The campaign board game is not a new concept. It is inspired by tabletop role-playing games and presents a unified storyline and character progression across multiple linked sessions. The popularity of this genre has increased with the success of games such as Pandemic: Legacy, GloomhavenAnd Kingdom of Death: Monster. Many of these behemoths have come to life thanks to crowdfunding success, which has only fueled the creative spark and endless hunger for this style of board game. I think we’ve finally reached a tipping point.
There are major obstacles when playing with these types of games. Primarily, they require multiple players to commit to a long journey. Some titles, like greek myth punk Aeon Trespass: Odyssey and fantasy anime adventure Middara, taking hundreds of hours to complete. I find this absurd. Signing up for a board game shouldn’t require an officiant and a license. To make matters worse, I’ve had instances where a regular group member couldn’t create a session. The energy and momentum behind the campaign began to fray and it all fell apart. Now the half-finished board game sits on my shelf, staring at me like a judgmental gargoyle.
Role players know this pain. But an important advantage of RPGs over campaign board games is that their length can be adjusted according to preference. In addition, editorial control over the story is in the hands of an individual and can be refined and finalized at short notice. In a board game you are simply stuck. It’s rigid and prescribed and you’re stuck the whole ride or you miss the final climax.
The sheer volume of these campaign board games is overwhelming. The wave of crowdfunding has only amplified such ambitious design work. There’s a new one every week, promising a breathtaking story, tons of components, and enough content to take you to your grave. I’ve become exhausted. Just as my group was starting to gain steam in our Middara campaign, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice arrived and everyone wanted to switch to that. Aside from my obvious emotional fatigue, chasing these games one by one has become extremely taxing financially. I believe this needs to change.
There is a suspicion of a new movement, an attempt to cure these ailments. Sworn under oath: Into the Deepwood is an exceptional boss battler in the tradition of Monster Hunter And Kingdom of Death: Monster. Oath taken is the first title I’ve come across that made a serious effort to present a flexible campaign system that could adapt to the needs of the players.
In this game, each chapter of the campaign consists of a story section where you can choose your own adventure, followed by a boss battle skirmish on a large board. There’s a strong sense of world-building as you progress and explore the rich environment, but each chapter features a self-contained story and confrontation. It fully supports adding characters for a single session. You grab one of the available options and quickly get them to the right threshold for the adventure. This means you can just browse and play any chapter Oath taken as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It also means players can get in and out as the campaign progresses. This degree of design maturity results in an unusual amount of goodwill, as it’s more likely that a combination of players will be able to play the entire massive box to completion. The approach here manages the best of both worlds, offering flexibility and informal involvement while also allowing for commitment. Both methods are maintained equally and can coexist. I want more of this.
Image: Garphil Games
Legacy of Yu approaches the problem in a completely different way. This new solitaire design has you rushing to build a network of channels to divert a swelling flood while fending off barbarian attacks. Besides the deprived setting of ancient China, the format is also unique in that it’s a non-linear campaign that’s refreshingly short.
Each session lasts just 40 minutes and is extremely quick to set up. The whole campaign can be completed in about 8-10 hours. It manages to remove the barriers of length and commitment common to these offerings, and even better, it draws you in by maintaining a sense of freshness through unlockable content. These extra elements, combined with the non-linear play, make for an extended arc that is satisfying and repeatable.
Image: Garphil Games
As a solitaire experience, it faces inherent hurdles of repetition and lethargy – which it adequately overcomes – but the approach here to smoothing out the wrinkles of the campaign format is definitely rejuvenating. This bite-sized approach offers meaningful play without wasting all the time.
We may be witnessing the beginning of a trend. The short format continues with the next Bows from Leder Games, publisher of the immensely popular Carrot. Bows is a space opera in which players must rebuild a dying empire. Each session lasts 60-90 minutes, allowing for relatively quick play – at least for this style of board game.
The campaign format is slowly stretching to just three sessions. Each individual game builds on the previous one as the group develops a shared emerging story. The most intriguing aspect of this approach is that players begin to field symmetrical factions, but evolve over time. Unique skills are gained that lead to unique playstyles through a special pause mechanism between sessions.
Image: Leder Games
This promises to provide a balanced structure that requires minimal commitment, combined with legitimate mechanical and narrative progression. While the general methodology is roughly parallel to Legacy of Yu in terms of respecting game time, it integrates this achievement into a multiplayer format that supports dynamic group play. This is exactly the configuration that will benefit the most from streamlining the campaign experience. The hope is pinned on a convincing design that is decidedly modern.
Settle into just one of the aging, hefty campaign games of the day and you’ll instantly recognize the huge benefits of approaching the genre with ingenuity and savvy. The natural strengths of board games are geared towards casually pulling out an enclosed experience on a whim. In my opinion, the movement in recent years toward expanded campaign settings is moving away from the benefits of the medium and the market is beginning to swell with noise. With any luck, these creative advancements will advance the genre and alleviate these particular ailments.