1/2/2024 0 Comments Gloomhaven jaws of the lion![]() Vermling standees, cards, and the initiative tokens. By the fourth scenario you will have seen the need for the secondary map (a small book that lets you add some real estate to the play area for certain scenarios) and other than some new enemies, shouldn’t be surprised by too much after that point. The first scenario is a straight up fight with nothing else to worry about, the next one introduces players to treasures, money, and upgrades. JotL does a good job of drip-feeding new rules to players and easing them into the game. ![]() Clockwise from the top: the map, cards and mini boxes for the Hatchet and Demolitionist, Scenario book, and player dial. The modifier deck helps mimic the roll of the 20-sided die often used in tabletop RPGs, but it is far more forgiving. These cards can range from simple +/- numbers to multipliers to flat misses. For every attack, a modifier card is flipped over, even for the enemy attacks. Often the top half is an action or attack, and the bottom is a movement or special action. Once cards are revealed, players pick the top half of one card and the bottom half of the other. Even though it is a cooperative game, players still aren’t allowed to explicitly state what cards or numbers they’re picking, but they can discuss strategy in broad strokes. Gameplay is the same as before: players will choose 2 cards, 1 of them acting as their initiative, with the lowest numbers acting first. I doubt that many Gloomhaven owners have played all of the 95 original scenarios. And by narrowing the game’s focus it feels tighter and more on point players don’t have as much to do or to choose from but this means they’re more likely to actually finish the 25 scenarios or check out the 4 characters. It might seem, with everything that has been removed, that it would feel like something is missing, but it doesn’t seem that way in my experience. JotL is an RPG-in-a-box, with everything 1-4 players would need to dive into the Gloomhaven universe. Some of the enemies have art that features otherworldly monstrosities or blood, but if you stick to the 14+ age suggestion you’ll be fine. As with Gloomhaven, the violence is just taking points of damage and adjusting a character’s hit point wheel, or adding damage tokens to an enemy card. Some scenarios will require the players to kill all the enemies, while others will ask for different win conditions. Players will square off against monsters, cultists, golems, demons, and other traditional role-playing baddies as they attempt to win each scenario. All this means it is easier to get to the table, with a smaller box and lower price point. ![]() JotL has 4 new characters to choose from (versus the original game’s 6) that can also be used in Gloomhaven scenarios there are far fewer scenarios, and instead of having to set up room tiles, the entire scenario in JotL is played in the scenario book. The big draw to this prequel is that the game has been streamlined to draw in a wider audience. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion ( JotL henceforth) is a standalone role-playing game set in the Gloomhaven universe, before the events of the first game.
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