Do you feel like a dreamer? Or would you rather turn yourself into a terrifying nightmare to haunt your opponents? This is the choice you will have to make while playing Lucidity: six - sided nightmares, board game for 1-4 players by Australian Shannon Kelly, published by Fox Tale Games, launched on Kickstarter on 13 June 2017 and that in recent months is coming.
I got to play a game of Lucidity and I therefore wanted to collect my first impressions in this short preview.
What is it?
In Lucidity we will find ourselves playing dreamers. The game, entirely based on dice (there are 80 of them), uses a “push your luck” mechanic: at each turn we will have to draw a number of dice of our choice from a bag, depending on “how much” we want to dream; of these, we can eliminate two, while the rest will be subsequently pulled and the color and the figure printed on the faces will determine the outcome of our dream. In this way we will be able to accumulate victory points, suffer various kinds of penalties, or take advantage of special abilities, risking to turn us into nightmares (and acquire one of the four permanent powers). The game ends when a player reaches or exceeds 15 victory points.
First impressions
I state that this game may not please those who prefer Eurogames, given the important influence of luck. After all, Lucidity it is not a strategic boar, but a very fast and light filler: the game I played did not last more than thirty minutes including explanation.
It seemed to me that the player's choices relatively affect the outcome of the game, as dreamers / nightmares only decide how many dice to roll and how many times during the turn. The strategic note is constituted by the possibility of permanently acquiring a special power (that is, transforming oneself into nightmares), an unfavorable condition in some ways, but which can constitute a great damage for the opponents. This choice can be controlled to some extent by the player at the beginning of the game, but I had the impression that it becomes more and more unpredictable as the turns go by and the dice increase, simulating quite well, in case of unfavorable results, the sense of " loss of control ”that can really be felt by dreaming. Another strategic element is the right to give up some accumulated victory points in order to reroll the dice.
The thing that absolutely struck me most about this new boardgame is the graphics: the illustrations are in my opinion magnificent and contribute to making the setting suggestive. In fact, the theme is really very original and certainly well implemented in the mechanics.
Who will appreciate Lucidity: six - sided nightmares
If you are looking for a fast, light filler and the important presence of alea is not a problem, Lucidity could be for you and maybe help you convince some layman of modern boardgames to play with you. Otherwise, those who hate dice and alea will hardly want to play them.
In general I found the game pleasant, especially for the lightness of the title and the fun given by the possible bad luck of the opponents.
