The setting for Babis Giannios' storytelling game is Camelot after the death of King Arthur (curiously referred to in the rulebook as Emperor Arthur). The 2-4 players represent prospective claimants to the throne - Sir Lancelot, Lady Guinevere, Lord Oberon and Lady Nimue - competing to generate the most prestige.
Shown here on Board's Eye View is a preview prototype of Monarchs of Camelot ahead of the game's Kickstarter launch on 21 November. The BEV team hasn't had long with the prototype so we've not been able to get in as many plays as we'd usually expect to do for a review or preview but we'd anyway want to limit how much detail we go into for Monarchs of Camelot because we wouldn't want to give away any Spoilers...
Whichever character you play you'll have your own discrete deck of Decision Cards. These each have a left and right side and you 'splay' them by tucking them under the left- or right-hand side of your character card. These then show the actions your character can take; the icons on the card have different meaning depending on the scenario you are playing and they are explained on the scenario's cards. Players also have 'Personal Goal' cards and the way you play and position your Decision Cards largely directs the Personal Goal actions you can take and the progress you make towards completing a Personal Goal.
It was the emerging story and the way in which players take actions and decisions to help shape that story that was one of the elements we loved most in Babis Giannios' design for the campaign game Vampire: The Masquerade - Heritage (Nice Game Publishing). And in Monarchs of Camelot the story is central to the design: each of the many scenarios starts with a narrative and set up and then offers a branching 'choose your own adventure'-style path that is affected by the actions players take and by the choices they make by voting and by directing which 'Speaker' (non-player character) votes.
If you enjoy a game with a story that unfolds and changes as you play, you'll definitely want to check out Monarchs of Camelot when the Kickstarter launches on 21 November. Click here to check out the Kickstarter campaign.