Roll Player is a fantasy character creator game built around picking and rolling dice to optimize your stats. This game is targeted for 1-4 players ages 10 and up. The game was developed by Keith Matejka and produced by Thunderworks games. As with our other reviews, we played through Roll Player at least 5 times to get an accurate feel for the game mechanics and rhythm.
What did you think about Roll Player?
Spider: My first impression was that it looked like a lot of pieces to keep track of and that it would be a lot more complicated than it was. After the first play through it was really straight forward. It was refreshing to just play and not have to keep referring to the rulebook. The game seemed intuitive and turn play was actually pretty quick. I liked there was an element of luck. Reaching into the dice bag each time was fun, because you didn't know if you'd get what you needed to achieve your character goals.
Cat: As we play through more games, I'm learning about myself. I get overwhelmed easily at first. I see all of the pieces, cards, a ton of dice and get worried about figuring out the mechanics and keeping track of everything. With that being said, the first play through I was a bit lost and it definitely took a long time to get through as we learned what everything went and felt out the rhythm of the game. I can see how my initial perspective influenced me to be more cautious and refer to the instructions regularly. The second play through was a lot more fun for me. Also, I think the second play through took about a third of the time as the first. As usual, I kept the instruction guide as a companion on the table, but didn't really need to reference after the second play. I really liked the game and I think it was a great game to help me get over my typical initial responses of being overwhelmed.
What did you think about the fantasy theme?
Spider: I thought the theme was great. I thought it was a brilliant idea to make a game of the character creation aspect. Like, when I get a new video game, I spend a lot of time just creating my character. I always hope the character creation option is in depth. I want a lot of options. I loved the backstory, alignment, and class interplay with my character. I found myself actually thinking about what the character would do and then choosing my actions based on those goals.
Cat: I thought the theme was great. I love fantasy video games, movies, and books. The randomness of picking a die from the bag to determine class was great. I also loved the randomness in getting an alignment and a backstory. Looking back at the characters I created through our playthroguhs, I definitely chuckle a little bit. One fun thing that we added in were random name generators. Getting to pick a name for our characters was hilarious. It's something I recommend to add in for an extra touch.
In the picture below is a Halfling, Champion, Warrior, with the backstory of the Chosen One. Based on one of our random name generators, she was Bertrada Underburrow. It's funny to see the random combinations of elements. As I played the game I enjoyed trying to balance the placement of dice to align with the backstory along with the arithmetic of the class card goals. All the while, I was trying to optimize the alignment card points by choosing skills and traits to help me move my marker. That's another part of the game I loved. The end of game scoring was so easy. Just go through each of the sections and tally with your point marker on the back of the play through card.
Do you think this game would be good for kids?
Spider: I think that depends on age and maturity. I don't really think this game is good for little kids. Kids will love the orcs, weapons, and armor and then want the combat. If you get a kid that likes the character creation aspect, then the game would be awesome for them. I think the arithmetic involved in choosing where to place the dice involved great strategy. Whoever plays, kid or adult, has to build their reasoning and strategy. So, the thought development in the game is great.
I also thought that it's a great way to start conversations with kids about their personal characteristics. As a player builds their character it's easy to talk to kids about building their personal character and what is important. You can choose to talk about things like the alignments, or the backstory. You can bring up conversation about the traits cards. Kids can reflect on these aspects and see how they relate to themselves. What do they want from life? How can they build their character in the ways that they want? How do they want to be represented?
Cat: Yeah, loved the conversations we had with Squid about the character development. I thought it was a clever opportunity to reach out to her as a kid about to be a teenager. Talking about the alignments of chaotic versus lawful, or good versus evil made conversation easy to flow. We could talk about the characters we were creating and then ask her for her
opinions about her ideals, and why one thing would be important over the other. It was fun to also talk about how we thought the backstories might contribute to the alignment goals. I think making up stories about the characters was as much fun as hunting for different dice.
What did you think about the quality of the materials?
Spider: I liked the thickness of our character boards. I liked the insets for the dice so they didn't roll around and change. I thought that was clever. I felt like the components were sturdy. It seemed like there was a lot of love put into the game.
Cat: I loved the boards and the notes on them to help organize the set up. I liked how they identified where to put the skills, weapons, armor, and traits. I absolutely loved the art. Based on the video games we've played, the books I've read, and the fantasy movies we've watched I could recognize common characters. I swear Gollum from Lord of the Rings was the inspiration for the obsessed trait. It was so much fun to see these characters we all know and love, but identify them based on character traits and not by name.
Overall Impressions
Very easy to learn and the flow was intuitive
Helpful explanations in the rule books
Great opportunities to talk about personality and character development with kids and each other
Fantastic art
Spider:
Cat:
Rating Scale
Would not buy or play again
Would not buy but would play again
Would buy and play again, but only occasionally
Would buy and play again in normal rotation