[tdewey10]

Hi all

I've been taking a break from MMOs and playing RealmSpeak

It is a java applet runs on PC, Mac and Linux that allows Solitare or Network play of the old Avalon Hill game Magic Realm.

If you know nothing about Magic Realm - I'll leave it at this: it was one of only two games that AH gave its "10" complexity rating (at least I think there was only one other - maybe there were more).

Indeed the main reason I didn't play much back in the day was it took 45 minutes to setup and another 2 hours to explain the rules. RealmSpeak gets rid of all the minutiae and you really just need to watch two gameplay videos to be able to play (one of a fighter char, one of a magic using char).

Also it's free:

If you're looking for a computer fantasy game that's a little different go here:

http://realmspeak.dewkid.com/downloads

You need both the download and image file and a working java install.

Gameplay Videos here - necessary to understand the game - be aware that all characters play differently, some fighters wade straight in, others don't. Some of the links don't work - so you may have to use .mp3 instead of .mov files (the guy lost his site and had to reconstruct it).

Sample Fighter Gameplay:
http://www.bookshelfgames.com/mr/woodsgirl.html

Sample MU Gameplay:
http://www.bookshelfgames.com/mr/Sorcerer.html

To see how different a character can play check out the Magician gameplay video (accesible from any of the above links).

The best and clearest explanation of combat in one of the character videos is here ->

http://www.bookshelfgames.com/mr/blackknight.html


Complete Instructions (Very, very long but useful for understanding what's going on in the background)

http://www.bookshelfgames.com/permalink/ep016.html

Board game manual and hints
http://www.nand.it/mr/

Be sure to select File-> Options -> Remodeled Chits. Don't use the Classic Counters if you've never played the game and the gameplay videos both use the Remodeled Chits.


Be warned it is a very, very complex game - even with RealmSpeak taking care of a lot of the minutiae you can play it after watching the videos but you're going to miss a lot of the subtlety - I recommend if you like the game taking time to watch the really long instruction videos and reading the various hints on the nand page.

And I'm up for multiplayer of course ;-)

Edit:

A Quest expansion was just added that's pretty interesting especiallly if played as part of the development game (leveling up from one) however you need to understand the combat system or you're just going to die, repeatedly.

[tdewey10]

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