A young Foxen attempts to claim his place in the world of Børe by discovering the origins of the monstrous Guardian, who threaten the existence of the peoples of Børe. This young Foxen sets out to do this by (re)searching ruins and runes during his journey to the mountaintop Maul Peak in World of Børe Runes & Ruins.
World of Børe Runes & Ruins is a Single Player adventure set between Skulk Hollow and Maul Peak. It takes place not only between the events of these two games, but also on the route between Skulk Hollow, where the Foxes rule, and Maul Peak where the Grizzar bears have made their lair.
Runes & Ruins is a sort of choose-your-own-adventure type of game where you read a story with you and have to make different choices each time that affect the outcome of the story. You play the game with a stack of cards, a set of tokens and 15 random cubes. The cubes don’t come with the little game, but you can borrow them from Skulk Hollow or Maul Peak. In my case, I used purple cylinders from Evergreen because I was too lazy to walk to the other room to open the box from Skulk Hollow or Maul Peak….
Also, you need to arrange your own pen and coin. This coin is essential since many of the cards contain a scratch layer that you may also be familiar with from scratch cards. By reading the cards you learn the rules of the game, but the game play basically boils down to turning over cards until you are faced with a choice.
Often certain choices come at a cost and often in the form of time. With the cubes you had to retrieve from the other room, you keep track of time. During the game you spend time, but you also earn compassion. The amount of time and compassion you have at the end of the game affect the outcome of the story. That outcome is interesting, by the way, because it provides a special action that players can use during a game of Skulk Hollow and Maul Peak.
Runes & Ruins is a funny 30-minute interlude that gets players in the mood for Skulk Hollow or Maul Peak. You can only play it once, but it thus provides a bonus to go with the aforementioned games. So I would rather consider Runes & Ruins as one narrative micro expansion of these games. Make dure that hou also, besides the pen, coin and cubes, have a vacuum cleaner on stand-by, because you have to scratch a lot and the scratch layer gives off a lot of shiny dust. At least it is less harmful than gambling 😉
