This article originally appeared in Pyramid #28

Pyramid Pick

City of Chaos

Published by Monocle Games Ltd.
Designed by Martyn Oliver and Colin Thornton
$59.95
In the continuing quest for good board games with high replay value, I recently picked up a copy of City of Chaos, the new and - as far as I know - only release from Monocle Games Ltd. out of the U.K. The back of the box advertised such things as a Random Plot System and Random World Generator, and promised "no two games are ever alike." Admittedly, the price was hefty for a box barely a third of the size of similarly priced Games Workshop board games, but I was intrigued and decided to give it a whirl.

I have to say that I am happy I did. City of Chaos is unlike any other board game I have ever played. It combines loose and fast board game elements with roleplaying elements to create a unique experience.

One thing I found initially confusing was that you don't exactly know how the game ends when you first play. You know that you are an adventurer in the city of Byronitar, which has fallen under a plague of chaos. Other than that, you know how to adventure and lay out the city pieces for exploration and interaction. It wasn't until after playing that I realized what was going on. There are multiple plots and multiple ways to reach an end goal and complete the game. By adventuring through the city and interacting with its inhabitants you gain clues which steer you in the right direction.

Perhaps one of the best features of City of Chaos is the Book of Chaos. It is a book of randomly . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: March 23, 1998

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