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Gen Con 2016: Video Round-Up IV — Thornwatch overview and playthrough

W. Eric Martin
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Board Game Publisher: Lone Shark Games
We scheduled dozens of game overview demos in the BGG booth at Gen Con 2016, but I also scheduled some in other locations, including one with Lone Shark Games — and unbeknownst to me LSG had scheduled a full playthrough of Thornwatch with co-designers Mike Selinker, Chad Brown and Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik, from whom the game idea had originated.

Thus, we ended up recording a 56-minute video that starts with an overview of the game's origin and ongoing development process — ongoing in that the game design isn't final and no publication date has been announced as of yet — then we play through a scenario. For those who prefer words, let's start with the game description in the database, after which we can move to our poorly-lit, recorded-on-site video:

Quote:
Thornwatch is an adventure-based card game for 2-4 players and a Game Master. Players are Icons of the Thornwatch: scarred veterans of the Eyrewood who now live as ghosts that are summoned by the ancient ritual of tying a knot of thorns around a birch tree. The Icons summoned to a particular tree do not necessarily know each other or the true nature of the problem they've been called to resolve; all they know is that they've answered the call, and they're bound to see it through.

In game terms, through the play of Attack, Ability, Tactic, and Synergy cards, the Icons engage foes to resolve the "knot" that summoned them, with the knot giving players clues as to what their mission might be. Each player represents a character who fits in one of four classes — Guard, Blade, Sage, Greenheart — and each character has a deck that features moves and abilities specific to your character.

During the game, which lasts 2-4 hours depending on whether you're playing a single adventure or a campaign, you'll move characters on a map specific to the adventure and (most likely) encounter others that you must defeat in combat. When you suffer damage, you shuffle wound cards into your deck. Those cards stay in your hand once you draw them, and if you hold more wounds than your character's wound threshold, you die. You're a ghost, though, so death isn't permanent; instead you add a random Scar card to your deck, with each Scar having some negative effect on you.
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