Favorite Game for December 20th

#5 Chronicles of Frost

In Chronicles of Frost, players are adventurers in a fantasy world called Mistfall. The game is mostly made up of cards. There are location cards that create the world randomly as you explore, quest cards that give every player places to go and things to do, and ability cards that provide players with the resources that they need on their turn to perform actions.

  

  

This is a deck building game. There is a central market of 10 cards that come from two decks. There are 5 cards from the basic deck that cost 2 or 3 coins each, and there are 5 cards from the advanced deck that cost 4 or 5 coins each. When a card is purchased, it is immediately replaced.

Each player has a starter deck made up of 10 starter cards. These are unique to each character and they have the character's name on them. They provide the resources needed to perform actions. These resources are: movement, combat, investigation and wealth. 

  

  

Every card has a top and a bottom half. You gain the resources and effects from the top half of a card simply by playing that card. The bottom half of the ability cards need to be unlocked. This is done by using a skill token (all characters start with one) or by "pushing" your character, which requires you to take a little damage.

Location cards have a rest ability on them which is always something good, but these too have to be unlocked, by defeating the enemy on the location. Locations also have a discovery bonus which is gained by the player who first places the location. So, players are encouraged to explore.

  

  

Each player has two personal quests chosen at random. Once any player has completed both of these quests, which all require going to a particular location and spending some resources, the game end is triggered, and all other players get one more turn. Then, points are scored.

Chronicles of Frost is a "euro-style" adventure deck building game. Players choose where to go and which monsters to fight. Your character can't "die" and can always choose to forego their regular turn to return to the inn and heal up.

  

  

Mechanically, Chronicles of Frost is simple and streamlined. It plays in around 90 minutes at two players. Thematically, the quest cards are well written and immersive. (Don't skip reading them.) Physically, the game is just cards and tokens. It fits in a small box and occupies a tiny amount of shelf space.

This is the adventure game that I would create. Sadly, it flew way under the radar when it came out and the company that made it went out of business. Any time I mention this game, even to other board game hobbyists, they have never heard of it. This is a tragedy, because I love this game.