OUR REVIEW

Stranded Without Snuff, In Dire Straits We Are!

Robinson Crusoe

Adventure on the Cursed Island

"I had fuel for a bonfire stored on top of Mauna Kika Nui, there!

If the Coast guard sees it burning, help will come running!"
Scrooge McDuck, "The Menehune Mystery"

Stranded on an unknown, mysterious island in the South Pacific – a classic start for an exciting adventure! What is one to do first? For sure, look for a fortified dwelling to be protected against wind, weather and other adversities such as wild animals or even cannibals! Then build a signal fire or something similar to be prepared for the – although unlikely – event of a ship passing by against all hope. Finally, one can also explore the island, perhaps to discover inhabited land from the other side or from an elevation. There is a volcano here, is there not?

"Robinson Crusoe", a cooperative adventure game from Poland, tries to offer all of these options. Players represent one of four characters: Carpenter, Cook, Explorer, Soldier (female or male, the only difference being their respective portrait image). Each character has specific abilities (so the Cook can heal wounds or make bearable the winter storms with brandy, the Explorer may raise the morals of the group, and so on), as well as an exclusive sketch for a piece of equipment from the beginning (e. g. the soldier may make a spear, the carpenter can set up a trap, etcetera). The aim of the game is to survive a certain number of rounds (that is, all of the characters; if any one dies, the whole group loses the game) and to fulfil different tasks during this time according to the chosen scenario.

Look at scenario No. 1, for example. According to the rulebook it is by the way the easiest adventure to play through. The characters have to build an enormous woodpile for a distress signal fire. In the third scenario they want to rescue another shipwrecked castaway or found a family in Scenario 6 and get them through the winter. Eventually a volcano will erupt or demons and cannibals go about their business on this cursed island. To start, choose one of the scenarios from the basic game (there are already more scenarios ready for download at either http://portalgames.pl/pl/robinson-crusoe/#Pliki [Polish], http://portalgames.pl/en/robinson/#Files [English] or at http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/121921/robinson-crusoe-adventure-on-the-cursed-island).

Laying out the game, although not unnecessarily complicated, is going to take some time: on the game board, which is quite prettily designed like a desk for sea charts, are to be placed numerous cards and markers (may depend on the number of players) on predefined spaces. In almost all scenarios of the basic game, put the first hexagonal island tile into the left half of the board, which represents a map rolled-up. This island tile is the base camp (starting point) of the Character group. Place the Character sheets, any other playing cards and markers, the stock pile of island tiles as well as the adventure dice and the rather clunky looking wooden playing pieces next to the game board, easily accessible for the players.

The rounds are divided into six phases: Morale (the First Player checks the determination of the group), Production (the group receives resources such as food or building material), Action (first the group discusses their plans for this phase and then set out, usually individually or in small groups, to take their actions), Weather (rain and snow may hurt the group), Night (mainly food is consumed and wounds are healed) and draw Event Cards (usually unpleasant things will happen such as storms or predators on the prowl, but also, very rarely, useful flotsam is washed upon the shore) for the next round (if there is going to be another one).

Most important and most interesting for everyone is the Action Phase. The group should decide together who will do what. The choices are: one (sometimes two) Threat Action(s), dangerous trials resulting from tasks in the Event Cards space; Hunting for food or fur and fight wild animals; Building of fortifications and objects (Invention Cards can under certain conditions be converted into useful items and may be used from the next round onwards);  Exploring the island (reveal new Island Tiles, possibly fulfil tasks like fighting wild animals or discover a treasure); Gathering Resources from island tiles already explored; “Arrange Camp“ and thereby strengthen the morale of the group (the morale drops whenever there is a food shortage or a character is wounded heavily); Rest and thereby heal wounds.

For most adventures there are specific inventions or items (printed on the respective scenario card) that are useful to the characters in this setting only. They, too, are to be constructed during the Action (Building) phase. There are different ways to cope with tasks of the Action phase. Most of these tasks may only be taken on by more than one adventurer. That is always the case, if they are to be tried farther away from the base camp tile of the group. Sometimes, Characters may employ Non-Player-Characters, either as a result of an Event or from discoveries in previous rounds (or as a simplified version of the game). So there is a Friday N-P-C as well as a dog N-P-C, but also anonymous helpers that appear and then quickly disappear again, before they could, for example, consume valuable food. Some actions, though, can be tackled by a character on his own. In most cases, then the result will be decided by rolling the dice. Combat on the other hand, usually against animal enemies, is not resolved by dice rolling, but by comparing combat strength tables. Characters get wounds more often than not that way, but usually they still may secure their prey (food, fur).

The game material, with the exception of the Character pawns (chunky wooden cylinders in hardly distinguishable colors), is designed with great effort and attention to detail. For example, all Scenario Sheets differ in color scheme and background design – some of them look like a map or chart, some like pages from a ship’s log, some even like a wooden board with scribbling – but they still sport the same, clear structure of the scenario (special rules, a short summary, etc.).

We were rather less satisfied with the rules of the game. Clumsily constructed, without any register or index, we found ourselves at a loss due to the partly inconsistent, peculiar, and probably faulty or perhaps not always complete translation. (We could review both the German and the English version; unfortunately, no one amongst us reads or understands Polish.) Although there are numerous examples and explanatory boxes in the text, they mainly deal with facts which would have needed no explanation, anyway. Other things remain obscure. E. g., the rules state that all players get back their Character pawns (N-P-Cs are either taken out of the game or are returned to their starting places) after the Action phase. According to the rules, though, during the Night phase some Characters seem to have not returned to the base camp tile (and therefore face the danger of starvation or receiving wounds for sleeping in the open). There are, however, no movement rules anywhere that would make plausible the Characters’ presence outside of their camp. If this presence should be caused by Event Cards, we did not discover them (although our Characters had been injured by effects of Event Cards and other cards more often than we thought their fair share). In each scenario tested, similar discrepancies have emerged. That significantly limited the desire to try again.

In addition, the balance between strategy and chance effect is hardly given. The effects of food shortages and bad weather are almost too realistic for an adventure game, which is supposedly meant for eight-year-olds.

To come to a conclusion: the game’s rules need a thorough revision and, probably, a better translation. Moreover, a starter scenario would be very desirable, since the first scenario "Shipwrecked" (in which heavy weather conditions may occur for the first time after nearly half of the adventure has been played; actually a treat from the author to beginners) is already hard to cope with without additional explanation or dramatic bending of the rules.

OUR REVIEW

PLAYED FOR YOU

Players: 1-4

Age: 8+

Time: 120+

Designer: Ignacy Trzewiczek

Artist: Piotr Słaby, Maciej Mutwil and Team

Price: ca. 34 Euro

Publisher: Portal 2012 / Pegasus 2013

Web: www.pegasus.de

Genre: Cooperative, adventure

Users: For experts

Version: en

Rules: cn de en fr it pl ru

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Very nicely designed components

Very realistic consequences of problems

Target group age 8 rather low

Introductory scenario would be helpful

Compares to:

Cooperative adventure games

Other editions:

Filosofia, uplay, Hobby World, Z-Man, MYBG

My rating: 3

Martina, Martin & Marcus:

The very nice basic idea of a cooperative adventure game is ruined by rather confusing and, unfortunately, obviously rather not consistent instructions. At the moment the only help would be house rules, but that cannot be the intention of a new game.

Chance (pink): 3

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 3

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0