Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dragon Dice

Dragon Dice was the first successful collectible dice game. There was one before it, but it fell on its posterior soon after release (once I remember what it is and play it a bit, expect a review of it). Anywho, let’s continue on shall we.

Dragon Dice was launched by the now defunct TSR (curse you company I shall not name in fear that you will sue me!) around 1995, and has a decent following. Not a large one, but a dedicated one. Before the release of a long awaited expansion, as well as the other two novels, it was cancelled.

Only a few years ago did an ambitious young group of gamers (the group was young, I have no idea how old the members are…) rally support to form SFR inc. and buy the rights to Dragon Dice. Their actions brought me to the side of the little guy, and that is one of the reasons I created this blog.

Now on to the part where I tell you how the game works:

Dragon Dice plays a lot like a table top strategy game, except without all of the expensive painted metal figurines and expansive playing fields. Instead, each unit of an army is represented by an individual die, and their rarity determines the health of each unit (common is one, uncommon is two, etc.). The battlefield is represented by a large d8 called a “Terrain Die”. Each side has a number and a symbol that tells how far away the armies are from one another (melee range, arrow range, etc). The goal is to capture two of these terrains, or kill you opponents in the process. To do that, you must make “Maneuver” rolls and get the terrain die onto the side with the number one on it. You have just captured the terrain, YAY!

Of course, it is not that easy since your opponent can cast spells on you, and even summon dragons (I guess that is where the name came from…)

I like the game because of the army building and strategy, especially since I do not have to buy and paint them all (yes I know many of you like that aspect of table top gaming, and I am not dissing it, trust me I like to make things too). The best part is that everything I went over is just the tip of the iceberg. If you look hard enough, you can find full fledged campaigns designed to make your game much more interesting, and when you throw in more players, the chaos that ensues is on of the most fun gaming experiences you can have.

Though this game is still alive, it is no longer in distribution in order to keep costs down, but it is still sold on their main site, as well as single sold on www.chuckpint.com/frame.html . If you would like to find out more about the game or buy into it, please check out their site http://www.sfr-inc.com/ or go to eBay. I love eBay… (I don’t have a problem, I swear).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You disciption of this game makes it seem a bit RPG-ish for my taste (the D&D kind of RPG, not the video game kind). With campains and lots of dice rolling (obviously), it doesn't seem like something I would be interested in picking up. But, the history of the game is quite impressive. It's not every day a dead game comes back from the grave. Because of the 'tip of the iceberg' comment, I think I might like to hear a little more about this game before I make my final judgement. Dice by themself isn't enough to turn me off a game (I am a huge fan of Cosmic Wimpout, perhaps a cult game you might want to look into). So, I guess, I am stuck somewhere in the middle. Perhaps this is the kind of game you may want to go into greater detail about the gameplay in another post.

Charon said...

I admit there is a lot of dice rolling, but none of the dice have numbers. They all have icons that represent a certain number of combat/defence/movement points.

And when I say campaign, I mean army vs. army with certain victory requirements.

Anonymous said...

I found your blog from the A Game of Thrones CCG forums, and thanks for this post! I used to play Dragon Dice all the time, and never knew it made a revival!

Charon said...

That is what I created this site for. Get the news out. I am gonna need to check out the comments more often. I like responding to them.

ChuckPint said...

Actually the only point you are really wrong about, is the fact that Dragon Dice is in distribution. All world-wide gaming distributors carry Dragon Dice. All retail stores can order it. If your favorite store says they can't get it, they haven't tried. In any case you can always order directly from SFR's website. If want to see active discussion of the game, and on-line game sessions, check out our forums.

Chuck Pint
SFR President

Charon said...

Wow, it is nice to have such an important person on this little no name blog. I did not know that DD was in distribution, it is good to know. Everyone needs to ask their local game store to order.