Earlier in the month of January, I celebrated my 37th birthday and received a very special gift: Tales of the Arabian Nights by Z-Man Games. Dave wrote a review of an earlier edition here and suggested fixes for it here. The game I have at home is a latest (2009) edition and has integrated almost all the fixes Dave suggested.
Oddly enough, Dave is also credited in the rules book… and happened to suggest the game to me. 🙂
Anyway, instead of providing another review of the game, I thought I would tell you the story of my ‘character’ to showcase how rich the game is. Note that while I may flourish the prose of my tale a bit (that’s what being a storyteller is all about), what I will present actually happened during the game.
The Tale of Aladdin
Our story starts with a poor boy called Aladdin who dreams of leaving the city of Bagdhad and discover one of the fabled ‘Places of Power’ that legends talk about (Quest #1). He set off and traveled north through Armenia and Eastern Europe where he stumbled on a talking monkey. Calling it an abomination upon Allah, Aladdin slew the beast and was cursed by the released demon. Later, he met a Lost Prince, stole all his gold and got cursed again. (An old persian proverb says “You can’t get cursed twice”)
He then boarded a an ocean-bound boat manned by a band of rogues that eventually grabbed him while on the Indian Ocean and sent him overboard. As Aladdin was drowning, hands grabbed him from below as he blacked out.
He woke up in the kingdom of the Merfolk and explored its marvels and treasures, trying to learn as much as he could from that hidden culture (Quest #1 completed). That’s where he learned that the Merfolk were preparing to wage war on the surface dwellers. Our hero rushed back to the surface and reached a nearby Sultan to inform him of the impeding threat. The Sultan named Aladdin as a peace emissary to the merfolk (Whoa… déjà vu!) and peace was achieved.
Our hero was bestowed the Robe of Renown just as news reached him that the Grand Vizier of Bagdhad had accused him of a vile crime he hadn’t committed. Aladdin had to sneak back home and clear his name with the Caliph. On his way back, he was enchanted and got lost for some time, he found some marvelous Roc eggs but had to flee before getting eaten by the mother. He also discovered the fabled Sword of Invisibility lying there on a dead man!
Dodging the guards of Bagdhad, Aladdin returned home and met a beautiful enchantress. He seduced her, she fell madly in love with him and they soon married. Our now legendary hero asked the Caliph to bless their union in the palace. That’s where Aladdin confronted the Grand Vizier about the false accusations. Outraged, the Caliph had the Vizier beheaded and named Aladdin as the new one.
End Credit.
I played the game with PM and things didn’t go nearly as well for him. We’re pretty sure that the game I described above is not a typical experience but more like those people that lose 20 lbs in 4 days on so called miracle diets. But hot damn was it an awesome game!
Pros:
I can’t describe how much glee I had while playing this game. It is an explorer’s dream come true. You have no idea what’s going to happen and while you get eventually are able to influence how the game goes, you are left guessing most of the time. It feels like the whole ‘choose your own adventures’ and the various skills, statuses and treasures you accumulate allow you to shape how things turn out.
Reading from the book of tales is so cool, seeing the face of the player being told his fate is part of the pleasure of the game. Even when things go bad for you, it’s interesting. At least it is for now… I’ll tell you after a few more games.
Cons
The main mechanic that gives players more control over their fate is represented by status/treasure cards that allow replaying one’s turn after knowing its outcome. While turns are usually short (less than 5 minutes), this will create longer downtimes and slow the game, especially with 5-6 players. Also, accumulating many status cards will complicate the game and create more delays. A variant rule proposes to allow only one status card to affect a player.
Also, much of this game is about reading stories. Playing with non-native English speakers could be a challenge, as it would be with awkward, monotonal or slow readers. On the other hand, it would be great reading practice for kids… except some of the tales are pretty mature in content. Just ask PM what he thought of his stalking love-sick hag.
Finally, the game may be a nightmare for tacticians that need to know the possible outcomes of each decisions. With over 2000 entries in the book of tales, there’s no way to know how your decisions will shape the outcome of your many encounters.
Conclusion:
Along with Dominion, Carcassonne and Battlestar Galactica , Tales of the Arabian Nights has takes a firm place in my “Games I love” collection. It seems to my untrained eye that we are going through a board game Golden Age, and I for one welcome our cardboard masters. 🙂
Anyone else tried the game? How was your experience?
That sounds very fun, to say the least. These sorts of games are always cool.
.-= Andy´s last blog ..A Modest Proposal, Part II =-.
Tales of the Arabian Nights is fantastic! One of the most original board games I’ve played, no doubt about it. Really love how the storytelling mechanic works. True, you really have no control over your fate; the fun is putting yourself in your character’s role or picking the crazy responses and seeing what happens.
Given the rewards are so random, though, I think it is a little silly for people to pick their winning story/destiny points. Instead, we just play that the first person to reach a combined 20 points wins. Makes for a slightly shorter game and doesn’t penalize you for getting random rewards that don’t match the point split you originally picked.
I think the game is best with two or three players. Any more than that and down time can become a bit of an issue. Still fun but everyone needs to be excited about hearing others’ stories play out. It isn’t a game I really want to play very often as I don’t want the novelty of the story book to wear off. Break it out every few months, though, and I think it will be great fun every time!
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Race for the Galaxy and the fun factor =-.
Several variants exist that allow to shorten the game. Lowering the totals of Destiny and Story points to gain a win is suggested. I’m told that it plays best with 3-4 people rather than the published 2-6. Also I can see how limiting the game to 1 status card only can make things simpler to deal with.
As you say, a once in a while game, like Talisman and Robo Rally used to be for us.
That game was an excellent discovery. My own adventure doesn’t really compete with mr. rockstar here. In truth I barely remember what happened except that I was swallowed by a giant fish and later sent to jail in the city of su-chow. (I doubt Chinese prisons evolved much; it was not a pleasant experience).
But the game itself was really fun. Since Chatty accumulated more than one status enabling him to change his decision after the story was told, I read a lot more than he did. The fact that another player reads your story makes the longer turns bareable… If you’re the one reading… If you’re just there waiting for your turn and do not partake in the crazy storytelling, it might a little dull.
We do use two house rules still, one of which specifically goes to one of PM’s issues:
* Play to 15 points instead of 20. Though Mike’s suggestion is pretty interesting too and I’d try it. In the old version, the scores were hidden because there were more ways to attack each other, but it might not be necessary anymore.
* Determined and Respected (both of which allow you to choose new results after award paragraphs are read) are one use only… otherwise, way too powerful.
Really glad you guys liked it. I played on Saturday, and even though I didn’t win, the wise and quick thinking Ma’ruf was wounded early in his career, losing his ability to do magic. He didn’t let this stop him, and instead, went on to become Vizier of a major city after freeing it from an old and terrible curse.
I love this game. We played it at DDXP and Trevor Kidd’s character kept getting robbed and stripped of his clothing. Like three times. It was awesome. 🙂
Oh, and I won. Also awesome.
.-= E. Foley – Geek’s Dream Girl´s last blog ..LiveBlogging: Dungeons & Dragons Experience 2010 (DDXP) =-.