Become Corinth’s Most Savvy Trader In New Roll-And-Write Game
January 18, 2019 by cassn
Corinth is a roll-and-write game where players must place dice to gain resources and wealth. On their turn, a player rolls nine dice, then places the dice on different levels of a chart to determine their resource. Highest value dice go on the top of the chart to give gold, and the remaining dice are split between different coloured market stalls.
Gold can be used to purchase more dice, thereby increasing your chance of progressing to the desired level of affluence. Gold can also be used to purchase buildings which will provide special abilities for all subsequent rolls.
However, instead of marking off resources, a player can also use their roll to move their steward. The steward begins at the centre of a 5x5 grid, and when he reaches a corner, all movement up to that point is counted as points. Each time the steward reaches a new corner, this count happens again, so points can be built up from strategic movement.
I have mixed feelings about roll-and-write games. They have increased in popularity and, while some games already on the market like Railroad Ink have demonstrated that they can be done incredibly well, others I have seen have been underwhelming.
Corinth falls somewhere closer to the former. I am tentatively excited to give this game a go, I think it has interesting mechanics (like fulfilling the objectives of one market before being able to use another), and with Sébastien Pauchon (Jaipur) as designer, my hopes are high.
Corinth will be released in March 2019 in Europe, and you can keep up to date until then through the Days of Wonder website.
Do you have a roll-and-write game you love?
"I am tentatively excited to give this game a go!"
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
On Monday of this week I did a massive 50 person Roll and Write session using Railroad Ink. We projected the rolls onto a screen. I though there would be a ton overlap, there was less than I expected. It was an experiment to show that people who are looking at the same information can come up with different conclusions. That was the point of the exercise. It was fun, the group enjoyed it as it was part of the team building exercise. I believe a few will even purchase their own copies as they came up to me to… Read more »
What does ‘roll and write’ mean? In game terms? I get what the words mean, but I’m unsure what this is as a type of game.
You roll dice and depending on the value (it could be symbols instead) you fill out areas of a board via a pen, pencil or erasable marker. There are different objectives. In some cases it is trying to score values. In other cases you are actually trying to do area control. In the case of Railroad Ink, creating connected paths to stations to score points like the longest path. If you fail to complete something, you get negative points. Usually each person as their own solitaire puzzle they are trying to optimize based on the value of the dice. All… Read more »
Thanks @turbocooler – I was sort of imagining a kind of mini-freeform roleplaying game, where dependent upon what you rolled, it guided what narrative direction you took your character in. But the games I’ve seen described as ‘roll and write’ didn’t look at all like this was how they worked!
I can understand the confusion because sometimes the term “Roll and Write” is used in speaking about the Choose Your Own Adventure Games like the Destiny Quest series of books or solo RPGs like D100 Dungeon or Four Against the Darkness.
All of the ones I mentioned (including Railroad Ink) are very inexpensive. Less than $20 for any of them and worth the experience if you are looking for something new to play or a change of pace on a lazy weekend.
I think a video for this will help to understand the game.
Great game!