http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion

I do dig Dominion, but don't have any opponents anymore. I have a few more people interested in City of Thieves, so if there's enough Guild theme in Arcana...we'll see, I guess.

So Cadwallon is becoming its own game universe, eh? Or linking up with a pre-existing one? Is there room for another RPG? FFG has already thrown in a few new RPG systems already; I would thoroughly enjoy one based primarily around thievery. (Nostalgic for the best parts of Shadowrun.)

Arcana is a bit like dominion in that you win and construct a deck through the course of the game.

Better than dominion in that it scales well with two players. A lot more portable, better art, adds an element of bluffing to the whole experience. Arcana fired Dominion in my collection.

Cadwallon RPG is still available in some places if you do a bit of hunting. Never played it myself. But I have seen it quite a bit when hunting for other Rackham products.

I would caution, hwoever, that Dominion allows you to build up to a strategy...

Arcana seems more that you are playing in reaction to the card's strengths in your hand.

I can't realistically go for person x if I don't have any of the influences he/she needs to win.

I think this makes Arcana different enough to warrant owning both.

Actually, at this point, all of the "deck-building" games have their own feel and are all worth owning if you like that general mechanic.

Others, if you're interested are :

Thunderstone

Heroes of Graxia

Ascension:Chronicle of the Godslayer.

All are awesome; each are different and offer different overall experiences, imho.

Arcana's deck building is all about just making points... you can easily just go after the center until you get the game ender card and see how many points you have accumulated. Or you can try and gain more points by going to the opposing areas or even your own areas to accumulate more points.

you can easily just buy other cards as long as you meet the threshhold for the coins. not all cards have a coin value so they cant be bought but most do and you can make the game much faster that way...

To me dominion is more like Puzzle Strike, actually the other way around since puzzle strike came out after... but non the less the deck building thing in Arcana is just a way for a player to slow down in acquiring points...

Hellfury said:

I don't really understand your first sentence, in that you "win and construct" a deck. It's not an LCG, so can you describe the deck-construction aspect a little for me. As you probably know I'm interested in the Cadwallon theme, and I'm looking for 2-player, gf-friendly portable games, but if this is basically Puzzle Strike with Cadwallon cards I'm not so interested.

Could someone also explain to me how political strength aspect on the cards? I like the idea of intrigue worked in as a character strength (There's no counterpart in the board game.)

In Arcana you and your opponent are basically fighting over cards to add to your deck, so in a sense you have to win some sort of confrontation to get a card. But, then again you may win a card to add to your deck without any opposition if you apply enough points in whatever aspect it takes to claim that card and no one is trying to take it first. It is an interesting and simple dynamic.

sounds like a great game , i'm tempted .