Vengeance: Roll & Fight is live (Roll with the punches)
Update: Vengeance: Roll & Fight Episode 1 and Vengeance: Roll & Write Episode 2 have launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 20 days. You may back Episode 1 only, or both Episodes. You may also order the base game together with Episode 1 or with Episodes 1 and 2.
Our preview post below was published on May 4.
Vengeance: Roll & Fight Episode 1 and Vengeance: Roll & Write Episode 2 are two standalone 1-4 players real time roll 'n' write games set in the universe of the dice rolling and fighting game Vengeance. Having been beaten up and bullied by a gang, your hero returns to take revenge: s/he will infiltrate the gang den and try to deal with the henchmen before facing the boss. The games will launch on Kickstarter on May 11.
To simulate the real time action of the multiplayer mode, in which players grab dice from the common dice pool as fast as they can, the solo mode works with a timer. On the easy level, you have 45 seconds to roll up to 20 dice and try to match the dice sets required by your hero abilities.
On your hero board, 4 abilities are available to activate with dice: Dash (requires two of the same symbols), Punch (requires 3 of the same symbols), Fire (requires 3 gun symbols), and Charge (requires 4 specific symbols).
Each round is split into three phases: planning, fighting, and montage. In the planning phase, you will roll your three preparation dice which may help you boost your rolls later on, or grant you XP.
The fighting phase is the main dice rolling phase: you set the timer and begin by rolling 4 dice from the central dice pool. If you get a set of two, you assign them to an ability and then take another two dice and continue rolling. If you make a set of three, you can take another three. If you roll a blood symbol, you can't use that die. Any results you don't like can be re-rolled. When the time's up, your dice results will determine the actions you can take in the following phase.
The montage phase takes place on the gang den board that shows where the bad guys are situated. You will move your hero meeple through the rooms and apply your punches and shots to take out the enemies that stand in your way. You also take damage from enemies that remain in your space or in adjacent rooms.
If your health ever deteriorates too much, you can restore it by 'taking a beating', but you must start the next round by rolling three instead of four dice and thus won't be able to activate your Charge ability. You have four rounds in total to meet your objectives. Episodes 1 and 2 come with different characters, villains and dens, and can also be combined.
I think what bugs me about this campaign is that I was all the stuff (ie contents of episode 1 and 2 but without shelling out twice. I think that a big chunk of the box cost is the dice and I don't need two sets of identical dice - unlikely I'll be playing with 8 people!
Timer. Blech. I'll never understand the need to make something artificially stressful with a time limit. I hate timed sections of videogames too.
You can restore your health by 'taking a beating'? That seems counter-intuitive to real life. 😀
Timer though, so I guess it's out for you, Athena. Oops, my sand timer fell over, and now it's not timing me. Oh, well... 🙂