RuneScape leaderboard

If you haven’t heard of upcoming card game, you’re not alone. Even when it skittered across my desk last fall, it largely escaped my notice and I missed a chance to check out the closed beta (something I quite thoroughly regret now!). The devs have kept pretty far under the radar. However, word is getting out now. This new free-to-play CCG opens its beta doors on March 23rd, and soon everyone will have a chance to see what its all about.

And what exactly is it all about? Why should people take notice of yet another CCG/TCG that is coming along amid the horde of others? Besides the obvious tie to RuneScape that fans are sure to appreciate, there’s a unique twist to this game that sets it apart. Think card game meets board game sprinkled with RPG. Even though closed beta has officially ended, I had the chance to play it for a while as well as chat with Senior Producer Mark Killey and Lead Designer James Sweatman at a press event in the UK last week. And I am looking forward to playing Chronicle again when open beta starts!

Setting the three-dimensional stage

Admittedly, the whole card game thing is pretty new to me. With the exception of EverQuest II’s Legends of Norrath, which I log into simply to open packs and get in-game loot, I’ve had nothing to do with the whole genre until very recently. Now that I have dabbled in and enjoy the game I play, I had no interest or reason to check out any others. Then I saw Chronicle.

The very first time I set eyes on Chronicle: RuneScape Legends, my interest was piqued because you do not play on flat screen surface like cards on a table; you play on a three-dimensional game board on a 3-D table! If you have ever used miniatures and hex maps in tabletop gaming, you will be able to easily envision the set up, except that Chronicle has much more elaborate environments than I’ve ever used. It also brought to mind the board game Talisman. There’s a reason for that: When I asked, devs admitted to playing it, and the actual development of the system was first done using paper pieces laid out on a board — just as in Talisman.