Rolling With Reviews: Earthborne Rangers

[@IchabodSnerd]

Aww, I'm sorry for the frustration. I appreciate you being willing to revisit the experience to share about it. It is a game that piqued my interest so this is all good to know. I hope you can play a game you enjoy better soon!

[@willreed4692]

Fortunately we did! Well, we played another game we weren't too hot on, but we did play two others that were great.

[@RollingWithTwo]

Yeah, it's disappointing when a game doesn't come through like you expect. But we do play games we enjoy and we're looking forward to covering them soon!

[@chirubime7470]

I definitely can understand some of the frustrations with this game. However, I do think that there were core elements of your criticism that aren't as well-supported. For one, the concept of failing is natural to the human condition. We succeed and fail in real life, and that implementation of failure as a mechanic is what gives your actions consequence and meaning. Most RPGs have this concept of an critical fail like rolling a 1 in DND, drawing the critical autofail token in Arkham Horror LCG, etc. A narratively-driven game like EBR loses meaning when actions taken have certainty. That being said, EBR is pretty outright about the failure conditions. The modifier deck ranges from +1 to -2 and there is exactly 1 card with a -2 for each skill in the deck. High tension, high difficulty tests/checks in this game are meant to be met with player deliberation whether to invest resources to meet the +2 or remain even or +1 against the test. It is possible that this sort of disconnect between how your game played out and how you approached these probabilities resulted in some negative player experiences that colored your feelings about the game. Also, the story rewards at the beginning of the game, i found to be narratively thematic and interesting. They might not be the "best" card for each specific ranger archetype, but there is plenty of variety. Also, they do indeed bolster the strengths of decks. Furthermore, the decks are customizable between days. Once you acquire a story reward, you can choose, between days to side that card into your deck when you deem it the most useful, and then side it back out for something else during a different sort of objective/mission youre intending to achieve. Additionally, perhaps viewing story rewards as "upgrades" can also mislead their intention. They are narrative implementations of your decisions and their effects. When I played the early days, some quest rewards certainly didn't feel like they improved for my deck, but greatly improved the decks of my tablemates. Lastly, there are definitely good story rewards that you probably didn't get a chance to experience from the later days of the game. I hope my perspective helps you and those who look at this review give EBR another chance. It might not be for everyone, but with a few guided tips to the gameplay, I'm positive that anyone can have a better time playing the game!

[@RollingWithTwo]

Thank you for sharing your perspective and experiences with the game. Sorry for the delay in responding. We've been recovering from illnesses. If you're coming at it from real life, failing is when we learn the most. We've learned things not to do and are able to grow from that experience. In terms of RPGs, when you roll a 1, we've had great DMs that use that opportunity to push the story forward. That's the certainty we're looking for. We're not always looking to succeed. But looking for something meaningful to happen. And it can be argued that losing time, a whole lot of resources and being in a worse position than before is meaningful, but it really shaded our experiences for the negative. We completely understand the probability in the cards. We didn't have enough resources to keep up with the quantity of challenges that arose in our games. As for story rewards, yes, they will tie in with whatever the current story is and yes, situational, they can be a lot better than the cards you have in your deck. And it does make an interesting option on later days when you put them in player's decks. However, according the rules, once they leave a player's deck, they are returned to the box and no longer are an option for players to put in their decks later. So they can't be entirely considered upgrades. We do appreciate your opinions and people do take the time to read it. This game is ideal for certain players. You are one of them. 😊 Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@jaycareno5379]

I’m on the fence on this one too. I’m having a Smeagol vs Gollum moment. Thank you for the review.

[@RollingWithTwo]

Welcome!

[@drasher25]

Thank you for this honest, very useful review. It seems to be a lot of hype around this game, and a lot of people enjoy it. However I kind of suspected it wasn't for me, and your review was really helpful to me and crystallizing that.

[@RollingWithTwo]

Yeah, we felt bad because we were really hoping this would a game for us! So glad we were able to help you figure it out before you bought it. Coming up soonish, we'll be reviewing Mythwind. It's similar in that it's an open-ended game with no winners, but it's very different on how it plays and what the experience is.

[@fongstar]

What are your thoughts on sleeping gods? Really enjoyed this review!

[@willreed4692]

we Unfortunately don't have Sleeping Gods. We've played other Red Raven games though. For the most part they do a much more satisfying job at giving a narative experience while still playing a resource management game. I believe it is on our trade list. I think currently our top Red Raven game is Near and Far.

[@RollingWithTwo]

As Will said, we haven't played Sleeping Gods yet, but other Red Raven games are very strong narrative experiences.

[@IchabodSnerd]

I am considering getting Sleeping Gods, the original or the new one, so I would also love to hear your opinion if you ever try it! Good to know you've enjoyed his other games, though.

[@RollingWithTwo]

@@IchabodSnerd If we get the game, we will certainly cover it. Just not expecting that to happen any time soon. If you get it, hope you enjoy it!

[@TheGlassesPush]

Haha, small world… I traded my Sleeping Gods copy to you all! I loved Sleeping Gods, and now I’m working on Distant Skies!