The Red Dragon Inn
The Red Dragon Inn
From: Slugfest Games
Reviewed by:W. E. Mitchell
The Red Dragon Inn is a new fantasy title from Slugfest Games.
The Red Dragon Inn answers the question of what is the party to do once the Dark Lord has been defeated and his many eyed hench-things are weeping floods of salty tears in forgotten dungeons. This game allows two to four players to gamble away their blood money and consume copious amounts of fantasy themed cocktails. Last one able to stagger out the door with some gold still in their scripts is the winner.
From the box:
“The adventure’s over, but the party’s just getting started!”
The Red Dragon Inn is built around the idea of what a party does after their adventure is complete. Players pick one of four characters of standard D&D flavor classes and tries to be the last character to not pass out and not go broke. Each character has its own deck that the player’s hands are built from.
Players can choose from four different characters. Additional character decks can be purchased from SlugFest Games to expand the number of people who can play. The characters included are:
Diedre the Priestess, her goddess keeps her protected from physical harm, but she tends to be a cheap date.
Fiona the Volatile, a hot headed fighter so she can down the drinks and take the licks with the best of them, but isn’t so good at keeping her money.
Zot the Wizard, a wizard of the first order, great at cards and hurting others, but his familiar has a taste for flesh.
Gerki the Sneak, a lovable rogue who has an impressive winning streak at gambling. His deck has seven aces.
Each character has pros and cons and lots of flavor. The different abilities translate as to what action cards are available in the deck. Fiona hates bikini jokes, Gerki has a ton of cheat cards that let him win at gambling, and Zot uses his magic to mess with people. Any action that a player chooses has the possibility to be canceled, altered or redirected by a specific card that their opponent may have in their hand.
From the back of the box:
“Drink, gamble, and roughhouse with your friends. But don’t forget to keep an eye on your gold.”
Play consists of using one of the character specific cards to mess with the other players or initiate a round of gambling, giving another player a drink from the Drink Deck, and then consuming a drink themselves. Drinking involves flipping over a drink card and following the instructions there on, which usually means advancing the alcohol counter. If the alcohol counter meets the fortitude counter, the colors swirl and a dirt nap calls. Once passed out, the player is out of the game and any remaining gold gets split between the hefty bar tab and the rest of the players. This is one of the few things that I dislike about this game. When somebody passes out, or loses all of their money, they are out of the game. If this happens early enough, the player can spend quite a while with nothing to do but watch the other players. The majority of money lost comes when one of the players initiates a round of gambling.
Gambling in The Red Dragon Inn is a special round that each player must pay a gold piece once a player has initiated a round of gambling. The mechanic is straightforward. Each character deck has various amounts of gambling cards that allow you to take control of a hand, raise, cheat, punch cheaters in the face, etcetera. This tends to be where friendships will be strained by the yellow sheen of pretend gold, inflaming the imaginary nostrils of theoretical greed. Whoever played the last card, taking control of the hand, wins the pot, unless somebody plays the card that makes the serving wench take the pot instead. If a player loses all of their gold, then they’re out.
In conclusion,
This game can be a fun diversion for a regular group of RPG players when something different is called for or a critical player fails to show. Despite the flaw of it being an elimination game, it is still a blast to toss back Dwarven Ales and pass out headlocks. But this game transcends any possible flaws when made into a drinking game (21 years of age and up)! When a drink is called for, a shot is downed. Try not to die!
For more details on SlugFest Games and their Fantasy title, “The Red Dragon Inn” check them out at their website http://slugfestgames.com/, and at all of your local game stores.
Codex Rating: 16
Product Summary
The Red Dragon Inn
From: SlugFest Games
Type of Game: Fantasy
Game Design by:
Cliff Bohm
Geoff Bottone
Cold FuZion Studios
Colleen Skadl
Additional Development by:
Jeff Morrow
Art by:
Kennon James
Doug Kovacs
Rhonda Libbey
Beth Trott
Cold FuZion Studios
Game Components Included:
- 4 unique 40 card player decks
- 1 30 card Drink deck
- 4 Player Templates
- 4 Fortitude markers
- 4 Alcohol Content markers
- 50 Gold Coin tokens
- Rules book for The Red Dragon Inn
Retail Price: $37.99(US)
Retail Price: $42.99 (Can)
Number of Players: 2 – 4
Player Ages: 10-115
Play Time: 45 minutes
Item Number: 9780976914419
ISBN: 0-9769144-1-7
Email:
SlugFestGames AT gmail DOT com
Website: http://slugfestgames.com/games/rdi/rdi-1/
Reviewed by: W. E. Mitchell
About the author
William Mitchell (William)
Aspiring autodidactic raconteur from the wilds of North Carolina in the former Democrat Republic of America. Survivor of mid-Western Winters, South West Summers and the Apocalypse of 2012.
