This looks amazing

By Zozimusque Romanus, in Winter Tales

Has anybody played this? I notice that it was published in Europe last year....what kind of a storytelling experience is this? I've been wanting a real storytelling boardgame for a long time....I bought Mansions of Madness thinking it would satisfy that itch, but it was so full of glitches, and the writing so mediocre, that I've only played it twice so far. Mice and Mystics comes with a "storybook", which gives a broad plot outline, but you don't have that many choices. It's more of a train voyage; you get to sit where you want, but the train is on a track, and going somewhere specific. Is this what I'm looking for? Something with a lot of freedom, but not entirely freeform? How much of the game depends on the storytelling ability of the players?

Looks interesting, might be a one for the Wife and me to play?

Looking forward to more info on this. Looks intriguing...

Hello,

first of all excuse me if my English is not perfect since I'm Italian. :)

My girlfriend was deeply involved in playtesting this game and I lend her a hand so I can answer to some of your questions.

How much of the game depends on the storytelling ability of the players?

Totally!! This means that if you like games where you can tell your friends:"I won by making one point more of you" than this IS NOT your game! ;)

Players will be divided into teams (usually the good guys and the bad guys) that will be enemies in the story and they will battle to win, but everything in this game is about storytelling, not about points, so their battles will be about telling their part of the fable better than the others and try to forge their "happy ending".

As you can see in the end there will be a winner (a draw is also possible), but does it really matter which team reached the good ending when both told a really good story and everyone at the table had a lot of fun? :D

Something with a lot of freedom, but not entirely freeform?

Yes, it's exactly like that. There's a lot of freedom, but it's not freeform because there's a map where you move and your storytelling in your turn must obviously include elements like the location where you are, others players there, what they told in their turn (no, you can't make an u-turn on the story that easily! ;) ) and the cards in your hand which have very particular drawings that let you "read" them quite freely.

In the rulebook there are also some optional game modules and one of them let you play a more competitive game with points (if you have friends that absolutely want them) but as I told you before if you plan to play only on points this is not your game.

I hope I managed to give you a good overview of the game, but if you have some more question I'll try to answer them the best I can.

Jones

www.goblins.net

I found the games is very inspiringand interesting, I teach kids during weekends, is the game difficult to kids in grade 2 to grade 6?

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely look into it! I loved the roleplaying game "Baron Munchausen", for example : but you really need a group where everyone is skilled as a storyteller. Does the game give enough structure for players who are a little unsure about their abilities?

I found the games is very inspiringand interesting, I teach kids during weekends, is the game difficult to kids in grade 2 to grade 6?

Sorry but "grade 2 to grade 6" tells nothing to me about their age. :huh:

If you're talking about kids from 6 to 10 than I can tell you that with a little help on the rules (movement, card play, etc) they will do a wonderful storytelling. The main problem with them will be about the absence of a strong competition: kids of that age tend to play everything in a very competitive way, in my experience. ;)

Does the game give enough structure for players who are a little unsure about their abilities?

If the player is only unsure about his ability but he's willing to try, than the game rules will help him a bit. If he's out of imagination, well... better play another game :P

Edited by Jones_TdG