Adventures are great, aren’t they? I’ve seen loads on the telly, read about them in books. You go stomping off across beautiful landscapes, meet interesting people, have people cheer when you arrive in town rather than scowl and spit on your shoes. Basically, I’m ready for adventure! Bring on a quest: there’s no challenge I can’t face. As long as it isn’t too dangerous, and the people I meet don’t like using swords and there’s time for a nice, relaxing bath whenever I want one, and plenty of cups of tea. What’s that you say? Hmm. Maybe we’ll get stuck into a good tabletop adventure first, eh? And plenty of cups of tea while we do it.
All’s Well That Ends is for 1-4 players and consists of 12 combat scenario phases connected by shorter, narrative-driven exploration phases. Played in sequence, these track the story of your characters, their adventures in the Western Wildlands, and ultimately, their fate. This isn’t a world that has any mercy for the weak or the half-hearted. Nobody will hold your hand, save to drag you into the heat and din of bloody combat. (That’s me not getting that nice, relaxing bath, then.)
In a slightly unusual move for this type of game, there are no dice, which will remove a lot of the luck element. The options available for your character to perform during a combat scenario are determined by the action cards you draw, and your ability to adapt to what those cards offer you, in a web of tense tactical decisions. Every time you choose actions on your turn, you pay the opportunity cost of leaving at least one other action on the table.
At the same time, the actions of your enemies are informed by a combination of their own card draws and the condition of those enemies. While you can't ever be sure how your foes will act on their turns, you can be certain they'll be a lot less hostile once you've cracked a few of their bones.
There's an opportunity to indulge in some role-play elements as well. Each character follows their own heart into battle, with a range of abilities they have honed in their struggles up until now. But that doesn't mean they always have to play the same way. Impulses are chosen at the start of each round and will either modify your character's attributes or provide a unique temporary ability. It's important to choose an impulse that pairs well with your intended actions for that round.
Unfortunately, not all impulses are beneficial. Each deck has at least one impulse with negative modifiers, and you need to determine whether you'll flush out the weak ones early on or risk going in strong and having to wrestle with them later in the scenario.
I've had the pleasure of testing out the first two sessions of the campaign, and found it to be involving and challenging, with a variety of approaches to each scenario. There’s a quick set-up, and short, punchy scenarios which are ideal if you struggle to get long, meaty campaign games to the table. Here's hoping the full game matches the high-standard of the opening sequence. Interested? Follow me to this crowdfunding page, and sign up to be notified on launch.
Steve is currently a freelance board game blogger, but often dreams of life as a pirate, or as a ghost herder in the Lake District, or as an evil estate agent who sells haunted houses for his own dark pleasure. Instead of figuring out how to do these jobs in real life like a normal lunatic, he tries to write about them instead, and releases the resultant books upon the unsuspecting world via famous digital bookstores. More books are bound to follow. He’s also been seen within the pages of Tabletop Gaming Magazine. Find this peculiar entity here: www.positively.board.com
