Roar and Write Preview

Designer: Carla Kopp
Publisher: Galactic Raptor Games
Players: 1+ (Just need sheets for everyone.)
Ages: 8+
Time to play: 15 Minutes

Hey folks! I’m back with another preview! This time it’s Roar and Write. A roll and write game based in the Animal Kingdoms Game series. In this game, you’ll be rolling your way through 5 ages making offerings to the different council members to help sway their vote. See, the animal kingdom is looking for a new monarch to rule over them all. It’s up to the council members to pick one ruler. During this competitive press you luck game, you’re trying to earn the most points.

Components

12 Double Sided Council Member Cards
6 Dice
1 Pad of double sided score sheets (The preview game I got came with the score sheet and 18 personal agenda cards. The finished product will have the card information on the back of the score sheets.)

Council Member Cards

These are the different animal council members you’re trying to appease.

Red Pandas – 4 or 5 of a kind

Okapi – Values that are either different or the same.

Tiger – Pairs or triples of same value dice or odd or even dice.

Lizard – Even or Odd pairs or triples of the same value.

Frog – Only count a single number. 6 different frogs for numbers 1 to 6.

Wolf – Dice that add up to a certain number. Different wolves for values 3 to 8.

Personal Agenda

This will earn you bonus points at the end of the game if you collect the unique number listed and pairs of numbers listed. Keep those in mind when writing down numbers on your pad.

Score Sheet

The score sheet has a top, middle, and bottom section.

The top is the kingdom area. Here you’re putting numbers not used as offerings to try and complete the section. This includes 2 pairs, same numbers, any value, big to small, and small to big.

The middle is the council offerings. Here you’ll write down numbers based on each roll for the 5 different rounds. Use one row at a time. And you’ll score the round at the end of 3 rolls.

The bottom is the scoring area. Here you’ll add your ongoing total to your personal agenda scores, your bonus for making offerings to different council members, and then any kingdoms you have finished.

Set Up

To set up, first pick a difficulty.
1. Easy – Use one okapi, tiger, frog, wolf, and red panda.
2. Medium – Use one Okapi, Lizard, Frog, Wolf, and Red Panda.
3. Hard – Use one tiger, Lizard, Frog, Wolf, and Red Panda.
Choose one council representative from each animal card chosen by the difficulty.
1. Place it face up on the table where everyone can see it.
Place the 6 dice near these cards.
Each player will then take a scoring sheet. (In the final production your personal agenda will be on the back. In this preview, you’re dealt a card with the same information.

Game Play

The game is played over 5 rounds or ages. Each round, or age, consists of rolling the dice 3 times. All players use the same dice roll to write on their score sheets.

The beginning player rolls all 6 dice.
Write down any numbers shown in the row for the round they are currently playing.
- First round uses line 1, second round uses line 2, and so on.
- Use each die only once.
- Keep an eye on the council members and your unique number to try and figure out what you want to collect and offer.
- You’re not locked in to one council member, so you can always change your mind second roll.
Use one left over die to place in the kingdom area.
- If you want to select more to add to the kingdom, you can put an “x” in one of the council offering boxes. You lose out having a number in that box, but maybe you’ll complete a kingdom.
Once all players have written down their numbers they want to use, check and see if anyone used all 6 numbers to complete a row.
- If they did, circle the 4 in the early appeasement box.
Next, roll the all the dice again and repeat the same process.
- This time, if you complete the council offering row, circle the 2 in the early appeasement box.
Roll all 6 dice again and repeat.
- This time, circle the 0 in the appeasement box.
After the 3rd roll, write the letter of the council member you are scoring.
- Score that council member card based on what you wrote down and put that in the round prestige box.
- Next, add round prestige and any early appeasement score together to get your total for the round.
Repeat this whole process for rounds 2 to 5.
- You can pick the same council member in multiple rounds to score.
After the 5th round, you’ll score your sheet.

Scoring

Add together all your round totals.
Count how many times your unique number shows up in the offerings. Write down the points bonus based on that number.
Count your unique pairs that show up in the offerings. Write down the points bonus based on that number.
Look at all the council members letters written down for each age. Count each letter once, and circle the bonus that matches that spot.
- - 1 different Council appeased is 1 point.
  - 2 different councils appeased is 3 points.
  - 3 different councils appeased is 6 points.
  - 4 different councils appeased is 10 points.
  - 5 different councils appeased is 15 points.
Look at your kingdoms at the top of the score sheet. Circle any completed kingdom. Add those kingdoms together and write it in your kingdom total box.
Add all these boxes together.

The player with the highest points is the new monarch of the animal kingdom!

Final Thoughts

Okay, this is a prototype that was provided by Galactic Raptor Games. Art and components are subject to change. That being said, the card quality and are on the prototype are gorgeous! I really liked the look of the other Animal Kingdoms game and this is just as good! The dice are just 6 regular dice that matched. It looks like the final product will have nicer looking translucent dice. Overall, I’m pleased with how it all looks.

The score pad looks a little confusing at first. However, I think if you break it down as the top, middle, and bottom it’s not as bad. Top is played over all rounds, middle is played one round at a time, and the bottom is scoring. Artwork on the score sheet is nice and matches the feel of Animal Kingdoms. I’m not sure if I’m entirely sold on the personal numbers being on the back of the score sheet. For roll and write games, I’m a fan of laminating a few score sheets and using dry erase markers. so in that sense, I like the cards better.

As for the game play, I like describing this as a gamer’s Yahtzee. There’s a lot of options to go with when playing. I like that you choose what council member to go with after you play the 3 rounds. It makes the turns a little more forgiving on bad rolls.

I’ve found that the council members mimic a lot of the Yahtzee criteria for scoring. It’s a good take on a familiar feeling game. I really like that each game, you’re picking what difficulty and what council members to use. It makes it so each game feels a little different.

I liked that everyone is using the same dice rolls. I felt like this sped up the game, It was also interesting to see what everyone was going for at the end of the round. It just shows the variety of ways you can play each round.

The top of the score sheet adds something for those rounds you just don’t get what you need. It’s a tough decision to pick what to go for there. You’re limited on what you can write down up there unless you forgo offerings on the round you’re playing. There were times that I felt completely confident I wasn’t going to do well in a round, and went for the kingdoms instead. Then there were opposite times, where I felt confident I was going to do well in a round, and then ended up not getting what I needed.

The personal unique numbers add more points to earn each game. It also drove your decisions on what council member to go for and what to write down. I found myself going for the items that benefited those the most. Is that a solid strategy? I’m not too sure yet. Seems to have worked for me.

Roar and Write is a solid roll and write game. It’s a step up from Yahtzee and has a nice theme to it. It’s got some great artwork that I wish I could see more of it. In the game Animal Kingdoms, you can see more of the artwork. I recommend this for anyone that enjoys a roll and write with replay ability. This game has a lot of choices each round and has a good amount of press your luck.

Roar and Write is currently on Kickstarter. It’s has just over a week left and has hit it’s goal. You can find the link to the Kickstarter here. <—–