That Warlord game in the banner ad

[roytheodd]

I’ve noticed that Warlord has been advertising here with a banner ad. I’ve got a lot of friends that play it weekly and some of them even bring their decks with them to the RPG table. The main combat mechanic is very familiar and it feels very much like the d20 combat system. The guys who bring decks to the RPG table say they like it for that exact reason, and they say they use it to get into a more D&D mood. It’s also really neat to see how closely other elements of the game mirror D&D: like classes, subclasses, and alignment. Over the years I’ve seen the guys play evil paladin decks, lich decks, dragon decks, rogue stealth decks, and all sorts of other things that evoke high fantasy in my mind.

I tried the game a few years ago when there were demo decks in my Dragon Magazine and I really liked it. I bought some of the current expansion and I’ve been playing a bit more recently. I really like it a lot more now than I did then. I think that a couple of years of development really have the design and balance down better. I’ve also learned that they’ve just added monks and psions to the game too.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this post, but the banner ad made me want to comment. I was just thinking that with a game that feels so like D&D and is so comfortable to a d20 player, that I guess it kind of surprises me that I never see mention of it here, even in passing.

Has anybody else tried it and been excited about it?

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Has anybody else tried it and been excited about it?

A couple friends taught me the game several months ago. I was definitely hooked for a while, but it didn't last. A few problems:

1. Too much luck. If you're rolling unlucky early, it's very difficult to recover. Reminds me a lot of Risk.

2. Unclear rules. I accept that questions come up after a game is published. What irritated me was how many common questions we had weren't answered in the FAQ or errata. When even the most experienced players at the game store would disagree on some points, that was frustrating.

3. Power inflation. In order to sell more cards, each expansion boosts the power level such that it's hard to compete without springing for a whole 'nother set of cards. Granted, this is a problem with CCG's in general.

For the most part, the game is simple to learn (with a few exceptions, see point 2 above). And if you just want to kill some time while players are still arriving for gaming, a couple starter decks will work fine.