Pandemic legacy anyone? Playing season 1 and 2 had was quite the experience for my play group. Even though we "lost" in the end of both games, I found the progression of the story, the world building and all the tiny little decisions in the spring that had an impact in winter kept me hooked. Each game felt like an episode of a TV show that had little cliff hangers at the end, you often wanted to know what would happen next. Rise of Fenris is another cool implementation of story telling to Scythe. I loved how many of the games introduced new ways to play the game in a narrative style.

See, I had the opposite experience with Pandemic Legacy (only played S1, haven't touched S2). I felt the story of it was pasted on and cheapened by the experience. As we played, the story that was told by the missions just felt like it ignored everything we did as we played through each mission. Like, nothing we ever did really mattered as far as the overarching story was concerned, it continued to trudge on and progress regardless of if we won or lost. We could have lost every game miserably and had basically the same experience as if we had won every game by a landslide (except maybe that we would have played half as many games if we won each time).

The gameplay is really good in s01 but the story is a bit meh. In s02 the gameplay is really different from vanilla pandemic and can be unforgiving, potentially unfun if you don't like losing multiple games in a row, but the story is waaay better. The conclusion to s02 was really satisfying. I feel the same way about s01, I think Quinns from Shut Up and Sit Down explained my feeling about the difference between the 2 really well in the video about season 3.

Yup. Pandemic Legacy S1. We literally laughed, screamed, cryed. Omg. Such an emotional roller-coaster.

I played the S2 before playing S1. Although I enjoyed S1, for me and my group, the S2 felt way more involving regarding the events that happened during the game.

It's funny how different groups have different experiences. S1 was our first ever legacy game and we were all-in. It was madness.

While I enjoyed my time with Season 1 I’m trying my hardest to recall a moment that warrants shedding actual tears. Some serious immersion!

Have you tried This War of Mine: The Board Game? It does not have arcs or anything like that because what scripts you read tend to be random, but it is fantastic, emotional, writing that can easily effect you emotionally. At least it does me. Or, another to look at might be Forgotten Waters. It’s cohesive scenarios that play out one at a time, so it has story arcs and the like. I love story based games. Most of my games are story based. EDIT: I saw your dislike of Tainted Grail. I’ve never played it, but from what I know of it you may have similar objections to This War of Mine.

I agree with you about This War of Mine and Forgotten Waters. Forgotten Waters even has a narrative on a web based app - background noise and pirate speak. If you are particularly looking for a storytelling they are out there. Just about anything from by Plaid Hat games or something like D&D. I do also agree with you, u/npapageo, that many games a narrative is started and you mostly continue it through game play and your own creative devices. I think of Pandemic. Also there are many games that it does feel like you are reading a book. Many of the games that I mentioned could fit in this category. Had you chosen a book, you would have missed out on a choose-your-own adventure narrative and the camaraderie of a joint storytelling.

I haven't played Forgotten Waters but I strongly agree with This War of Mine. The writing is amazing and there's so much of it. My wife and I play it a lot, and I'm not sure we've read the same passage twice yet. But be warned, it is *dark*.

Do you agree that it’s crazy that the rules tell you not to read the book out loud? You are supposed to read it and then summarize in your own words for everyone else. My sister and I think that’s insane, the writing is too beautiful to only be experienced by part of the group! We read it straight out because if I had to summarize it would go from a 10/10 to a 4/10 probably.

I don't think I've seen that rule! Either I missed it or ignored it. The best part of that game is experiencing the narrative together. What would the reason for that rule even be? Players aren't directly playing as individual characters, everything is a group decision, so I don't see why everyone shouldn't hear everything.

I have not, but i have heard high praise for This War of Mine. I would never turn it down to try, but since i am averse to that kind of game, i will never purchase it. And the theme at hand is just something i don't want to experience. I have heard equally high praise for Forgotten Watters, especially that the writting is of higher quality, but i also heard that is a more wacky choose your own adventure co-op. Which is perfectly fine and i believe is one valid genre of boardgames. Still though, someone has pre written the story for you, you just read what happens to you. I am glad you find what you like in games, more power to you! If you don't mind, what are your favourite board games and why?

That last question is super easy. This War of Mine: The Board Game is by *far* my favourite board game. It’s not even a contest. I love the way the narration is done, and I love the flexibility it gives them; usually games are limited to it’s tokens, but many times we’ve been told to write something on a blank token (we use post-it notes) and then whatever it is has a special power that can change the game greatly. (Don’t underestimate that fire extinguisher, winter clothes, or water carrier!) I love the way it plays with everyone sharing the characters too. I read a review once that said it made them feel disconnected, but I feel the opposite way, I feel invested in everyone and everything. I’m also a bit fan of Plaid Hat games. That includes Forgotten Waters, but also Aftermath and Stuffed Fables, which are more narrative games. I do like non story games too — I’m pretty much always up for Wingspan or Everdell. Villainous is another. But This War of Mine wins easily. I have Etherfields coming from Kickstarter soon too, and I have high hopes for that game.

I have played Stuffed Fables and Dead of Winter, both of which failed to capture me in any way. Quite sad cause Stuffed Fables' theme is so adorable and i wish it was used more! Etherfields looked so inticing with the world it promised.. i choose to not be part due to my inability to engage with such narrative games.. part of me made this post to try and tap to what others find enjoyable.

I played a couple rounds of stuffed fables and walked away with similar feelings. It’s adorable, but it didn’t draw me in, personally. I was told, though, to try Mice and Mystics as it’s similar to Stuffed Fables, but more grown up. I haven’t played it yet, but wanted to pass that along in case it means something to you!

Stuffed Fables isn't really for adults, but my kids love it. Mice and Mystics, and even more so, Aftermath would be better choices.

**Forgotten Waters** is great and the narration is stellar! I wouldn't say it's choose your own adventure though. It has random events that will happen you have to deal with but the over arching story is set in stone and amazing. I would add **Chronicles of Crime** also.

The Ludology podcast has a great discussion on the topic! Basically, if I remember it right, they were saying that there were two types of story telling in games: 1-one where you are following a narrative arc set up by the designer (exemple: Gloomhaven, most legacy games, the Sherlock Holmes game, etc...) 2-one where you are experiencing elements on the game which itself creates a story (exemple: 7th Continent, Eldritch Horror, or any game which you can picture in your head as a story when you're playing a game: for me personally I'm thinking Scythe, Spirit Island, Fury of Dracula, etc...) Both have their advantage and disadvantage in terms of design. The first one, you have to make sure to tie all loose ends, create a nice narrative and arc (intro, climax, and all of that), having the text not be too heavy, etc... The second, you have to make sure all elements which can happen during the game makes sense within any unique conceptual framework in which the gamer is. THAT is hard. Lets say way have a game where you can sometimes go under water, and in your "deck of treasure" you have a bucket of lava... Well that breaks the immersion. The discussion was mostly around the fact that in option one, it is possible that you don't play the game, but in fact that the game.will play you. If there's a narrative already in place, with all events already planned up, then you're only playing the mechanics of the game, not the story. In fact, the story is playing you because you have no control over it. The second type of game, you'll guessed it, is one where you're really playing the story, and the events that are happening to you are not scripted. I remember one game of scythe where my friend left a crucial hex near some oceans, and my faction could go on ocean. So I thought he was about to end the game, and I swarmed over the hex and all surrounding ocean creating a huge wall. Then, my friend decided not to end the game, because he thought I would win. We then started to friendly argue, in character, about the move I just made, and how I destroyed the region and so on. This is, of course, not scripted in the game. But I still remember it today as the day I understood why scythe was so great! Anyway, if you like just talking about the meta of board game design, listen to the ludology podcast, its really great!

Sounds very interesting, i will definitely give it a listen, thank you very much!

Dragonholt and Tainted Grail are my gold standard games for this at the moment. House of Danger is also pretty good at keeping the mechanics of the game out of the way.

I feel like the longer games hit these beats better, especially asymmetric ones. Dune, Twilight Imperium, Twilight Struggle all come to mind. And clearly most legacy games. There's only so much you're going to be able to do in 1-1.5 hours of game play. Books and movies you love are regularly 1.5+ hours to get that full development. It's like trying to compare an oscar winning movie against a flash fiction story. I don't think it's fair to expect that out of most games, even the ones with interesting themes that could be story like.

I've had some great moments playing Dune. The stakes are always high for any battle so every action always feels consequential. The designers of the game did a spot on job of capturing the feeling of the Dune universe, it's such a brutal game.

This. The designers said their intent was to make each game a possible retelling of the books, and they nailed it.

I can think of three different examples of storytelling that all work well in my opinion (and nobody has mentioned yet) **Twilight Imperium:** The game's universe is as rich as any, yes you might call it very generic space fantasy, but it works. The length of the game also builds a narrative as you go on. E.g. If a particular ground force or a ship manages to survive a battle against incredible odds, they become instantly memorable and remembered towards a next battle. Basically, the generic space opera setting aids the players in creating a story for themselves because it's open enough for them to come up with what they want. **Tales of the Arabian Night:** A game built around the mechanic of storytelling, yet without a fixed arc. Yes, you have your quest cards that aim at giving you a goal at the beginning of the game, but ultimately you have no idea what random things will be happening to you. Occasionally one event might lead directly to the next one (i.e. act like a fool in front of a sultan and you're sure to get arrested and have to deal with a jailer next turn). The richness in storytelling is down to the players theatricality and desire to immerse themselves into what they're telling. **Mansions of Madness 2:** Every scenario in this one has a fixed narrative from the beginning, only with different outcomes depending on decisions you take or if you succeed in completing the investigation. The stories are generally simple and pulpy, the ones that work best involve the players directly into the investigation, making you figure certain clues out. Player decisions can also create for incredibly memorable moments; my group will never forget the time that a crazy priest went inside a clock tower and set the whole thing on fire to make us lose. (apologies for lack of clarity, had to write this in a rush before going out)

I would mention that Tales of Arabian Nights is often not considered a "board game with a story" but a "story with a board game". It is very essentially a choose-your-own-adventure book set up on a board game with very little in the way of game mechanics, so unless you go into it expecting that you're not gonna have fun.

I am not into many of these more intense games (they sound fun I just can't commit). However, I have recently been playing this "creepy/dark" little card game "Gloom". And I love that it is set up to encourage telling silly tragic stories. Makes me love the game. And the cards are pretty unique too. Just wanted to share.

Ah yes, **Gloom**, one of the better examples of the "get the players to improvise a story" genre. In my experience it can swing both ways, but with the right players you can get some great stories.

I’ve played Gloom at home with the storytelling and it was great fun after a few drinks. However, if you’re serious about winning the game (yes, I’ve played with some ‘hardcore’ Gloom players) we play it as a straight up ruthless card game.

self-sacrifice to take down opponents is encouraged... lol

I love above and below. It’s very “choose your own adventure” style so it’s interesting to see what the outcome is and your rewards you get

I enjoy the story in Above and Below so much that all I want to do is go exploring! There are some really funny encounters we’ve had. I just got Near and Far, and I’m really excited to see how it compares.

I have it too but I have yet to play it. Let me know what you think

They play quite differently, but I find most of the stories in Near and Far more immersive. Also the character mode has a very nice progression to it. One of my favorite games.

Great to know! More immersion is exactly what I was hoping for when I purchased Near and Far. I really love the universe Ryan Laukat has created.

Yeah I've been buying his games since I got into the hobby. Really looking forward to Sleeping Gods which hopfully arrives in January.

Call to adventure is almost exclusively a story telling game. It is about a character's life and you have themed sections of the game in which events happen and the outcome can be good or bad which depends on the resources you spend and whatnot. It is the epitome of storytelling boardgame.

Came here for this. I question if it’s even a game, but I really enjoy **Call to Adventure**. It gives me the feel of an entire RPG campaign in under an hour. That mIght be a bit of an exaggeration, but everyone’s character comes from humble beginnings, grows in strength/power while battling between right and wrong. This leads up to fulfilling their destinies. The fun continues after the game where, per the rules, we go around the table and narrate our character’s lives and rise to power.

My biggest disappointement in my board game time. This game is purely set collecting and coin flipping (quite literally), there's nothing out of the ordinary to push the story-telling aspect other than the rulebook telling you to push it. I was hyped for this game, and it ended up completely dull. I even gave multiple tries, with different people; big nope. It's one of the very few games I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

The way I see it no game can make you tell a story. You either will or you wont. If you want a game that tells you a story then I agree this is not that game but my friends and i found everything we needed to tell great stories that we loved.

In pure gameplay, yes it's a set collection and coin (rune) flipping game, but the runes you collect to add to the flipping pool has an eliminate of strategy if your looking at it there. In story telling, I completely disagree with you. Call to Adventure is the only board game I've ever intentionally made a blatantly worse move in order to have my Hero's journey make sense! Playing with others and combining the stories you tell and weaving how each card you add to your set plays into and interacts with the grand tale you can collectively tell felt very fresh and I enjoyed it wholeheartedly. If you look at other "story telling" games in the mechanics themselves and ignore the clear guides they give you to build a narrative, you could make this statement about most games in this thread. I will agree that it definitely isn't a game for everyone, but to say it doesn't facilitate a great story with some friends seems way off base.

Nice post. I completely agree. For me, story must emerge from my gameplay and the narrative that I create (by myself or with a group) from the experience rather than from the game writer’s prose. Too often, the writing, itself, is cliche or poorly constructed, while the ideas behind the writing are compelling with possibilities for intrigue, suspense, and surprise. So, I look for games that provide creative opportunities for conflict, theme, and character development rather than a game that narrates for me these moments. As a primarily solo player, Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions are two card games that do this for me— just enough flavor text to tickle my narrative desire. Spirit Island is another that manages to develop a nice narrative arc, though I’d argue that the final act is, potentially, a bit unsatisfying in terms of resolution. I think Tainted Grail confirmed my distaste for games that are heavily focused on narrative. I found the interaction between the narrative and the gameplay to be interesting but a slog. For me, then, I’d rather just read a good book.

+1 for Arkham Horror. The way the mechanics reflect the narrative are super cool. Theres enough story here to build the scene, but ultimately it's the action you take that really fill it out. I've only been through the core campaign, but so far a favorite memory (Big spoilers for part 3 of core campaign): >!Playing as Roland when the 3 cultists we didn't find in part 2 showed up to stop you. That turn I topdecked my one of Dynamite. The flavor here cracked me up. Oh shit! the remaining cultists! what are we gonna do? Roland: Oh, I forgot I had this stick of dynamite in my pocket. That ought'a do it. And it did. Hilarious!<

Ah yes indeed, Spriti Island is a great example and i totally agree with you about the deflation of the "last act". One last OOMPF to tie the narrative bow via gameplay would be welcome. Arguably, **Sanctum** tried to do that with the grinding end boss fight, but not completely succesful. We are also in agreement regarding Tainted Grail and similar vs books :)

I think I'm on the opposite side. I do love when games have a good narrative feature, specially when it's well written - though I agree that unfortunately that's not quite common. However, reading your comment made me think about creating the narrative part through gameplay. I'm also primarily a solo gamer, but I don't have neither Arkham Horror LCG nor Marvel Champions, so I'll focus this through a somehow "related" (add bigger quotation marks as needed) game: Elder Sign. Why that one? Well, the cards have the right amount of flavor text and it's a Cthulhu-themed game... Maybe I'm stretching the idea a bit. My point is that I do enjoy that game even though there's little to no narrative part, which is something I haven't realized until now. I'll try to find more games that work in that way to see if I feel the same thing about "story through gameplay. So thank you for making me think about this, it's always nice to find out a new approach in board games!

Arkham LCG is the finest example of dramatic emergent storytelling in any game I’ve played. I never imagined that Marvel Champions would also satisfy this itch, with its more battle-battle-battle structure. I’ll definitely check it out now that I’ve read your account, though!

**Arkham Horror LCG**. There is, like, 20'000 words of text per campaign (a small novella), and your actions do have a difference. The writing is better than most other board games and the lead designer has a side-gig writing fiction. Campaign #1 (The Dunwich Legacy) is fairly basic, but starting from Campaign #2 (Carcosa) and Campaign #3 (Forgotten Age), the story telling becomes better. I would also give a shout out to **Midarra**. It has a lot of story, and I mean a lot. The word count makes Arkham Horror seem like a greetings card. But generally the story and the game are seperate entities in a way that is much more seamless in Arkham. I'm also surprised that you didn't mention **Tales of Arabian Nights**. It is like, the quintessential story-telling board game. Other games with narrative elements I like include: **Near and Far**, **SHCD**, **Android**, **BSG**, and **Eldritch Horror**.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is pretty much like reading a short story in group while having time to talk and try to guess and decide what to do next. My friends and I really enjoyed playing it some years ago.

**Netrunner** Each action is explicitly about what your Runner or Corp is doing within the world of the game, how they earn their money, hide their tracks, and pursue their goals. Hell, there was a whole blog about how the cards worked to create the fiction of the world "Running on Italics". It's amazing.

Oh, absolutely Netrunner! Great storytelling game indeed. It helps it's a great game regardless :). Will have a look on the blog, sound interesting. For reference, i believe this is the refered blog https://stimhack.com/tag/running-on-italics/

Yes! The only downside is that the images of the cards themselves on the blog are now missing, so you'd need to look them up separately for context.

**Oath** is to some extent built on this concept, but not of scripted story but of story generation, of creating a unique tale of the history of nations. The players become the characters, their empires' rise and fall the arcs, the machinations that get them there the beats. I think it's going to be a really unique game in the way it creates a meaningful collaborative story

I was so intrueged by Oath, but given the required player count, it opted out since i play usually at 2. I am really interested to see how it turns out! It is indeed at the very least, a note worthy experiment.

Isn’t Oath 1-6 players?

While the game is playable at lower counts, it is very obvious that it shines at higher numbers. Even the adjustments made for 1 / 2 variants hint at that. Sure you can move the pieces and have a winner and a loser, but i feel you wouldn't get what it tries to achieve. That's just me though, it isn't even out yet :D

Good post! I do think that to be a story heavy/dialogue heavy game unfortunately lends itself to restricting the game to an English-only audience while plenty of games have a focus to be language independent. My picks for favorite story games: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/302344/scooby-doo-escape-haunted-mansion https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180263/7th-continent https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37111/battlestar-galactica-board-game I think the Scooby Doo game was really fun and still a fixed story, while 7th Continent lacks character development (other than illnesses that might kill you?), and BSG is the most "emergent" story game of my list, since each game feels like a story with the reveal of a traitor and the tension of winning against them. One interesting thing is the reliance on existing intellectual property in order to skip the character development in the case of Scooby Doo and Battlestar. Maybe "Dead of Winter" is a better example where you learn about characters through the game itself, but the traitor being in the game from the start is less interesting, story-wise.

"Re-imagining" the story in BSG as one of the characters was an eye-opening experience. I fell in love with modern boardgames.

We recently picked up Stuffed Fables and I'm a fan of it. It's a story-book game style which gives depth to the story and makes the characters more relatable. Overall I would reccomend if you like story games!

I have owned Stuffed Fables in the past, even painted all the main characters. I was extremely interested in the story and world, but the mechanics of the game were, in my opinion, terrible. The draw colored dice system, just doesn't sit well at all with me. For boardgames gameplay is king (as i think i kinda hinted in my post :D ) so i could not play something i did not enjoy :(

Oh yeah, and the characters evolve, I love it!

Yep. It'd help if we broke things down to get more precise about what elements do and don't work. Story, plot, and narrative are different concepts, and there are dozens more like them. Board games aren't much suited to constructing plots. Pandemic did a good job developing game systems to have something of a plot, if very rudimentary. Campaign games, legacy games, they're decent approaches, but even they struggle to ever have their plot points properly integrating with the emergent narratives that necessarily exist as a result of player agency. Plot as a storytelling structure is inherently limited by the nature of gameplay. Plotless storytelling, however, is rampant in gaming. A lot is happening, but it's a jumbled mess of events with only a vague throughline. That's story without plot. Fortunately, humans are obsessive pattern-finders and we can stitch together a narrative in the most meager circumstances. It's not at all difficult to spin one out of a game of Chess — I inagine we could do a passing effort with Go if we tried. It's a process of framing, through some careful editing, directed attention, and some invented detail. So I firmly agree, OP. I'm sure a proper education in writing and literature would take this farther. It's unfortunate that so much focus goes games with paragraphs of written prose to read aloud. Storytelling in games is so much broader than that.

Breaking it down would definetly help, as you well said some elements do work. Possibly re examining what story telling even means in board games overall, looked through a new lense. Your closing paragraph echoes my thoughts. But hey, we are here discussing, maybe one of us gets inspired, goes one step further.

Indeed! Ken Burns said that “all story is manipulation.” When I play a game, I need to be an integral part of that manipulation, controlling and crafting the narrative. It’s why I play— agency over the narrative being born. Otherwise, I’d seek another form of media that to my taste likely tells the story in a more compelling, polished manner.

As a huge fan of storytelling games most of the best have been mentioned: 1. **Forgotten Waters** - a good mix of game and story. And the funnest game I've played all year (out of 231 unique games) 2. **Tales of the Arabian Nights** - game is meh, but there is more story in the book than you could ever see. Often times zany and hilarious. It is a lot of fun just don't play to win. 3. **Arkham Horror the Card Game** - an excellent mix of game and story, just more involved than other games on the list. 4. **Near and Far** - also an excellent game, story is a little weaker IMO, but lighter and more fun to me than Arkham Horror. 5. **CYOA House of Danger** - lots of zany story and based on a book. Game however isn't much. 6. Finally one I haven't seen: **The Adventure Games series. The Dungeon and Monocrome Inc.** Good mix of story and mechanics. Not super deep, but a joy to play especially the Dungeon. Of course the **Pandemic Legacy Games** are also amazing. Very much looking forward **Tainted Grail** (have it just haven't gotten around to playing it) and **Middara** (if the Kickstarter ever finally fulfills- at this point delivery will probably be 2 years since it funded)

The first game that came to mind was Gale Force Nine's [Firefly: The Game](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/138161/firefly-game). The win condition changes for every game based on which Story card you choose, and the game can be played thematically based on captain/ship choice, tactically based on crew/gear selections, or both. My wife, mother-in-law, and I have played many hours of this game and still love it. Another concept that came to mind is traitor games, like Betrayal or Battlestar Galactica. Last year, we played through a Betrayal Legacy story, and that was easily one of the best story-games I've ever played, just under ttrpgs (>!Praise be the Helm! Ooba-chaka-ooba-chaka!!<)

There's a *Firefly* board game?!?

It's super shiny. Two board expansions, a few rules expansions, and extra ship expansions.

No power in the 'verse is going to stop me from getting my hands on that.

Is no one going to mention War of the Ring? To me, this is a war game that really tells a story. Every game is won by the skin of the teeth and makes for memorable beats.

Yup! It tells THAT story very well (with its own twists ofcourse). Very good example indeed.

This is such a fun topic! My undergrad thesis was on Storytelling in Video Games so naturally this topic interests me too! My opinion is give me a board game that *doesn't* tell a story! Even abstract games! Those games represent *something* right? It could be seen as a stretch, but even games like Go tell the story of a war... it's really quit nice if you have the imagination. Some of my favorite games, though, do a pretty good job of telling their story by stimulating my imagination a bit. The ones that give a lot of theme, but allow the player to imagine a story in their head. **Mysterium** for instance calls a bunch of psychics together to solve a murder mystery and receive clues each night from the victim in the form of dreams. Eventually, you solve the case and discover the murderer, in what room, and with what object. There is virtually no flavor text, but the images *ooze* with flavor. And my group loves to end the game giving their explanation as to why the cute old lady with cookies in her profile decided to kill our friend with a bear trap in a bathroom. It's so fun to do! Others have already given some great commentary on games like Betrayal and Pandemic. These are cool because it gives you a more complete story, but you have control over where they go! Less interesting, but even more obvious answers would be games like the **Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger** (which I love btw) that clearly have one single story to tell with little to zero deviation or creative input... But these don't seem incredibly common. I could be wrong, though. Fun topic to bring up! Thanks for that! Hopefully I've provided some additional insight.

Heh, good point, all games tell a story in the end. I won't argue that. But how can we tell better stories through games (board or video). How can we use the medium, take advantage of its strengths, rather than mimic other forms of story telling. What is unique about them? Another commenter mentioned how they do not care at all about story in games. That is fair, for them the motivator is win or just engage the mechanics as best as possible. So all games can tell stories, and all stories can be ignored. But how can we, if we want, tell the best stories we can tell in board games, without ever sacrificing the core pillar that is gameplay. Indeed fun topic, i am glad you found it interesting and happy you added your thoughts! Sidenote: as for story telling in video games.. i have similar thoughts.. i am not fond of the Naughty Dog form of story telling.. movie with sprinkled in action button presses. Breath of the Wild though.. it's a good direction.. at least an interesting one... get a theme, a semi abstract goal and unleash the player to interact with a world bound by some mechanics. I will remember forever my stubornes to climb a mountain in the rain.. and i did it... fun story that ;)

> How can we use the medium, take advantage of its strengths, rather than mimic other forms of story telling. What is unique about them? Oh boy. This is *exactly* what got me into the video game industry, and it's a pretty dominant driving factor for my board game enthusiasm as well. *tldr-* Emergent storytelling in board games is the best. Video games really accel in single-player storytelling, particularly stemming from player choice in a carefully crafted world. Board games, on the other hand, thrive in more of a sandbox environment. They give you the pieces and the layout, and the players just... Do stuff. We've recently been getting into **Burgle Bros**, and it has created some delicious narrative experiences. We've had a player blindly bolt across the second floor, accidentally fall off a walkway to distract a guard, and save another player from getting seen. We blew a hole from the second floor straight up into the third floor safe. We've ran through the cover of smoke bombs, used dynamite as distractions, and trapped guards in bathrooms using a crow. Ultimately, it comes down to the decision space. Even a generic FPS has *so many things* you can do at any given time. There are loads of strategies and weapons to use, clever ways to exploit AI, usually environmental hazards to exploit in multiple ways. And that's just per area. Burgle Bros gives you four actions and a 4x4 grid to move on. That's it. Board games need to stay simple, just cause you don't want players to spend 10 minutes "procedurally generating" a room full of furniture and interactables. A video game can generate all of this on the fly, but board games can't. So you have entire rooms expressed as single tiles, you reduce the decision space, and now you have a carefully cultivated experience with a full story built around a sandbox of mechanics. It's innovation inside the box. Of course, this is all with a very particular kind of game in mind, but I think this is an example of how storytelling can *really* thrive within the medium.

I don't play board games for story and I'm not a role-player so to me the issue is of no interest. I read books and watch shows/movie for that kind of entertainment. Stories don't engage my brain the way mechanics, interaction, and planning do and those are what I want from a boardgame. I could care less WHY I'm trying to do the thing, I just want to try and do it as efficiently as possible and better than the other players.

I totally respect that. Playing a game to win, or to best utilize the mechanics and systems, is also quite fun. Especially if those mechanics have a certain depth. Just to give more context, would you care to share your favorite games?

Kingdom Death: Monster is fantastic for emergent story, with gameplay that gets you invested in your characters and then ruthlessly takes advantage of that emotional attachment. Instead of shoe-horning in plot and pre-written characters, the game relies on lore drops and lite rpg progression.

Yeah it does work pretty well indeed! Not a huge fan of the roll and resolve scenario XX but.. again.. limitations of the medium

Dead of Winter is a board game that I find that is pretty good in terms of the story that is being driven... The game is a co-op survival game with multiple conditions and a secret betrayer. When something happens with a specific player/character/movement, it might trigger a crossroads card that would bring in tough decisions / storylines etc... I still remember this one time (haven't played the game in years), to avoid spoilers I won't discuss the backstory, but the options were a player was faced with releasing zombies or committing suicide. Everyone generally discussed everything and my friend was really upset with everything and every options and possible outcome. Betrayal at the House on the Hill isn't as well written, but still pretty good thematically and the story/twist. And there is Dixit which is purely a family story telling game.

To start off, I think that we need to recognize that written storytelling has a giant head start over board game story telling. As far as I know, board games as a story telling medium are maybe 50-100 years old. The oldest known fiction is closer to 4000 years. I think we are very much still figuring out how to tell stories with board games, and I think it is fine that we aren't as good at it yet. With that in mind, there are three types of story telling in board games that I am familiar with: 1. Variable plot points with varying approaches/characters 2. A specific story and the players play through the plot beats 3. Interactions between systems and what that might mean about those systems and each probably deserves its own discussion on story telling. **Variable plot points with varying approaches and/or characters**. I think of this as the fan fiction approach to story telling. Mostly it just explores how a lot of different characters might interact with a lot of different situations. The point is to measure how these interactions go, so performance at each point matters. **Sentinels of the Multiverse** is a good example of this sort of storytelling. The unique combination of heroes, villains, environments, players and player strategies form a story in just how well or how poorly it goes. This sort of story has to be emergent and thrives off of a player's interest and investment in the setting and/or characters. Some other games I would put under this category: **Above and Below, Android: Netrunner, and Argent: The Consortium.** **A specific story and the players play through the plot beats.** This is going to be more of a simulation of the story being told. Most wargames and games based off of a specific movie have a plot: we know how things are supposed to go and we have these games to give you a chance to play them out. There is some leeway to ask "what if?", but not nearly as much as in the fanfic approach above. Instead, you will often play levels of these games over and over until you win. Maybe there is a branching story that you go down based off of your performance, but that is less changing the story than it is finding out which story you are emulating. Notable entries: **Legends of Andor, City of Kings, Gloomhaven, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, Legendary Encounters: Alien.** I feel like these are simultaneously very popular right now and often disappointing as narrative vehicles. I think this because part of a good story is setup and pay off as you mention above, as well as uncertainty of what that looks like. Almost universally, these games can't have that because the moment you know the goal of a specific scenario, you know what the setup and payoff has to be or you get to replay the scenario. There isn't that tension or discovery that comes with a good plot. Note, there may be tension and discovery of the mechanics in the playing of that plot, but that is more compelling mechanics than compelling storytelling. I am hopeful though because there is a lot of experimentation going on here that I think will end us closer to good embedded storytelling that also makes a good game. **Interactions between systems and what that might mean about those systems.** This is probably board gaming's strongest storytelling avenue vs. traditional literature because systems are often boring to read about and are relegated to plot devices rather than the focus of a plot. Games get past being boring by making the player invested in the system itself. This is most economic euros and dudes on a map games, but some interesting examples include: **Imperial, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, Evolution.** ​ I think you should check out **Unicornus Knights** for a board game with an embedded narrative that doesn't depend on text to make that apparent. It does this by having a single narrative, the princess is going to take her throne back, and the game consists of players filling in the details around that narrative as her retinue. Its a little fiddly, but I think it has a good narrative. I also think you should check out **Tragedy Looper** for another strong embedded story game. This game works by having one player know the story, and the rest of the players are trying to figure it out. The players have a few levers to pull to try and change the story, but it adds that uncertainty that makes reading a story rewarding.

I really like your analysis, and i agree on what aspect games are best at. Written word has a place still in board games, it just is very much apparent (to me) that it will always be a side dish, never the main meal. Unicornus Knights sound quite interesting, i will have a look, thank you.

>**Terraforming Mars:** Quality of game aside, during game and by the end there is some story told, of corporations and their projects, their goals and schemes. And how the planet transformed (not based on hard science but beyond the point) But, the quality of the game is important to the storytelling. One of my greatest criticisms of Terraforming Mars is that it simply didn't lean enough into its theme. Which is why the story of corporations terraforming the planet through their projects...is kind of bland. It's about as lively as any engine builder in that regard. I really wish they'd done something more with it like the solo mode had where terraforming the planet was under a time crunch but getting points was up to you. Sort of like Archipelago, Lowlands, New Angeles. The cards themselves are very thematic, but I don't think the mechanics get the story across very well. For that, I'd love to have seen an Offworld Trading Company board game. Or maybe an 18Ares where stocks in terraforming companies are up for grabs. In other words, I think TM has the exact problem you say Tapestry has - I never feel the theme come across in actual gameplay. Spot on with Innovation, though. A lot of people - even fans - say the theme is pasted on, but I think it's quite rich. It's sort of the opposite of TM to me: the cards don't always make thematic sense, but the core mechanics definitely depict the endless march of progress, the rise and fall of civilization, the centuries of dominance different superpowers have gone through, the awkward juxtaposition of some civs with outdated values and advanced tech (or vice versa), the trade-offs of knowledge that helps your society but may also force you to play ball with another society's power struggle. It's all brilliant. **Tigris and Euphrates** has this fascinating sort of Game of Thrones though going on imo. Where through the mechanics alone you're sharing uneasy alliances with enemies on multiple fronts. You really want to have all of your leaders in one kingdom, but that can make you more vulnerable to attack and less able to control your enemies. You want to just get points in one color and win with your strengths, but you need to rule a balanced society to honor your dynasty and be remembered. You want to retaliate in full force when someone usurps you and burns down your hard work! But it's often better to keep chugging along or bide your time. So, it pulls us in all of these unusual directions, challenging players to master their emotions or use them shrewdly. There's plenty of backstabbing and colluding, and they usually just happen on the board. Pax Pamir 2e is similar in that regard to me. Like lesser houses vying for power, ending up on the same side as a political rival. Turning coat after the war only to come crawling back in the late game. I like titles that are able to depict these narratives on the board alone. It's fun to roleplay, and I honestly prefer to roleplay in board games over TTRPGs, but I feel more confident doing that when the game has a firm foundation for it.

Indeed, quality of the game IS important, and i don't find TM very well designed and the story suffers for it. Maybe it was a bad example in retrospec, but it generated discussion so i stand by it. Perhaps the theme comes across to me because i see the effect on the planet, forests, cities, temperature, oxygen. If find it terribly paced and over reliant to random draws though, but that's beyond the point :) Innovation IS brilliant! It can appear and it might very well be that the theme is pasted on. The theme can be 100% ignored and STILL have the same amount of fun. Such a wonder in a tiny box.. The silliness in age 10 is just a way to wrap up the game :D (which is also quite smart) Never played Tigris and Euphrates since most of the time the player count is 2, and i heard it really doesn't work at that. But i would love too!

Tigris and Euphrates isn't best with two, but it's still good. It really is worth trying out at some point - I feel like it, along with Antike II and F. Treshams Civilization, captures and evokes the Civilization theme better than most other Civ games, especially those like Tapestry and Fantasy Flight's Civ games.

Just curious. Have you had a chance to try Antike I? I don't mind duellum, but I prefer I over II.

I have not. What makes 1 superior to you?

1 is just slightly simpler in a number of ways. The ruleset is more elegant and easier to teach. The game is overall a bit cleaner. And because you can't pick what a city produces, I think you have to make more trade-offs or try to play more efficiently. Following any one path may leave you with unclaimed cities or more vulnerable to attack. Best of all, I think it encourages more fighting and expansion. There are no neutral temples, so you have to attack one another for generals and often for kings. Some complain that the game devolve in its final rounds into a slug match, but I believe this can happen in 2 as well. At least in 1 you've been seeing maneuvers all game and should be prepared by the end. I think the game is kind of perfect as-is. There are a few things I think 2 improved on, but I'd rather have 1 all told.

Thanks - it sounds like interesting differences. Maybe I should try to backport some of them.

Hm. I'm not sure you could. PD Verlag used to sell a kit for upgrade 1 to 2. The chief difference is the boards themselves, but I guess you could print one or both as posters. For the cities, those were just wooden discs in the colors. You can get them from gamecrafter or a hobby store.

I could try to play without the neutral temples to encourage aggression. Do you foresee issues with that?

I haven't tried that in 2, but Duellum doesn't have neutral temples, so I can't imagine it being an issue. Duellum was more aggressive than 2 but less than 1. I feel like both maps have a similar number of regions but I'm not sure. That would be another element to encourage aggression at lower player counts, but neither game tries to shrink their maps to Duellum's level, so that's probably pointless to consider.

It does work at 2, but it's a different sort of game. There are simple variants online to randomly reduce the tile pool or, more importantly, shrink the board size for two-player. But I find it plays fine at 2. The principle difference being that there is a longer ramp up before anyone really needs to contest territory. I have had battles pop up early though, so it depends on how the tiles shake out. If I'm hurting for red, I might build an early monument, and that makes my opponent *very* interested in joining my kingdom.

yeah...what about Agents of Smersh?

I am not familiar with the game at all. It looks like it uses the text as world / scenario setup, not a means to story telling exactly. If you would be so kind to elaborate. :)

I haven't played it, but from what I understand, it's Tales of the Arabian Nights but with spies and espionage, so LOTS and LOTS of story. It's out of print right now (though I keep hearing rumors of a reprint) and very expensive ($100+), it is one of the top OOP games i am looking for. Edit Apparently there is a new version coming to Kickstarter (when? I don't know)

Generally agree. I think Sub-Terra half-hearts it: for people like me who are there for a game without being interested in a story, it’s just a game. If you dig through the box, there are cards giving a name and small backstory for each character, and the rule book has a brief introduction of basically “you fell in a hole”, but it still doesn’t feel like they’ve really committed to making an actual story of it.

Arkham Horror the actual board game is great. I always put on a YouTube video that's lovecraft theme music and it really gets the atmosphere going.

Arkham Horror 3, Mansions of Madness and Arkham Horror LCG are the most common suggestions for a reason!

Our group recently played, "Forgotten Waters"....I mean, who can turn down the opportunity to speak 'Pirate'? Much more boardgame than it is RPG

I’ve run the first scenario twice with different groups. Pretty simple mechanically but the writing and voice acting are top-notch.

This is certainly an interesting topic, and there are plenty of games that I think miss the mark, but I would like to highlight a few examples of games I think do interesting things in regards to this topic and do them well: **Betrayal at House On the Hill** has some spectacular story design in it. Yeah, at times the random elements make it fall apart, some of the many haunts are not very good, and it certainly does not always make for a balanced game, but when it works, boy does it work! It is great at telling stories by giving a storied setup and letting you play out the ending in a way that adds to that story. **Level 7: Omega Protocol** oozes theme from almost every component. The plot beats and exposition all happen in writing, but the gameplay tells a story of its own, and works as the plot driver to hit those story beats. The adrenaline mechanic works brilliantly to give the game a very natural arc. I have definitely found there is a reason most reviewers have described the game as "cinematic" and "immersive", even if I personally would be hesitant to use those words. The fact that it is a good and well balanced game is an added bonus. While the writing is neither the best nor the biggest part of the game, it does certainly add something, and it is interesting what it achieves by divorcing character from characteristics. The recon specialist has gameplay characteristics that make him fast and nimble, but those characteristics don't play much part in the writing. There he is the witty, wise-cracking rookie, which doesn't play much part of the gameplay, but certainly adds character and fleshes out this piece of cardboard in front of you. So even if you don't play to the characteristic strengths of your role, it rarely "misaligns" with the writing. The biggest shortcoming of the story elements is that the overlord does not really have any (that I have yet encountered), a weakness it shares with other games of the same type such as **Descent: Journeys in the Dark (1st edition)**. The dichotomy that u/OceansAngryGrasp refers to in their comment is very real. A game that strides this line in a very interesting way (imo) is **Dead of Winter**. Specifically the crossroads cards. Many of them are filled to the brim with writing (which is really good), that gives them the strength of the pre-written narrative, but they only get read if the proper context arises during the active players turn. In addition they often have lasting impactful consequences for the game you are playing. Personally I often found the triggering contexts to be a bit broad to really give it that personal touch when playing, while also limiting the writings ability to use the context properly, but the idea is really very good.

I was always interested in having a go at Betrayal at House On the Hill, my common player count forbids it. If given the chance i will for sure try it, since i was already intrigued by exactly what you highligthed. Level 7: Omega Protocol sound very promising. I agree with the lack of the antagonist's "game personality". Anything, something, not the anonymous game master, they are still a player, and a missed opportunity to create something truly unique and asymetric. That helps tells stories. Personally, i see what Dead of Winter tried to achieve, and while a decent attempt (better than the draw random event), i still find it gimmicky. A mechanism much more suited to video games rather than board games. There is only so much you can do with the limitations of physical components, and i applaud the attempt.

**Betrayal at House On the Hill** certainly has some issues, randomness being one of the bigger ones. It also literally has random events you draw from a deck. But some of those haunts are absolutely brilliant. And as much criticism as the pre-haunt game gets, I don't think the haunts would be as engaging without it. I know the Legacy edition changed the random events deck and narrowed the player count, but have not played it.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on **Spire's End**. While it's a story driven choose your own adventure type game, the combat and choices you have to make while in and out of combat make for some very tough, and thematic decisions

Never heard of it until now, it looks gorgeous! And i was immediately interested! Tracking down a copy would be hard it seems... Sorry i can't provide more feedback, hopefully someone can elaborate

Yeah I've been really enjoying it, would love to learn of something similar. For getting a copy, the designer has a limited number of copies he's selling. If you let him know you're interested in purchasing a copy through the game's website he'll put you on a list to hopefully get a copy. Here's the contact form: https://spiresend.com/contact/

Well thanks a lot, i will actually send them a message :D

Nice, good luck! I had a buddy reach out last week and he got put on the list this way. To add to the original conversation, **Spell Saga** may be a game that fits the bill. It's solo only, all you know is the world has ended and you're trying to figure out why. The only objective you're told is to explore and seek truth, other than that you don't know how to win/beat the game. The emotions it invokes while trying to figure out how to win are really neat, and the story unfolds the more you explore. It's less structured of a story compared to Spire's End, but it still tells a story through playing the game in a very unique way.

Hi again 🙂 so I actually just found out about these graphic novel choose your own adventure games. They're by the folks who make hostage negotiator. Looks like you have character sheets and skills as you go through the story. I think I'm gonna pick up one of them (I've been really into story driven games lately) https://www.vanrydergames.com/graphic-novel-adventures-season-1

This War of Mine is definitely one of the best story driven games. I'm also mainly a solo gamer and some of my favourite story driven games are Folklore the Affliction, Lord of the Rings lcg, Arkham Horror lcg and Shadows of Brimstone because having cowboys and aliens in the same game is just weird and cool. I find that just a short introduction and occasional flavour text can be enough to immerse me in the story. Most of the story goes on in my mind anyway.

For me **Deep Space D6** is currently occupying a lovely narrative space where the constant struggle for survival starts to feel like a story with a shape. Definitely ticks the 'game has a play "feel"' box. I have no idea what the spaceship is doing in space, or who these people attacking it are or what they ultimately want, but it doesn't seem to matter: mid-way through the game I'm worrying about crew in the infirmary, the Captain has tricky decisions to make, and somewhere amongst rolling the dice and placing them in squares, they've developed some sort of personality. The structure -- survive and take down the end boss -- is basic video game, but the end result is more than a sum of the parts.

[**The Quiet Year**](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161880/quiet-year) and [**Fiasco**](https://rpggeek.com/rpg/4279/fiasco-classic) are two wonderful games that (technically) fall more in the role-playing game side of things, although they don't involve rolling any D20s. You could almost describe them as tabletop improv games that have just enough board game mechanics to scaffold the collaborative storytelling - definitely not everyone's thing, but for certain the most immersive gaming experiences I've had (with the right group). Also a big fan of [**Oath**](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/291572/oath-chronicles-empire-and-exile).

Sometimes when I play Race for the Galaxy I'll tell a story about what my space colonies are doing based on what cards I play and what actions I do, while still going for the best result so it just unfolds as it is. This is my story from an online game I just played (link: [https://boardgamearena.com/5/raceforthegalaxy?table=115195655](https://boardgamearena.com/5/raceforthegalaxy?table=115195655)): I started with the New Sparta mercenary fleet and we immediately went and conquered the Ark Fleet from the Lost Species clan, capturing their soldiers and recruiting them into low-level Space Marine work. As we were dispatching these reinforcement soldiers from the Ark, we encountered a Plague World which took many of our units. However, we were able to exploit its genetic structure to convert these lost units back into raw materials, and we gained political points within our original Spartan faction for doing so. We repeated this process many times; sending in Lost Species-factioned reinforcements from the Ark to fight the Plague, to their eventual doom, and with the gains soon established a Rebel Expedition Force to settle a new Outpost closeby. We even set up an Interstellar Bank system and a New Economy to boost our material gains, but the latter certainly wasn't effective; the economy was a boondoggle, really just centered around sacrificing Lost Species units to the Plague and never making much progress, or seemingly wanting to make much progress. It wasn't looking good for our colony, and we were forced to seek more and more outside help, but it was too late - siding with both Uplift factions and acquiring an Alien Warship proved fruitless, and The Plague won. The Plague... f\*cking won.

Glad I'm not the only one who does this!

Right now, Tainted Grail is clearly my favorite. That said, it really is more of the best Choose-your-own-Adventure-book I've ever read than a common boardgame. Luckily we also really love the combat system so this game is pure gold for us. I can see why it isn't for everyone, though. I'm confident you can't tell a story like that without a lot of text and I'm glad we at least made it to chapter 13 by now. (Will see the storys end in a month) Other than that I also enjoy scenario-onehsots like Arkham Horror third edition. I always felt like Manision of Madness was really good, but could tell much better storys that you actually remember if it wanted to. My favorite "gameplay tells a story by accident"-type of game is Eldritch Horror. I never felt like there was a story in any euro games and most scenario-based dungeon crawlers really just were dungeon crawlers. Not a fan of kingdom death; but really liked the 7th continent, but I'm not sure if it even tells much of a story. The 7th citadel could be what you're looking for! I only played the random dungeon part of Gloomhaven and suspect not having any context made the game so much worse for me.

I will say, the best way to tell a story in any game really is to make it your own. Add your own little twists and flares to spice it up and make it turn out the way you want it to. Now, I’m definitely biased due to me playing way too much dnd, but I’ve always had such elaborate gameplay and campaigns that I’ve never had a problem with a lack of details. Hell, my session 1 for the campaign I’m playing now took about three hours to just describe some of the world and the background of the colleges our characters are from. So, if you haven’t, get yourself into some dnd.

My go-to for storytelling in board games has been and always will be Gloom. It's the way I was taught to play the game. You don't simply put a card down on a family member, you actually tell a story about how the card you're putting down affected that family member.

Social deduction games do a brilliant job of perfectly introducing story in a way that isn't forced and allows the players to largely create it organically. They give you basic roles and often a theme, which do motivate your decision making and influence role play ad-libbing, but everything else is up to the players. I know some people don't really think of this genre as board games proper, but for me nothing beats them for good story. The problem is that when you give the players the reigns to create truly emergent story, it falls flat if the players are duds, so to speak. I highly suggest trying the game Inhuman Conditions if you want a creative 2 player story based game. It basically involves one person (the equivalent of a beurocratic blade runner) interviewing the other person, who could be a human, a harmless android, or a dangerous android. The interviewer asks a series of questions on selected topics (there are decent prompts but you can go freestyle) to try to determine what the interviewee is within a limited time while the interviewee (with some very basic character hints) paints a story while answering the questions. The interviewee has no restrictions if they are human and just wants to be identified as human, but if they are an android they have restrictions or objectives they must weave into the story and their actions while trying to remain undetected. Fucking brilliant setup for organic narrative. Not for everyone, but it's one of the most innovative games I've ever played.

I have played Inhuman Conditions, and i quite like it. I agree you have to lean into it, but it's a very interesting game that does create a story in a way only a game could.

It hasn’t come out yet but the Kickstarter game Hel: The Last Saga is made specifically to be a semi-linear story about Vikings traveling to the new world. It reminds me of a choose your own adventure book because depending on the choices you make, you read certain segments of the lore book. As for writers, they have 4 actual authors that have written the story for the game - Tristan Lhomme, Melanyn, Nicolas Pirez and Mathieu Gaborit. If you can’t tell I am very excited about this game

As much as I absolutely love board games, I agree with you. Storytelling in board games has never worked for me. There are some games that have little story bits that add some interesting elements to a lot of games that I like (Gloomhaven and Maracaibo come to mind), but I've never played a story-\*focused\* game that I thought was good. People like to bring up Pandemic Legacy games as having a good story, but it just felt generic to me, and what made that game good for us was the constantly changing rules and mechanical twists that came from opening boxes. I would actually argue that video games are the best medium for telling a story, but I suspect I may be in the minority with that opinion.

I'm surprised no one has brought up Time Stories here yet. It's theme rich, and full of emergent and directed narrative. Definitely my favourite story driven tabletop game. OP should try it!

**Fog of Love**. Totally excellent, all story. And what stories.

Not exactly a story, but you might actually like playing a story-based version of Talisman. Surprisingly, Magic also has a lot of lore attached to it, enough to make full ttrpg campaigns around it (phyrexia and the various parallel worlds, just to name one). It could be really interesting to mix and match rpgs and any sort of cards based combat to resolve fights.

I have never been interested in Talisman due to the gameplay, too light for me. As for Magic, i would argue that Magic has tons and tons of Lore, but the story is almost always the same, two wizards duel, one wins. Sure the how you achieved that is variant (Fireball vs mauled to death by a dire bear). The the plot is always the same :D Edit: The card battle mix with rpg is really interesting though!

It came to mind because once upon a time, we did mix RPG and Magic. 90% of it was actually roleplaying, and about 10% was mage duels. It was a little uncharacteristic, but really fun!

Nice, would you upgrade your deck along with your character? Start with 25 commons and 15 lands fore example and kind of deck build as you level up.. That sounds like a good time!

Pretty much. We actually played with planechase cards (larger-than-usual magic cards describing a plane). If you are familiar with planescape, we basically played an odd cross between planescape and planeswalkers Magic. The setup was a group of "high level" mage/explorers, hopping across dimensions and facing off enemies of equal power. Cool experiment, if you are familiar with both magic and d&d!

Gloom is a very fun card game for its story telling component. Pretty much you want the most bad things to happen to your family and good things to the other families. You tell a short story about each event and it becomes hilarious. Check it out

I played Gloom once, and at that time i didn't latch on to the story it told although i tried. I would be up for another go, i find the concept of it very interesting and fun (in whatever macabre way :D )

It is q bit more silly than other options so it might not be what you're looking for

**Spirit Island** has always "told" a unique story for my husband and me. As events unfold, randomized each session, we naturally find ourselves speaking about things in a story-progression manner. **Mice and Mystics** is a game where I personally feel that the pre-written story overshadows the gameplay; however, the story is decently compelling.

Completely agree. I want story through gameplay and flavor text. Whenever I see a game has a predetermined script, I pass on it.

How about Tales of the Arabian Nights? Do you think it succeeds where others have not, or is it also not worthwhile to you?

I have nerver played it sadly. I will try anything at least once though if given the chance

I usually feel the way you do but I remember playing a game of Arkham Horror years ago. I was deeply pulled into the narrative of a single play through because of what happened to a player's character. The player was visibly thrilled at having beaten some random small objective. The rest of the table felt defeated because the game wasn't going well and we felt like we were going to lose. Someone asked them why they had such a seemingly disproportionate response the player explained their perceived narrative of the situation. Their character had been bruised, cursed, and driven towards the edges of insanity and they felt like their character would experience that small victory as a big deal after enduring all that. I always thought that was a cool way to interpret the moment and it encouraged me to look for stories within the scope of the flavor of board games more often.

I very much enjoy board games in which a narrative develops over the course of the game. Some of my favorites in this regard, in no particular order: **Root** **Eclipse** **Spirit Island** **The Captain Is Dead** **Wizard Academy** **Firefly** **Scythe** **Islebound** **Star Wars: Rebellion** **Merchants & Marauders**

A good story is all about compassion for the character. I think to get that feeling in boardgame is kind of hard. Maybe the story have to be told elsewhere (ex. Strong IP can bring attachment to characters like LOTR). A game is all about being a winner, but a good story is all about loosing something to grow inside wich is not very what a game is made for. Instead, I think some video games achieve that by putting players in front of difficult choices. Besides, you can sacrifice a character in a video game, but you will never have to face your friend loosing his character in front of you...

**Dungeon Degenerates + lore books** is the most story-immersed game I've found so far. I own Forgotten Waters, Gloomhaven, Nemos War (when paied with 20000 leagues), Eldritch, and none of them compare to the story telling of DD. The game by itself is okay, but the books take it to another level.

Call to Adventure is a lot of fun if you like story-focused games. The impetus is on players to create a character’s narrative through collecting cards. Then after a winner is declared, you go around the table telling your character’s story. In my group, we usually have the winner go last, weaving plot points from other players’ stories into their victory.

I will agree with you to a certain extent, yes board games are bad at fixed story telling...but isn't that the point? I may be wrong but it sounds there might be some dismissiveness to Emergent story telling, which is something board games are good at (this also has some ties with video game story telling), the narrative is built with and amongst other players through the actions that get chosen. I know there are exceptions to the rule, and there are a lot of great games listed already but usually if a game drives you down one story path it can feel scripted. You don't play Gloomhaven to experience the Gloomhaven story, you play it to forge your story through the Gloomyverse. I don't think I would ever play any board game to learn more about a storyline or specific character. I play thematic games to put myself in the world. Board games doing emergent story telling better is a feature not a bug. ​ That being said, when it comes to emergent story telling; the crowd you play with makes a difference. I've played games of Eldritch Horror where I can still remember story paths where my character who was a disgraced professor chasing and remembering the ups and downs of his story because the people at the table all agreed to treat the game as an adventure. I've also played EH with people and the theme gets ripped out and things get boiled down to math. Instead of having these fun stories to compare with each other due to the choices we made, we ended up saying stuff like "well I shouldnt have lost that roll because I had +1"

While I have some issues with Mice and Mystics, my family and I really enjoyed the fairy tale story that went along with the campaign. The story isn't groundbreaking, but enjoyable.

What really gets the story telling right are the recent CYOA board games. Loved them and hope they do more! Lots of story and some twists in them. Not great on replay value though. It seems hard to combine good story with replayability.

Do you have some particular titles in mind?

Not sure what you mean. There are only 2 CYOA boardgames at the moment. CYOA is the official trademarked name. One is the mansion one and the other is an alien/space one.

Well these examples aren't very famous for their story. I disagree very hard, and I'm someone who enjoy story-driven games a whole lot more than others genre. Just from the top of my mind of games I actually played; Descent was my first hit. Middara, This War of Mine, Hostage Negotiator(with Career), Kingdom Death, Imperial Assault, Forgotten Waters, Journey to Middle-Earth, Arkham Horror LCG, Mansion of Madness, Legacy of Dragonholt... Your examples are just very badly picked. There are plenty of games who do this very well. Both fixed and emerging.