Flashback Friday - Fury of Dracula
Game Information
Love it or hate it? Do you still play it?
Based on Bram Stoker's famous novel, The Fury of Dracula is a breakthrough title that introduced cooperative and deductive elements to the adventure board game subgenre, while managing to retain the feeling of breathless excitement that players seek in an adventure game. - Hobby Games: The 100 Best, Anthony J. Gallela
Fury of Dracula by Stephen Hand was originally published by Games Workshp in 1987. In 2006 Fantasy Flight Games released Fury of Dracula 2nd edition with significant changes to the game. Fantasy Flight games further changed the game in their 2015 release of Fury of Dracula 3rd edition, streamlining the gameplay and significant'y changing the combat rules. This year (2019) the 4th edition was published by WizKids with painted minitures, larger cards and an improved rule book, but with no significant changes to the rules.
Which edition do you prefer? Love it or hate it? Do you still play it?
More on Fury of Dracula, Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition
Any edition of the game is worth playing, but 3rd/4th is superior enough to matter. Don’t get me wrong, 2nd is the version of the game I fell in love with, but Dracula is not enough of a threat for my liking and it has some really goofy, silly stuff in it and I don’t care for that in my Dracula. BLEH, LETS TELEPORT HALFWAY ACROSS THE BOARD, ISNT THIS FUN, BLEH. The dice rolling combat in 2nd is weak, no argument for it, and the variety in encounters in 3rd make a *HUGE* difference, not to mention cards being easier than the tokens.
But really, any version of the game is the best hidden movement experience around.
When it went out of print, I went through a period where money was needed, so I sold it for a nice chunk of change (I think my collection shrank by over half at that point.) Literally a month after I did so, FFG announced 3rd edition... with the incredibly cheesy cover art(!?) But, since I was in a better spot then, I picked one up and I still like it. It just doesn't see the table that often. There's one guy at one of the weekly FLGS gatherings who keeps bringing it and trying to shoehorn it in after we've been there for a while, despite everyone warning him that the store closes in a little over an hour and we will never, ever finish it. He's determined, though.
Would I bring it out as a "Halloween"-type event, as Wade references? I dunno. It's fun, but I have better/faster "all vs 1" games (The Others/TE Zombies) that fit that theme if we wanted to do something like that. I think the shine has come off from playing 2nd as many times as we did. I think it's still a worthwhile game, regardless of the time of year, though.
WadeMonnig wrote: Love it but it is an "event" game that I end up playing about once per year.
yea this. i had one friend who really enjoyed it but they moved away, so now i bring it every once in a while to game night and no one wants to play it. maybe tonight?
I like it. I haven't played it enough to say more but I would always be willing to play. My gaming companions weren't too hot on the game, though. I think it hasn't had the chance to shine. Slow play and not quite grasping the strategy must have hurt it.
Oddly, I’ve been lax on getting the new edition (I’ve had all three previous ones)...and I’ve kind of been thinking that I want to go back to 1st edition to be honest. It’s simpler, a little goofier, and I love the classic heavy line GW art.
3rd/4th edition is pretty great though.
Michael Barnes wrote: One of the all time greatest games.
Oddly, I’ve been lax on getting the new edition (I’ve had all three previous ones)...and I’ve kind of been thinking that I want to go back to 1st edition to be honest. It’s simpler, a little goofier, and I love the classic heavy line GW art.
3rd/4th edition is pretty great though.
Yeah, I came here to post a similar sentiment.
The comparison between 1st and 3rd/4th is a classic case of losing sight of how valuable fluffy assets are in tabletop games. On paper, there's no contest: the newer edition has deeper strategy, better components and a richer evocation of its theme. It should win this contest hands down.
Except that somewhere along the line, someone forgot that the real appeal of this game is simply the sense of the feeble hunters pitting themselves against the lord of darkness. And in 1st edition, Dracula is scarier. He's better hidden and tougher in a fight. He gets to be scarier in half the time for a quarter of the rules. He plots scary schemes which make his turns last longer, so the game doesn't have a skewed downtime where Dracula is left with little to do when his go finally comes around.
Don't get me wrong: the latest version remains a great game. But the original should get far more credit than it does. I know which I'm busting out this Halloween when I break out some games for the kids.
While it's fun as Dracula (1st ed) to lose the hunters and the game to grind on another 2 hours, it's not so much fun for everyone else at the table. The constant pressure of the hunters on your back in 3rd keeps the game tighter. Plus I like Dracula's new lair (hideout?) ability!