Ancient Terrible Things

Approach the mouth of the waterway cautiously. Though ominous and sinister in appearance, there’s a pull and attraction you cannot deny to this large body of water spilling out onto the world. Continue on and find its secret source...This was a love-at-first sight game when I saw it on a BGG Geeklist.Being a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's works, dice games, underground comix, Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now, .existential movies like Wages of Fear and Sorcerer, and gorgeous-looking games, it was an insta-buy for my game collectionGAMEPLAYThe two-player game plays quickly and is a light, easy-to-understand affair. Players take the role of one of four characters: Captain Heiress, Prospector, and Reporter.During the course of the game, these characters travel up a river (the Mekong, I believe) to meet and resolve experiences with ominous encounters, be they artifacts, pitfall, villain, or horror in nature.Players most often roll five green dice three times in attempts to overcome the encounter. All dice must be re-rolled unless a certain card/ability allows for select dice to be manipulated/rerolled.There are Feat cards (starting hand and limit of three for each player)that allow players to manipulate rolls, steal resources or cards from other players, and other rules-bending abilities.Through the purchasing of items and weapons called Swag, players can also enhance and modify their three attempts with re-rolls, modifiers, and additional dice. A successful resolve allows the player to keep the encounter card for its value in victory points. If an attempt is failed, the encounter becomes a 'rumor' and is discarded from the game. The player takes a Terrible Thing token worth negative points in values of 0, 1, 2, and 3.Regardless of a victory or loss in dealing with an encounter, players also have the choices of spending their unused dice on resources such at courage, feat, focus, and money. So, even with an encounter loss, dice are still valuable for shoring up or further strengthening you character.After dealing with encounters, players travel back down the river to the Trading Post to purchase items, weapons, relics, and other oddities.The game ends either when the Ominous Encounter cards are gone or all the Terrible Things tokens are removed from the river track. A player’s score is totaled. Then the Terrible Things collected by each player are subtracted from their score. Highest score wins.Simple, but fun.ARTWORK/DESIGNAncient Terrible Things is drenched in green, jungle hues and throbbing secondary colors such as green, orange, and purples.The art itself has a sketchy, but not rushed, underground comix feel and gives the game a look and atmosphere wholly unlike any board game I’ve yet encountered.COMPONENTS QUALITYComplonent quality is top-notch. The sizeable board has four folds with one of those folds cut in order to collapse down to one-fourth its area.There is one Kickstarter exclusive for the game, but I do not own this card as I purchased my copy of ATT through Amazon.If you enjoy light, push-your-luck dice games with a sinister, but unique look and atmosphere, I highly recommend you take a chance on Ancient Terrible Things.There now. Knowing what you’ve discovered (and if its toll has not been too costly on your sanity), venture back down the expansive length of this river and proclaim to the world that which is ushering forth from it bloated, pulsing tributaries and swirling stygian currents. Your conviction will be heard and garner intrigued explorers to take the helm with a handful of dice and hopefully endless amounts of courage, focus, feats, and treasures.

With the continual increase in the popularity of Kickstarter.com, a great multitude of board games are being created all over the world. It's impossible to know just how many of these independently created games are real gems and which ones to forget, but Ancient Terrible Things is certainly one that delivers all the thrills and chills of the Noir Pulp Horror theme.To begin with, the artwork and production values of the game are remarkable. For their first-ever published game, Pleasant Company Games hit the nail on the head with their quality of components. The box and game board are sturdy with a nice matte finish. The character boards and game cards are all top notch and will certainly stand the test of time. Finally, the translucent dice round out the excellent components and add a lot to the atmospheric theme of the game as well.Speaking of theme, this game is dripping with it. The lead developer devised the setting of this game from multiple ideas, including the fusion of the Indiana Jones-esque atmosphere of exploration with the supernatural monsters and horrors of Lovecraft's literature. It's certainly a darker theme, but in a very whimsical and entertaining way. Anyone could enjoy the game due primarily to the vastly entertaining dice chucking it involves.Ancient Terrible Things takes place over the course of several rounds in which players travel to various remote and haunted locations along a dark, winding river in the deepest depths of the jungle. The players are looking for secrets and booty to aid them in the uncertain future. At these long-forgotten locations, players encounter traps, villains, artifacts, or perhaps something even more sinister - ancient horrors. They then attempt to best these encounters by rolling five (or more) dice, known as focus dice. If the player matches the required cost of the encounter, they have survived the encounter and gain the rumor card, each of which carries with it ancient secrets - a numerical value signifying victory points.Play proceeds until the players have been bested by too many encounters along the dark river or when these rumors run out entirely. Throughout the journey, players can acquire unique assets (known as SWAG) to help them on their journey, as well as perform a few tricks of the trade (in the form of Feat cards). Yet, at the end of the game, the Unspeakable Event occurs and all players stand trembling at the onset of their certain demise. However, the player who collected the most ancient secrets lives just long enough to record their fate and leave behind a legacy in a battered journal. It's a brief victory for the doomed explorer, but better than none at all.Ancient Terrible Things is an undeniably fun board game with wonderful artwork, top-notch components, and fluid overall gameplay. The ancient secrets await along the dark river; what are you waiting for?

We really like this one, especially with the expansion that adds a 5th player. Quick, relatively easy, and who doesn't like rolling dice?

Great Dice game with good Atmosphere. Highly recommend can be played solo by controlling multiple people but a great game to play with friends.

Game last about an hour with four players. Easy to understand the gameplay. I really enjoy this game!

Great little game, Ancient Terrible Things is one of my top 2014 games.

On-time delivery of a great game!

I backed this game on Kickstarter, so I got my copy as a backer and WOW what a great game.Firstly the quality and artwork are outstanding, the pulp horror theming is brilliant. The dice, cards, play pieces are all so engaging.The game play is great, we have played with adults and kids (8). It is not in any way scary or inappropriate for kids. The game play may be complex for kids younger than 8 but it really has a great mix between skill and luck which is so much more engaging than the boring usual simple dice games.