[Can't believe it's taken me this long to review.]

I quickly fell in love with the Frostgrave system, but due to real life don't get many opportunities to play it, so when Joseph announced he was releasing a solo/co-op game using very similar mechanics I jumped straight in.

If you're familiar with any of the *Grave games from Joe, you'll pick this up immediately. If not, the rules are complicated, but I do encourage you to read through them a couple of times, as I do see the same mistake popping up because people assume it works in X way.

I got this when the POD first dropped, it kept me going through the pandemic, and I still play it now, both solo and with a group. Also picked up all the supplements, plus the Deluxe abd Standard versions from Modiphius, so I must like it. ;)

Un très bon jeu malgré un manque de liberté! Il faudrait juste un livre sur la création de scénarios rapides!

I don't think there's a game I've played more both solo and cooperatively then Rangers of Shadow Deep. I've played through many of the same missions many times and they never get old.

So I have owned this game for over a year now, I am fairly confident I can review this now. Anyone who has played Frostgrave will know the mechainics well except this is a real update to those mechanics with companion advancement updated rules on crits and turn squence. It is also powered down with the main hero the ranger being very custom to each player want to play a spell caster you can want to be an archer or a heavy armoured knight or even want to mix it up you can. this game bridges the gap between rpg and wargame perfectly.

The game also allows you to play Co-op which i have done with friends as well as my 10 year old daughter, its easy to pick up easy to play but also challenging. The main book has in it two mini campaigns the intro campaign and burning light a much more challenging adventure. there are also many expansions out there as well as more on the way. the Author of the books Joseph is also hugely involved via the facebook group and blogs something you never see.

So does it have any down sides yes it does but they are pretty minior the missions don't have map layout for deployment just a discription this allows you to use what you have but also means you have to make the terrain challenging and try to not make it too easy for you. Also the huge amount creatures required in the bestiary might mean you dont have all the required models however say you dont have gnolls you could just use orcs etc its your game. There is also minimal fluff which anyone who knows the authors previous work will know he does that so that you can set it in your own worlds but i know people out there like the fluff. None of these points are really that negative.

So if your looking for a single player or co-op RPG/wargame this is perfect for you the replaybility is also there and with more campaigns coming out all the time its well supported. North star has also started releasing a line of miniatures for the setting too.

Very impressive. I am looking forward to giving it a whack on the table top. Already thinking of crazy things to do with it.

Loses one star for two reasons. The PDF doesn't have links which is frustrating in this day and age. Secondly it has this parchment effect throughout - which isn't printer friendly and could be very easily fixed.

Looking forward to more from this author.

Hardback was delivered today and it looks great. Was in the middle of playing the game using the PDF and so much more convenient to have the book in my hand.

Game plays quickly and was a lot of fun. Did the first five scenarios in about 5 hours with two players. In a couple of weeks going to try it again with four players.

Difficulty set just high enough to make it a challenge. We found 'Bridge Guards' was toughest scenario, but some of the others were close.

Highly recommend this game, but I need to get myself some more trees and bushes to fill the table.

What an amazing and well thought out game. It's a really smart system and a style of tabletop game/wargame that we never really get. We need more COOP RPG games. So keen to get the expantions too, now. So thank you.

The game is probably 5 star, but the actual PDF isn't. The book is too long for an unindexed PDF, so it feels like I'm reading a bootleg scan of the book.

Hats off to Joseph M!

It has been a week since I got this and I have played through the opening scenario with a couple groups of friends. My wife who has played board games and the occasional rpg, but never a minis wargame, really enjoyed the ease of the game and making characters. She had painted up a ranger for a D&D game years ago, but now wants to get minis for the rest of her companions.

Our group is painters, and we love co-op games (which up till now were exclusively board games) and it really scratches an itch for a minis game. I own Frostgrave, and like the system, but I never really got into it because we play a number of competitive miniatures wargames. I heard about Rangers of Shadow Deep from Guerilla MIniature Games on youtube. The cooperative style of game was something we had been trying to shoe horn with other systems, to some success, but RoSD really struck me as different enough to motivate me to try it. EVeryone who has tried it has enjoyed the game, and we're concocting plans for mini painting making new terrain!

What I like: Character creation and companion choice are nice features. There is a heroic abilty and spell list that can give your character a lot of variety to the way they play. There are enough that our characters did not have much overlap in what was chosen. The companions are a nice touch, and for me as a mini painter, I want to put together a cool retinue to accompany my hero.

Combat is very clean. To hit roll and damage are the same in this game, and seemed strange when I first heard it (in Frostgrave) but it works. There are not a lot of modifiers to the dice roll (it uses only d20) but the ones included make sense. There can be some streakiness to it....a lucky giant rat really mashed up one ranger and took down a companion. Not the stuff of heroic legends but something that might inspire players take the "dice reroll" ability.

Playing cards are used for random events, and there's is a table for when clues are discovered. It's a mechanic that can change how the story narrative of the game. The two opening scenario mission we played turned out different. One group discovered a survivor, a body and an interesting weapon, where the other group got a very valuble potion and handy herbs, while never finding survivors, or the body, or weapon.

There are 14 scenarios/missions which will provide a good amount of gaming. The random events and cards can give the same mission enough differences to make it worth replaying.

Want I don't like: Two missions in I have not played it enough to find any issues with game play.

Shooting is handled shoot skill vs fight skill. This doesn't quite hit me...but I will need more time in the game to see how it works out.

As I own the game, I have taken it on to set up the games so my friends don't have to know the spoilers. Hopefully someone else in my group will do it when a new supplement comes out, so I don't always have to be the one seeing behind the curtain. I like rpgs, and I like not knowing the story.

Print copy. It's good enough. It's a minor complaint, but there's a grey color gradient at the top and bottom of the pages to give it a rustic look -like a parchment perhaps. It has that feel of newsprint, which is just ...dry and uncomfortable to me. Very minor. If I were to make a similar publication I would do a line border rather than the grey scale that was done. As I said very minor and I am looking for any reactions, good and ill, for this product.

All in All: It's a winner. If you like Frostgrave, you will already be at home with the system, although there are some minor differences.

If you and your group wants a co-operative story adventure miniature (or tokens) skirmish war-game with character advancement and campaign...

This is it.

We're going to play the heck out it.

Thank you Joseph.

Dave

I'm reviewing this as a solo roleplaying game (no referee) where one might use miniatures/counters to clarify certain situations.

The basic premise is that dark forces have consumed a neighbouring land, and small elite squads need to combat threats to the borders of the kingdom.

The game system is not complicated, yet surprisingly rich, with a number of non-combat actions. Setting details are currently sparse, but reader imagination can fill in the gaps, and this leaves plenty of room for unfolding revelations in subsequent products. Combat is the main feature of the (several) included adventures, yet they have variety both in mission types as well as (especially) in set up/presentation. As some details are generated randomly from a list, there is replay value.

The softcover book has clear print and is well illustrated. The missions are fun to play, and comprise much of the book.

I look forward to more products in this line. Highly recommended.

Great game. System is more or less similar to Frosgrave with rich missions for solo and coop play. Events and clues discoveries are good to bring surprise. I have played the first two scenarios solo. Tables to generate scenario and generic events would be good additions.

Once again, Joe McCullough nailed it. The game is well thought out, rules are clear and simple enough without being "dumbed-down". The scenarios provided look fun and challenging (haven't played yet) and like Frostgrave, what you need to play isn't going to cost you a year's pay. Can't wait to get this one to the table!

Update -- Still 5 stars after playing. This game plays very quickly, faster than Frostgrave. The coop nature is really fun, especially with kids. Looking forward to scenario 2!

Great game with one star knocked off because this twenty dollar PDF doesn't have a index

This is excellent well laid out and clearly a great deal of thought has gone into it.

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a single player tabletop RPG, that also offers co-op up to 4 players. Create your ranger, pick their Heroic Abilities, Skills, Spells and equip them for their adventure, and finally recruit as many companions as you can afford (the more skills and abilities your Ranger has, the fewer follows you'll be able to bring along).

The rulebook includes an introductory quest to play through, made up of several scenarios, where you will search for clues and likely find yourself fighting off some AI baddies. Then once you've mastered the basics and levelled up your Ranger, you can move on to the full quest included at the end of the rulebook.

The game itself offers great narritive, more like tabletop rollplaying than a straight up wargame, and plays really well. I found it very easy to pick up (though it is a similar mechanic to Frostgrave, which I've played before, as both games are by the same author), where the turn is broken down into activation phases, and lots of the rolls are your stat vs the opponent, e.g. your Fight stat+roll vs the opponents Fight stat+roll. I also wasn't sure how I'd enjoy the enemy activations, but the "AI" makes a lot of sense, and after a while I found i didn't need to keep referring to the flow chart to see how the baddies would act.

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a D20 playing system, so you'll need at least a couple of twenty-sides dice to play, as well as a deck of playing cards which are used to determine random events. As well as this you'll need a handful of miniatures to use as your Ranger and their companions, as well as some more miniatures to represent the evil denizens of the Shadow Deep, something to represent terrain (such as trees, ruins and rocks), and a playing surface 2.5'x2.5'.

Overall, I've had a great time trying out this game, and I can't wait to build a dedicated Ranger and head back into the Shadow Deep to thwart some evil!