Any hints on playing a shorter game of RB? I cut XP requirements to 3, and started everyone with 5GP, and the 3-player game still lasted 3 hours.

We usually play with fast early levels. So the first level takes just one XP, the second two, and so on until you get to your steady rate per level.

I've read another speedup variant which sounds promising, but I haven't yet tried. Instead of starting with 3 (or 5) gold, deal out piles of market cards worth about 3 gold, then have each player pick one pile. The last player to move gets the first pick, continuing until the first player to move gets the last pick.

I don't remember how you were supposed to deal out the piles, though. Maybe deal until the pile is worth at least 3, but not more than 5? So if the total reaches 6 or more, you toss the pile, or (if possible) remove cards from the pile to get it to a value of 5 or less.

Another good hint I forgot: Buy an extra set of movement dice. It sounds silly, but it does speed things up when the upcoming player is able to roll (and think about their movement) in advance.

Thanks for the ideas. Where can someone get an extra set of dice?

bragi said:

If you can't order them from FFG's online store then you could contact customer support to ask about buying a second set. They may be able to work something out. Alternatively, I know that some enterprising people over on BGG have made coloured images of the die faces for legibility's sake. Print those out on sticker paper and fix them to a regular set of dice, you'll never know the difference.

Here's a link to Fantasy Flight's sales page for the dice:

store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm

We did a few things this week with 4 players:

1) We started with 5 GP

2) Started with 5 items in each market

3) Level 1 required 1XP, L2 required 2XP, then 3XP for the rest of the game

4) We used the Doom Track, but it it took 8 cards to add the first doom marker, 7 for the next, then 6, and so on to add a sense of urgency

5) We would pass the movement dice along, but "Before Movement" rolls (like healing spells) were slowing that down, until we added another 2D10

We were still around 3 hrs, and just as we got to the reds, it was so late the kids had to go to bed. I think healing, and multiple trips to town to be healed were the biggest slow down at this point. Next time we will apply all of the above, but include requiring only a single GP, or resting one turn to remove all wound markers.

Thanks for the assist,

We do the quick levelling up option, but we capped it at 5 experience points.

Another good variant is to separete the decks into weapons/armor/spells/allies and pulling 3 cards every time you shop at one of those places.

Also, soft knockouts- just lose a turn, or a turn and half gold or something.

bragi said:

In my experience, adding cards to the markets doesn't speed things up. It is easier to get a weapon and armor at the beginning, but individual turns take somewhat longer, since there are more cards to read over and remember.

We use an alternate form of healing/resting that tends to speed that up. To heal we let people sacrifice movement dice. Each die you sacrifice you then roll. If the die matches the terrain that you are on, you heal one wound. Any left over die you can then roll and move normally.

That's a nice simple mechanic for healing Fryfire.

Now, how might you speed up calculating movement options?

We play it with 3 and 4 all the time and easily get games done in under or about 3 hours. We play with no exp reduction to level up and the market deck is split into Items/followers/ritulas and runes. Splitting up the market deck seems to really get things moving fast since you can get a better chance of picking what you are looking for. In all reality one skillup is all you need to move from green to yellow anyway. We even throw in Drakes and Dragonspawn to but some tougher fights into the mix.

I do the same thing. The market deck is soooo large I really love splitting it into weapons & armor / Allies / Magic & rituals. This really is by far my fav. mod for Runebound. There is still the random element to drawing the cards and a much great chance of getting something you'll use; even if it isn't something you love.

I also put 3 items into the market decks of the towns. Alternating from each of 'weapons & armor / Allies / Magic & rituals' and re-drawning if I pull a duplicate. Having more stuff available really helps the time to play without making things too easy. Not only that but it makes the game feel much more interesting and I've notice that it will often help determine the direction characters start moving towards, even if it will be a while before they can afford the item that has gotten their attention.

Baenre said: