Tales of the Arabian Nights (hereafter refered to just as Tales) was originally published in 1985 here in the US. It was reprinted recently in Germany as Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht.
Tales is one of the most famous of the “paragraph games”. A paragraph game, essentially, is multi-player choose your own adventure. The similarities are there: Tales comes with a large book with numbered paragraphs. Each of these paragraphs has a story fragment, describing an encounter the player has. Sometimes there are choices, and sometimes you are checked to see if you have a certain skill specific to the situation. Regardless, the goal is to make it as if you are progressing through a story… albeit a very choppy, unconnected story.
I ordered the German edition from a seller off eBay, and after 6 nerve racking weeks without a tracking number for the package, it arrived at my doorstep. A translation is available from kind gamers on Boardgamegeek, who only ask that you prove that you own the game. I was provided with some files that allow for a conversion of the game in English through some book printing and stickering. This review is from the translated edition perspective.
Components: A map displaying a fantasy Arabian world, some dice, the Book of Tales, rulebook, counters, cards, status-trackers, cheap-looking pawns for characters, and dice. Of course, the Book of Tales is by far the most important part, and it’s obvious that many hours of work were put into it.
Gameplay: Everyone starts out with a few skills. You begin in Baghdad in the civilized lands, and set forth from there to adventure. On your turn, after moving, you draw a card. The card tells you whether you have an encounter (the meat of the game) or are given an assignment to go to a certain city, which has rewards (or punishments) when you complete the task.
Encounters: First, you consult a setup paragraph that is given to you on the encounter card. (The exact encounter can vary by what terrain you are in, or how far along the game is.) Another player consults the book, and you roll a die. Added to this die is kind of a “danger” rating- wild areas add to this roll, as are these rolls increased if you have more Destiny (one of the ways to win the game.) The other player tells you what you are encountering, and from a matrix, gives you a list of options that you do to whatever it is. For instance, you might encounter a “Mad Enchantress” and are given the options to “Grovel, Aid, Avoid, Attack, Rob, Abduct, or Court.” This choice is based somewhat on what skills you possess, and somewhat about the nature of what you’re encountering.
Each of these choices has three different possible results, as determined by a die roll. (One of many ways that the game increases replayability.) The other player reads out what happens as a result of your action, and often gives you a different result for possessing a specific skill, or having no skill. Sometimes, you gain statuses that affect your actions on later turns. Sometimes you are lead on a new adventure elsewhere in the book. Often, you score story and/or destiny points, which are needed to win. Once the results are in, your turn is over, and the next player does the same.
What’s fun: The diverse wealth of what could happen are addicting. Every turn, you wonder what adventure your character will have next. You make fun choices based on your options, and your character improves, becomes more skilled, and more legendary. There are even special areas that can be filled with treasure, but are much more dangerous than the ordinary encounters.
What’s not so fun: You can gain statuses which affect how your turn goes, often in complex and not fun ways. Having to check on pages of rules for what a specific status does, and making sure you follow everyone, is just too much bookkeeping. Not only that, some of the statuses (that are gained randomly) are really hard to get rid of, and can make the game much less fun. Also, the turns when you draw a city assignment instead of an encounter are very disappointing. In the future, we will probably have an encounter deck, and simply give out city assignments, so that you have incentive to travel but also have an encounter every turn.
Neither here nor there: Much of the game is arbitrary and random. It is not a strategy game, so that may take some getting used to for some players. There’s not much player interaction, being almost textbook multi-player solitaire. The game can last a long time: between 4-6 hours.
What else you should know: the game comes with other modes to play, including one involving establishing trade routes, and one where you actively tell stories. I have it on good authority that these modes are lame, and besides, require making extra pieces. The basic/adventure game is the core game I’ve described here. And, as I mentioned, the story fragments are essentially random. So don’t expect your character to go through a consistent, coherent narrative that goes through the entire game. You can certainly invent ways to connect, and it’s not essential to the game by any means, but be aware of it.
Conclusion: I have a blast playing the game, and it’s one of the few long games that I can still stomach. Going through well-written Arabian adventures is a surprisingly addictive activity, which is the awesome core of Tales of the Arabian Nights.
(I uploaded a few pictures to my Flickr account of the last game I played, in case you want some action shots.)
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