Heroes and villains are rarely simply born; they are made. For example, they might be bitten by a radioactive spider, fall into a vat of acid, be the result of secret government experiments, or be driven to the limit by society. Every hero or villain has an origin story.
Origin Story is a new trick-taking game, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and Pete Wissinger, published by Stonemaier Games and beautifully illustrated in a unique style by Clémentine Campardou, the illustrator of Wyrmspan. Origin Story is not just any trick-taking game; in this game, players build their own story and decide for themselves whether they are good or evil.
The story a player writes by adding cards to their tableau grants them unique powers and bonuses, which can be used to influence tricks or score points in various ways. Whether a player is good or bad also determines how points are scored. At the beginning of the game, players receive two possible superheroes, one of which is revealed at the start of the final round. This completes their origin story. This revelation triggers a unique event for the player and provides an extra way to earn points.
A total of five rounds are played, with eight tricks per round. In rounds one through four, players each choose from three random cards to add to their tableau: the story cards. With these cards, as described above, players build up their powers. They assign stamina to these powers as they choose, so they can use them during the tricks. In the third round, an event card is flipped for extra variety in gameplay. After assigning stamina to powers, players decide whether to play the round as good (they then get one point per trick won) or as evil (four points if you don’t win any trick).
The tricks themselves are fairly traditional: the starting player plays a card (there are four suits), and if you can, you must follow suit. The highest card wins the trick, with love always triumphing. Ahhhhh. Your story and affiliation determine your victory points, and the player with the most points wins the game.
Origin Story does not add many twists to the traditional trick-taking game, but it does to the build-up around it. Many trick-taking games have cards with special effects, but what makes Origin Story unique is that players decide for themselves which powers they have and how their story develops. This makes Origin Story a very versatile and varied addition to the world of trick-taking games.
