Vaesen Starter Set Review

Today I have something a little different for you guys. The people over at Free League Publishing sent me a copy of the new Starter Set for Vaesen, a tabletop game to check out, and after getting to sift through what is a relatively large set, I have to say, it is pretty impressive. For around $35 U.S. Dollars you get

• Condensed rules for action skill tests, combat, damage, and fear.
• The complete introductory mystery The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz, letting the players explore the headquarters of the Society itself.
• Codex Occultum, the Society’s old journal of vaesen to be used as a resource for the players.
• Five pre-generated and illustrated player characters.
• A large full-color map with the Mythic North on one side and the town of Upsala on the other.
• A map of Castle Gyllencreutz.
• Three handout sheets.
• Five rules reference cards.
• Ten initiative cards.
• Ten engraved custom dice for the game.

Now I know what you are wondering: will this allow you to play the game? Well, I was sent a PDF of this, and with that, I was able to toss together a quick round with the people I live with. We are all Dungeons and Dragons 5E players. So when they say starter set, they do mean starter set.

The real question you may have is, is it worth playing? Well, I won’t spoil the in-game story for you as The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz is a tale full of fantastic beasts, plot twists, and intrigue.

This brings us to an even more important question: how do you play? Well, many tabletop gamers get started on a game like D&D that focuses on a D20 system, and while there are other dice involved, most of the time you are rolling a 20-sided die. Vaesen, however, uses a D6, and in this, if you roll a 6, your roll succeeds, and if you do not, it fails. Now you can choose to take on a condition and do what’s called “push” your roll. Doing this allows you to keep any 6 you have rolled and reroll the rest of your dice in an attempt to succeed at the task at hand. You, however, must decide, it is really so important to risk the condition you will now be saddled with until you can be healed?

Now, obviously,attempting to teach you to play the game goes well beyond the scope of this post, but I do want to give you some idea of what I am about to recommend you buy. The combat takes a similar approach, with skills and magic taking a back seat to dodging and parrying as you fight anything from a random guy in a castle to ghosts and fairies. Unlike most tabletop games, you won’t always defeat them by normal means. This is a more dark gothic adventure, and you may find yourself needing something far more sinister to get the job done.

So please, if you are a fan of tabletop games, Vaesen welcomes you to the mythic north, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

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