Back in 2021, fellow BGQ reviewer and all around swell guy James reviewed the roll and write board game Rolling Realms. Published by Stonemaier Games (Wingspan, Scythe), Rolling Realms is an infinitely player scalable game that has you rolling dice and marking boxes in a dozen “realms” themed around Stonemaier games. Overall he thought it was a good game, but held back by its theme.
Fast forward to today and we’ll be looking at Rolling Realms Redux. No, this isn’t a second edition of the previous game. Instead, it’s a standalone expansion that, instead of featuring Stonemanier Games for its realms, focuses on games from other publishers catalogs (and public domain ones).
Gameplay Overview:
If you’ve played the original Rolling Realms, you can skip right down to the next section and the gameplay is identical (and fully compatible). For the new, here is a quick rundown of the gameplay.
The twelve realms cards are shuffled and three are drawn. Each player will use these three realms for this round of play, which consists of 9 turns. Each turn, 2 dice are rolled, and players will use those two numbers on 2 of their 3 realms (1 die per realm).
Each realm will have its own way to score points. In addition to that, you’ll also gain ways to earn pumpkins, hearts, and coins. These can be spent to generally manipulate the dice and mark off extra boxes.
After the 9th round, each player’s score on the 3 realms is totaled, and another 3 realms are dealt out (discarding the previously used ones). Another round is played, and after the 3 round, the player with the highest score is the winner.
Game Experience:
I originally didn’t pay much attention to Rolling Realms because the theme didn’t do much for me. I don’t actually own very many Stonemaier games, so the thought of rolling dice and playing through cards based on Tapestry, Wingspan, and Euphoria didn’t really appeal to me. But when I heard that Rolling Realms Redux had branched out into other publisher’s games, I was a lot more intrigued.
While I won’t list all of them, some of the realms come from games I really enjoy: Legacy of Yu, Guild of Merchant Explorers, Planet Unknown, and Wondersland’s War to name a few. Since getting this copy, I’ve played through all of the realms and there is definitely some nice variety here. Some realms are more complicated than others though, so you can expect a bit of a learning curve for your first couple of plays. Surprisingly, the realm based on Poker is fairly complex, with it having a decent chunk of rules overhead in the compendium.
But I really liked how the designers drew inspiration from the games these realms are based on. Obviously, with only 2 dice and a few boxes, things will need to be abstracted/simplified, but you can see the original theme poking through here. For example, Guild of Merchant Explorers will have you moving across the hex map trying to reach different points, while Legacy of You will have you slowly building your way down the river.
One of the goals Jamey Stegmaier had when designing Rolling Realms, which was done during the COVID pandemic, was to make the game playable anywhere (IE: over a Zoom call) and be infinitely scalable. So you can play this one solo, with your gaming group, or with 99 other friends. That being said the trade-off is lack of player interaction. It’s basically score chase here as you are either trying to beat your opponent’s score or your high score if playing solo.
Speaking of solo, as is standard with Stonemaier games, there is an Automata booklet to provide a meatier solo experience. Oddly enough it’s actually way more complex than the base game. Called RRR Ball Tournament, you play over a series of seasons in 5 leagues against bot players. The rulebook itself is a dozen pages long and even includes rules for promotion and regulation. It was more than I was looking for in a solo mode for this game, so I didn’t try it, but it’s there for solo players who really want something more complex, it might be what you are looking for.
But one of the best things about Rolling Realms Redux (and the original) is that everything is fully compatible with each other. There are now 66 realms you can buy (either in the Rolling Realms box, Redux, or standalone packs) each with a variety of themes. Pick the ones that intrigue you the most and mix them all together. Interestingly, the Rolling Realms Redux box is oversized, so it should hold many of these extras nicely. But even smarter by Stonemaier, was the inclusion of a travel box in case you want to grab a few realms on the go. Top marks for that idea.
Final Thoughts:
The core gameplay of Rolling Realms Redux is pretty solid and can be quite thinky at times. I love how they branched off into other publisher’s games and I’ve already spent time browsing Stonemaier Games’ website to see what other offerings they have ( I’m looking at you, Millennium Blades). Overall I think this system has come a long way in the years since James first reviewed it, and the future for this system seems bright. For fans of the Roll and Write genre, it’s a great addition.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – An easy-to-play roll and write game that, while it lacks player interaction, has a lot of thematic options.
Hits:
• New thematic options are fun
• Easy to learn
• Can be played with any number of players
Misses:
• No player interaction
• Some realms feel more complicated than they should be
