DUNGEON SAGA ORIGINS KICKSTARTER VERSION
Classic Dungeon Delving With a Mantic Twist
Designer: Matt Gilbert | Publisher: Mantic Games
Mantic Games did something very unique last year with Dungeon Saga Origins. They ran a successful crowdfunding campaign that they fulfilled within the same year. Those who dabble in Kickstarter will appreciate that this is as rare as glittery rainbow unicorn poop. Their range of games still give the impression of a series of passion products and the owner Ronnie Renton being very hands-on with their range. Much to their credit, their rulesets are some of the most easily accessible and solid out there on the market. Which takes us to Dungeon Saga Origins, which is their follow up to their own Dungeon Saga, an adventure game with quests and treasure and well sculpted miniatures.
Dungeon Saga Origins aims to be the adventure game that caters for as wide an audience as possible. Players have a choice of how they tackle the dungeon quests, with one player taking the role of the Dungeon Overlord, laying down rooms and monsters as the party explores. There is an option to play manually using a basic card based Overlord AI, which has the potential to spoil the flow of the story. For those who like their surprises, you can use the newly released digital overlord. This is an online quest tracking system that lays out the adventure chapter tile by tile, including the presence of monsters and secrets and allows the game to go fully cooperative.
Gameplay is straightforward, you’ll move, you’ll search and you’ll fight and find your way to your destination. I’m a big fan of the combat system, where the dice between the two fighters are paired together and compared to see if blows land. So if you have four attack dice and the enemy has two defence dice, you’ll both roll and line up your dice in descending order, pair them off and see which rolls are higher than the enemies comparative dice rolls. It lessens the chance of smaller enemies landing lucky blows on your party and keeps small skirmishes small and fast. Even if an enemy gets lucky, they only ever do one point of damage to a hero, so you’re encouraged to clear out rooms rather than run through.
Mantic have included arcs of attack and attacks of opportunity in the combat mechanics to add some slight complication to the proceedings and each of the player’s characters has a feat that they can use once per adventure to help level the playing field for more trickier encounters. The main aim here seems to be keeping things playable and simple which will be appreciated by those who aren’t looking for a game where they spend most of their time checking rulebooks. The Legendary Edition comes with a generous number of campaign adventures that allow your characters to grow in equipment and skills as they explore the various quests on offer. It’s a Sunday afternoon timewaster that you can set up and just dive into and enjoy without between quest administration.
Dungeon Saga Origins avoids modular map overkill by having a set of standard shape tiles that make it easier to manage the table space required, and player boards are small in size and don’t require a knowledge of twenty different stats to play the game. You can take the game to the next level by bringing in the Dungeon terrain that Mantic offers to enhance the experience. The overall package is a quality product, with the sculpts being up to the high imaginative standard you expect from Mantic that demand to be painted. Origins is going to suit those who want a dungeon experience that is easy to set up, understand and play and looks fabulous on the table. Quest fulfilled.
❚ PLAY IT? YES
Mantic brings dungeon crawling nostalgia with some bells and whistles of its own. Dungeon Saga Origins is an easy to learn fun time smacking heads and questing for treasure.