imars
2011-10-02, 10:09 AM
I posted the content below on my gaming blog. Check it out if you want to see a picture as well. See Parhoon Naval Yards (http://parhoon-naval-yards.blogspot.com/2011/10/order-of-stick-shortening.html).
We tried out the expansion to the Order of the Stick: The Shortening. The Shortening does indeed do what it advertises; it does shorten the game. The Shortening suffers from the same problems that the original game suffers from, namely unclear rules. For instance, the Xykon card now shows his attack and defense to be 14-level. The old card showed it to be 14+level. Does this mean in the Shortening that Xykon is now weaker the deeper he is found in the dungeon? Seems pretty strange if you ask me. The starting rules for the variant In Medias Res were also unclear. It says, "In addition to eachplayer's starting Schticks, deal each player 3 Schticks at random..." Does this mean I start with all my starting Schticks or do I use the old rule and choose 3 of the 6 starting Schticks?
5 players was a pretty good test run I think. There are still a number of rules that I was not sure how to interpret. The quick reference cards (from the original game) are terrible. They pack so much information on one card that it is not readable. What we really need is a quick reference card that gives an overview of what you can do in a turn.
Typical of this game, some players were able to capitalize on their Schticks, while others felt somewhat helpless. Me as Roy I was able to get in a kill a number of monsters and soon had three more Schticks. Danny was somewhat overwhelmed by Elan, especially since he is particularly hard to play. Kathryn got along well with Durkon. Mark and Peter had a slow start with Varsuvius and Belkar respectively. After about an hour, we started rolling. After another half hour, we reached the end of our set play time and we decided to extend. This gave us a chance to have Xykon notice us. He noticed Durkon first. Kathryn was prepared for him and turned undead. She killed all his supporting undead, severely weakening him. Kathryn inflicted one more hit, followed by Peter's leaping attack with Belkar. I was then able to walk in and finish him off. Given my number of Schticks and killing Belkar, I was able to win the game. I was also the only player to complete any back stories.
Despite all the negative things I have to say about the game, we will certainly play it again. I just love the comic and that is reason enough to play it again. It is just darn silly and makes you laugh. As Peter said though, this is not a game that will come out onto the table every week.
We tried out the expansion to the Order of the Stick: The Shortening. The Shortening does indeed do what it advertises; it does shorten the game. The Shortening suffers from the same problems that the original game suffers from, namely unclear rules. For instance, the Xykon card now shows his attack and defense to be 14-level. The old card showed it to be 14+level. Does this mean in the Shortening that Xykon is now weaker the deeper he is found in the dungeon? Seems pretty strange if you ask me. The starting rules for the variant In Medias Res were also unclear. It says, "In addition to eachplayer's starting Schticks, deal each player 3 Schticks at random..." Does this mean I start with all my starting Schticks or do I use the old rule and choose 3 of the 6 starting Schticks?
5 players was a pretty good test run I think. There are still a number of rules that I was not sure how to interpret. The quick reference cards (from the original game) are terrible. They pack so much information on one card that it is not readable. What we really need is a quick reference card that gives an overview of what you can do in a turn.
Typical of this game, some players were able to capitalize on their Schticks, while others felt somewhat helpless. Me as Roy I was able to get in a kill a number of monsters and soon had three more Schticks. Danny was somewhat overwhelmed by Elan, especially since he is particularly hard to play. Kathryn got along well with Durkon. Mark and Peter had a slow start with Varsuvius and Belkar respectively. After about an hour, we started rolling. After another half hour, we reached the end of our set play time and we decided to extend. This gave us a chance to have Xykon notice us. He noticed Durkon first. Kathryn was prepared for him and turned undead. She killed all his supporting undead, severely weakening him. Kathryn inflicted one more hit, followed by Peter's leaping attack with Belkar. I was then able to walk in and finish him off. Given my number of Schticks and killing Belkar, I was able to win the game. I was also the only player to complete any back stories.
Despite all the negative things I have to say about the game, we will certainly play it again. I just love the comic and that is reason enough to play it again. It is just darn silly and makes you laugh. As Peter said though, this is not a game that will come out onto the table every week.