Clans of Chayil offers RPGers much that is fresh

Yes there are many role playing games out there, so when a new one pops up the question must be; do we need it?

Well, when it has bipedal moose – the Ud'lan – the answer is a resounding yes.

It was a picture of an Ud'lan that caught my eye initially with Clans of Chayil, and that led to a request for a sneak peek of this one – soon to hit Kickstarter to raise funds to publish.

Recognizing previews are not full-blown looks – one should expect more in the finished book – at more than 150-pages this preview gave a pretty good look at what should be expected with Clans of Chayil.

Now initially the book suggests typical player character races – humans, elves, dwarves, halflings – but an experienced game master should expect at least one player to be begging – maybe to the point of bribing with Pocky sticks – to play an Ud'lan PC.

As the name implies this one is based around the ideas of clans, and their importance in the world. Many are detailed in the book, and they provide some definite insights into possible player development. Ties and responsibilities to one’s clan can really help a player flesh out who they are ‘in-game’ and what their motivations are.

The clan aspect leads to what designer Robert Porras sees as one of the more unique aspects of the game.

“One of the mechanics of the game is Essence. We don't have magic like magic users and mages. Every creature and every clan both good and evil have an essence. The essence of a creature gives them life,” he related via email. “In the clans of Chayil, there are two different realities. One is physical and the other is Essence. Your Essence is that which does not originate from the physical world. It is life and power. Essence is the purest form of existence, an ethereal force that does not originate from the physical world. It is the very breath of life and the wellspring of power that flows through all living things. Essence is not bound by matter or form; instead, it is a timeless energy that transcends the limitations of the material realm.

“In Chayil there is a good essence called the "Naofa Fiain" pronounced "Nafa Fane", which means "The Holy Wild".  The darkness has an essence as well called the "Dorca Anon" "Dark Soul" and both Essences run like lightning and a gentle wind through the world of Chayil. 

“So you have the physical world to deal with but at the very same time there is the world of Essence. For example a battle may be fought on the battlefield physically, while on the Essence level a battle will be fought to attack the mind, body and soul, all at the same time. It offers a deeper aspect to the world.

It’s a world-building, and character building mechanism different enough to be rather fresh.

Porras said being immersive was a goal.

“Clans of Chayil is more than just a game—it’s an immersive world designed to pull players into living, breathing stories,” he said via email. “Each scenario unfolds like a television episode, with drama, conflict, and unexpected twists that keep players on the edge of their seats. But the real magic lies in how it invites people to step into the spotlight. Players are encouraged to let their inner actor emerge, to not just play a character but to become one.

“It’s a rare opportunity to set aside the everyday weight of work, bills, and school, and enter a world where the impossible becomes possible—a world where ordinary people can rise up and become legends. In Clans of Chayil, every player’s journey is more than dice rolls and statistics; it’s a living story.

“The world challenges players to engage deeply across all four aspects of life: mental, social, physical, and spiritual. Each adventure weaves these elements together, offering moments of strategy, teamwork, endurance, and personal reflection. The result is not just a game session, but an experience that lingers. Adventures that they will talk about as though they were real.”

To create the world which creates the broad opportunities Porras wrote it takes time to create – years actually he noted.

“The idea for what would eventually become The World of Chayil  was first sparked more than 20 years ago, while I was working with a group of teenagers,” he said. “I wanted to create something that would capture their imagination and encourage them to engage with each other face-to-face, rather than disappearing into their social media.

“With 60 kids under my care, I began experimenting with a simple, homemade game. It blended the principles of role-playing games with hands-on, real-world problem solving. Some of the challenges weren’t just on paper—they took physical form as puzzles the players had to solve together. At times, each teenager fully embodied their character, stepping into the adventure as if the story were their own.

“For most of them, this was their very first exposure to the world of RPGs. The result was beyond anything I expected. The kids showed up week after week—sixty strong, gathered in a rented hall—ready to dive into this new world we had created together. The experiment was an overwhelming success.

“Years later, as I moved into retirement, the memory of those sessions still burned brightly. Along with a few close friends, I decided to take that early spark and shape it into something larger, something lasting: a fully realized game world others could explore and play for themselves.”

Perhaps the best aspect of Clans is that it avoids a world painted in blacks and whites, opting for a world where old RPG stereotypes don’t hold true – which opens new game experiences for players.

“One of the aspects I love most about writing Clans of Chayil is the living, breathing quality of its world. Creatures, characters, and entire races aren’t locked into rigid roles—they adapt, evolve, and surprise,” said Porras. “Take the orcs, for example. In most fantasy worlds, they’re painted as mindless brutes or villains. But in Chayil, the story is more complex. There exists a tribe of orcs who have broken away from their warmongering kin and chosen the path of peace, seeking alliance with the Chosen Ones.

“This is the kind of twist that reshapes how players view the world. What appears to be an enemy may, in fact, turn out to be an unexpected ally. The surface tells only part of the story, and not everything is as it seems.

“Walt Whitman once wrote: “Be curious, not judgmental.” That spirit runs deeply through the veins of this game. Adventurers in Chayil will find themselves in situations where a second look—and an open mind—may reveal hidden truths, unlikely friendships, and deeper meaning than they first imagined.”

For Porras Clans is supposed to be about an experience which is more memorable than most.

“On a social level, my vision for this game goes far beyond dice and character sheets. I want it to become a catalyst—something that draws people together in ways that are increasingly rare in our modern world,” he related. “Imagine a group of friends, or even total strangers, gathered around a table. Before long, the walls of unfamiliarity begin to crumble. Laughter fills the room, conversations spark, and bonds are formed through the simple act of shared adventure.

“At its core, this is what we are trying to achieve with Clans. The game will give the player permission to stretch themselves beyond the ordinary—to imagine, to take risks, and to explore new parts of who they are. What I saw with those teenagers is that when they stepped into a character, they weren't just pretending; they were unlocking a part of their creativity that everyday life often pushes aside. We are trying to awaken the imagination again for a larger audience.”

Now to be fair any RPG can be more encompassing depending on the players at the table.

For some that means going deep ‘in-character’ at the table, focusing entirely on the in-game persona.

Our group is more free-form, jumping from in-game to talk of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, or civic affairs, or a good book. The experience is more camaraderie than role-playing.

In Clans how the experience is ultimately as much in the hands of players as in the source material.

Overall Clans is just too intriguing – at least the preview taste – to not suggest – especially for experienced RPG players wanting something new.

Check it out at clansofchayil.com

 

A lot of game in a small wooden box

When a game arrives in a wooden box with labelling which reminds of something done by a wood-burning set – still very nice mind you – it intrigues before you even open it. There is a ‘vintage’ or ‘older’ feel to it, and for a game based on the First World War that is a good fit.

Inside the box – barely as there is a lot of stuff and it takes some careful placement to re-close this one – is a game which is a bit different. Behind the Trenches is touted as a resource management / deck builder, and of course at its core remains a war game. It is not a game trifecta one immediately thinks even exists – so points for a game approach which is a bit different than most.

Now as a preview copy this one was ‘home 3D printed’ or at least it appears that way,  so the finish might not be up to big company print standards, which in this case sort of works.

The entire ‘vibe’ of Behind the Trenches ‘feels’ a bit like something you might find in grandpa’s attic – a bit old school.

Now because you have a bit of a hybrid in terms of game mechanics here there is something of a learning curve – albeit no more than anticipated at first look.

And Behind the Trenches comes with a digital trainer that teaches players the rules and basic strategy. At this point any game that is offered up really needs to have a ‘how-to-play’ video online before the game hits the market. While experienced gamers are likely good at deciphering all but the most poorly written rulesets, watching someone well-versed in the game run through the rules is a benefit for many.

Now in Behind the Trenches you rely on a hand of cards with each country offering some unique options, that ultimately combine into a battle strategy.

The battle begins in earnest with the goal to push the front line into the opponent’s headquarters – you can think of it as a battleground tug of war.

Behind the Trenches plays two-to-four, but probably is at its best with two – it fits the theme best when you think about it.

The game’s greatest drawback might be that it can play a little long – although this one is likely to garner its greatest interest from staunch war gamers and war games tend to be rather immersive and as a result longer on the table.

In the end there is more game in the wooden box, although with a bit of a nostalgic look, which may, or may not appeal.

Check it out at behindthetrenches.com

A fresh look at Kobolds for RPG classic

In no way can I say I am a fan of D&D 5th edition. It is a homogenized creation to appease the legion of gamers who want to do it all, cast spells, carry the great sword, and do it regardless of race and its apparent limitations.

You can kit characters so they feel more like a group of clones rather than a diverse group coming together for adventure.

So when I get my hands on a supplement for D&D 5E, I am looking to see how it might wedge into an earlier incarnation of D&D when diversity and uniqueness reigned based on class and race.

That was why I was intrigued initially by The Kobolds of Frostwind Forest by Canadian Mark Charke, as it is written with 3rd edition in mind – a huge win for me.

Charke “has been writing since the early 90s. He has published over 70 works including 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Edition and Vampire the Masquerade manuals, several novels and a LARP card game,” noted his Kickstarter bio.

The writing pedigree suggests this one should be good, and that it offers up a rather different view of Kobolds was exciting.

Among the list of fairly standard RPG fantasy races Kobolds have typically been at the bottom of the list – a minor annoyance to a low level adventuring group perhaps, but from there they might be offered up as cannon fodder as a baddie escapes at some point, but otherwise you won’t see them offered up often by the Dungeon Master.

Of course one has to expect not every Kobold is an evil little coward with a pointy stick – or at least that is how Charke looks at the race.

Canadian creator 

In The Kobolds of Frostwind Forest Charke simply builds a broader vision of the race – one where the range of the good, the bad and the neutral of a more race than most associate with ‘mere Kobolds’.

Again I must turn to the Kickstarter campaign for this tome as it paints a fine picture of Charke’s effort.

“This is a story about the underdogs, the little race that has long served not as the villains but rather the pushed aside annoying minions of villains,” the campaign page details. “I suppose they haven't gotten that much better, but they are trying. In Frostwind Forest, the Kobolds have become something a little more, guided and influenced by forces beyond them and having a teacher to elevate them, they may actually become a threat in their own right. Protected by their resistance to cold, the Kobolds are hidden in the Frostwind Forest where their numbers and their might is growing. They aren't all good. Not even most of them are good. The important thing is that some of them are good and they are trying.”

Now simply slapping a more varied array of alignments on Kobolds would not in itself been worth a great deal. In an RPG alignment typically comes from how a player portrays a character through their actions anyway.

But ‘Frostwind’ goes further with a bit of everything to make Kobolds worth another look – “new spells, new races, new prestige classes, mutations, maggot therapy rules, yes you read that right and a story with many different personalities all around the forest region with their own motives and capabilities,” details the KS campaign.

There is world building here too, taking us inside this unique realm of Kobolds, with the forest being home to “three dragons, a dryad venerated by the kobolds, powerful treants, giants and even human explorers.”

There is just enough here to make one want to either roll up a Kobold from the ‘forest’ and take them adventuring, or as a GM send a party into the forest realm and have a party dealing with the mind twist that all Kobolds are not the same.

This is the kind of D&D supplement that truly enhances the game, without simply tossing all into a blender and pouring out glassfuls of ‘sameness’.

 

Going last typically a key

It’s always interesting when a game hits the table and you learn something new as a result.

HOD is one of those games.

A hod, according to an online dictionary is “a builder's V-shaped open trough on a pole, used for carrying bricks and other building materials,” something I didn’t know previously – which I suppose may allow me to know one additional clue on Jeopardy.

But back to the game. HOD is another among the many by designer David McCord, and publisher  at newventuregames.com – a combo which equates to a fine quality game.

This one is played on a 4x4-inch wooden peg board, and 64 coloured wooden pegs, all of which are very nice.

There are also a couple of dice that play a role in the set-up, so they are not influence play through random rolls once the play begins.

HOD is a peg game for two-to-four players – with our group’s experience leaning toward more interesting play with more involved.

The placement of a peg scores you points – multiples of the points on which it is placed, so 15 on the intersection of three and five.

Some holes will be blocked – that is why you roll dice so the board changes somewhat each game.

Now the game plays quick – yep another game that seems a fine ‘in the cabin for rainy day play’ option – but lacks the depth to become a regularly suggested game. That is a result to the last peg to be placed is generally going to be at the intersection of six and six, scoring 36 points which is a big swing.

Scores by the nature of HOD stay close and that 36 looms as the determining score rather often – meaning it’s positioning to get that final peg – which typically goes to the last player in rotation. In HOD going last tends to be a big benefit – so you need to play multiple games with each player going last then adding up overall scores to determine the winner – at least we feel that way.

Nice components with short term interest but not the longer term appeal of some other McCord creations.

 

Fun foray in sports by rolling dice

Roll and write games really run the gambit from superficial to highly detailed, meaning they can fill a pretty wide range of table needs.

Diceathlon is one of those ‘middle-of-the-road’ offerings – not particularly deep -- but more fun than was expected.

Like many games within the genre of R’n’W, Diceathlon by designer Chris Heaney and released in 2022, it plays solo-to-unlimited, although it plays best at three-to-five, maybe six. The reason to hold the number lower is that you roll dice equal to the number of players plus one, then you pick one dice per player, the roller getting the extra die at end of round.

You write the number on your individual score sheet in one of the six sports. Each sport has their own specific goals to how the player can win the medal at the end of the game.

For a little change of pace the same designer came out with Winter Diceathlon in 2023, the same general idea except placing die in one of five winter sports. each with its own specific goals.

I personally like this one in part – a large part actually – because of the sport theme.

Admittedly it’s a sort of ‘pasted on’ element of the game, but they make ‘sense’ on a sport-by-sport basis – golf trying to get the lowest score, hurdles needing a roll higher then three to clear each hurdle, etc.

It is also is thematically when players have access to three ‘coaches’ which allow you to influence one selected die each game. It’s a nice game element to mitigate some bad selections which will inevitably occur in a game of Diceathlon – or its sister.

Both of these are available as print ‘n play games at www.pnparcade.com, and if you like tossing some dice, and making some choices which are simple, but important to a win, it’s worth checking them out.

 

Warcrow book exudes quality

If you were to poll the members of ‘The Meeple Guild’ you would find miniature gaming would rate at or very near the top in terms of favourite category of game.

Over the years we have played and reviewed many – Warmachine, MERCs, Blackwater Gulch, Guildball and others.

Among the best are the games which survive long term – it shows players like the game and the company is dedicated to new offerings to hold interest.

One company which has done that well is Infinity.

Infinity has a pretty basic but effective philosophy in terms on mini gaming.

It starts with absolutely wonderful minis throughout what is now a rather extensive range from the company which has been around for a quarter of a century – quality really is synonymous with longevity in mini gaming.

The other aspect that has made Infinity a success is the ability to offer new things which garners attention.

In 2024 that included the release of the mini skirmish game Warcrow, which we look at today – or at least its core rulebook as an intro to the game.

So a quick explanation on the game from the publisher; “Warcrow is a miniatures game set in the fantastical world of Lindwurm. In this setting you control a small military force made up of warriors, creatures and wizards, who fight skirmishes pursuing the interests of your faction.

“Before starting the game, you must select a scenario to play. Each of the Warcrow scenarios describes the conditions and requirements necessary to achieve victory. Once you have chosen the scenario, prepare the gaming table and deploy the indicated terrain elements: hedges, forests, buildings ... Some of them will be very favourable to your faction. Once you have understood all the details of the scenario, choose your faction and create the company list that best suits your strategy and victory plans. The game begins with the deployment of the troops, following the instructions stipulated in the scenario rules.

“Warcrow scenarios have a variable length of game rounds, which continue until the end-of-game conditions are met. Each round, you and your opponent will take alternating turns activating your units. You can move them around the battlefield, attack your opponent, cast powerful spells ... until you achieve the objectives of the scenario. To win, you must have accumulated more Victory Points (VP) than your opponent at the end of the game.”

Now since the release of the core book there have been some lavish add-ons, scenarios which come with two starter factions etc. that add greatly to Warcrow, but more on those in a future review.

As for the core book, it could be described simply with a single word – that word being Wow!

The book checks in at a heft 365 glossy pages, with full colour throughout.

It starts with a stunning cover which makes it look like a coffee table book – and for a mini gamer it really is that nice.

The book is really two in one.

In part it’s a storybook. There is lots of lore and history here which immerses the reader in the world of Warcrow. For some that will be a major draw, while others may just flip through those pages to get to the meat of the game itself.

And of course that’s all here – in great detail actually.

The core rules – how minis move, how battles play out, how a scenario works, is all here as one would expect – although with this company the detail is ensured.

Factions get their due here, right down to specific characters.

Ultimately, this is one book that provides it all.

A player can really lose themselves in this one absorbing the lore and characters and game play, hours of game-associated enjoyment before ever getting a mini to the table, or rolling a die.

As for the game – more on those details in a future review – but rest assured Warcrow is a good one – this company doesn’t do bad.

Check it out at warcrow.com

First Kanare Kato creation to miss mark with this reviewer

This review needs a significant disclaimer.

It should be understood up front that I have never enjoyed the classic Hex – I find it about as boring and uninteresting as any game I have tried – even after repeated forays into trying to discover why many rave over it.

So I wasn’t expecting too much from Kanare Kato’s Borderland even though several of his games have impressed over time such as Stairs, Lines of Fixation, Meridians, Iago and RosenKreuz.

Now according to the designer Borderland is a game that combines Hex-like connective goals with Go-like territorial goals. The objective is to create a border with pieces by combination of placement and movement so that your territory occupies more than half of the board.

It was also noted Borderland was inspired by Dale Walton’s Make Muster – also published by Kanare Abstract.

So Trevor and I found the game more Hex than Go, and I suppose not surprisingly Make Muster has been our least-liked game among those from Kanare Abstract not created by Kato himself.

That all said Borderland rates well in limited ratings on Board Game Geek.

The game is played on a hexagonal board (91 hexes).

The objective is a border which is an unbroken group of same-colored pieces that connect non-adjacent sides of the board.

When the board is divided into two or more areas by the creation of your border, all but the area containing the most opponent pieces becomes your territory.

The player who has more than half of the board as his/her territory wins.

On a turn a player may perform up to two actions: placing one piece and moving one piece.

However, placement cannot be done twice in one turn. Also, a player cannot move a placed piece or move the same piece twice in the same turn.

When placing a piece, it must be at least one step away from all of your pieces and at least two steps away from all of your opponents' pieces – this makes blocking an opponent’s progress a challenge one we found more frustrating than interesting.

If one player makes a border but fails to achieve the win condition, the game moves to the Emergency Phase. In this phase, players can place their pieces one step away from the opponent's stones and can move the same piece twice in the same turn player. This all seems a tad forced into the game – although it is probably a rare situation for those who want to explore this game more than we will.

Now we have probably 20 games from Kanare Abstract if I were to count, and while Queen’s Guard might be the lowest rank it holds some interest as an historic game, pushing Borderland to the bottom for us. Now there of course has to be a last place if one were quantifying games from Kanare Abstract, and I know many will likely disagree which of course is normal as we all do not like the same thing, but alas Borderland was not for Trevor and I.