RPGnet : The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Introduction

SnarfQuest originally appeared in the Dragon magazine from 1983 to 1989. It featured the adventures of Snarf, a medieval everyman seeking his fortune to (hopefully) become the leader of his tribe. Written and illustrated by Larry Elmore, SnarfQuest returns bimonthly in Games Unplugged. In the SnarfQuest card game, you play Snarf -- or rather, your own Snarf everyman seeking fame and mis-fortune.

Components

The SnarfQuest card game features an unpainted Snarf miniature and a 100 card deck. The game is for 2-5 players, and takes about half an hour to play. The miniature is of Snarf in a proud barbarian pose and well-detailed. The cards are all in color, each with a shot from a frames in the comic. Though the art doesn't appear new, I **really** liked the additional color and shading. The cards also have a quote from the comic.

Rules summary

Players don't have a hand of cards. Rather, ten cards are laid out in a straight line, called the Storyline, next to the deck. The Storyline acts like the board in a boardgame. Each card slot is treated as a space. The miniature is place on one of these spaces by the dealer. All players share the miniature as their pawn ("Each person is making his own adventure for Snarf"). Play starts with the dealer's left.

During a player's turn, he adds up his current Action Points (2 APs plus any APs from his allies and treasure). An AP may be used to move the miniature a space towards the deck or away from it (no wraparound), or activate the card of the space the miniature occupies. Beneficial cards (eg. Allies, Treasures) are played on the current player. Unfavorable cards (eg. Monsters) are played on any player. Once a card is activated, it is removed from the Storyline. Allies and Treasure go to the player's Play Area, which may hold a number of Allies and/or Treasure equal to the number of players in the game (discard any of these cards you don't want to keep). Other cards typically go to the discard pile. Players are encouraged to create a story of their adventure as they activate cards.

After each action, the storyline is replenished. The current player slides card to fill the gaps left from removed cards (the miniature does not move), and turns over cards from the deck to replace them. If a monster card slides under poor Snarf, the current player suffers a Surprise Attack and the Monster attacks him!

The game ends when the deck is exhausted. (With fewer than five players, you start with a deck of 20 cards per person.) Whoever has the most Treasure Points (some Treasure are more valuable than others!) in his Play Area.

Neat stuff

Luck: Several cards require Luck to have their effect: Flip the top card of the deck, and if Snarf's ugly mug appears on the lower right corner, you have Luck! Luck offers players big payoffs (for example, if you're Lucky, the Flashlight Treasure will stave off a Dragon!) but comes at an opportunity cost. Do you keep the Magical Sword with a 3 Combat value (good against Orcs, but won't hold off the Dragon with its 8 Combat value) or the Flashlight?

The anticipatable Surprise Attack: Because you can see the cards in the Storyline, you actually know if a Monster card will Surprise Attack you. Thus, it's not always a no-brainer to pick up a Treasure or Ally card, since it may cause a Monster to attack you.

One pawn to screw them all: Since all players use the same pawn, you have a tradeoff of spending your APs for cards that benefit you, versus setting up the pawn so your opponent can't obtain beneficial cards.

Plenty of cards to screw your opponents: A good number of cards had effects that would "screw" over other players, or unexpectedly swipe a good card from the Storyline. Unlike some other "beer and pretzel" card games, whoever is in the lead can still be seet back by cards drawn from the deck. Yet unlike other "b&p" games, the endgame doesn't have a the problem of "dogpile on the leader".

Whoever said he'd rather have friends than money was poor: You can only have a number of Treasure and Ally cards no more than the number of players in the game. So as you're acquiring loot, you're ditching friends. Appropriate. (: Not surprisingly, Allies were a little more useful than Treasures, so if you ditch your Allies for loot, you become more vulnerable to Monsters! Many Allies and Treasure can be discarded for an effect, so discarding cards from your Play Area isn't as bad as it sounds.

No interrupts, no problems: Many cards have an effect when discarded, but you may only discard during your turn. You can't discard a card for its effect when it's targetted by another card. We didn't have any timing issues in the game.

Much like a certain collectable card game (: the whole of the individual mechanics and the card effects is greater than the sum of their parts. They work great together, and almost every mechanic and effect affected play (no "Discard this card to prevent an action that no one will perform during the game.").

Annoying stuff

Rulebook: The printed rulebook (actually a foldout) is from the previously released "collectable" version of the game. (Each player brought 20 cards for a common deck. Ugh.) Sections of the rules conflicted. (Specifically, the general rules say the Play Area may have a total number of Treasures and Allies not exceeding the number of players, while the individual Treasure card and Ally overviews say that the total number each of Treasures and Allies may not exceed the number of players). Just download the updated web version.

Monsters: In play, we noticed that the nastier monsters can wipe out all of the Treasures and Allies of a player. This didn't affect the play of the game, and players quickly recovered.

Conclusion

The SnarfQuest card game is a fun adventuring "beer and pretzels" card game. It's shorter (and cheaper!) than Talisman, and I enjoyed how the mechanics and cards interacted. Players unfamiliar with SnarfQuest will enjoy the adventuring, and longtime fans will appreciate how the game reflects the comic (with color!).

Snarf rides again!

SnarfQuest site and updated rules: http://www.larryelmore.com/SnarfQuest/AGSnarf.html