The Red Dragon Inn

Reviewed By: Pugilist, PerAnon, Rekkin

Game Name: The Red Dragon Inn
Publisher: Slugfest Games
Game Type: Card
Number of Players: 2 - 4
Solo Play Ability: None
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Ages: 10
Game Cost: $34.95

Game Score: 90.6% / 100%

We got our hands on the long anticipated game, The Red Dragon Inn this Origins. We'd first heard about the game way back in 2005. This should give you an idea as to why their game breaks the 90% barrier. To put it succinctly, we've never discovered a rules discrepancy in a Slugfest game. not only are their games irreverent and a blast to play, the Slugfest crew must be as scheming and devious as we are because every time we want to do something sneaky, underhanded, or downright despicable, we find the rules not only allow it, but encourage it.

You shouldn't get the Impression that there's a slipshod, anything goes quality. Rather there's a very structured, anything goes quality to their games. Do you want to be the schemer or the brute or a combination of all of that? Great - have at it and watch for the bastard character speaking sweet lies into the ears of others while he (not naming any names PerAnon, but you know who you are) slips a knife between your ribs.

But how does all this relate to The Red Dragon Inn? Directly.

The premise of The Red Dragon in is this: You and your brave band of adventures have defeated foe and saved the day and have returned to town with your well-gotten gain. You've stopped in at the The Red Dragon Inn for a quiet evening of fellowship and reminiscing that consists mostly of scheming to steel the treasure of your former friends. Well, former may be too strong a word. Then again, friends is probably not even in the same lexicon so we'll let the phrase stand.

To start the game each player will choose a character deck. These are:

Deidre the Priestess
Fiona the Volatile
Zot the Wizard, along with Pooky the familiar
Gerki the Sneak

Each character deck is themed for a style of play and while you can choose your deck, it's a lot more fun to have them selected at random. Well, more uncomfortable for some people and really, causing discomfort to your opponent is fun, right? It can't just be our deep seated psychological issues, though we're certain they're a factor.

Along with your character deck you'll have a play mat that keeps everything organized. The play mat has a spot for your character deck, deck discard pile, and drink pile. Huh? Drink Pile? Yeah, you see, there are three ways you can use to force people out of the game. During the course of play you can reduce their fortitude (health), increase their alcohol content, or relieve them of the burden of their gold.

Fortitude starts at 20 and Alcohol content start at 0. During the course of the game your other player's actions and your own drink cards will affect either you Fortitude or your Alcohol Content or, in those unlucky occasions, both. If your Fortitude and Alcohol content ever are the same number, you're out. If you loose all of your gold, you're out. If you get up from the table and trust your opponents to be honourable, well, you're always surprised by the bad things in the world, aren't you?

But what about the gold? How does that come into play? Excellent question! As stated previously, everyone begins with 10 gold. Cards will be revealed that encourage you to gamble (where cheating is encouraged, as long as you have the cheating card), that instruct you to give gold away (the heresy of it!), or document the thievery and underhandedness of other players at the expense of your own riches. It takes a special kind of ingrate to win through gold depletion and, sadly, I'm not there yet.

Now we've got an idea of how things start, who the characters are, and you've got to be wondering how to actually play this game. In a coincidence of cosmic proportions, we're here to tell you that. No, no, don't bow, send cash instead.

After you determine who will go first you'll run through the turn. Since the turn sequence is printed on your play mat, it's very difficult, but not impossible, we're told, to screw it up. The turn sequence is as follows:

Discard and draw cards
1. In this phase you get to empty your hand of those cards you've decided will not be of use and fill your hand with brand new cards. You're hand can't exceed seven (7) so it's a matter of planning as to what cards you discard and what cards you keep.
Action
1. The action phase allows you to Initiate a single action. since all of the action cards have "ACTION" printed on them, they are easy to identify.
2. Gambling cards may be played at this time and there's a subset of rules for gambling
Buy a Drink
1. You're all friends and you all want the spoils of adventuring, so you buy your friends a drink, in hopes they'll lose sight of their gold
Take a Drink
1. If you have a drink card on your mat, you revel it and follow the directions. If you don't, through, no doubt, the oversight of your friends who are so far into their cups as to be unable to make coherent decisions else why would they not buy you a drink, you move your Alcohol Content down one.

Drink cards come in different strength, most bad, some benign, and the very rare actually help you. watch out for the Elven Ale with a chaser, though, especially when it's followed by Dragon Ale. It's a killer combo, as Dierdre found out.

Although Action cards can only be played during your action phase and Gambling cards may only be played during your action or in response to a gambling session starting, there are Sometimes cards, which can be played when the conditions detailed on the card are met, and Anytime cards which can be played, well, anytime.

What happens next is an interplay of attacks, sneaks, and subterfuge that has you looking over your shoulder and wonder how in the hell that knife got there. This is a game that is entertaining with two (2) players, fun with three (2) players, and a bloody riot with four (4). It's a game that gamers will absolutely love, that zealots will condemn, and that people who stop at Monopoly will never truly understand.

The play style is fast and funny and the ability to twitch the nose of your opponents and to snatch victory from more deserving people (again, Rekkin and PerAnon, you know who I mean) makes this game a great addition to the Slugfest line. We loved the irreverent style and the focus on playability. Certainly there's strategy involved, because each character has a different strength and play focus and you have to be aware of it and pay attention, and you've got to know when a Sometimes card will be wasted and on whom, and, most importantly of all, you're supposed to let the old man win.

Sniff, sniff.

Strategy take a lot of forms. Getting Deidre to sample the grape is much easier than trying to poison her, for example, and you can waste a lot of time letting her burn cards while you get set upon from others. Knocking out a player when you're almost out of gold so you can divvy it up between the inn, and the remainder of the players can be fun for all involved; well, except for the losing player, of course.

Oh, and watch out for Pooky, he's a bloody bastard.