Protect the fallen kingdom
Oltréé is a cooperative game of narrative adventure, resource management, and threat containment for 2 to 4 players, but it can be played solo by managing two characters. It is designed by Antoine Bauza, and set in the remnants of a Fantasy empire devastated by an ancient war. You play as Rangers protecting a fortress and its surrounding lands against a number of roaming threats. Oltréé is the rallying cry of your order. Pre-orders are already available in online stores.
To start the game, you must choose two characters. Each character has a different profession, a special ability, and is represented in both genders. You must also pick one of the six Chronicles, that is a narrative story that you will have to resolve, and an Assignment, that will specify two decks of Incidents you will draw from during the game, and a set of three objectives that, if fulfilled, will make the final trial of the Chronicle easier.
The game is played on a board featuring a central fortress, and eight peripheral regions. Each region offers you a benefit, and comes with a deck of Incidents you must resolve to secure them. The fortress holds a number of slots in which you will be able to place buildings. In each corner of the fortress you may erect a tower that will help secure the two adjacent regions. To fully secure a region, you must resolve all Incidents associated with it, and have built the tower watching over it. Regions may also become perilous if they hold four Incident cards. Overall, you have to manage five different sorts of resources, plus food (that may be consumed to re-roll skill check dice), Defense, and Prestige. If either your Defense or Prestige reaches 0, you lose the game.
At the beginning of each round, you roll the Adversity die. The Adversity die determines the movement of the Adversity tracker. It may remain in place, move forward one step, or move forward two steps. When it moves, it cycles through a track that goes through Chronicle, Incident, Problem, and Event. If it stops on Chronicle, you reveal and resolve the next Chronicle card. On Incident, you lose one Prestige for each Perilous region and add an Incident card to a randomly chosen region, unless is it Perilous or Secured. On Problem, you must add a Problem card to a region, that you will have to resolve if you are to benefit from this region's services. On Event, you draw an Event card and resolve it.
Then, your active character takes their turn by performing two actions. Actions can be taken to move to an adjacent region (the central fortress being adjacent to all), rest (recovering one health point and one food item), benefit from the region you stand in (gaining resources, defense, prestige, healing, or trading, depending on the region), build or repair a building if you can afford the cost (most buildings will grant your characters an additional die), build a tower, tackle a Problem or resolve an Incident in your current region. Tackling Problems or resolving Incidents often involves skill checks that require rolling dice to gather a number of success symbols. In case of Problems, you must successfully pass the test to succeed or remove the Problem, while the Incident always gets resolved, but a failure will bring unfortunate consequences. You may also spend 2 food items to get an additional action.
The game goes on until you reveal the last Chronicle card, in which case you immediately resolve it. If you fail to do so, you lose the game. If you win, your victory may be Major or Minor (with different narrative endings) depending on your deeds. In case of a Minor victory or a defeat, you are invited to replay the Chronicle to unlock the best ending.
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