Monsters & Minions - Expansion for Roll Player Board Game | Adds End-Game Monsters, 5th Player, New Dice and 170+ Cards | Dice Drafting Family Game for 1-5 Players Ages 14+ | Thunderworks Games

Role Player is a incredibly fun game about making a D&D character (w/o the license of course). The game is neck deep in theme. You even get a character sheet....er.....board, a character class, race, alignment and even a background! Neat! At it's core, the game is about dice manipulation and placement to earn VPs and/or gain special abilities. Placing dice to increase your stats give you a one time special action, which depends upon which stat you increased (each stat 'power' is different), and each class has a list of prime stats that you get VPs for each stat you match. Role Player then throws in cards (in the form of armor, swords, magic items, etc) that give you even more abilities, ways to gain VPs and so forth! Added to that, your character gets a "background" which allows you to score even more VPs by placing colored dice on certain spaces on your character sheet....er......board! You can score even more points by manipulating your alignment through a cube that moves towards evil, good, law and chaos depending on your actions!! Furthermore, the color of your dice (and equipment cards are also color coded!) and your character class (each class is color coded) can add even more VPs if your match them at the end of the game! AAAHHHHH!!! So many choices, so much strategy!! But the game is simple and easy to teach! If you ever rolled up a character in a paper and pencil RPG, you will LOVE this game. If you like Euro/AmeriTHRASH hybrid board games, you will love this game. If you love games with LOTS of dice, you will love this game! GET IT!

When I saw the name of this game I was immediately turned off. The cover art didn't help it either. The description of the game didn't sound interesting: just make a character...the end--really??? It's also a dice placement puzzle game--and I hate puzzle games. So I passed on it over and over. Then it appeared in a number of top 10/20/X solo game videos I watched, so I became intrigued. I watched some video reviews of the game and the reviewers talked about how surprisingly fun the game is. The Monsters & Minions expansion was recommended also, so I decided to get that at the same time because I figured I would want to do more than just make a character--I would want to do some fighting also. I was hesitant about the fact that the expansion cost almost as much as the game. After having played the game without the expansion, then adding the expansion, I can say that the game by itself was amazing! It was easy to learn, with a simple game loop, but the variety and interaction between the cards, abilities based on choices you make, and the roll of the dice make this a simple game to learn with deep and complex strategy. I was almost overwhelmed by the complexity of the strategy at first and suffered from some analysis paralysis. The multitude of ways to win made me give up trying to min-max every turn and just go with my gut--that made it more fun. The expansion adds to the variety, adds more (but still simple) game mechanics, ways to win, and has the added bonus of letting your character actually do something (other than going shopping): fighting monsters! Was the base game worth its cost? YES! Was the expansion worth its cost? YES! Can you play this game solo and have fun? YES! (I played it "solo" by playing 2 characters using the 2-player game rules, but it also has actual solo play rules where you play 1 character and the dice simulates the actions of another player). I recommend you watch some video reviews that show how the game is played, before you decide whether to buy it or not.

This is a great game whose simple mechanics hide a cascade of strategic decisions that you will find yourself struggling to make, just to eek out one more Reputation Star. From the random luck of a die-roll to the many manipulations you will perform to get everything just right, this game is brilliant. It takes up a bit more space on a table than I thought it would, but it is by no means a large game. Merely bucked my expectations. In spite of that, and all the dice involved, the game is clean and easy to set up and put away. The premise is a novel one: as players, you are literally creating a character for a table top RPG. The game presents you with a character archetype, including Race, Class, Alignment, and Backstory. Through the purchase of skills and equipment, and the clever manipulation of the dice you are presented with, your goal is to earn Reputation Stars by meeting the various requirements that are scattered across the Class, Alignment, and Backstory cards. In the end, whoever satisfies more of these goals and earns the most Reputation Stars wins. Obviously I can't do it justice here, but this is a great game. It has a Yahtzee type of feel to the pace, but with even more decisions to make and ways to bend the dice to your will. I've only played it with one other person, so I can't comment on 3 or 4 player games. Player interaction is minimal, but it is meaningful. You can directly ruin someone else's day, or you can be oblivious and let your opponent run rampant and embarrass you with their score. You can easily make the wrong decision with your dice; but when you finalize the placement of a crucial die you've spent a few turns manipulating and moving, it is satisfying. Highly recommended.

Roll Player may seem, at first blush, to be a game about creating a D&D-type character. But in reality it hides a brilliant combination of dice-drafting and card-drafting challenges. It's very easy learn, but challenging to play due to all the possible ways to score points, not to mention the random rolls of those pesky dice! Players start with a character board, a class, a backstory, and an alignment. Each of these changes the possibilities for scoring points, which offers great replayability. During each round, players will roll a certain number of dice and take turn drafting them to play on their character board. The goal is to match the number of points mandated by the specific combination of character, class and backstory and to get as many dice that match your class color. Each die you place also allows you to take an action, such as swapping two dice, flipping a die to its opposite side, etc. You only get three of each manipulation per game, so there's strategy in choosing when to place a die in the row that will allow you to take that action. And all the while you are trying to put certain colors in certain places to score more points based on your backstory! Then each player has the option of buying armor, a weapon, traits or skills from the market. Each of these items lets a player take certain actions during the game or score additional points at the end. Skills require a player to adjust his/her alignment up or down, which changes how many points get scored at the end. So many decisions. Do I choose and lower number and get first crack at the items in the market? Do I choose a die that has a crappy number but matches my class color? Do I choose the highest number possible? And should I take that great skill even though it will force me to move my alignment to where I don't want it every time I use it? The artwork on this game is gorgeous and the cards are top quality. Where it falls down slightly is in the quality of the other components. Punching out the die spaces on the player board has a tendency to rip the backside, no matter how carefully you do it. So the game looks a bit beaten up out of the box. But... the rules are really well written and the solo mode is actually pretty playable, if not as challenging (or frustrating!) as playing with other people. So I think this will be on the top of my game pile for awhile.

As someone who really enjoys puzzle games like Sagrada, I found this a really nice new game in that genre. Like Sagrada, you're drafting dice and playing them into different positions with specific rules. Unlike Sagrada, however, each row you're placing dice into has it's own powers that activate. So, it's like Sagrada but getting powers every single turn. Each experience is highly modular, getting different goals every game. And, unlike a game like Sagrada, where halfway through you can find yourself on the short end of the stick, Roll Player's market deck has some really nice items that can turn your misfortune into a little luck. It definitely has blue shell vibes. I sat on getting this game for about a year, especially seeing it at so many cons. I'm really happy I finally got it, and if you're a Sagrada and D&D fan, this might be for you.

Premise: You're creating a roleplaying character that must stand the test of time (and the brutal whims of your future game master). You roll dice to try to optimize your character's stats and gear to match your character's best potential. Your class (fighter, rogue, druid, paladin, etc.), background, alignment, and gear are scored based on a rating on how well you matched your dice sets to be optimal. Match them well, and you score points to win. There's lots fun ways you can manipulate the dice on each turn, depending on which ability you place your chosen die into. Loads of fun, easy premise to grasp (literally anyone who's played an RPG of any kind, regular or video game). Does take slightly longer than advertised on the box, but it's a great time and rarely seems to drag even as other players are taking their turn.

This game was already a favorite of my gaming group. This expansion makes an already awesome game even better. I can honestly say that this expansion will almost always be used whenever I play from now on. (About the only reason it wouldn't be that I can think of, is those times when we have time for a regular game of Role Player, but don't necessarily have time for the expanded game. (It does definitely increase play time when playing with the expansion. I would say on average it adds between 25% and 50% to total play time, but doubling normal game length is not unheard of, so adding the expansion does definitely require a willingness to invest additional time playing. But it is SO worth it when you have the time. My play group is still working on adjusting play styles to the altered dynamics of the game, so our strategies are still evolving--and possibly as we develop improved strategies for playing with the expansion, the increased play time may not be as great. One player is ever trying to see if the can perfect a "ignore the 'distraction' of the Monster and its Minions and concentrate on winning the original way" strategy. Even they are happy with the new game components added in the expansion that don't involve the Monster and Minions--specifically, the additional races, the boost dice, new classes, market cards, etc. that still make the expansion a good deal even if you're ignoring hunting minions and preparing for the final fight against the monster. My entire play group gives this expansion their Stamp of Approval. Keep up the great work Thunderworks!

When I head about this game, I had to give it a try. Anybody who has played any RPGs knows about the character creation process, this game actually makes a game out of the character creation process! In this game you are competing for rolled dice to produce a better character than your opponents. Depending on which stat (typical RPG stats like strength, dexterity, etc) gives you an action you can perform when you place a die on that stat, like being able to change the face of a die, or exchange two dice. For each character class you have certain target scores that you are trying to achieve to maximize your score. In addition to placing dice on the stats you also earn gold that you can use to buy equipment like weapons and armor that will also contribute to your final score. Once everybody has filled in all their stats with dice (18 dice total) you add up your scores. Your score is based upon if you hit your target score for each stat, how well you got your alignment close to the target alignment, placing certain colored dice in certain spaces to match your backstory, and whether you were able to collect sets of gear. The player who scores the highest wins. Who would have thought somebody would make a game out of character creation, but here they did it, and I found the game an enjoyable experience.