If the players manage to defeat the scenario, they may then choose to follow up the story with one of two new choices that dictate their opponent for the second game. Rather than purchasing additional cards as the game goes on, the opponent uses its own custom deck with additional powers kicking in depending on the color of card it plays. The “opponent” takes its own turn (between each other player’s turn) and plays cards according to set rules. Players begin with a simple scenario teamed against an uncontrolled (not player controlled) opponent. The only campaign deck released so far is The Ruin of Thandar. One or more players cooperatively play through a series of scenarios as they follow a branching storyline. The feature of Hero Realms I was most interested in was the idea of a Campaign Deck. Powergamers can even take advantage of modified rules in order to do a boss vs boss fight. The Dragon has a set of Treasure Hoard cards which can be stolen by the other players while the Lich has its life totals broken into several Soul Jars which must be eliminated in turn. After the Boss takes their turn, all defeated players discard and draw a new hand (from which a card can then be lent out.) Currently there are two bosses, a Dragon and a Lich. After a character is defeated, that player may give away one of their cards to another once per round. They come with their own starting cards and have a larger hand size, but otherwise behave similar to a player. The special abilities lead a character to behave similar to its stereotypical role in a role-playing game, the Cleric has some healing powers, the Thief can do large bursts of damage, the Ranger can attack at distance (you typically can only affect one’s nearby neighbor.)īoss Decks are designed to give one player a huge advantage such that they then play against other players fighting as a team. Character packs exist for Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Thief, and Wizard. In addition to unique and slightly improved starting cards with a central theme, Character packs grant players two special abilities for use during the game (one minor one and another more powerful, single use ability.) The difference in starting cards are somewhat minor, but the special abilities lend a greater sense of differentiation. Character decks change player starting decks, Boss decks allow for a many vs one combat, and a Campaign deck gives players a way to experience a cooperative series of challenges. Where Hero Realms system diverges from Star Realms is by providing new gaming situations. In this way, players are encouraged to specialize their deck towards one or two colors. Both Star and Hero realms have four suits (colors) of cards which have a common theme (force discards, gain life, trash cards, etc…) Many cards have a standard ability but also have a bonus ability that kicks in if a player plays more than one card of that color on their turn. Some Champions have the Guard effect which means you MUST attack them before attacking the opponent or the opponent’s other Champions. These have health and can be attacked directly instead of one’s opponent. In Hero Realms, the cards that are persistent from turn to turn are called Champions. Instead of ships and battlestations generating combat (for damage) and wealth (for buying more cards) Hero Realms has action cards that provide damage and wealth. Rather than focusing on earning points, Hero Realms (and Star Realms) focuses game play on attacking and eliminating other players (or villains.) The base Hero Realms game does not offer much new from the popular Star Realms. In this way, a player’s deck of cards becomes increasingly powerful as they continues. Throughout the game players purchase additional cards for their deck, shuffling them in when they run out of cards to draw. While Hero Realms feels very similar to Star Realms, the opportunity to play against specific boss monster decks or try out the co-op campaign game makes Hero Realms a unique experience.ĭesigner: Robert Dougherty, Darwin KastleĪs is the case with most deckbuilders, players start Hero Realms with a small deck of weak cards that can be used to attack and/or purchase upgraded cards from a central tableau. There are very strong similarities, but in Hero Realms players can begin with a themed starting deck (based around typical RPG character classes) and have the option of playing in a campaign game and/or fighting a specially designed communal boss monster. Hero Realms is a deckbuilder that follows in the footsteps of the hugely popular Star Realms but is more than just the same game with a different theme.
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