

Has anyone reviewed this game? Or if not, can anyone that has it give me brief run down of how it is played, how long an average game takes, if it is fun, etc?

Any information would be appreciated. I thought it looked kind of cool at GenCon but they sold out before I got to the booth on Thursday. Paizo has it now and I was thinking of picking it up.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

It's an extremely fun game, you don't need to be a fan of the strip to play either (although the little "in" jokes will escape you). It plays close enough to 3.X DnD to see familiar elements. The average "quick" game takes about 4 hours, for 4 dungeon levels, and up to 8-10 hours for 6 dungeon levels.

The game has "screw you" cards and so promotes both cooperation and a me first mentality. Players who master when to use their "screw you" cards and when to cooperate succeed.

You load up your character with loot and level up you character by killing things to gain more shticks (feats) for your character.

My favorite rooms are the Monstrous Gazebo room and the janitorial closet.

All of the characters are very well balanced each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Ghendar]

A buddy of mine grabbed a copy at Gencon and we played a few games at the hotel. While it does capture the humor and feel of the game, I find the game play to be a bit tedious. It takes (for me personally anyway) way too long to play a game. Several times I found myself just not being able to defeat foes and even being forced to return to the surface. Very boring and not fun at all.

I also find the PVP rules highly annoying. I honestly don't see why they're included.

While it is fun reading the cards, I honestly didn't care too much for the game.

 

[Festivus]

How difficult is the game to learn? Something complete novices to D&D could pick up and understand or does it require some d20 level of knowledge?

It looks like it could be a fun game, but if the rules are complex (like that Lord of the Rings game) I probably won't pick it up as explaining it to my family would be too difficult.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

How difficult is the game to learn? Something complete novices to D&D could pick up and understand or does it require some d20 level of knowledge?

It looks like it could be a fun game, but if the rules are complex (like that Lord of the Rings game) I probably won't pick it up as explaining it to my family would be too difficult.

Difficult if you don't play DnD, took my wife about 2 hours into the game before she started to get the feel of it, and that's after going over the rules twice.

An RPG player won't find it too difficult, as some of the loot gives you bonus to rolls if you equip them. When should you use a Shitck when shouldn't you, these things come easier to someone who's played RPGs before.

 

[Felix]

I like that each character has to play to their own strengths, which is often at cross-puropses with other characters, in order to do well at all. The game is strategically different if you're playing with Belkar, or Elan, or Roy.

I don't like that it takes so bloody long to pick up all the loot that large battles drop; because you will run into quite a few effects that increase the number of monsters you face, the loot is liberally littered on the ground. The victorious character can draw two loots, and someone who rests in that room can draw two as well, but otherwise you're stuck with only drawing one per turn. Slow. Slow. Slow.

The game rules are fairly easy to grasp. Move, battle, loot, rest. It's more complicated, but that's the gyst of it. And it's d12, not d20. I think Rich did that on purpose because he's referenced the uselessness of the d12 so many times in his webcomic. A complete novice to tabletop RPGs will have the hang of it in an hour or two.

I also find the PVP rules highly annoying. I honestly don't see why they're included.

I believe to stop this from being a cooperative game where the goal is to defeat Xykon, and create instead a competitive game where the idea is to defeat the other players.

It also caters to Belkar's special talents.

 

[IcyCool]

Never mind, wrong forum.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I played the game this weekend. Easy to learn, fun and funny. It took a bit too long for my taste (about 4 hours and we rushed the ending to get it finished) but I understand that's about the standard length for more complex board-games these days. I'm sure there are fast-play variant rules.

 

[mhensley]

How does it compare to Munchkin?

 

[RFisher]

How does it compare to Munchkin?

We've only playing the OotS's game once so far, but...

It feels a bit less adversarial than Munchkin tends to be. There's more opportunities to work some strategy/tactics. It's more complex.