I bought this game... and it is fine, weren`t for a "tiny" detail... IT IS HARD! I played it solo, and it is basically impossibile with doom token rules to beat it (just 2 cards to get a doom token!). We tried 4 players and it took for us 3 HOURS to see a couple of heroes advance one level. Is there some strategy, or did we miss something? The game looks ok, but next time I would have it with the shorter version (not 4 players 3 xp to level, but the 5 player thing - 2xp (Yes I know that it is like cheating... but it really takes AGES!). Also, rules about being knocked out are pretty frustrating, when you have to lose at least 1 ally and one item (I will use next time the soft knockout... in this case, do I have to lose gold?).

Oh one more question...

If, say, I have a hero card that tells me I can spend 1 wound to inflict PLUS ONE damage, can lose plus than one life on the same attack to raise my bonus?

Similarly, what happens with allys with this kind of powers? If a power says, you can exhaust 1 to get a bonus, can I encrease the bonus just getting more exhausting tokens?

Thank you

I've never played with the doom counter rules but I agree the knockouts can be frustrating. There are green level monsters with 3 or 4 damage sometimes which can make it rather easy to die.

We modify the rules so that you don't lose experience counters when you're knocked out. Also we draw 2 market cards at a time. It makes things go more smoothly.

As for your question about taking wounds the way the card is phrased will indicate how many times you can do it.

PadmeSkywalker said:

I didn't realise you do lose EXP counters when your knocked out, I have never played this way, can you tell me where in the rules it states this so I can check please.

Also to help the game move a bit quicker and don't look at it as cheating, if all players start with the same benefits then no one is cheating, you could give each player a item at the start of the game or two and you could give each a exp counter of the players choice. I have seen on the forum pages before, players taking their movement while the last player is performing their event, encounter, challenge to help speed the game along. The only other thing to do is play earlier in the day and order plenty of refreshments

Yes you can stack powers within the described limit (see FAQ): i guess the key wording would be something like "for every wound/exhaust you take you do X."

An example is Battlemage Jaes. You can stack his power to produce impressive (maybe broken) results.

To answer the question regarding whether you lose experience tokens or not: as far as I know, you NEVER lose an experience token. It's taboo in Runebound. There are abilities that makes you lose adventure jewels, but not experience tokens (especially in a knockout situation).

[quote]An example is Battlemage Jaes. You can stack his power to produce impressive (maybe broken) results.[/quote]

I thought we can't stack his powers, that his ability is just usable for each magic attack one time, not many times in one attack.

Certainly softer knockouts and lower XP to level will help speed things up.  I also would recommend lowering the cost of healing...for example 1 gold heals 2 heart or all fatigue. 

Still, it would be nice to know how many times you were getting knocked out.  Typically a character will get knocked out 0-3 times in a game. If you were getting knocked out more than 3 times, then yes, you may be doing something wrong (rules or strategywise).

This variant doesn't directly speed up the game, *but* it gets you treasure quicker. Remember the days of D&D when monsters had treasure, not just gold? (:

boardgamegeek.com/thread/298681

it's rare that i get knocked out. maybe adjust your strategy, or go over combat rules again. most green encounters don't do damage on 2 of the 3 die rolls. maybe try to pick characters with high range attack for now, or at the very beginning try getting allies as shields against attacks.

Ruvion said:

One of the printings of the rules says you lose experience counters, but the FAQ clears it up and says it is a typo.

Here is the section from the FAQ:

Sorry, that is really hard to read.  I can't figure out how to change it.

Forget the optional doom track rules, they suck eggs.

I'm glad to know that throwing away experience counters was a typo because it was a pretty brutal rule.

One thing that makes the gam easier is having the class decks. There are some good talents that you can start with that can help you survive early in the game.

I would disagree with class deck making the adventure easier for the heroes. If you are only using the talents then yeah sure it gets easier. With the enemy cards slowing your progress down or knocking you out, things don't get easier with class cards, but more conflict ladden: it's the game I prefer from time to time.

Snake Plissken said:

Yeah. I was glad when that errata came out. It is difficult enough trying to get to and defeat enough green encounters to get a level let alone losing it if you get knocked out.

 I remember the first time we played we were rolling only 1 dice for combat, we couldn't do anything!!!