Board Game Geek Rating: 5.58
Board Game Geek Avg Player Rating: 6.61
Players: 1 to 6
Published: 2016
Content Notes:  Retail Edition of Ravingspire Board Game. Includes Ravingspire retail core game. 

Ravingspire is a combination deck building and tactical board game. The adventure takes place on a rotating tower board, which represents the labyrinthine Tower of Ravingspire. Players control individual heroes who need to gather resources, equip weapons and armor, align the secret passages within the spire, and traverse upwards to the keep where a great treasure is rumored to be held.

REWARDS

Special card set for Ravingspire, The Vorpal Chainsword Expansion, made available only to Kickstarter Backers.

What is Ravingspire? 

RAVINGSPIRE is a combination deck building and tactical board game, based in a land of Swords and Sorcery. The adventure takes place on a rotating tower board, which represents the labyrinthine Tower of Ravingspire. Players control individual heroes who need to gather resources, equip weapons and armor, align the secret passages, and traverse upwards to the Spire Keep where a great treasure is rumored to be held. But not all is as it seems within Ravingspire, as time and space are but playthings to the ancient lord of that haunted place!

Ravingspire comes beautifully packaged in a book-shaped box. When you place it upon your bookshelf, it resembles the leather-bound spellbook of the dark wizard, Ravingspire. It will truly stand apart from other board game boxes.

Rotate the Tower Levels to align the Secret Passages

During their explorations the Heroes will utilize three primary statistics: Fight, Skill, and Charm, in order to face adversaries, gather treasure and weapons, and find a way into the Spire Keep. Along the way they must try to maintain their sanity as they battle foes within Ravingspire, including dark reflections of themselves.  

How do you play Ravingspire?

The game combines an advanced deck-building mechanic used to level your Hero, with movement on a rotating tower board, representing the exploration of a mad wizard’s tower.

Before the game begins, players choose a Hero Character who has become trapped within the tower. There are three classes of hero: Reaver, Rogue, and Runelord, and three individual characters of each class, making for nine total starting Hero characters, five male and four female. Each character has their own beautifully-illustrated character card and unique Battle Mat.   

Game Setup – Video

Each player then takes the Battle Mat that corresponds to their character. The Battle Mats track the character’s sanity level as well as provide equipment slots the Hero can utilize. A Hero’s equipment slots allow them to save cards of a certain type from turn-to-turn, representing their special abilities and skill set. Rogues can carry more Objects and tools, while Reavers will be able to slot more Weapons and Armor. For Runelords the Battle Mat is especially important, as they can generate free power to spend each turn by slotting magical Relics.    

  Save cards on your Battle Mat to use against powerful Foes!

The players prepare their starting deck and place the tokens representing their characters on the outer Dungeon Level of the board. The Tower board consists of three levels: Dungeon (Outer Ring), Temple (Middle Ring) and Spire (Inner Ring). Around the Tower board is a larger circle called the Encounter Ring where the Encounter cards are played. The Encounter Ring is made up of three segments, each representing the Dungeon, Temple, or Spire level of the board.

At the start of the game the Dungeon level is dealt one Tower card, which gives special options for players while on that level, as well as the Encounter cards which represent the items and creatures the character encounters.    

Gameplay Example – Video

The lower half of each Encounter card is represented by three statistics: Fight, Skill, and Charm, arranged in a triangle surrounded by the vines of Yggdrasil. In the center of the triangle in red is the card’s Brute Force value. Players may collect Encounter cards (or defeat Adversary cards) by spending resources from their Battle Deck, thus building their Battle Deck. Once an Encounter Card is obtained, the upper half of the encounter card is used by the player.    

Some Encounter Cards represent creatures and traps haunting the halls of Ravingspire. When these are on the same level as a player they can drain the sanity of the character. If the character is able to defeat an adversary, then they may receive a Loot card. Each loot card has a Vorpal value instead of one of the three power values. Vorpal values are considered wild, and may be used as either Fight, Skill, or Charm.    

Heroes cannot tarry on any level for too long, however, as deadly Foes haunt the halls of Ravingspire. Foes are summoned to the board by Chaos cards. If a Foe reaches a player, that player must battle the Foe on their next turn instead of exploring the Tower. Foes represent evil ex-heroes who have gone mad and now hunt all who enter the Tower. 

 

Battling Adversaries and Foes – Video

Each time a character loses sanity it is marked on their sanity track. If that track ever reaches zero, then the character has gone temporarily mad, and the collective Madness track lowers by one. If the collective Madness track ever reaches zero, then all the players lose the game.    

 Sanity and Madness – Video

The player’s goal is to find a Tower Key and unlock the inner Spire Keep. To do this a player will explore the tower levels, defeat adversaries, gather equipment, and align portals between levels. Once they reach the Spire with a Tower Key they will face one of five random endings.   

Funded Stretch Goal Details

5 sealed Endgame Spire Cards, doubling the number of unique possible endings.

Include a comic book style deluxe rulebook will make immersion into the world of Ravingspire complete.

Add a rotating tower board map with more three-dimensionality / depth – making the climb to the Spire even more of an adventure!

3-D Rotating Gameboard – Stretch Goal Video

Add a card expansion pack the rumors of a time-traveling gunslinger lost in the tower come to life! This expansion will add 1 new Tower card, 2 new adversary cards, 2 new weapon cards, 2 new object cards, 2 new relic cards, 2 new dungeon cards, 2 new armor cards, 2 new loot cards, 2 new chaos cards, and 1 new Foe card to the game. All originating from a mysterious time known as: “The Old West.” 

 

Replace the cardstock book boxes with wooden ones with magnetic clasps for Ravingspire. These game boxes will look fantastic on any game shelf or bookcase!

Wooden Book-Style Box – Stretch Goal Video

– Bonus Stretch Goals –

Add Wooden boxes for Ravingspire! Receive a deluxe version of Ravingspire with a wooden box, 3D Gameboard, 1 Kickstarter exclusive expansion pack, a beautiful color rulebook, the First expansion pack – the Old West, and twice as many (final boss) Spire cards.

Add more card expansions for Ravingspire and include them as Kickstarter backers bonus stretch goals.

Finally, rumors of a mystical baby stolen by the Queen of Goblinkind has reached ears of the Heroes. It is said that with the magic the child possesses the Lady of Goblins can take over the Tower of Ravingspire and unleash its dark power to destroy the human realm! This card expansion will add a playable Hero Card, 1 new Tower card, 2 new adversary cards, 2 new weapon cards, 2 new object cards, 2 new relic cards, 2 new dungeon cards, 1 new armor card, 2 new loot cards, 2 new chaos cards, and 1 new Foe card to the game.

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Some helpful and fun related videos Video courtesy of Ravingspire – Assault on the Tower of Madness – YouTube The official commercial for the Ravingspire board game by Vorpal Chainsword … Lords of Waterdeep Review ….