I play a lot of games. (OK, I’ll admit it – I play [and own] a ridiculous number of games.) I’ve spent some pretty ridiculous amounts of time & energy playing some of them over & over again.

But the 31+ hours spent playing Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread over the past 7 weeks is a big deal, even in my particularly skewed way of enjoying games. I’ve actually been away from home for 3 of those weeks (due to work & family stuff + Gulf Games), which makes the hours I’ve spent even more unusual.

And it’s been worth it. While I’m only about two-thirds of the way through the campaign, Arydia is well on its way to being my #1 new game of 2025… and one of the most delightful board game experiences I’ve had in a long time. 

Over the next few paragraphs, I’ll attempt to explain why it’s so enjoyable… and (for extra credit), actually name a few other gaming experiences I’ve found enchanting.

I Was A Teenage Dungeon Master

Arydia is what is often called a “tabletop role-playing game” (which is usually shortened to TTRPG, because some people love nothing more than turning things into acronyms). My trip through the more serious parts of the boardgaming hobby began with wargames (Avalon Hill and SPI in particular) – but took a serious turn into fantasy gaming thanks to Dungeons & Dragons (yes, often referred to by the acronym D&D).

For roughly three years “back in the day” I ran a rag-tag group of adventurers through a variety of dungeons & forests set in a fantasy world of my own creation. Armed with the board from AH’s Outdoor Survival (the map of “the world”) and the ‘blue box’ edition of the D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) basic rules, I spent most of my free time (and some of my class time) drawing dungeons & creating stories in preparation for marathon Saturday gaming sessions & quick one-shot adventures on weekdays after school.

(Note: I’ll give you a hint about a more specific definition of “back in the day” – I named my favorite Dwarf character ‘Ecnad Tsal’. Read his name backwards and remember that I actually owned the MacArthur Park Suite extended single by Donna Summer on vinyl.)

Our crew never got into miniatures – I think because of economics rather than my current excuse, “the fear of painting.” Similar reasons kept us from playing too many of the “official” modules – the primary ones I remember are The Village of Hommlet (T1) and the Giant trilogy. (I’m still cheesed off that TSR didn’t publish T2 – The Temple of Elemental Evil – until years after I’d stopped playing D&D.) I vividly remember spending my hard-earned allowance money on the first Monster Manual, Player’s Handbook, and Dungeon Master’s Guide… and using the information in those books to dream up even more diabolical adventures.

I’ve continued to enjoy fantasy games… particularly those that captured some of the flavor of D&D. For a while, we played Talisman (2nd edition) on a regular basis. Then there was Warlock of Firetop Mountain… and even Space Hulk, which always had a bit of a dungeon crawl meets Aliens feel to the game. Another favorite was Dungeonquest, which I foolishly sold (along with both expansions) back in the mid-90’s. Thanks to the generosity of Keith “I Used To Be A Neutral Good Monk In Mark’s D&D Game” Monaghan and the kindness of Kevin Gonzalez,  I have the game & expansions back in my collection. In the early 90’s, I bought the entire 3rd edition Talisman set… and we spent many happy hours chasing around the board, attempting to defeat the monsters & avoid getting turned into a toad. (Weirdly enough, I never actually played Heroquest until last year – wonder how that happened?)

Most of those are gone now… Warlock, Space Hulk & Talisman (3rd) all sold at hopped-up E-bay prices to enlarge my oddball collection of “German” games. Every once in a while, I get a hankering to play them, but not enough to give up the pile of other games that they financed. (Dungeonquest, OTOH, is still here… and gets played every 3-4 months or so.)

The same “wish I could level up a character” impulse has led to my complete & total enjoyment of Return of the Heroes (and it’s expansion, Under the Shadow of the Dragon)… and, to a lesser extent, my sort-of enjoyment of Klaus Teuber’s Candamir: The First Settlers (which is a weird cross between The Settlers of Catan & an RPG.) The release of Knizia’s Lord of the Rings didn’t feature “leveling” but did include great variety through the use of expansions and an abstract design that wore the “Tolkien” costume with style.

At later points, that led me to Descent: Journeys in the Dark (particularly the 2nd edition), Prophecy, Runebound (3rd edition), Mage Knight, Legacy of Dragonholt, Clank!, Roll Player (and Roll Player Adventures), and the crunch-y goodness of Andrew Park’s Dungeon Alliance. 

And as much as I enjoy and play many of those games, Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread does a better job of capturing the feel of those early days of D&D better than any of them.

What Works So Well About Arydia?

I’ve had (as noted above) a number of hours to think about this question… and while I’m not convinced that I’ve got all of the answers, I think the following elements play key roles in creating the enchantment I’m feeling.

• The Far Off Games team took elements from a variety of well-designed board & video games and put them together like a well-oiled machine to dispense gaming fun.
  • This should not be a surprise, as their previous sandbox game (Xia: Legends of a Drift System) is amazing as well.
• The use of multiple card decks (Arydia actually has nine [9!] active card decks plus a variety of reference cards) weaves a tapestry of stories and characters into the world – and every card is double-sided.
  • Better yet, all of the reference & foe cards have a FAQ on the back of their cards, helping answer questions and clear up issues without resorting to endless searches through the rulebook.
• The world maps punchable hexes (much like the Ravensburger adventure games) to reveal their secrets as you explore… and then the various map sets (there are four of them in four different sizes) create the actual battlefields and encounter spaces for your adventuring party.
  • The development of adventuring party maps is used in a variety of clever ways that I want to avoid describing in order to keep from spoiling the surprises in store.
• Foe miniatures are revealed in an Advent-calendar-like system… and the paint jobs & sculpts are really well-done. (Again, I’ve avoided pictures of those so you can enjoy the wonder of opening them yourself.)
• The combat system uses a card deck for foe actions and a single die for foe attacks – and that die tells you where your character has been hit.
  • There are four different foe attack dice, depending on the size and nature of their attack.
  • Hits are blocked (wholly or partially) by the armor your character is wearing in that spot – and each hit creates wear on that armor.
• The combat system for player characters uses weapons and a d20 + modifiers to determine how big a hit you put on the foe.
  • Each foe has a different pattern of places to be hit – including weak points that trigger other effects as well as armored points… and then there’s [redacted for your enjoyment as you play the game].
• The game is not all fighting & avoiding traps – which tend to be the easiest things to create for TTRPGs. I’ve experienced interesting puzzles, an investigation or two, and I’m still trying to work out what the heck is going on in the middle of the [redacted for your enjoyment as well]. 
• The story threads that run throughout the game show up not only at specific locations but also in your travels – and the sheer number of quests & encounters is part of the charm of the game.
  • I hesitate using the word “sandbox”, as there are some definite points the game is aiming you towards… but the order in which you get there is completely up to your party.
• There is a role-playing element to the game – each NPC card includes hints at acting out the character and responses to inquiries about particular questions.
  • Since I’m primarily playing solo, I miss some of that element, but they are well-written and well-designed.
• The leveling system feels like it’s perfectly tuned – my Dwarven fighter (on the Path of Valor) and my Lunari ranger (on the Path of Wandering) are growing in skills and equipment at the right pace to enjoy the new challenges in the game.
  • Note: there are some challenges/foes that appear earlier in the game that you should not engage when you’re substantially below their level… I found that out the hard way.
• The amount of development of the design is incredibly impressive – the FAQ/errata is tiny for a game with 900+ cards and 300+ adventure maps.

But Isn’t It Expensive?

The short answer is “yes” – my Kickstarter pledge was $240 (which included the Small Bodies add-on and the Epic Hunt expansion). The per hour cost, however, is down to approx. $7.50/hour… and it will continue to drop. 

There were some complaints about not offering more “retail-friendly” editions of the game when the Kickstarter originally ran – some folks wanted unpainted miniatures or cardboard tiles. I’m glad that Cody & the team at Far Off Games chose to make the game they wanted to make – as the completed product works together (minis, cards, production quality, design) to make for a tremendous gaming experience.

Solo?

I play a lot of games solo – in fact, I’ve written extensively about that here on the OG site. I knew that the design team had tested the game as a solo game and felt good about promoting it that way. 

I’ve found it to be an excellent solo experience. The only thing that gets “lost” is the RPG element of interaction with some of the NPC characters… with that exception, it works like a charm.

Green Legacy?

The phrase in the rulebook calls this a “green legacy” game – meaning that everything in the game can be reset so it can be played again. There are story elements that will be difficult to forget – but the six different character paths (I’m only using two of them) and the nine different character types (I’m only using two of them as well) mean there is a lot of replayability in the system. Additionally, not all encounters are tied to a location – meaning the order in which you find them will vary each game.

Finally, I can see myself enjoying this as a player/croupier with a new group – helping to keep everything moving and by the rules, but avoiding making choices so I can enjoy two experiences: the fun of playing again and getting to watch other folks delight in the twists, turns, and surprises.

Final Thoughts

If you enjoy fantasy campaign games, I cannot recommend this highly enough. In fact, I’m done writing for today – I’ve got a Dwarf and a Lunari who are still trying to figure out a couple of maps who need to keep at it.

Extra Credit

There are so many wonderful game experiences in my nearly 55 years of playing board games – my grandmother teaching me to riffle shuffle, getting hotel security called on for a particularly raucous game of Pit at 2 a.m., playing Waldschattenspiel in a pitch black youth retreat kitchen at my very first Gulf Games, beating Tom Lehmann & Daryl Andrews to win the 2013 Can’t Stop tournament at the Gathering… the list goes on.

But there’s a few that REALLY stand out

• Opening the first box in Risk Legacy with my Fresno Gamers friends
• My younger son & I playing Return to Dark Tower five times in 2.5 days when it first arrived
• My first game of Catan with the college bible study crew from Dalewood Baptist Church

Go make some of your own memories now!

Thoughts from the Opinionated Gamers

Alan How: I’ve bought many of Cody’s games and enjoyed them all to varying degrees. But what sets this one apart is the level of detail and forethought in the design. There are some brilliant aspects such as the map system, the discovery of the new foes and the levelling up system, which Mark has already described. There has been some running back to the base to recover which is slightly tedious, but this is generally pretty quick and doesn’t slow the game down by too much. 

The feeling of exploration and discovery is ever present while the combat system makes you work out what weapon to use and how to damage your enemy effectively. I enjoyed this aspect of the puzzle within an amazing setting. It’s beautifully created and astonishingly well crafted all of which makes the experience so much more enjoyable.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Mark Jackson, Alan How
• I like it.  
• Neutral. 
• Not for me…

As noted, I did not recieve a review copy of this game… I plunked down my own cash to back the Kickstarter.