''Magic Realm'' is a
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
adventure board game
An adventure board game is a board game in which a player plays as a unique individual character that improves through gameplay. This improvement is commonly reflected in terms of increasing character attributes, but also in receiving new abilitie ...
designed by
Richard Hamblen
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
and published by
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...
in 1979. ''Magic Realm'' is more complex than many
wargame
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
s and is somewhat similar to a
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
. It can be played solitaire or with up to 16 players and game time can last 4 hours or more. The game board is a type of
geomorphic mapboard A geomorphic mapboard is a game board that can be configured in different ways and reused to create different playing surfaces. The mapboards are made geomorphic by using identical features along the edges of the maps, so that any two may be paired. ...
constructed of large double-sided
hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexa ...
tiles, ensuring a wide variety of playing surfaces.
A second edition of the rules, changing the rulebook format and some of the gameplay, was published in 1986 and included in those games sold after that date. ''Magic Realm'' has been out of print since 1998, when Avalon Hill went out of business. Due to its uniqueness and complexity, the game has achieved cult status with some gamers. Some of these have written an unofficial 'Third Edition' of the rules that clarifies many of the game's ambiguities. Many websites exist today to promote the game.
Gameplay
In the game, a player takes the role of one (or more) of sixteen different characters. Each character has different abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and different allies and foes among the native groups and visitors that can appear on the board. Once characters have been chosen, each player chooses individual victory conditions based on 5 categories: ''Great Treasures'', ''Spells'', ''Fame'', ''Notoriety'' and ''Gold''. The player allocates between 2-5 points (depending on the level he plays at) to the categories in any way he wishes. The allocation usually corresponds to the type of character played. The player will then attempt to obtain these goals through fighting with monsters, trading and various quests and searches for treasure and items, and encounters with other characters and the various beings in the Realm. The player who first achieves his personal victory conditions wins the game.
Example: the Swordsman might choose 2 points in Great Treasures, 1 in Fame and 2 in Gold, meaning that to win he needs to have 2 great treasures, 10 fame, and 60 gold pieces. As the Swordsman has no magical ability he would not be after spells. Another character like the Wizard might choose differently, perhaps decreasing the need for gold and great treasures to obtain spells for casting. Winning the game is quite challenging, and the chances of your character dying at the hands of monsters, hostile natives, or another perfidious character are significant.
The game has many unique features that were groundbreaking for its time that can make repeat play very enjoyable: notably the random distribution of treasure sites, monsters, treasures, and spell cards and the novel board which is built collectively by the players from hexagonal tiles that can be put together in literally millions of ways following a few simple rules to ensure the connectivity of the paths. The ability of characters with magical skills to ''enchant'' hex tiles during play, causing the tiles to flip over and changing the paths and adding magic ''colors'' to the tile, is another unique and intriguing feature.
However, the setup preparation time is extremely long. Preparing the ''treasure setup card'' can take 30 min or more and the actual building of the board before you can begin can also take a fair amount of time, particularly for the inexperienced player. In addition, the unique combat system takes some time getting used to. To aid in this effort, and to bend the learning curve, the game system allows to play truncated versions known as ''encounters''. In the Second Edition rules there are 4 encounters - as opposed to 7 in the First Edition -, each one introducing a new game concept. This allows the players to master one part of the rules before learning the next section.
Realm Speak
Robin Warren has written a
java application
Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cros ...
called Realm Speak that simulates both solo and multiplayer Magic Realm on a computer for either offline,
LAN
Lan or LAN may also refer to:
Science and technology
* Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics
* Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in sp ...
or internet play. The application decreases setup time to zero and also permits the use of various expansions, alternate counter art and alternate characters. In addition, the app enforces all of the complex written rules for Magic Realm version 2, eliminating the chances for error, and greatly increasing the challenge for players. The app runs on Mac and PC computers, for Windows, macOS/OS X and Linux operating systems.
Reception
In 1980,
Eric Goldberg reviewed ''Magic Realm'' in ''
Ares Magazine'' #1, rating it a 4 out of 9.
Goldberg commented that "As the rules become more sophisticated (and this is a complex game when all the rules are used), the murky rules require as much interpretation as a Supreme Court decision. There could have been a great game in ''Magic Realm'', but it was aborted early in the life-cycle of this game."
Eric Goldberg again reviewed ''Magic Realm'' in ''
Ares Magazine'' #2 and commented that "For all its faults, ''Magic Realm'' contains a wealth of excellent ideas. If the game had been realistically planned and well executed, it would have been one of the best fantasy board games ever produced. Unfortunately, the lofty goals set for the game caused it to fall flat on its face. The design remains like the legendary Don Quixote: forever tilting at windmills."
Also in 1980,
Denis Loubet
Denis Loubet is an artist who has worked on several pen-and-paper role-playing games and video games, including the MMORPG ''Ashen Empires''.
Career
Loubet designed a set of miniatures called '' Cardboard Heroes'' (1980), a set of full-color card ...
reviewed ''Magic Realm'' in ''
The Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...
'' No. 28.
Loubet commented that "If you can wade through the rules, ''Magic Realm'' is worth buying. The components alone justify the price. If you can play the game, so much the better. If you can't figure out the rules, then make up your own, so you can still use the playing pieces."
Colin Reynolds reviewed ''Magic Realm'' for ''
White Dwarf
A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...
'' #19, giving it an overall rating of 7 out of 10, and stated that "As a game, it excels. The programmed instruction by use of Encounters allows the rules to be grasped slowly but surely, and the colourful board and counters set the scene and create the atmosphere. As a FRP game, ''D&D'' is a better buy, but as a game ''Magic Realm'' has a flavour all its own."
In Issue 79 of the UK magazine ''Games & Puzzles'',
Nick Palmer
Nick may refer to:
* Nick (given name)
* A Glossary of cricket terms#nick, cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat
* British slang for being arrested
* British slang for a police station
* British slang for stealin ...
called the game "a plunge into the deep end of fantasy gaming for the hitherto conventionally-oriented Avalon Hill, and while it has many strong points the published product was badly finished." However, Palmer found the game "highly innovative." He concluded by giving the game an Excitement rating of 3 out of 5, saying, "If you are interested in a relatively simple and well-defined introduction to fantasy role-playing, the game might meet your needs."
In a retrospective review of ''Magic Realm'' in ''
Black Gate'', Jeff Stehman said "Players choose their own victory conditions, setting goals of Gold, Fame, Notoriety, Usable Spells, and Great Treasures. They travel roads, caves, hidden paths and secret passages that stretch across the twenty tiles making up the board, and you're not likely to see the same board configuration twice."
Reviews
*''
The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games
''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games'' is a 1979 book by Jon Freeman. It is a revised edition of ''A Player's Guide to Table Games'' by the same author, but under the name John Jackson.
Contents
''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games' ...
''
[https://archive.org/details/playboywinnersgu00free/page/280/mode/2up]
References
External links
Nand's ''Magic Realm'' pageRobin Warren's ''Magic Realm'' pageRobin Warren's ''Realm Speak'' pageBryan Winter's ''Magic Realm'' page''Magic Realm'' WikiNeodroid's ''Magic Realm'' page*
{{Avalon Hill
Adventure board games
Avalon Hill games
Board games introduced in 1978
Board games with a modular board
Fantasy board games