Hey there!

I bought Runebound the second edition (without any expansions) just a week ago and played it yesterday with two friends of mine.

We enjoyed the game and had alot of fun, BUT this game just seems to be to easy!

We played it for the first time and no one died at all. With all the allies who are able to convert wounds in exhaustion counters or even heal / prevent wounds its not that hard to survive a fight.

The only downside is the need to rest every round to get rid of the converted exhaustion counters and therefore we traveled a bit slower.

Hm, maybe we did something wrong. Are you satisfied with the difficulty of the game?

What do you do to increase the difficulty? I already ordered 3 expansions advanture packs and hopefully the game will be more challenging next time (which will be soon for sure)

I don't find Runebound to be too easy (we've played twice now, base game only) but it's not exactly hard either. If you take your time with green challenges and build up a couple XP tokens before moving on to yellow you can manage quite well. Allies in particular make things easier, but in our games we haven't seen all that many of them turn up in market. We definitely did die a few times.

If you're looking to increase the difficulty of the game, you could try using the Doom Track. That forces an endgame after too many challenges, which in turn forces the heores to move on to yellow and blue challenges more quickly than they otherwise might like if they want to "keep up" and be ready when the endgame arrives.

One of the main ideas behind RB is that it is part RPG as well as a board game. The experience of adventuring through the land, having encounters and fights will struggling through terrain is supposed to be as much a part of the game as "winning." The goal of the game is as much about the adventure as it is "beating the game."

Playing with the RPG element in mind should make for a better game experience, regardless of how "easy" someone wins.

If you need a tougher game, play with the rule that being knocked out equals death, and it's game over for you. That's the rule I use when I play solo, along with the travel hazards optional rule.

If you give yourself an unlimited amount of time, the game will be easy. To balance that off, either use the threat level chart or the Doom Track. You can also increase the amount of exeprience points you need to go up a level as well. Thus the game may be not too difficult but you will have limited time to win.

Thanks for the answers.

I guess we will play with the doom counters next time. Maybe we waited too long before doing higher quests

'Difficulty' of Runebound is up to players. If all players play it safe, take their time on green encounters and don't attack each other, of course life is easy and progress steady. But as soon as one player starts to push it, attacking the weak and taking chances in moving to harder encounters, other players have to respond to it or lose the game. So, with more competetive players Runebound is very competetive. You don't need the Doom Track, if there is healthy competition from other players.

kalle said:

I agree. Even playing solo, I try to "keep the pressure on" by making the characters advance as soon as possible. This increases the difficulty and moves the game a little faster.

My biggest problem with Runebound is not that it is too easy or hard as that is easily regulated. ( Although there is no real guidance from the publisher on this issue). For me the biggest problem ( which may be the way I play) is that all the characters begin to look like each other. Thus the individual role play element is lost for me as they all look alike. I usually have modifiers in each stat of +8 or more. This does not sit well with if I am trying to develop a magic user for example.

This is where the Class Decks come in handy! The Battlemage och the Runemaster would fit your bill nicely...

Then there is always the Rituals and Runes expansion... truly the possibilities are endeless

Cheers!

To me it did not seem too "difficult." It seems that if you play long enough and build up enough SOMEONE is gonna kill the dragon. My main issue with the game is length of time it takes to play. 4+ hours is just too long for this game. We use a few "speed" variants to help, including making it easier to level up early, softer knockout, and expanded market decks.

I have always found the Green and Yellow challenges fairly easy, and then the Blue challenges are ridiculously hard. My friends and I typically skip right past the Blue challenges and go straight to Red. I`ve never had trouble beating Margath.

The best expansion, in my opinion, is Traps and Terrors. T&T utilizes the skills mechanism that is so under-used in the base game.

i agree with springroll, class decks change game difficulty like crazy.

to make it harder with some easy rules : take the highest skill as defense for the monsters and not the one you attack it. or subtract one from the characters damage.

sometimes its just bad luck. a game may end with no chance for the players at all. i remember one game the yellow counters couldnt respawn because the events have layed on bottom. the characters have not been ready for blue so the game was lost quite soon for all.

if market cards are too expensive in the beginning, no allies can be bought with the result of crumbling the game.

I have not found the game too easy either, and I agree with a few of the points made here already; the Role playing aspect and adventure theme of the game is pretty important, but the time CAN run on, also variations on the rules help a bit as well.

My wife and I played this game right after I got it and that first game was a true disaster, after mis reading some rules we were horribly defeated in short order, once I inspected them and corrected them, we were on our way with a new game, and it was not "easy" but I WILL admit the end was a foregone conclusion by the time we were drawing Margrath.

Now on the other hand including the expansions, Traps and Terrors springs to mind along with the boom track do make the game a much more manageable and uncertain ending victory wise, affair. and we both enjoyed the game with the expansions.

While I own several character decks we have yet to be able to use them, so I look forward to playing with those in place. Happy Adventuring!

Think about it this way RE: Doom Track

When heroes plot to defeat an archvillain, they move towards that direction.

When villains plot to achieve their dastardly goals, they don't stop and wait for the heroes to come find them and kick them around. They plot too so they can achieve their own goals.

That, in essence, is the Doom Track. It's a timer. It tells the heroes, you have this much time/time left to get your act together before the villains decide to kick you into a dank dark hole.

If you didn't use the Doom Track, use it, and see if this game is still too easy. It's like saying, It's 2 minutes before Midnight, and the second hand moves a little bit faster these days.

you can my racommend any board game!plasse!

and rune bound in not to easy!

dracula is so easy .mos misliti

sea to morning!

yous be night ! i em in croatia

doom is cool! good night-wrong in croatia is night in america i 5 or 6 em!see are !

and thanks for reccomond board games

I managed to persuade my wife to play Runebound with me but we are finding it almost impossible to play - don't know if we are just bad at it (this is the first boardgame we have played) but we keep dying and never progress past the green adventures as we lose all our counters before we can level up and so get stuck at the start. Any hints?

I have two suggestions.

1:I'm not sure which edition you are playing, but do not discard experience counters when you die. This is actually the most recent ruling by FFG.

2:Try this leveling up alternative they proposed with the latest big box expansion- pay 1 experience for the first level up, two for the second, three for the third and so on. It makes it not so annoying to level up at the lower levels and not so ridiculously easy for the higher levels, you reach the same amount of experience spent at about the 6th or 7th time you level up, which is about when you should be thinking of tackling the high end stuff.

Also possibly use the Softer Knockout rules provided in the rulebook. Less frustrating.

MiraCoolX said:

hm, maybe here is a problem, you need to be near death before you rest or go to town for a healing (if you have money and there are interesting items then you can go to a town earlier). After some time, you cannot rest, because there are no adventure counters nearby and you can't reach them with 2 or 3 dice.If one of you starts to push it to the brink, all of you will have to or will start to fall behind him, and at that point knockouts will happen.

Also you can use doom track to include time limit, and make it harder