Tales of Danger #1: Days of Discovery
Today we’re checking out Tales of Danger: Days of Discovery – the first game in the Tales of Danger series by Matt Worden. Days of Discovery is a card drafting and hand management game about gaining sponsors, preparing for, and eventually executing a voyage to discover the Land of Danger. Let’s get to it.
Production
From a materials perspective, the game is well made. All of the cards are printed well on good stock with consistent colors. I love the graphic design of the box. It looks like a book when set on a shelf, and should look really nice when the rest of the series is complete. I do wish there was a little more attention to the inside of the box though. I wouldn’t say it is unnecessarily large, but there aren’t any dividers or inserts to keep things in place – the cards kind of just float around inside the box. The most frustrating part is that it would have been extremely easy to fix this.
I don’t say this often, but I’m not the biggest fan of the illustrations in this game. I can’t put my finger on exactly why. I don’t have the most artistic eye, or more accurately, my vocabulary for describing art is lacking. Whatever the reason, it just doesn’t click for me. It kind of reminds me of the old mobile game from the early 2000’s called Tradewinds. I liked the mechanics, but the art just wasn’t for me. Thankfully, pictures are a thing, so you can see what the art looks like for yourself.
Setup and Rules
Setup for the game is easy. Set out the number of sponsors that correspond to the player count, making sure the proper side is face up. Shuffle everything else, and deal out a row of cards. Depending on the variant, you start with some or no cards in your hand. That’s it.
The game actually comes with two rule books – one for the standard multiplayer rules, and one for the solo rules. This had me initially pretty excited, as I was going to play a solo game first. Unfortunately, the first thing the solo rule book says is “go read the multiplayer rule book”. I feel like this happens a lot in games that offer solo modes, and it really annoys me. Rule books aren’t computer code – it’s okay to not be quite as efficient in order to more useful and readable to the player. I wish the entirety of the rules was reproduced in the solo book – it would have added a few pages, but prevented me from having to juggle two rule books. Especially considering the game really seems to play best solo. That said, the rules are otherwise pretty clear about the flow of the game, and don’t leave too many questions unanswered.
Gameplay
The really cool thing about Days of Discovery is that it uses the same deck of cards for three distinct acts. These acts are kind of like mini games in themselves, but all work together for the overall narrative. I really, really like how it works. You’ll notice the cards in this game have all kinds of icons on them. Don’t worry. You only have to pay attention to a few icons at once. These sets of icons are what make the three acts work and play differently.
The first act is about securing sponsors for your journey, presenting them with evidence and maps of the area you want to explore. The icons you’ll be paying attention to in this section are the scrolls, maps, and sponsor icons (in the red ribbon). Each sponsor has a corresponding sponsor icon, as well as maps and evidence they need to be persuaded to support your journey. Each player can draft two people from the pool up to their hand max, which defaults to 7 but changes based on the sponsor you secure.
! In the solo version, you need at least one matching “Insider” to secure a sponsor. Insiders will display stars around the matching sponsor icon. The solo version also combines acts one and two, and allows you to secure multiple sponsors while building up your supplies, if desired. !
After securing a sponsor, you move to the second act, which is about gathering a crew and supplies for the journey.
! In the solo version, you can choose to continue securing more sponsors, but risk running low on cards!
On your turn, you’ll get any “free” cards from the market with your sponsor’s symbol listed, then gather cards you want from the market based on your sponsor’s “market” value. Once everyone has hit their sponsor’s “hand limit”, play progresses to act three.
Act three is all about actually finding the Land of Danger. You’ll do this by using the supplies you gathered to deal with the challenges the different segments of your journey throw at you. First, pick a card from your hand, or draw the top card of the deck to pick your segment difficulty – this is located on the ship icon. You then reveal the number of cards listed for your segment difficulty, and must deal with the segment cost. When a player completes their fifth segment, everyone gets a final turn, and the game ends. Your final score is determined by the total number of ship icons you accumulate in act three.
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret that I’m a mechanics guy. If something functions well, I’m willing to sacrifice on aesthetics to a point. This is how I feel about Days of Discovery. Production could use some polish. I don’t particularly care for the art. But rest of the game makes up for it.
I love how much game fits into a single deck of cards. Matt managed to convey much of the process of funding, planning, and executing an ambitious journey across the seas through creative use of mechanics we’re all familiar with – drafting and hand management. The multipurpose cards present players with tough decisions – this is especially true in the solo variant, where the deck is your timer, and using a card in one way means it isn’t available for another purpose. I do think $30 is a tad on the pricey side for a card game, but it’s reasonable if the game checks all of the boxes for you. All things considered, its a solid game, and it gets point for being playable solo. Will definitely be staying on my shelf for the time being.
Review copy provided by Matt Worden
Publisher: Matt Worden
Number of Players: 1-6
Age: 12+
Price at time of Review: $30