LogFAQs > #932968589

oops, C:EW is actually #86

87. Call to Adventure (2018)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Tableau-building, push-your-luck, dice-rolling
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 2
Game length: 45-60 minutes
Experience: 2 plays over 2 sessions (2018-2019) with 4 players
Previous ranks: NR (2016), NR (2018)

Summary - Each player builds a character's epic story, from origins to final bosses. In practice, this means choosing on each turn to attempt to gain a skill/accomplish a challenge (both represented by a card market) by casting various sets of runes (i.e. flipping cool-shaped coins). These skills/challenges (cards) are added to your tableau. Every three cards you gain moves you into the next tier of available cards, and once a player has completed all three tiers, the game ends.

Experience - I've played this game twice. The first time was at a meetup with people I like, which made for a fun experience. The second was at a con, with somewhat less enjoyable people, but the game held up pretty well. Its lightness helps.

Design - Let's be clear: There isn't a lot of strategy to CtA. You've got several mechanisms going - a "light/dark" track that determines how much of an antihero or a saint you'll be; mechanisms to boost your power by becoming more evil; cards that function/score based on which path you choose; minor engine-building from your tableau that will let you cast extra runes. You get to make choices on how you want to grow your character or gain experience points and which challenges you want to try out and spend your experience points on. But the game pleasantly limits your choices to three challenges per round; you'll pretty much always want to play your cards in hand on the best possible ability; and depending on light/dark, that will reduce your options even further. The decision tree comes down to optimizing how you cast your runes and is wide but ultimately rather shallow.

On the other hand, Call to Adventure is huge on chrome. The art is gorgeous. The titles of the cards are evocative. You mostly get full control on your character's light/dark track, and it's more a matter of preference if you want to be paladin-esque or dark and brooding - you can get positive points either way, though there's a nice thematic punishment for going too evil beyond peak antihero. Getting that extra rune to cast is like turning to the dark side. The rules even say that you're supposed to tell your character's story at the end of the game - there are victory points that drive you, but in the end, it makes it very clear you're about the chrome-y, short, light journey and not the point-salad-y end.

The primary mechanic behind CtA is rune-casting. Whenever you undertake a challenge, you take differently colored runes, which are flat pieces with marks on both sides (more on one than another, generally). Depending on your tableau and the type of challenge, you may take extras. You shake them all up and literally cast them down, then count your marks for whether or not you accomplish a challenge. They look great and feel great to throw and counting them up is fun and satisfying.

Future - I don't think I'd ever buy CtA and it's probably not really in the wheelhouse of my main gaming groups. A lot of the time I want to play something that's a bit more game-y, but there's just something soothing and pleasant about the CtA experience. More plays could reveal it to be monotonous or make some nice storytelling memories, and I don't know which is more likely.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness