Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan Gives Gloomhaven a Competitive Rivalry

The RPG-in-a-box board game has grown into a full-fledged genre in recent years. Successful titles such as Darknesshaven, Descent: Legends of Darkness, And Kinfire Chronicles: The Fall of Night Try to recreate the Dungeons & Dragons experience without the need for a Dungeon Master or any other preparation. Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan is the new kid on the block, fighting tooth and nail to carve out some space in a somewhat crowded environment. On the surface, it is another heavily story-driven cooperative game that alternates between storylines and battle scenes. However, it has a secret weapon up its sleeve, as its core framework is based on one of the best board game combat systems ever designed.

Designer Gordon Calleja brought Revenge at the table in 2018. This little-known fighting game allows players to recreate revenge action movies like Oldie And Kill Bill. The magic of that game is centered around the dice-based action system. Instead of spending action points during your turn, you roll a small handful of dice that determine what actions you can perform. The mechanics have been ported almost entirely over to Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaanas Calleja worked with David Chircop to create this epic work. The result is a fast and fluid system where you can use a movement symbol to jump into a nearby space, then use a dagger to slice a villain, and an arrow to hit the thief at the end of the alley. There’s a sense of freedom and creativity that underpins the experience.

What’s particularly brilliant is how these results are leveraged for big swinging turns. Several character abilities provide recipes that can be activated. For example, the mercenary can convert a focus and movement result into an attack, allowing them to rush forward and attack. Some of these powers will simply convert dice values ​​or add extra results to your pool, which can then be spent to activate other abilities and increase their severity. Each character gains new abilities over time, resulting in dynamic and wild builds towards the end of the campaign. This creates a very unique combination of carefully puzzling over dice pool results to pull off action combos that unleash dramatic bursts of power. It’s a visceral thing in practice, only hampered by the somewhat lackluster pace at which new abilities are acquired over the 30 hours of campaign play.

The most surprising aspect is the quality of the storytelling. Set in the predetermined Fateforge RPG Studio Agate’s setting, the prescribed story sees the players venturing out from their home forest to search for a missing person in a large foreign city. There are some really well-written twists here, including the core premise of the opposing ruler being benevolent and beloved by his people. The accompanying digital app (for both PC and mobile platforms) delivers the entire story, handling layers of branching decisions that swing in different directions based on the group and their agency in the world. It’s a fascinating twist on the app-based formula, something that’s been common in board games for almost a decade. But instead of using the app to roll dice and do math, here it helps deliver large chunks of storyline – something that can be cumbersome at best when playing a physical board game. It’s a feature that hasn’t been fully exploited in previous app-driven games, and this looks to be the first implementation to really enjoy the benefit of keeping information digitally and out of the players’ sight.

Throughout the X-game campaign, the moment-to-moment action alternates between narrative passages and battle scenes. The latter make up the bulk of the playing time, each lasting around 40-60 minutes. This pace is great, allowing you to play for short sessions if desired. The speed and flow of the dice system fits the story pace well, making for a lively game that never drags. Most scenarios are also very interesting and offer unexpected developments. There are a number of different encounter structures and a meaningful expression of creativity. Each scenario is exciting with external pressure in the form of a timer. Enemies block your path and pose obstacles that must be thwarted. This forces you to take risks, as you have to pick up the pace to achieve the goals in the allotted number of turns.

There are many flaws inherent in this style of play and Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan manages to minimize its bulk. Bookkeeping, often a chore, is nominal. Storage between sessions is easy because characters are kept in their own tuckboxes and everything else can be easily stored. Setting up each battle takes some effort, but it’s much faster than both Darknesshaven or Descent: Legends of Darkness. All of these quality of life achievements unfortunately make the game’s few flaws stand out. These include a lack of voice acting and a tendency to have the same players show up to play the game week after week. You can add new players mid-campaign, but this must be done between acts three. Publisher Mighty Boards promises a single session battle mode, but it has yet to be released. Overall, these are minor complaints that don’t significantly detract from the game’s overall performance.

Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan isn’t just another RPG-in-a-box. It’s a standout title that deserves to be recognized as one of the best in the genre. With a slick app, strong writing, and an electric combat system, this is a great tabletop experience that begs for deep exploration.

Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan is currently available for pre-order. The deluxe edition is running €119while the standard edition of the game is also available for $89. The game was reviewed using a copy provided by Mighty Boards. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships, other than with Mighty Boards. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You may additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.