The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is basically a deck
building game which draws mechanics from a variety of sources. The “loot the
room” method of exploration is very similar to Munchkin, without all the
silliness. Munchkin is a hilarious game that I love playing, but it scratches
the same comic itch as Zombies!!! Not D&D. The “your deck is your health”
is very Star Wars CCG, you heal by returning discarded cards to your active
deck (library for all you MtG fans) and if that deck runs out your character is
dead. It throws in some old school probability from any number of standard card
games, e.g. “there are four cards left in this pile, what are the chances I
will randomly pick up the satyr I can’t possibly hope to beat?”. It has some
Warcraft Boardgame dice generation thing going on, e.g. “This skill allows me
to roll a d8, this sword gives me a d6 and all 1s I roll are actually 3s.”
Roleplaying-wise, you get to choose a character with a race
and class. Each character has special abilities that reflect their
specialisation quite well, within the limits of the game mechanics. For
example, I had a wizard that could draw a card whenever a spell was cast. That
card can be retained if it happens to be another spell, so I never really had a
situation where I had nothing useful to cast. He could also easily return
spells from the discard pile into the deck. You have some say over what goes
into your deck so, again, you can specialise your character to an extent. Each
class has proficiencies that guide your choices and limits the number of items
you can have from any one category. The wizard only gets one weapon, so the
chances of picking it up in your opening hand and rocking it the whole game are
reduced. As you progress through the adventure you pick up new equipment, which
you have the choice of assimilating into your deck at the end should you wish.
Players take turns exploring locations that are represented
by their own card and a deck of encounters/loot/traps that you draw from. Each
location can be closed by performing a specific task, which may be easier for
some characters than others. The number of enemies at each location is
provided, so you have a good idea going in how many monsters you will be up
against. What you don’t know is where the main bad guy is. Stumbling on
him/her/it early on is a real pain because, even if you win, they just move on
to another open location. You need to work together as a team to corner the
bastard then get your strong characters in place to put the nail in the coffin.
This is where the teamwork kicks in, as you all manoeuvre around the locations,
using your character’s skills where they will have the greatest affect, to
close locations, locate the enemy and put it to the sword (or lightning bolt…).
The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is perfectly suited for
those roleplayers who like to excruciate over the right combination of gear,
spells and skills. The teamwork aspect is there as well; you are all working
together towards the same goal, unlike Munchkin. It is fun picking up new
equipment that you haven’t seen before (it is a bit like getting a cool new
card in an MtG booster pack!), and the format of the game is perfect for
rolling out expansions. The bad news is that it fails to harness the intimate
connection you can develop with your character when you actually engage in roleplaying.
As such, it is not a great replacement for proper D&D sessions. As a card
game, though, there is plenty of fun to be had. It has that wonderful quality of
producing stories that you repeat with your friends for days after the game. A
solid 3/5.
See you across the table,M4cr0
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