Penny Arcade's Thornwatch Board Game Merges Fantasy RPGs With Comic Books

Penny Arcade and Lone Shark Games has released Thornwatch: Eyrewood Adventures, a new board game that merges elements of traditional fantasy RPGs with the aesthetics and feel of a living graphic novel.

Thornwatch is set in the world first seen in the Penny Arcade comic "May We Die in the Forest," a world where both mundane and magical creatures live in a planet-covering forest. In Thornwatch, one player takes the role of the "Judge" - a DM-like character that controls both the NPCs and monsters. The other players take on the role of the Thornwatch, a group of immortal and violent spirits that only emerge when summoned to fight extremely dangerous creatures.

Thornwatch is described as a "graphic novel adventure," due to both Penny Arcade's distinctive art style and the interesting modular set up of the game. All the pieces use Mike Krahulik's artwork, and the individual scenarios are explained to players via comic pages. Plus, the board is put together using modular pieces that give the entire game a feeling of a comic.

Gameplay centers on the Thornwatch fighting corrupted creatures and rescuing innocents. Players have a deck of cards that contain both energy and special actions. One of the unique parts of Thornwatch is that players can use certain actions on other players' turns, giving them extra benefits or attacks. Players roll dice when determining damage, but there's a chance that the dice will also give the Judge "ebb," which is used to power the monster's special abilities.

Turn order is decided by a separate "momentum track" made up of cards representing the players, NPCs, and monsters, and is shuffled and re-ordered at the start of every turn. While the Thornwatch are nearly unkillable, both the NPCs and monsters can be wounded and sent further down the momentum track. Once they're on the very last spot in the momentum track, they're described as "on the edge" and can finally be killed.

There's a roleplaying element to Thornwatch too. Players are given two traits (ranging from "merry" to "reckless") and the judge can reward them with a bonus dice if the group feels that the player has successfully role-played one of their traits.

Thornwatch can be played either as an ongoing campaign, complete with side missions and damage that stacks over time, or as a series of one-shot adventures. Thornwatch can be played with 3-6 players and requires minimal setup or teardown. If you're looking for an outlet for your Dungeons & Dragons needs, give Thornwatch a try.

Thornwatch's base game costs $79.95, and the game's first expansion The Dark of the Wood costs an additional $39.95.