Filed under: card games, role playing games | Tags: card games, fantasy, munchkin
I find reviewing Steve Jackson Games’s products hard, really hard. On the one hand I really respect the company and the people who work for it, on the other I really couldn’t get along with GURPS – which isn’t that surprising as I was heavily biased towards Dungeons and Dragons.
So, I bought Munchkin the Card Game on a whim, and after an initial disappointment (it really needs 4 people to play, 3 at an absolute minimum) I really really like it.
The general idea is related to the whole dungeons and dragon vibe, and cocks it’s hat to 20 years of D&D magic items and daftness, with excellent in-jokes for those D&D players in the group, while just being interesting to those new players who aren’t RPG fans (like my girlfriend amongst others)
If you’re a fan of John Kovalic then you’ll love the artwork, personally I think it’s “not bad”, but each to their own. In it’s defense even though it’s simple and newspaper cartoon style, it’s well done, clear and uncluttered. If you’re looking for the artwork that you’d find on Magic the Gathering cards though then you’re going to be either surprised or disappointed
which brings me on to the other part – SJ Games are a small outfit, and although they’re pretty universally loved by RPG fans its a real niche market. So their games are basic and a bit more expensive than you’d hope. Ok, you can use price comparison engines like ewelike that handle RPG and scifi/fantasy stuff (there are others but they don’t seem to do much RPG stuff?) but it’s still a limited list of sellers. Ewelike – you need to do better!
If you like card games, you’ve got some spare time then buy it and enjoy it. me? i’m already working out whether to buy some more “standard” Munchkin card expansion set or opt for a different genre and then maybe merge them together in future using Munchkin Blender.
Score? 3.5 or maybe 4 out of 5, it won’t change you’re life, but it’ll be a reasonable return for the money you spend (plus it’s girlfriend friendly… how many other RPG/comic purchases are enjoyed by your girl friend too?)
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I hate changing blog entries but a friend just mailed me this link that shows some munchkin cthulu cards. ok the blog entry doesn’t really mention much munchkin but it’s a good illustration of the card animation style i mentioned above. enjoy!
Comment by rpgfiend October 4, 2008 @ 7:48 pmA fellow Munchkin player (and wordpress user) Ri De Tutto also said
“Heck, my wife (who seriously detests everything RPG) has even played in two of the games!”
Check out his blog at Ri De Tutto’s Blog Post – Munchkin
Comment by rpgfiend October 13, 2008 @ 8:57 amI know you posted this a couple of months ago, but I felt I should say, my boyfriend introduced me to the game and I absolutely LOVE it. Now, I’m considered a nerd by many, and while I’m familiar with D&D, I’ve never played it. My boyfriend is oh-so-happy to consider me the love of his life when I get into stuff like this, as I’m a pretty big gamer myself–from the moment I heard about munchkin I wanted to play it.
SO I say, YES, it’s very girlfriend friendly, even more so when said girlfriend is already into that type of thing.
Comment by Tara December 24, 2008 @ 11:44 pm