Call to Adventure

Today's review is of the 2019 release, Call to Adventure. For 1-4 players, it takes 30-45 minutes.

Overview

In Call to Adventure, craft your fantasy hero wisely (through acquiring traits and overcoming challenges) to earn the most points and win!

To start, each player is dealt six character cards: two origin, motivation, and destiny cards. They choose one of each and place them in their respective tableaus, from left to right, with the destiny card face-down. The story decks (I, II, and III) are prepared and laid out on the table, with Act I cards face-up. Players are dealt one hero card and play begins!

game example; image from here

The goal of the game is to acquire the most destiny points (which is a combination of triumph, tragedy, and experience points). You gain these things by performing actions; on your turn, you can:

- acquire a trait (choose a visible card from the story decks that has traits you already have on your cards; put it behind your origin card with the top showing)

- face a challenge (choose a visible card from the story decks and attempt the challenge on the top or bottom of it; cast runes aligned with the challenge and your character's traits; if the number exceeds the challenge threshold, you get that card and put it behind your origin card with the top or bottom showing, depending on the path you chose)

- use a special ability (on one of your character cards or from hero cards)

Once a player has placed three cards behind their origin card, the next row in the story deck is revealed and an option for all players. Turns continue until one player has three cards behind all three of their character cards: then remaining players go until all have had an equal number of turns. Then turn your destiny card face-up, points are awarded based on your triumphs ('good' points), tragedies ('bad' points), experience, and any bonus granted by your destiny card. The highest score wins!

Review

This is a simple game (and my review simplifies it further for brevity). The rune system is intriguing (but, in the end, just a variant on dice). The artwork is astounding. It has echoes of Splendor, and be considered a cross between that and a light character-building RPG-like experience. The choices are pleasant (but perhaps not as meaningful as could be). Overall, I enjoyed it.

Rating: A-