Sentinels of the Multiverse: Rook City - A Review

Over the past few months, Greater Than Games' superhero card game Sentinels of the Multiverse has seen quite a bit of table time at my place. Its thematic roller-coaster pacing only seems to get better as time goes on. Rook City, the first expansion to the series, ratchets up the fun through the inclusion of new villains, heroes, and environments from the seedy underbelly of the sprawling Rook City. The expansion also subtly adds to the game mechanics a bit, by adding a new scaling mechanism that helps the game maintain balance  with differing player counts, as well as a couple of new attributes that modify how much damage can be dealt during an attack.

Christopher Badell, Greater Than Game's Design Director, was kind enough to speak with us about the Rook City expansion when it was being funded on Kickstarter, so it was a treat to finally bring the game to the table, and see what Greater Than Games had really been plotting in their hidden fortress. Since I have previously reviewed the Sentinels of the Multiverse base game, I am not going to talk about the rules of the core game, but instead focus on the successful tweaks to the formula, as well as the interesting and engaging characters and environments that have been introduced into GTG's Multiverse.

Components:

Like Sentinels of the Multiverse, Rook City maintains the card based nature of the game. Even without a box full of components, Rook City manages to capture the visceral essence of a comic book story. It shares the same expressive, colorful artwork that the original game introduced, through the quality cards and colorful box.

The biggest visible difference with Rook City is its box. Not only does it have a higher quality linen finish, but it contains a custom insert that holds the cards perfectly, and removes the need to separately bag cards. The custom insert is a step in the right direction, but there are still some issues with the new box as a storage solution. First of all, it isn't really built to hold all of the cards in the game - the cards from the base game, and the Rook City cards will have to stay quarantined in their own respective boxes. Second, there is no easy way to separate the cards. The way the cards are stored in the new box doesn't really allow for baggies or tabbed separators. (However, Greater than Games is addressing this issue in tandem with the second expansion, by releasing a new box that will hold all of the cards for the base game and expansions.) When push comes to shove, though, the amount of space that Sentinels and Rook City take up on a shelf is still much less than most deck builders.

New Mechanics:

Rook City introduces some new mechanics to the game. Unlike expansions in many other games, these rules are all self contained. The basic game rules remain untouched, and new mechanisms are introduced only in the card text of the Heroes, Villains and Environments in Rook City. Since cards from different games are never shuffled together into a single deck, it allows GTG to craft new play experiences in Rook City, without affecting the play experience in the base game.

The first, and most important change is the addition of a new symbol to Rook City cards. This symbol looks like an H with a circle around it, and is always interpreted as the number of heroes in the current game. One of my concerns with the base game, was that it did not scale well. The villains and environments had a fixed difficulty regardless of the number of players. This made a 3 player game much harder than a 4 player game. With this new scaling mechanic, however, the Rook City villains and environments can now scale in difficulty based on the player counts.  It's always a bit scary when game designers start tinkering with a system that already works, but I am happy to say that Rook City maintains the dynamic, tense flavor of Sentinels, only now it allows for a much more flexibility in player count.

The other two changes to the game's mechanics are more minor, although fairly pervasive throughout the new decks. One identifies a target as invulnerable, while the other ensures that damage done cannot be reduced in potency. These effects could have been written into the descriptions on the appropriate cards, but by introducing them as keywords, a lexicon is being created for the game that can be built upon in later expansions. Although these new mechanisms may seem minor, the cards that utilize the new keywords can really add a feeling of both power and dread to the game, further supporting the cinematic feel of the game.

Cast of Characters:

When it comes down to it, the success and charm of both Sentinels of the Multiverse and Rook City are delivered though the individual characters in the game: the villains, heroes, and environments. Yes, I realize that I just called the environment a character in the game, but I still believe that the environments have so much character, they become anthropomorphic in their own right. Since the characters are the heart and soul of the expansion, I would like to talk about each of these 8 personalities separately.

Villains

The Organization - The Organization is a corporate juggernaut that secretly controls Rook City in it's shadowy back rooms. Led by a man called only "The Chairman", and kept in line by a formidable woman known as "The Operative", The Organization is a doubly tough nut to crack.

Where most villains have a single leader that needs to be defeated, The Organization starts with two villains on the table. In line with the typical hierarchy of a corporation, players will have to fight tooth and nail through a bureaucracy before finally defeating The Chairman. The way The Organization deck is structured, there are various underbosses who continue to bring thugs into play; and The Operative, who brings the various Underbosses into play. Not only are waves upon waves of minions delivered to the players during the battle, but the Chairman is completely untouchable until The Operative has been dispatched.

The thought that was put into this villain deck to create mechanisms that reinforce the feeling of a corporate hierarchy are incredibly inspired. This is the sort of attention to detail that gives Sentinels it's uniquely effective theme without having to punt on the gameplay. This villain deck reminds me of a Saturday Morning Cartoon, or an 8 bit beat 'em up video game; the players have to battle through what seems like an unending wave of thugs in order to defeat the mini-bosses, and the end culminates in a two part boss battle where the boss's defenses have to be penetrated before he can be ultimately defeated. This is a narrative arc that has been found in movies, books, and video games for years, because it works so well at an instinctual level. It's no surprise that it works in Rook City as well, as this is a very dynamic and tense battle.

Spite - Spite's story taps into the idea of the government meddling in the affairs of men and creating damage that it cannot control. Similar to the theme in classics like "A Clockwork Orange", where the government uses prisoners as test subjects for questionable experiments, Spite's story is one of a serial killer who is given an opportunity to commute his death sentence by being a lab rat. Unfortunately, the experiments that were performed turned Spite into a monster of unimaginable violence and power. He easily escaped his confines, and now roams the city feeding his unquenchable thirst for murder and pumping his twisted body full of chemicals that give him superhuman strength.

Spite's deck is very unique, and has two main themes that run through it. The first is his insatiable need to kill innocent people. Throughout the deck are victim cards that represent innocents which the heroes can save by completing tasks on the card's text. If the heroes chose not to save the victims, they are quickly dispatched by cards brought into play from the villain deck, causing damage to the heroes, or greater strength to Spite. This is another clever mechanic that forces players to act like heroes. In most of the other villain decks, the heroes are put into a position where fighting is the only purpose, however Spite's deck introduces heroic sacrifices that the players must perform in order to save innocent victims. This changes the mood of the game and the motivation of the players, and surprisingly ratchets up the SuperHERO nature of the game.

The second theme in the Spite deck is chemical mutation. Along with the victim cards in the deck are a collection of chemicals and mutagens that strengthen and change Spite's behavior, forcing players to balance their attacks on Spite with the attempts to save the innocents, and causing the flow of the game to swing between the two objectives. 

I find it very refreshing that the Villains themselves really dictate the theme of the play experience, and each one can be drastically different. This modular nature makes me excited for the future of Sentinels, and the ability for the game to persist and continue to deliver new and unique play experiences without the need to rework the core mechanics.

The Matriarch - The Matriarch takes a page out of Alfred Hitchcock's playbook by making birds terrifying again. The Matriarch's power is granted by a magical mask that allows her to commune with the flocks of avian minions.

The key theme in The Matriarch's deck is swarming. As long as her mask is in play, the villain deck is cycled, bringing continued destruction to the table until more birds appear. This causes the play area to fill up with more birds every turn, turning the play area into a seemingly unending cloud of wings and beaks. 

Like the previous villains, The Matriarch's deck is very thematic in its execution. The mechanics that bring about this feeling don't seem as creative as the other villains, though. The Matriarch has less of a roller coaster pacing to her cards, and instead feels a bit more like a hopeless grind to the finish. That's not to say that she isn't a compelling villain, just that the others produce a more interesting play experience.

Plague Rat - Plague Rat is a mutant half-man half-rat produced from the mixture of drugs and toxic waste spewed from the poorly regulated factories and industrial plants in Rook City. While years of criminal control has transformed Rook City into a toxic hive of villainy, the corrupted sewers have turned this former drug dealer into a noxious villain.

Like Teenage Mutant Turtles gone horribly wrong, Plague Rat could be likened to an evil alter ego of the good and protective Splinter. With veins filled with pestilence and toxins, Plague Rat's bite has lasting effects, theming his villain deck with poison and infection. Where other villains bring minions to the table that protect and divert attention, this rat-man wages a one-on-one battle with the heroes using only his debilitating bite which can turn the heroes against each other and themselves. Once all of the heroes are infected, their only remedy against the poison is to do damage to friendly targets.

I really enjoy the way that Plague Rat mixes up the Sentinels formula. By forcing the players to attack each other, it creates the feeling that the heroes are afflicted by a mind altering pathogen that turns the conflict against Plague Rat into a conflict of self as well. When you think about it, that is a pretty deep theme for a simple card game.

Heroes -

Expatriette - The first of the two heroes included in the Rook City expansion would give John Rambo a run for his money. Daughter of the villain "Citizen Dawn" in the main Sentinels game, Expatriette is a master of firearms with her sights on bringing justice to the world one bullet at a time.

Expatriette's deck is filled with firearms and ammunition, and her gameplay is all about swapping weapons and keeping them loaded with a variety of different types of rounds. Playing this harbinger of pure firepower is like standing next to a hailstorm of bullets. It's easy to imagine the game shifting into slow motion as the smoke swirls around her and the bullet casings spill to the ground, clinking against the pavement like steel rain. She may be straightforward to play, but the feeling of pure unadulterated firepower she presents is a lot of fun.

Mr Fixer - If Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid dropped the home maintenance angle and decided to start breaking evil's kneecaps, the result would be Rook City's Mr. Fixer - an ex martial arts instructor, who has turned his life to the pursuit of extracting justice for the brutal slaying of his students.

With an arsenal of car repair tools and knowledge in a myriad of martial arts styles, he is a force to be reckoned with; changing up his nature like others change clothes, and keeping his enemies guessing. Through the use of the different cards in his deck that represent tools and fighting styles, Mr. Fixer plays like a bunch of different characters in one. Choosing what style to use at any given moment can be very strategic, and empowers the player to feel like he is defeating his enemies not only with superhero skills, but with a calculating mind as well. While more subtle than Expatriette, he is just as fun to play.

Environments -

Rook City - Rook City is dangerous in many ways. Its sewers run green with toxic sludge, its crumbling buildings threaten to crush the unaware, and dangerous criminals roam it's darkened alleys. The villains that the heroes must confront are tough, but the city itself may be their toughest obstacle. That's not to say that Rook City doesn't have it's share of citizens working for the greater good. Even in an unlikely place like this, heroes may find some allies... or at least distractions for the enemy.

The Rook City deck may represent the most common type of environment found in comic books - the crime infested city. This common theme isn't a bad thing though, as it fills a thematic hole in the base game. The heroes of Sentinels needed a city to clean up, and it has been graciously delivered to them by Greater Than Games in the form of Rook City.

Industrial Complex - Lots of crazy things can happen in an Industrial Complex when there is little to no regulation. Filled with science experiments gone bad, the complex in Rook City has wonders that can both help and hinder hero and villain alike. But some of the technology found here isn't fully baked, and can combust in a shower of green goo and pain. Oh.. and watch out for the vermin that roam the dingy hallways - this Industrial Complex prefers to spend it's money on research over sanitation.

Unlike the Rook City deck that seems tipped in the villains' favor, the Industrial Complex is fairly neutral. The different vat cards stay in play and have effects on both villains and heroes alike. Sprinkled through the environment deck, however, are chemical explosions which cause the vats to blow up, and cause damage to all targets in play. The rat cards in the deck can be a hindrance, but if the experimental mutagen card comes into play, all of the rats will come out of the discard pile, and they will be much tougher to defeat.

Out of the two environments, I think that the Industrial Complex is my favorite. The cards within the deck seem to have more interplay with each other, and there is a lot more potential for catastrophic damage, both to the heroes and the villains.

Conclusion:

All in all, I was extremely impressed with Rook City. Not only did it rectify some of the scaling issues from the base game, but the heroes, villains, and environments were all a blast to play. The components themselves were also upgraded with higher quality cards and a box that allowed for better organization.

The only complaints that I have about the expansion are minor. While the box is better than the one in the first game, it still doesn't really address the storage problem with the game. Greater Than Games has plans to address this in upcoming releases, but until it is in my hot little hands, I'll have to make due. 

I suppose that it is also bit disappointing that the scaling mechanic only works for the Rook City cards. It would be nice to have the effects retroactive into the base game. This too is being addressed in a re-release of the base game, though, so players will soon have the opportunity to play with the best of both worlds.

It's rare that I have practically nothing negative to say about a game, and wax lyrical about it instead, but I find myself in that position with Sentinels of the Multiverse: Rook City. The additions in the expansion only work to enhance the game experience, and every one of them is welcome and well conceived. If you own Sentinels of the Multiverse already, Rook City is a must buy. If you don't own Sentinels of the Multiverse, wait for the second edition of Sentinels to be released, and then buy it - along with Rook City!

Sentinels of the Multiverse: Rook City - How to Kick More Ass in 10 Easy Questions!

Last August, I had the exciting opportunity to play and review Greater Than Game's first published card game: Sentinels of the Multiverse, a non-collectible, cooperative card game based in a vibrant comic book universe. Sentinels of the Multiverse is fun, has awesome pacing, and really captures the feel of the superhero genre.

Now, hot on the heels of the Sentinels release, Greater Than Games is offering the next installment in the Sentinels' story: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Rook City. Rook City comes packaged with new villains, new heroes, and new locations themed around the gritty, urban, Rook City.

As Rook City is entering the last week of its Kickstarter Campaign, Design Director Christopher Badell agreed to an interview with www.nerdbloggers.com about his project - and dispatches our crafty questions with true superhuman skill.

What is Rook City? What secrets are hiding under its urban exterior? And what happens when we play a game of "What If"? Stay tuned for the answers to these, and more exiting questions, starting NOW!

Nerdbloggers: First of all, can you tell me a little about yourself, and your background? I'm always interested to learn about the people who make the games we play.

Christopher Badell: Christopher was born on a dark and stormy night in a dingy hospital in Venezuela . . . oh, that's probably not the sort of information you're looking for.  Well, I have a pretty lengthy background in all the things that led to this game working.  I'm a writer with a history of teaching and tutoring, a game player with a love for cooperative games (obviously), a teacher and storyteller (which is why a strong narrative is so important to Sentinels of the Multiverse), and a fan of comic books.  Now, to be fair, our primary comic guru is Adam Rebottaro, the artist of Sentinels of the Multiverse.  He knows more about comic books than anyone I've ever met, and his knowledge of and love for the medium really led right into this being possible.  Greater Than Games, LLC, is just the three of us, Adam, Paul, and myself, and we're all well suited to making this happen.  I mean, this would never have been a company at all if it wasn't for Paul's business smarts and ability to make things happen.  I'm lucky to be working with such talented people. 

Nerdbloggers: I reviewed Sentinels of the Multiverse during it's initial release, and I was really impressed by the detail and care put into the characters, environment, and gameplay. Sentinels was very successful at portraying unique characters that each played very differently, and it also delivered  a roller coaster ride of interaction between the heroes and the villains. With Sentinels' first expansion, Rook City, how is Greater Than Games planning on enhancing this cinema-like experience?

Christopher Badell: A big part of the way Rook City fits in with the world of Sentinels of the Multiverse is the theme.  Every expansion we have planned has a very specific theme, so we're not just adding more characters and challenges to the game; we're expanding the “Multiverse” experience, as well.  Rook City's gritty, urban theme shows up in all of the characters and settings, and really sets a definite feel to new games.

The two new Heroes, Mr. Fixer and Expatriette, have some exciting new mechanics and card interactions, and there's a lot to discover there, both in terms of how their decks work and how they interact with other heroes. 

The villains are just awful.  They don't have the vast “world domination” plans that the villains from Sentinels of the Multiverse do, but they are very powerful and have terrible goals.  Also, they bring lots of new villain mechanics and flip abilities to the table, so each of the four new villains is an entirely new game.

Nerdbloggers: I noticed in the original games, there were villains who had a hero nemeses that was not included with the base game. In Rook City, are we going to meet some of these heroes?

Christopher Badell: Absolutely!  We've been keeping that information secret, but I'll go ahead and lay it all out now.  Citizen Dawn's nemesis is in this set – it's her daughter, in fact!  Expatriette!  Several clever fans already picked up on that, so it's good to finally officially reveal that.  Additionally, the Rook City villain The Matriarch is the nemesis of Tachyon, and Spite is The Wraith's nemesis.  The Chairman and Mr. Fixer are nemeses, so that just leaves Plague Rat from Rook City and Omnitron from the Sentinels of the Multiverse Core game.  Their nemeses will certainly be in a future expansion.  In fact, we have many exciting plans for both of them!

Nerdbloggers: Can you divulge some details about the backstory, and abilities of the new cards, and do you have any personal favorites?

Christopher Badell: Hmmm, there is a lot that we still have yet to release, so I don't want to say too much.  However, I will say there is a ton of background information on the updates to the Rook City Kickstarter here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1787899968/sentinels-of-the-multiverse-rook-city-expansion/posts

Also, in terms of new card abilities, look forward to being able to deal irreducible damage, and for certain villain cards which cannot be destroyed, changing game play permanently when they are played.  Also, there is one villain in particular who can play through their entire villain deck in just a few rounds.  It's terrifying. 

As for favorites?  That's tough.  It's like trying to pick a favorite child!  So, don't tell the others, but Spite's deck is probably my favorite of the new villains.  Shhh!

Nerdbloggers: In my review of Sentinels of the Multiverse, I had erroneously mentioned that the different environments and villains didn't appear to share a common "universe". Since the release of Sentinels, I've come to understand that there is actually a very rich backstory behind Sentinels of the Multiverse. Would you mind giving a general overview of the sentinels universe, and how rook city fits into the bigger story?

Christopher Badell: Yikes!  That's a tall order!  Well,  The primary hero team that drives the Sentinels of the Multiverse story is the Freedom Five, made up of Legacy, Bunker, Tachyon, The Wraith, and Absolute Zero.  They fight crime!  Baron Blade and Legacy have been nemesis forever, really, as Baron Blade's father and Legacy's father (who was also Legacy!) were nemesis back around World War II.  So Baron Blade is the primary Freedom Five villain.  However, Citizen Dawn's “Citizens of the Sun” cause a lot of problems for the heroes as well.  So much that they have to occasionally recruit help from outside the Freedom Five, which is where you start seeing appearances of other heroes like Ra, Fanatic, and Haka.  Tempest first shows up as a precursor to Grand Warlord Voss's troops assaulting the planet, and it's only with Tempest's help that the Freedom Five are able to save the world from Voss's alien hordes.  Baron Blade constantly shows up, regardless of how many times he is “defeated”, and his big story arc, called “Moonfall”, is where he attempts to pull the Moon into the Earth using his TerraLunar Impulsion Beam.  Right after that story arc is Citizen Dawn's big push to take over the world, and that arc is named “Sunrise”.  See what I did there?  At some point in all this, Omnitron gains sentience and decides to stomp all the humans, and The Visionary shows up from her future to attempt to stop the current timeline from becoming the world she lived through in her book “New Memories”.  And that's just a brief look at the stories of these characters!  Whew!
As for Rook City, it's the hometown of The Wraith, so much of her solo crime fighting takes place there.  Unfortunately, crime seems to just attract more crime, and sometimes the villains in Rook City become a large enough problem that The Wraith calls in her teammates, or possibly other heroes she's met in her adventures.  As mentioned before, the villains in Rook City aren't trying to take over the world, but their plans are no less terrible, and they must be stopped!

Nerdbloggers: The basic rules for Sentinels were very simple, with the interesting game interactions delivered through the text on the cards themselves. Will Rook City see any changes to the basic rules?

Christopher Badell: Nope!  The basic rules will stay the same, because that's the core of Sentinels of the Multiverse!  As a player, you play a card, use a power, and draw a card.  On the villain turns and the environment turns, you put the top card of the appropriate deck into play.  Follow all instructions.  However!  Rook City does introduce some new interactions, and all of the villains have unique flip abilities, so there is still plenty of new stuff to keep the game interesting.

Nerdbloggers: Greater Than Games self funded Sentinels of the Multiverse, but Rook City is being offered as a Kickstarter project. Now that you have gone down both routes, what benefits does Kickstarter give you as a developer, and a publisher.

Christopher Badell: The most useful part about Kickstarter for us was finding out what sort of demand there was for a Sentinels of the Multiverse expansion.  And with the fast and overwhelming response we had, we know – there is absolutely a demand.  So, that was probably the best part.  People are excited that we've raised so much money, and we are as well, but the thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of that money is presales of the expansion, so while Kickstarter does give us the ability to offset the costs of printing the game due to those presales, Rook City will need to be strong enough to continue making sales in order to keep generating revenue for future expansions and other games we're also working on.

We have had such a great response from the gaming community with the Rook City Kickstarter that it is likely we will use Kickstarter again in the future to fund the printing of future projects.

Nerdbloggers: Rook City has already met it's funding goals, so it's definitely being published, but there are some pretty interesting stretch goals that have been announced (and some intriguing teases for some that haven't been). Could you tell us a bit about the rewards for these goals?

Christopher Badell: At the time of this interview, we are VERY CLOSE to the $25k reward level, which will send every backer some exciting Rook City art prints.  We love art prints, because it gives us a chance to showcase Adam's fantastic art in a size larger than a couple inches on a card.  We already broke the 20k level, which was the big one for most fans, as it means we'll be sending out HP and Damage-Modifier Tracking Cards to all our backers.  That was a big deal for us, because it was asked for by the Sentinels community, and we love having the opportunity to make something that people want.  Moving forward, there are three big levels left: 30k, 40k, and 50k.  The 30k levels is possible, but I'm not holding my breath.  We've already come so far, and we've certainly seen a decline in pledges since hitting 20k.  However, at the 30k level, we print up some awesome Rook City t-shirts and send those to all the backers who are getting the game.  At the 40k level, we have an awesome alternate version of Baron Blade, though it looks like we probably won't hit that level.  But we still have exciting plans for him!

Nerdbloggers: Okay, Last Question! The Wraith and Legacy get into a fight. Who would win?

Christopher Badell: Ooh, that's tough.  First off, which Legacy?  I'm assuming standard Legacy, not his daughter (or his father!) so we have to get past the point of him being unwilling to attack The Wraith, due to their camaraderie and that she's a fellow hero.  Hmmm, so, Legacy believes, due to a mind-affecting beam deployed by Baron Blade, that The Wraith is in fact an imposter who has taken her place!  He fights with all of his power to defeat her, knowing that only in defeating this vile doppelganger can he save his friend, The Wraith, from her imprisonment!  The Wraith has been affected by the same mind-beam and believe that killing this false-Legacy before her will save the world!  Their fight goes for hours, Legacy flying through stone walls in his hunt for the evil Wraith, while she uses all her skills and gadget to not only evade him, but set up a devious trap for her super-powered foe.  However!  Just as Legacy tears through a steel plated floor to find The Wraith, moments before she is able to spring the trap, which would drop Legacy into a vat of flesh dissolving nerve-agent, Tachyon appears between the two heroes holding some odd device.  In half the blink of an eye, Tachyon dons dark sunglasses and quips, “Deal with it” as the device she carries emits a blinding flash.  Both Legacy and The Wraith are stunned momentarily, then realize their error!  This was Baron Blade's dastardly plan the entire time!  Resolved, the three heroes turn their attentions to the now fleeing mad scientist, once again united to defeat evil and stand for justice!

Nerdbloggers: Thanks so much for taking the time out to answer our questions! 

Christopher Badell: Thanks for asking them!  Keep on saving the Multiverse!

Check out the Sentinels of the Multiverse: Rook City Kickstarter page to support Greater Than Games, and pick up a copy of Rook City for yourself. If you haven't already picked up the base game, there are plenty of great packages in the Kickstarter page that include both the base game and the expansion, and an awful lot of really cool kickstarter rewards.