I wasn't sure about the game when I first saw it. I put it off until Deadball II was out on Kickstarter. I have a buddy who's a huge baseball fan (I'm a fan, but he puts me to shame) and I thought this would be a good game for him for those off-season days when he needs something to entertain him. And while I was at it I got myself a copy.

Possibly the best thing about it is the fact you can easily play solo and not lose anything. While some might argue it's more fun with two players because of the way it's designed (no hidden cards, no secrecy at all - just like a regular baseball game) you can easily simulate two different managers/styles by yourself. The rules are easy to follow, and you don't need anything more than a standard set of gaming dice to play. I was pleasantly surprised that it mimicked the feel of the game - too many sports board/card/dice games just fall flat on that front. Do you bring in a reliever or hope that your starter can get the #8 hitter out and you can get a fresh arm in for the inevitable pinch hitter the opposition is going to put in for their pitcher? Do you try a squeeze play, or let your .300 hitter swing away?

The only negative I have found: I waited and lost far too many months of playing before I actually cracked open the rule book and played my first game. Seriously - this sat on my shelf for a good month before I decided to give it a shot.

I haven't explored anything beyond the basic rules yet but those are plenty enough to keep me coming back for more. I keep lying to myself that I'll just play "one more game". I have been playing so much I finally broke down and laminated a blank scoresheet with heavy laminate so I could just use dry erase markers instead of going through sheet after sheet of paper.

Great short adventure. I took my completely new to D&D gaming group through it over the course of three days (they spent the better part of 90 minutes on the first situational encounter, debating the merits of having the clumsy members of the party try and climb up a big rock and other creative ways to get around otherwise painful obstacles) - about 4 hours in total. I have a very creative party, and one had just gotten the PHB for Christmas so we did a lot of looking up; I'd guess a seasoned party would probably run through this in the 2-hour target, no problem.

The only real "issues" I have with it (and it's in quotes because part of a DM's job is to adjust accordingly...and it even speaks to that in the materials) are the APL adjustment recommendations and maybe a little more information on the side quest. All starting level 1s in an APL 3 really fell below the "Very Weak" recommendations, in my humble opinion. The party survived, but it took some creative adjustments (one monster was summarily weakened due to the interruption of a ritual), but I'm thinking this would be a hard one to introduce new level 1 players / characters into. The faction side quest was a fun one, but there was a lot of improvising when the party thought it might be a good idea to stray from the original intent. I love to roll with the improvisation, but I'm relatively new to AL so the notion of factions is somewhat foreign to me; it would have been helpful to perhaps have a little more information about what the side quest meant/was for/etc so I could effectively work with the creativity that is my party without potentially ruining something later down the storyline in AL.

But great adventure - definitely recommended! I picked up Wretches, as well, which I think was rolled out in the same Con so I'm excited to try that!