RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg Board Game
RuneScape Kingdoms is a cooperative campaign board game you can play alone or with up to 4 friends developed and published by Steamforged Games!
Step into the sometimes epic, often irreverent world of Gielinor where your goal could be simple: Become the wealthiest, most skilled, best-geared adventurer there is! Or, figure out how to get just enough of all three to succeed as a party and win the day. You could even spend the whole time collecting cabbages and simply let your friends do what they do best. The choices are yours!
However you decide to play, Gielinor needs capable folk to help its inhabitants and keep monsters and nefarious cults at bay, and that’s where you or your party step in. One minute you’re slaying a vampyre that’s been terrorising a village. The next, you’re helping Gertrude find her beloved cat!
Like chapters in a book, your tabletop adventure is split into campaigns, each one inspired by an iconic boss quest. Campaigns are made up of two phases:
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First is the exploration phase, where you’ll explore the kingdoms of Asgarnia and Misthalin from above on a game board styled like a fast-travel map. Every location gives you different things to do — whether that’s gathering and sharing resources, levelling up skills, or drawing from the exploration deck for that region to see what unexpected thing you’ll need to handle next! Expansions can also add other regions to the game, expanding the game board.
Don’t get too distracted, though: The exploration phase has set quests you’ll need to complete to keep your group moving forward. Spend too long gathering cabbages or engaging in goblin diplomacy, and the escalation track will rise, making the world around you more dangerous until you finally take on the boss…
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In the second, boss phase you’ll zoom in for face-to-face fights on dedicated game boards that bring the bosses — and their environments — to life! Each boss will take all the skills of your group — yes, even cooking — to defeat. Pulled into face-to-face combat on unfamiliar terrain, your group’s shared health pool is all that stands between you and Death (and he wouldn’t be pleased to see you!). Roll the dice on your melee, defence, and magic to strike, protect yourself, and push the boss back. Use your wits to plan ahead and influence the flow of combat to throw the boss off balance. And don’t expect them to take your onslaught lying down. They, too, have ways to keep you on your toes…
The story woven through each campaign will immerse you in the world of Gielinor, while optional side quests, exploration decks, a vault, and an event deck will change your experience each time you play. And because it’s an open world, you can play your way!
Even your adventurer starts as a blank slate. There are no fixed classes in this game! You choose what skills to max and what gear to craft. Use those skills and gear to pass tests and complete quests to help your group win the day, then take what you’ve learned and earned on to the next campaign. Gain XP (even when you fail!) and rewards, and level up to earn your all-important cape!
In this, the core game, there are 4 different replayable campaigns – Vampyre Slayer, Demon Slayer, Fire Slayer and Dragon Slayer, which combine to form an overarching story.
You can break this down into 60-90 minute play sessions with a total of 150-210 est. minutes of play for each of the 4 campaigns.
What’s the Overarching Story?
Gielinor teeters on the brink of disaster! In Misthalin, Count Draynor is out for blood, his cold grasp tightening around Draynor village. Meanwhile, dark wizards hatch a secret plot to summon an ancient demon that can only be banished by a legendary sword. Elsewhere, dangerous fire cultists run amok, sowing discord and destruction. And all the while, the shadow of Elvarg looms ever larger over the kingdoms; an imminent threat to burn it all down…
What's in the box?
14 miniatures – 5 entry level player pieces, 5 levelled up player pieces and 4 bosses: Count Draynor, Delrith, Jad and Elvarg! 1 fast-travel map game board, 4 campaign boards, 1 mini-boss board, 4 dice, 20 character sheets*, 450+ tokens, 350+ cards, Rulebook
PSA on Shipping Costs outside the UK:
As well as being available from the official merch store, the core game is available from local and online retailers around the world. It is a heavy box to ship and our warehouse is located in the UK so if you are outside the UK you might find shipping costs are cheaper if you find a local stockist or check out the Steamforged Games webstore as they ship from different warehouse hubs around the world. Also you can potentially just walk into your local board game store and buy it!
Optional Add Ons
A number of expansions are available for the RuneScape Kingdoms board game direct from SFG (or from other retailers as well in the case of the KBD Expansion). See below for links to these on the SFG store as we do not stock all of these on the official merch store.
Culinaromancer Expansion << https://steamforged.com/en-gb/products/runescape-kingdoms-culinaromancer-expansion >>
King Black Dragon Expansion – A Cat’s Tale of Triple Trouble << https://steamforged.com/en-gb/products/runescape-kingdoms-king-black-dragon-expansion >>
Kalphite Queen Expansion – Infestation of Doubt << https://steamforged.com/en-gb/products/runescape-kingdoms-kalphite-queen-expansion >>
TzKal-Zuk Expansion – War of the Jal << https://steamforged.com/en-gb/products/runescape-kingdoms-tzkal-zuk-expansion >>
Deluxe Edition - << https://steamforged.com/en-gb/products/runescape-kingdoms-deluxe-expansion >>
The core game is needed to play any of the expansions.
For more information on the game, resources provided by Steamforged, videos of playthrough etc, check out the blog and resource section coming to the Streamforged Website for the retail release on the 29th Feb 2024.
