Back when I was just a lad, I thought the only roleplaying system in the world was Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, it was a very good example of the brand becoming the product. I am less sure that is clear now that I reread it, but I choose to believe you follow me. Certainly, it was a powerful brand even if people chose not to engage with it, and I am pleased to report that the Brand is still going strong and venturing into new areas. In this case, the worker management boardgame “Lords of Waterdeep”.
The play style of Lords of Waterdeep is simple. Each player takes control of one of the Lords of Waterdeep, a fictional city in one of the Dungeons & Dragons realms (honestly can’t remember which). As a Lord of Waterdeep, with one faction at your command, it is your job to complete quests, score points and become the pre-eminent Lord of Waterdeep.
Each Lord starts with 2 meeples, agents of their faction. Oldest player, which for once wasn’t me (by 2 days), goes first. The game board is divided into various locations in the city. Some locations yield resource cubes (I choose to think of the cubes as adventurers), money, give the opportunity to perform intrigues, collect quests and you can even build more facilities within the city by sending a Meeple to the Builder’s Hall and paying the build cost. Each player places their Meeple, collecting the resources or executing the appropriate action until everyone has placed one. Then the players go round again, placing their second Meeple until everyone has finished.
Once per turn you can complete a quest. A quest might require a certain number of different coloured cubes, and gold to complete. Hand the cubes and money back in, and the quest is completed. Narratively speaking, a Lord of Waterdeep commissioned a quest, for the good of the city, hired some adventurers and basks in their glory when completed.
Play goes for 8 turns. The winner is the person with the most victory points at the end. It was a thoroughly enjoyable game, though I suspect it might become harder if you play with the same people frequently and you start to learn that each Lord of Waterdeep has different bonuses. For instance, my Lord (technically, a Lady) gets 6 extra victory points at the end for every building I controlled. If people knew that was a possibility, they might not have let me build 5. (I got rent every time someone used them as well, which was nice). For most of the Lords, bonus VP came from completing specific types of quest – such as Piety, Commerce or Warfare.
The game was a lot of fun, feeling like it was in a D & D game, but with a completely different take on things – being the quest givers, as it were, as opposed to the adventurers. The ability to build the city was fun, collecting rent from people using your buildings was fun. And some of the intrigue cards were downright nasty (I started a chain of events where everyone decided to pick on the player sitting nest to me. When I did it, it was a one off. They went hell for leather. Such bad people).
Sadly, I didn’t win. The owner of the game did. I was only 3 points behind. Not bad for someone trailing most of the game.
This experience prompted me to get the came. I purchased Lords of Waterdeep from Amazon, though you can sometimes find it for sale second hand elsewhere.
Sounds like a lot of fun. Also, I’d just like to say that I’m not sure how anyone says the word “meeples” without smiling.
You can’t say meeples without smiling.
I have read a lot of the old forgotten really novels, and always enjoyed reading about the city of waterdeep. This game sure looks like a lot of fun, and looks great as well. It is also a very interesting take on Dungeons & Dragons 😊
Agreed. I love this game. I think I read some of the forgotten realm books (I read the Drizzt trilogy where he flees Menzoberrenzen?) but we never got as far as Waterdeep. I remember the Waterdavian creatures were a big part of Neverwinter Nights
Sounds like Agricola with DnD flavor, I like it.
I believe Waterdeep is on the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms setting by the way!
I think you are right now that you mention it. I haven’t played Agricola so can’t comment on that. Thanks for reading? Glad you liked
This was the first Worker Placement game I ever bought and I absolutely love it. We still play it all the time. Incredible game and such a fantastic mythos as well! So many of the games are so close as well, like you described. It makes for a great evening.
Absolutely agree. Close and hard to call a winner as you never know who has what lord and what bonuses they get. My more recent game was less distinguished. I languished in the last place for most of the game but climbed to third (of 5) when all was counted up. Great game. Thanks for reading
So much is in the end game! It really can flip the whole game on its head. Look out for the plot “Return the Magistrates Orb” when you play again by the way, as it can be a winning card. It lets you play on a space where an opponent is already occupying. No worries. I look forward to reading more!
Thanks for the tip. I will keep an eye out next time. I post Mondays and Fridays now, so you don’t have long to wait. Tomorrow, it’s a post about building a gaming group for rpg, part of an on going series. Do you have a blog too? I am on my phone so have limited capabilities
I do have a blog, also about gaming – startyourmeeples.wordpress.com – there’s a great gaming community online. Lots of us about. I’m looking forward to the post as I have been an RPG gamer since I was around seven years old, but have often struggled to find a group.
I hope it helps though it is more about choosing the right folks. Yes, there is. I will have a look tomorrow. It’s late here now and I am quite tired. Thanks again for following and I hope I will hear from you again
I do have a blog, also about gaming – startyourmeeples.wordpress.com – there’s a great gaming community on WordPress. Lots of us about. I’m looking forward to the post as I have been an RPG gamer since I was around seven years old, but have often struggled to find a group.