Dungeon delving drama or pedestrian plushie pusher?

Nathalie called me to the door.  She was accepting a box of ungainly proportions from a somewhat relieved courier.  “I thought you weren’t buying games anymore” she remarked. Obfuscation is always the best course of action in these circumstances.  “I didn’t order this”, I blurted out, while wondering if it was in fact one of two big box titles I have on back order.  Hey, turns out I didn’t lie.  Don’t judge me!

After wrestling the box into the kitchen we pried the contents out.  I started to piece together what was going on.  Publisher, Fable Fury Studios, had sent me a treasure chest of board game bling to review.  So, with some enthusiasm I rolled my sleeves up and started in on this bad boy.

First, a little research.  Fable Fury is a first time professional design by friends Sam Wilson and Conryd Salvesen, who have created their own publishing company to make the dream a reality .  It is clearly a labour of love, which has been on a 5 year journey from design intent to an impressive final product via a well crafted Kickstarter Campaign, which attracted nearly 5,000 backers and raised over $500,000.  It’s also receiving some love on Board Game Geek with a promising 7.9 rating (albeit from a small pool of voters).

According to the designers, the primary design intent of Fable Fury: Endless Misadventure Awaits was to create a fast-paced, high-energy, and lighthearted cooperative experience centered on teamwork, chaos, and self-deprecating humor , that breaks away from traditional, gritty dungeon crawlers. “Promising”, I thought.  “There is a ‘Munchkin’ (SJG) shaped gap on my shelf for a game of this nature”.  Excited, I gathered some friends together and set out to discover how far Fable Fury delivers on its intent.

My chums Luigi and Craig are seasoned board gamers and they enjoyed rifling through the game box, fondling the contents like a pair of suspicious pawn brokers.  And they were impressed: thick dual layer hero mats and ‘backpacks’, dials to track health, shiny metal coins, linen finish cards to ward off Wotsit (Cheetos) dust and prat spillage.  Even the box insert supports set up and organization  of the resources.  Sweet!  We loved the art work.  I’m not entirely clear who is responsible (Sergei Bystrov has been credited for the rule book illustrations) but they have plumped for a 90s indie ‘zine aesthetic which we found highly engaging. And then there’s the plushie.  Hands down this is the greatest First Player Token of all time.  Totally superfluous, of course.  All in all, production values are ‘wow’.  It’s a bit of a table hog but you won’t walk blithely past this one.

Given the many moving parts in this game, a crappy rule book could have resulted in mums, dads and budding geeks all over the world launching Fable Fury at the nearest open window, transforming this weighty beast into an existential threat to life on Planet Earth.  Thankfully, Fable Fury’s manual is ‘light gamer friendly’ with lots of examples, illustrations and player aids (to decode the many icons). This is the standard that all rule books should aspire to.  Included in the box is a QR code for an entertaining and thematically apposite 8 minute instruction video which I recommend, but don’t go thinking it replaces the rule book.  Anyway, with an experienced eye, Craig did a good job skimming the manual and get us started.

I’m just going to say it.  Sadly, after 90 minutes or so (excluding set up and teach time) we agreed unanimously that Fable Fury was not for us.  For the most part, we found ourselves simply flipping cards and following the instructions.  Essentially, the game played us.  I had a similar experience with solo play.  In Fable Fury randomness is king.  The decision space is too narrow.  Yes, you can decide which upgrades to take, or which card to flip next, but the decisions are mostly obvious or lack agency (for example, it doesn’t matter where you position your character on the Target Track because they all have the same chance of being targeted).  What the game really boils down to is protecting your health and collecting enough dice to defeat the boss monster.  And we felt we had to jump through too many hoops just to end up being roughed up by the bully.

Further, opportunities for co-operation are limited.  Look, I know it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges but I’ve been playing Gloomhaven recently and to win you have to play as a team, develop a strategy together, co-ordinate movements and attacks, divide up responsibilities, even level up to ensure that all characters strengths compliment each other.  Accusations of incompetence and stupidity abound when we lose but there is a certain sense of achievement we share if we win.  You just don’t get this in Fable Fury.

But, and it’s a big ’but’ (snigger), there are things to like about Fable Fury.  In an interview, one of the designers said that he was trying to design a dungeon crawler that his wife would play which (my interpretation of what he meant) didn’t involve her enduring sweaty nerds pouring over spreadsheets, endlessly debating the level of harm done to a dwarf’s arse after sitting on a cactus.  I can see Fable Fury appealing to his wife and others who are ready to dip their toes into the dark, cryptic waters of fantasy gaming.  It’s easy and it’s funny.  A lot of attention has been paid to making almost every moment a smirk-some affair, both in the art and the text. I think it’s a great young family game too, as long as mum and dad have a little experience of modern board games, set up in advance (there are 23 steps) and guide their kids through.

If you approach this game as a puzzle to be strategized and conquered you may end up frustrated and disappointed.   However, if you can surrender to the whims of fate and emergent story telling then you might share a memorable experience.  I say this because, in my view, story telling is Fable Fury’s core offer.  It provides the narrative pieces.  You and your friends, with a little work from your imaginations, arrange them into a unique, coherent tale.  I’m still tickled by the moment when I ‘sneezed’ out a big glob of day glow snot, to distract a vicious monster from savaging Luigi, who was lying broken and exhausted in a dark corner of it’s lair.

So, regarding the design intent, we found Fable Fury to be lighthearted, somewhat fast paced and definitely chaotic, but it didn’t deliver a satisfying, deep, co-operative experience.  It’s not for a bunch of grizzled old blokes like us, who would rather sit for three hours and devise ways of pummeling each other.  But listen, if on Christmas day, 1973 my mum had sat me and my brother down in front of Fable Fury, today I would well-up every time I went to the back of my cupboard and caught a glimpse of its ‘thousand plays’ beat up old box.  I would’ve resurrected it to play with my kids.  I wouldn’t play it now, but ah, the memories.   “Don’t be silly, darling.  Of course I’m not crying.  It’s dusty back here”.

Note: I have given this game to a casual gamer friend of mine who has 2 children, 11 and 13.  I have asked him to play this game with them over the upcoming school holidays and report their reactions.  I will update this review accordingly.

Buyers note: this is a review of the Kickstarter edition.  It is my understanding that the retail version of this game contains all of the high quality components referred to above, except for a few extra cards, the neoprene mat and the metal coins, none of which are essential to enjoy the game.  And just to be crystal clear.  The plushie in the picture is mine now.  You can’t have it!