Epic overland crawling
A Tale of Bravery is a 1-4 player cooperative adventure game set in a fantasy post-Arthurian Britain. You will be playing as a party of heroes trying to stop the spread of an ancient evil. It will launch on Kickstarter on November 5.
The game is played through a series of Quests organised in 4 Questbooks. Winning and losing is determined by the completion of the Quests: you win if you manage to complete the final Quest and lose otherwise. You also lose if any of the heroes dies or if they are required to spend money and don't have any left.
To play solo, you need to control all four characters. You set up their characteristics and skill sheets, assign equipment and spell cards, and take 20 pennies as the party's starting wealth. You follow the instructions of the first Questbook and only switch to another book when told so. If an NPC joins the party, their card will belong to one of the main characters and be controlled by them. When a fight takes place, you will have to set up the associated tactical map.
Each combat round consists of a Player phase and an Opponent phase. In the Player phase, each hero can perform one action and one movement. Actions may be attacks, spell casting, use of equipment or skill checks. Movement is performed by moving a hero on the map up to their move limit. Movement is blocked if a space is defined by a red or a black line. Retinue take their turns just like heroes do, and act before or after the hero they accompany. Opponents also act and move according to the instructions listed on their behaviour card.
Over the course of the game, heroes will gain experience points that will allow them to level up. When a skill check is performed, you will need to roll as many dice as the character's total skill (their ruling characteristic plus their skill level plus any modifiers). If they have gained any Bravery tokens, they can spend them to add successes to the result. Between Quests, heroes get the chance to take as many Upkeep actions as they can afford. They may recruit retinue, heal and replenish supplies, or trade for better equipment.
Each Quest takes about 1 hour to complete, and progress can be saved by taking notes on the campaign sheet. A free demo kit is available as a PnP on the company's website.