Review Details

Roll Player

Product Review (submitted on April 10, 2018):

This game, in my game groups opinion, is not good. I believe the average rating was 2/5 as 'Bad'. Let me explain some useless background info here: Our D&D knowledge ranges from good to great and myself was pretty excited about the game since it got a lot of positive reviews on it. Creating a character in D&D is a lot of our favorite things to do as kids so the idea of creating a character as a game sounded too good to be true. And, well, it is.

Gameplay was the biggest issue here. There is very little player interaction. I believe there's maybe 4 or 5 things you can do to sort of interact with the other players and maybe 1 or 2 that actually interact directly with a player. The only global actions I saw were messing with the initiative dice, but this could only be done on your turn, so it's not always 100% global or interrupting. Diplomacy card allows you to interact with another persons skills, but that's about it. The theme of the game is lost in the abstract wonderland of number crunching. The only enjoyment we found was when placing your die on your board and planning what to do that turn and the next turn or two. This enjoyment only lasts for a small fraction of the game as the rest of the game is waiting for your turn. I am a long time board game player and board games have come a long way and have ways to make 'waiting' enjoyable. The most common way is by making other player's choices important to you and making the theme create a story you want to be a part of. Sorry, but this game does not do this, ever. Other players can't really interact with you except by taking initiative and items from the market place. And sure, that's half the game, but they don't sink into any theme. It's all abstract. You can get a high roll by going last (Why does having a high roll you aren't even immediately placing into a stat effect when you get to the market?) or take a low roll to get to the market first. Also, no one seemed to care about the rolls as much as the colors most of the time. This game literally plays you, you rarely get rewarded for creativity as the game doesn't allow for much flexibility outside of the random cards you get that determine your character.

It's strange because there are two opportunities for theme here. The character itself in the fantasy world and the person (you) creating this character. This never comes to fruition. I was expecting some meta aspects where maybe something in reality effected your character, like having to cut a session short. When I saw the game wasn't really meta like that I was expecting some amount of character growth through adventure? Like cards about failed or successful quests, some bizarre or hilarious enemies trophied on my character sheet. Nope. You get some mundane skills that rarely make your character look like their class, every character by the end of the game looks like a mean, bejeweled, street fighter. A lot of opportunity was missed here. I hope someone takes this idea and makes a truly fun game that takes us all back to the feeling of making a character with friends.

Winning the game feels hollow, so does losing, basically the entire ending of the game feels hollow. When my groups finish playing games like Masmorra, Avalon, Barbarossa, Arcadia Quest, Battlestar, etc we have long conversations about the story we created and also reflection on our actions. In this game you add up your points, someone wins, and you're just like: I need a coffee and maybe we can play another game.

If playing a game that sets your objective strictly with a few moments of RNG and no gotcha-gameplay is your idea of a good time (see Agricola) then this will be a ton of fun. If your group can make a story from mundane artwork, gameplay, and minimal background/theme, then you will actually have fun. I can see certain DnD groups loving this, but if you're like me and need to be swimming in theme and fun mechanics that emphasize that theme, then you will really dislike this game.

I compare this game a lot with Agricola and games that came after that hugely popular game. It's not a game you play, it's a game that plays you.