The Glade 4.0

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventureCardGame

In case you didn't know, Paizo has put out a coorperative card game based on the pathfinder iconics. And the best part is, it's not collectible. The box set has everything you need to get started and includes ~ 18 scenarios, as well as the six player expansion.

Grouse and I really enjoying this, We've run all the way to deck 4 (the first thing you have buy outside the box set) as a duo, and played the first mission with 5 players from our rpg group. 5 players is a bit of bear, with everyone only getting 6 turns before "time" runs out, but we beat it the first time.

Each player has their own "deck" representing their character, from the selection of the runelord iconics. You have a basic starting deck, but you can acquire better cards as you play the game and swap them out for your basic cards after you finish a scenario.

the game scenario consists of exploring a set of locations , which have their own randomly drawn decks, in search of the villain and his henchman. Each card you encounter has a difficulty to defeat/aquire which you can use your characters skill dice and cards against. When you defeat a henchman you can attempt to permanently close a location, essentially making it so the villain can't escape there when beat. You have 30 turns (Kept track of with another deck) to defeat the villain in such a manner that he cannot "flee" to another location. The 30 turns is hard limit, meaning you get 30 turns if you have 2 or 5 characters. this means the game doesn't always scale as well, but more characters have more cards and more range of abilities, so its not terrible. We were able to basically get one good shot at setting up the villain in 5 player mode, permanently closing a couple of the locations by defeating henchman, and temporarily closing the ones that had PCs at them. There was a lot of luck involved, and if it hadn't all gone perfectly we weren't going to get another chance before time ran out.

I think it's great cooperative game. You have to spend cards to help your party members and you have to play the strengths of the characters in the party against the scenario. It also feels very D&D/Pathfinder like, with progression (your characters get additonal skills and abilites as they complete scenarios including the ability to have more cards in your deck) and familiar elements from the RPG. Definitely worthwhile and a scenario takes around an hour with four experienced players.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

I played about half a game. I think we were misinterpreting the rules a bit though. Didn't feel like enough turns to even come close to capturing the villain.

The rules are not overly well written. When the villain is encountered, any player can attempt to temporarily close the location they are at. Also if you beat the villain, the extra blessing come out of the unused blessings in the box, not the "time deck," and you automatically close that location. In larger groups, you've going to have to explore again in every opportunity you get, and hope you draw and defeat a couple henchmen early.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"