One thing we always love is when fans tell us Thunderstone’s thematic depth makes it feel like you’re really going down in to the dungeon and beating up on some monsters. Thunderstone isn’t a roleplaying game, but it strikes the right chord for fantasy RPGs.

That’s why, when we discovered a network of RPG bloggers doing a monthly review of boardgames, we knew Thunderstone would be a perfect fit.

January is Thunderstone month! Check out the monster group of reviews at these fine RPG blogs:

Roving Band of Misfits

RPG Musings

The Dread Gazebo

Wombat’s Gaming Den of Iniquity

Going Last

The Learning DM

Glimm’s Workshop

Geek Ken

Undergopher Central

Ihe Id DM

Welcome back to the Guardian! Curt Crane here to give you a sneak peek on a new ally to help guide you through the world of Tala …

… but before we do that, let’s look back to one of the big changes we made to the starting cards – namely, the Thunderstone shards.

Thunderstone Shards can have a dramatic impact on the early game. Basically, they encourage you to set foot in the dungeon before your deck has been “optimized,” or to attack low-level monsters you might otherwise avoid.

XP is one thing that sets Thunderstone apart from some other games in the field, and part of our goal was to shine a bigger spotlight on it in this set. As a result of Thunderstone shards, you will find that XP  is more available in the game. To match this, we wanted to give you a few new options that interact with your XP pool.

XP BFF

One of these is your new best friend, your familiar.

Many Talans are already linked with familiars when you arrive. (Keep an eye out for them on the hero art!) Familiars don’t simply attach themselves to new adventurers automatically, however. First, you have to earn their respect.

Familiars start the game in a face-down pile, placed to the side of the dungeon at the game’s start.

After defeating your first monster, you may randomly choose a familiar from the stack to join you on your quest. Remember–familiars choose you, not the other way around! You never know which one you’ll end up with. (Mind you, there are variants available for those not willing to brave a random draw.) Each player can only partner with one familiar, so once you’ve drawn your familiar, you can’t get another one.

A New Experience

Your familiar stays face up in front of you until you decide to use its power. You don’t automatically discard it at the end of your turn. See the 0 XP, 3 XP, and 6 XP?  You don’t have to spend this XP to use your familiar’s abilities either. You just have to possess it. So, if you had 3 XP on you, you could use the Dire Wolf to gain Physical Attack +1. If you had 6 XP, you could use it to switch the position of any two monsters. In either case, you KEEP the experience.

Every familiar comes with three abilities: a 0 XP village ability, as well as a 3 XP and 6 XP dungeon ability. Even if you don’t want to focus on the dungeon right away, getting one kill with some starting regulars and picking up a familiar will help you manage the village more effectively.

At the end of a turn in which you use a familiar’s ability, it goes to the discard pile and (eventually) get shuffled back into your deck. Once a familiar appears in your hand, you can automatically put it back in play at the start of your turn, where it will stay until you call on it once more.

You’ll note that the familiar’s abilities are less powerful than many village cards. They’re intended to be a minor boon; to help you through a battle where you fall a bit short, or to give your starting village turns a boost. They can be a little bit much to keep up with! In fact, we recommend new players avoid using familiars for their first few games until you have the rest of the game down.

For experienced players though, you might find that familiars give you that little edge you need at just the right time.

Plus, you just can’t help but become attached to the little guys. Once they choose you, they just keep coming back.

Check back on Friday for a peek at more familiars!

by Bryan Reese

In today’s Focus on Emperor Edition, I am going to talk to you about the contents of the starter decks.

As discussed in previous articles, every starter will come with a fully functioning 40/40 deck, so I won’t bother you with that information again. Instead, let’s talk about everything else besides the 40/40 deck, four random rares, and three booster packs you will get in every starter. Some of this has been mentioned before, but will also be discussed here for completeness’ sake.

As you are probably aware, we are focusing on making Emperor Edition a premium product in where we overload you with cool components to give you a truly amazing product. Every aspect has been improved, including the packaging. Every individual starter deck will be covered with your favorite clan’s colors and artwork. Sized to hold a deck comfortably, this will be a great way to carry your deck around.

• Bio cards – When you open the box, you will notice several cards beyond those included in the deck. First we have the Bio cards, a brief description of each of the characters found in the deck. Now you can instantly find out about the characters that you are playing with.

• Koku – Each starter deck will contain a card worth 5 koku, instead of the standard 4.

• Experienced your favorite personality – Just for buying a starter deck, you can impact the story! Each starter deck will contain a card titled “Experience a Personality”. Upon purchase of your starter deck, you will have the option to mail this card, along with your favorite of the 8 non-Champion bio cards found in your starter deck to AEG. The personality whose bio card is most sent in, once for each clan, will receive an experienced version in a future expansion. All envelopes must be postmarked by April 30^th, 2012 to be counted.

• Collect Glory for your clan – As mentioned in a previous article, we spoke of collectible cards that can be traded in for full bleed versions of Clan Champions, Strongholds, and Rings. These cards come in two forms: “Glory of the X Clan” cards and “Ring” cards, which is simply titled as one of the five elements. You can collect three “Glory” cards of a particular clan and trade them in for one fullbleed stronghold of that clan (i.e. you may trade in three Glory of the Crab cards for any one of the Crab strongholds). Or, if you collect one of each clan, you can trade all nine in for any one Clan Champion you choose. If you collect three of any particular “Ring” collectible card, you can trade them in for a fullbleed version of that ring (i.e. you may trade in three Air cards for a fullbleed Ring of Air). If you collect one of each of the “Ring” collectible cards, you may trade them in for any one of the kanji rings of your choice. Each starter deck comes with two of the Glory cards, appropriate to that starter deck, to get you started towards getting your exclusive fullbleed cards. In tournaments, in order to use any of these cards, you must have access to the correct text for your opponent to read, if they so choose.

For all Redemption Cards, please include a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope along with your cards.

• Tokens – Each starter deck is also going to come with six token sheets, generally themed to that clan. Each of these sheets have six punch out tokens that can be used to track various permanent changes in the game. Force bonuses, Wealth tokens, Sake tokens, Poison tokens (you will notice that Poison tokens are –1F/–1C), and other various tokens. These should be helpful in differentiating the different types of tokens various decks can access.

That is all for this article. We hope you will enjoy these extra features we have added. It is only one of the many ways we have upgraded our product to give you the best experience we possibly can.