Month: October 2016

As I mentioned in my review of Raven’s of Thri Sahashri, while I thoroughly enjoyed it the learning curve is sizable. The two player roles are quite different, and with unique gameplay revolving around non-verbal communication strategies for neither role are immediately apparent nor intuitive.

This is not meant as a complete substitute for the rulebook, but hopefully will be a useful gameplay guide to help make the complicated rule structure more accessible and supply a few strategy hints to help new players from feeling too overwhelmed.

Overview

Each round (“Dream”) of RoTS has two goals that must be satisfied to win:

1. The four rows in front of the Ren player (ie Ren’s “Poem”) must reach specific totals (7-7-7-5).
2. The only card colors that can be visible in the central area (“Atman”) are the colors of the four cards Ren started the Dream with.

A game of RoTS consists of three consecutive Dreams (rounds), and the players win the game if they win all three Dreams.

Game End

Players lose RoTS if

1. All five Raven cards are in Raven row.
2. The draw deck is empty at the start of Feth’s turn.
3.  Feth cannot add at least one card to the Atman on his turn
4. The Atman runs out of cards.

There are special rules for the third/final dream, which I’ll discuss later.

Setup

1. Choose which player will play Ren and which will play Feth.
2. Deal four cards to Ren.
   • These are not to be revealed to Feth.
   • There must not be any Ravens among these cards.
   • These are Ren’s “Heart cards” for the Dream, and determine which colors are allowed in the Atman at Dream’s end.
3. Ren places the four cards face down in front of her, establishing four rows to be completed.
4. Feth deals a single card in the center of the table to start the Atman.
   • Must be non-Raven.

Each Dream starts with Feth, and then turns alternate.

I’m going to concentrate on rules and strategy for things that happen within a single dream first for each player, then talk about rules and notes for a full three Dream game.

Feth’s Turn

1. Feth deals as many cards as he wants into a “Memory Row” in front of him.
2. Whenever he decides he is done, he moves any revealed Ravens directly below Memory Row into a “Raven Row.”
3. Feth then plays as many cards as he wants from Memory row into the Atman.
4. Feth’s turn then ends, and any cards left in Memory Row are discarded.

At any point during his turn, Feth may use the powers listed on any face up cards in Ren’s Poem.

Key rules for Feth

1. Cards added to the Atman must:
   • be in the same orientation as cards already in the Atman.
   • overlap at least one shaded area with a card already in the Atman.
   • have any sections that overlap with cards already in the Atman be of like type (shaded vs clear).
   • not directly completely cover another card.
   • 

     

     
   • In the above pictures, after Feth adds the purple 5 to the Atman the green 3 is completely covered, and thus does not count as part of the Atman until/unless it is later uncovered again.
2. If ever all five Ravens are in Raven Row, the game ends immediately.
3. Whenever cards are discarded, if they match the color of a Raven in Ravens Row, they go underneath that Raven instead of into the discard pile.
   • Exception to the above: any cards in Memory Row directly above a Raven already in Raven Row are “safe.” Safe cards go to the discard pile regardless of color when discarded, and safe Ravens get discarded instead of moving into Raven’s Row.
   • Example of Fen’s play area. If his turn ended like this, the red 5 would be “safe” and would go to the discard pile (with the purple 5). The yellow 1 is not “safe,” and would be placed under the yellow Raven.
4. When Feth uses a card from Ren’s Poem, that card is turned sideways and cannot be used again (unless refreshed).
5. If a card in the Atman is completely covered, it no longer counts as being part of the Atman unless/until it is visible again.
6. Reliving Memories (important): whenever Feth manages to play cards to the Atman such that an uninterrupted group of cards of the same color totaling exactly 7 is formed, he “relives one of Ren’s memories.”
   • The matching colored Raven is chased away from Raven Row (if there) for the rest of the Dream. Any cards under the Raven move to the discard pile.
   • Ren reveals one Heart card that matches the color of the relived memory.
     1. If she does, all cards in that row are “refreshed” (turned vertical) and Feth can use their powers again.

Beginning strategy notes for Feth

1. Balance drawing enough cards to provide Ren with good options to complete her poem, and being wary of drawing all five Ravens or emptying the deck.
2. Make sure he can always play at least one card to the Atman.
3. Pay attention to Ren’s clues, and as the dream progresses try to guess which colors should be present in the Atman and which colors he should be trying not to play and/or covering up.

Ren’s Turn

Mechanically Ren’s turns are much simper than Feth’s

1. Ren draws any one visible card from the Atman and either adds it to the current row of her poem or discards it. That’s it.

Key rules for Ren

1. Ren is trying to add cards to the rows of her Poem such that the totals are 7-7-7-5.
   • Totals include Ren’s Heart cards.
   • Rows must be completed in order.
     1. For example, to begin the Dream Ren can only play cards she draws from the Atman to the first row of her Poem.
     2. Once she plays a card to that first row that brings the sum of all card values in that row to 7, one the following turn she will start playing cards to the second row of her Poem.
   •  If Ren adds a card to a row that matches the color of the Heart card for that row, the Heart card is revealed to Feth.
   •  Whenever a row is completed, Ren informs the Feth player of that fact.
     1. When the fourth row is completed, Ren tells Feth whether the Dream is over or not ( depending on whether or not the Atman only shows colors in her Heart cards).
     2. If not, play continues until the players accomplish that second goal or until a loss condition is met.
2. Partially covered cards are fine to draw. Any cards over or under it remain in position, and any previously hidden cards uncovered by Ren’s draw are now considered part of the Atman again.
3. Cards Ren discards that match the color of a Raven in Raven Row go underneath the Raven as normal.
4. If Ren chooses to draw a card that can be played to the current line of her Poem, she must play it there (and cannot discard it).
5. Whenever the Atman is “split,” Ren is the one who decides which part(s) of the Atman are discarded, regardless of whose turn it happens on.
   • The Atman is split when it consists of more than one section that are not visibly connected by any overlapping cards.
   • Ren chooses one section to keep, and all others are discarded (cards are placed under Ravens as normal).
   • Remember – cards not visible are not considered part of the Atman, so there may be hidden cards underneath those being discarded that will remain on the table / become part of the Atman once the discarded sections have been removed.

Example pic of a simple Atman that could be split – if Ren draws the blue 4, the purple 5 and blue 1 will be unconnected. Ren will then choose one to discard.

Beginning strategy notes for Ren

With Feth, a player need to be mindful of several options and rules and focus on aiding Ren. In contrast, Ren’s role is to make the most out of removing a single card from the Atman each turn, both in terms of progressing towards their goals and in providing as much information to Feth as possible.

1. Removing cards from the Atman primarily of colors that aren’t in Ren’s Heart is a good way to clue Feth in about what colors can’t be in the Atman at the end of the Dream.
2. Removing/discarding high value cards from the Atman can help indicate what value(s) are need for the current row of the Poem.
   • For example, if the Atman only shows values of 3 and higher, and Ren draws and discards a 3, the Feth player knows she couldn’t play the 3 in her row because the total of the row would go over 7. That also means she can’t play any of the 4s or 5s in the current row.

Example of part of Ren’s Poem during game. From the above pic Feth knows:

1. The first Heart card is not yellow or green, and the second is not yellow.
2. The Heart card for the first row must be a 1.
3. If Ren has not announced the second row is complete, that heart card must also be a 1. If she has said it’s complete, the Heart card must be a 2.

The game beyond finishing the first dream

In between Dreams

When the players successfully complete a Dream, three key things happen:

1. Any cards underneath Ravens in Raven rows are “eaten” (removed from the game), and the players will not have use of them for the remaining Dreams.
2. Any Ravens chased away by Feth “reliving a memory” return to Raven Row.
   • If this causes all five Ravens to be in the row, the players have lost.
3. Any of Ren’s Heart cards that were revealed by Feth “reliving a memory” (NOT those revealed by Ren playing a card of the same color to that Heart card’s row) go into a “score pile” that is set aside until the final Dream.

As such Feth’s deck generally decreases in size from Dream to Dream, increasing the difficulty as the game goes on.

Final Dream

The players’ last attempt to complete Ren’s Poem and match the Atman to the colors of her Heart has additional challenges and advantages for the players. When learning the game I’d recommend not worrying about this section too much until you get there, except to understanding adding some cards to Ren’s score pile throughout the game is important.

Restrictions:

1. Ren must complete a line of her Poem on EVERY TURN, or the players lose.
2. The Atman colors must match the colors of Ren’s Heart cards at the end of Ren’s fourth turn, as the players will get no additional turns to accomplish that.

Extra abilities:

1. In addition to drawing a card from the Atman and playing it on her turn, Ren may play as many cards from her score pile as she wants to help her complete the row.
2. Cards under any Ravens Feth chases away during this Dream go into Ren’s score pile instead of the discard pile.

Hopefully this will be a useful reference. Feel free to let me know in the comments if anything is unclear.

Ravens of Thri Sahashri is an asymmetrical 2-player cooperative game that comes together quite unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Gameplay

One player takes the role of Ren, a young girl in a coma with her mind and soul being consumed by darkness, and the other plays Feth, searching through Ren’s dreams for the fragments of her fading memories that will restore her heart. The fantasy theme is a imaginative, solid framework for the game.

The two character’s mechanics are VASTLY different. Feth draws (face up) hands and builds a central repository of cards (called the Atman), from which Ren draws one card each turn to either discard or add to rows of a “poem” in front of her that starts with four hidden cards representing Ren’s heart. If the players can complete the poem and have all visible cards in the Atman matching the colors of Ren’s heart, the “dream” (round) is completed. Players must complete three dreams to win the game.

On each turn, Feth draws an many cards as he wants into a face up row in front of him. Once he’s done any ravens (which I’ll explain later) drawn are moved to a second row, leaving only memory cards in the top row. Feth then plays as many cards from the top row as he wants into the Atman. At the end of his turn any memory cards not played are discarded.

The faded sections of each memory (card) determine how it can be added to the Atman. When placing a card at least one faded section must overlap with an existing card in the Atman, and any overlapping sections must be of like type (faded or clear).  Cards in the Atman can be completely covered in certain circumstances, and no longer count as part of the Atman until / unless they are uncovered later.

Feth can also “restore a memory” for Ren by forming an uninterrupted block of the same color of cards that totals a value of 7. When this happens the raven of the same color is chased away (removed from the game for the current round) if present in Feth’s bottom row and any cards under it are discarded, and Ren can reveal one of her “heart” cards that matches the color of the restored memory. At the end of the dream revealed heart cards are kept by Ren in a special score pile to be used during the final dream.

The five ravens in the deck, one for each color, represent the dark forces trying to destroy Ren’s memories and cause her to drift away forever. If at any point all five ravens are in Feth’s playing area, the game is lost. The ravens can also “eat” Ren’s memories. When a raven is in Feth’s playing area, any cards of the matching color that would be discarded are placed under the raven instead. Any cards underneath ravens at the end of a dream are “eaten” (removed from the game) and will not be available in the following rounds.

Mechanics-wise Ren’s turns are much simpler: she removes one visible card from the Atman and either discards it or adds it to her poem. Ren’s poem starts with one card for each of the lines face down (hidden from Feth). These cards represent her heart, and only the colors of these four cards may be visible in the Atman at the end of a dream. Ren is trying to complete a Japanese poem form called Doidotsu, which has a 7-7-7-5 rhythm. So she must place cards in the first three lines such that each line (including her heart card in that line) adds to a total of 7, and place cards in the final line to reach a total of 5. The lines must be played in / completed in order, and once the last line is completed the poem is finished.

The only communication between players is meant to be through card choice, which is where the challenge for Ren comes in. She does much less on each turn than the Feth player, but her choices on which cards to take from the Atman, and whether to use or discard them, is crucial to providing Feth with information about what she needs and what colors are in her hidden heart cards and must be the only ones in the Atman at the end of the dream.

It is possible for the Atman to be “split” (have sections that are not visibly connected) during the game, and Ren’s other big ability is choosing which part of the Atman remains and which is discarded when this happens. This is another key way to pass information to the Feth player and work towards their mutual goals.

There are other details to the mechanics that add to gameplay, such as special powers on the memory cards that Feth has access to for any face up cards in Ren’s poem, and added restrictions and abilities during the third and final dream of the game.

General Thoughts

As I mentioned above Ravens of Thri Sahashri is quite original, and it takes a bit of start up time to wrap your head around. There are a lot of details to learn before beginning to play, but it all fits well once things get going and everything adds to the game in an important way.

There’s a nice “press your luck” element to drawing Feth’s hands: draw too few cards and Feth will lack options and limit Ren’s ability to play, but draw too many and Feth risks losing the game by revealing all the ravens or draining the deck.

Ren’s turns are much shorter than Feth’s and she seems to to have less to do, but I played her and really enjoyed it. What Feth chooses to do on his turns provides extremely vital clues towards what colors he thinks are important, etc and so I was as engaged in the game during his turns as I was during my own. I found trying to figure out how to pass useful hints by only removing a single card from the Atman challenging and rewarding.

The game increases in difficulty from round to round, due to both unavailable cards that have been either eaten or set aside in Ren’s score pile and to extra limitations placed on the players during the final dream. It’s somewhat difficult to judge how the game is going during the middle and there is a large luck component related to card draws, but co-op games should be a challenge and I feel Ravens dances the line just right.

We were slightly lax on the silence in the one game I’ve played, allowing some rule discussion (which I highly recommend when learning the game) as well as the Feth player thinking out loud a bit here and there without me responding. I’d probably try forbidding that last part in future games to see how it plays, as in retrospect him ruminating about what colors he thought my be in my heart cards did affect some of my choices.

I LOVE the visual design here. I’ve looked at pictures of the original version and it’s even more polished here, using faded gray coloring instead of bars for the faded memory sections to make the cards less busy and let the marvelous artwork shine more. Each card’s art is beautiful while keeping all gameplay related elements and information clear. The production quality is excellent in general, with a sturdy, striking outer box, appropriately large and thick cards, and vivd colors and printing.

Adding a final touch of mystery are three sealed envelopes, to be opened only when players win a complete game, which provide additional story context and legacy gameplay elements.

Overall

The lack of table talk and a fairly sizable learning curve for a card game definitely puts Ravens of Thri Sahashri in the “not for everyone” camp, but I found it to be a wonderfully original game that forces players to approach cooperation in a unique way. The asymmetric roles and legacy rule changes add even more longevity, and I can see myself coming back to this again and again for a long time.