The King Is Dead Play

#1

Our usual group got together last night and, not feeling the heaviness that is our Blades campaign, pulled out my still in shrink copy of The King Is Dead.

This is the $45 copy, so it included everything except a deck of cards. I had been smart, and stashed a standard deck in the box as soon as I got it. Hooray for past me.

This game was wonderful. The intrigue and muster cards put something right in front of us we could use; the lands, units, and troops on the table flavored every interaction and triggered imagination. These bits made it feel like we were overseeing military campaigns, while having no system relevance at all!

Marvelously done. This game has come a long ways from when we first playtested it years ago, and the bits – while initially somewhat confusing – really helped.

9 Likes
#2

This is really great to hear.

I played the early Patreon draft of the game several times and really enjoyed the concept, but it never quite came together. We had various difficulties each time.

I’d be curious to discuss the changes to the game as it went through those iterations (although the odds of someone here being familiar with them are low!).

1 Like
#3

I’ve played some of them; some early versions, a version handed out by Vincent at Dreamation.

So … that’s one or two versions, at least.

2 Likes
#4

We had a lot of fun with it last week. I think the stuff we put on the table for the map wasn’t stuff we used too much of. It was a little hard to see the places with the people placed on there.

2 Likes
#5

I had a really fantastic game of this at BigBadCon last weekend… Sebastian Baker was one of the players (he was Dillestone, I Oake… He called me out in a Heated Argument and I subsequently led a War on him in the penultimate Game, it was awesome).

It was so good that I was inspired to put together a Tabletop Simulator mod of the game, using a variety of open-source assets from other parts of TTS (I had to do something while I waited for my box to arrive). It’s basically not much more than some chess pieces and little wooden tower tokens over a map, but it also has dynamic counters the audience can tick for the games that require a tracked score or rounds and player cards for Qualities and the like.

I gotta find some folks to run it with.

2 Likes
#6

Any tips for someone heading into a first game, in terms if introducing people to the idea and facilitating play? My copy has been calling to me from the shelf and I’m thinking about hosting a session next week.

4 Likes
#7

I ran The King Is Dead as part of a handful of related monarchy games all sharing the same world and while we enjoyed the game from the 2018 PDF download we also struggled with some of the rules with some of the Games. I definitely hope that more people play it!

2 Likes
#8

A few days later, the same set was used to play "General Martog is Dead. You are all Klingon warriors … "

3 Likes
#9

Those of you attending GauntletCon who are interested in this game, I am running a session of it on Saturday! Check it out here:

https://gauntlet-con.firebaseapp.com/event-detail/-Lnx_8pp6hj3DtOGR6JA

I will be using a Tabletop Simulator mod, for better deck shuffling and map/token integration.

2 Likes
#10

My beginner tips:

  • It’s fun to make a mess in this game: persue reckless action, change loyalty on a whim, just go for it.
  • Don’t feel pressure to improvise a ton of dialogue. Letting the prompts guide the scene keeps things tighter and more interesting.
  • Don’t have every player in every scene: you’re not leaving someone out, you’re letting them be the audience.
  • Cut a game sooner rather than later.
  • Know which cards are useful (high cards and Jacks) but don’t obsess over it.
  • Reincorporate themes and concepts the other players introduced whenever possible.
6 Likes
#11

Is that mod on TTS? I looked but couldn’t find one.

1 Like
#12

Sorry, that was because I hadn’t published it yet!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1892070187

Note: there are open-source resources and assets to duplicate the majority of material in the boxed set, just hover your mouse over a playing piece to see the flavor text! But, the mod is missing the manual (necessary to play) and Intrigue & Muster decks for the players (supplemental material). I might fix the latter, I don’t plan on providing the former.

1 Like