A board game?! But that's not a table top RPG! No, no it is not. It is definitely a board game worth mentioning in table top circles though. Before I get into that though I would like to thank everyone who has been viewing and keeping up with this blog. I reached 1000 views yesterday! I also want to encourage people to like and share the blog's Facebook page and consider supporting the efforts of the blog on Patreon. Don't worry! The Patreon is not to sell you the material I present, but to try to get additional material out. This includes a quicker start on the actual play podcast we want to start. I have already begun work on the game, but it will require some basic equipment to record. Eventually we will get some stuff, but help would, of course, speed it up. But, let's get back to Pandemic.
If you haven't played Pandemic, you should go buy it. It is a fantastic game. Cooperative and challenging, it never gets old, allowing you to pit your group's wit against the board. You are a group from the CDC, playing different roles to try to subdue and cure four horrible diseases threatening to devastate the globe. Pandemic Legacy takes this game to a whole new level. This is a version of Pandemic meant to be played regularly, over an extended period of time. The whole game represents a year broken down into months, with two chances to win each month. While it isn't required, we plan on meeting once a month to play 1-2 games (depending on success of the first).
What makes this game insane is that it contains secrets and mystery boxes, unknown rules, and surprise additions. These are all slowly unlocked with each new game you play, and each new game changes it as a whole. Stickers are placed on character cards and the game board. Cards are ripped up. Notes are written in pen. That's right PERMANENT changes! I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.
Ok, better? That's right this is a game where every time you play it permanently changes the state of the game. Sound familiar? It is what we do in RPGs. Pandemic Legacy strides the line between board game and table top RPG. As a board game I cannot state enough how amazing it is, and playing January through proved to be even more stressful than normal. In fact, reading the rules was stressful. But that was fine, great even, challenge is one of the best parts of Pandemic. To turn that board game into something that can be played as a year long near-RPG campaign... Let's just say it was hard not to dive into February right after January.
There are a couple things that, considering this is a review, need to be mentioned. The game absolutely requires you to play Pandemic before hand. There are rules built on top of the original ones and not knowing those puts you at a disadvantage. There are objectives to complete in this version, and eventually multiple objectives. The very first month's objective is the end goal of the original game. Given the challenge of Pandemic, and the fact that Legacy just gets harder, play the original first. Play it a few times. The last thing you want is to lose headway right away because you didn't get it. To be fair though, we failed both attempts month 1 because we have the worst luck. Additionally, the rule book suggests this very thing on the first page. However, to spend the money on Legacy and then learn you should spend more first could be aggravating.
Additionally there are empty spaces throughout the rule book for additional rules that will be added throughout the year. This is not quite explicitly stated but if you are planning on playing: DO NOT PLACE ANY STICKERS ON ANYTHING. Not until you are told to, specifically by the written rules or a card drawn from the Legacy deck. We accidentally did and it revealed the name of a new rule/mechanic that we didn't have the parts for. Luckily nothing was ruined for us, we have no idea what it will mean, and from experience knew this wasn't standard fare. We are safely able to ignore it, but the rule book should put the warning in bold letters, in one explicit sentence. Why? It was very easy to miss this fact going through the first time and automatically put a sticker down.
The last thing to mention is the cost. This game has a shelf cost of $70. You can certainly get it cheaper from a number of sources, but it will still cost almost $50. This is not unknown for board games these days, but Legacy is a one time deal. After 12-24 games (depending on success rate) the game is spent. It is a challenging cost to get over. Let me tell you though, it is worth every penny. I suggest you play this game with your game group, well up to 4 from the group. Split the cost. Suddenly one game night a month for a year becomes 1/4 the cost. Then think about the hours each night will take (2-4) and we're talking far less money than it costs to see a movie once a month.
TL;DR: Pandemic Legacy takes a fantastic, challenging co-op board game and turns it into a near-RPG where each session permanently affects the next, the challenge is turned up to 11, and allows you to get the DM on your team for a change as you play through a year on an Earth at the brink of a disease laden apocalypse.
For some reason I didn't even think of this till just now, but, this game would benefit from including an original rule book. You can easily play the original game with this set, especially before beginning Legacy. And if you haven't played before I suggest looking up the original rules (or sussing them out of Legacy) and playing a few games before adding the Legacy stuff.
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