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RootJam 2025 The Frost Tusked Raiders's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity/Uniqueness | #20 | 3.650 | 3.650 |
| Use of This Year's Theme | #30 | 2.200 | 2.200 |
| Clarity of Rules/Mechanics | #31 | 2.250 | 2.250 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Includes Law of Root?
No
Includes PnP?
Yes
Includes TTS files?
2. No (Text to Speech ?)
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Comments
I love the artwork on this faction! You really captured the Viking walrus look :)
I like the whole economy of items this faction creates for everyone to use. It is a little complex so I might be missing the downside for other players having the monopoly items in their crafted items box. It seems like they would want to exhaust them every turn to get the extra actions, but Chastise and Refresh makes it seem like the Raiders want other players to have a lot of Monopoly items that they leave unexhausted.
If you've tested them out I'd be curious to know how their scoring compares to other factions. My initial thought is that they might need an extra way to score more points, maybe related to Chastise, because Count the Spoils seems like an expensive way to score points.
Absolutely, I really appreciate what you mentioned! You can also use the trick to earn a few extra points for those overflow items. It might feel a little challenging at first, but it truly helps balance out the higher points you can achieve.
It’s just unfortunate that things have ended on a less positive note.
You mean the extra point once you have 9+? I did miss that, and that could definitely help if they’re crafting a lot of items.
In addition, this faction is picky for some players, as I’ve crafted a gameplay experience that’s both strong and effective! It particularly focuses on rapid development (and yes, it recruits warriors in arithmetic progression), making it a perfect fit for those with skilled tactical thinking and proficiency.
I like how you've approached the challenge of "swarming" by focusing on everybody's crafted items box. It's something I'd never thought about touching, but that's why RootJam is so fun! The idea of giving away your actions (monopoly tokens) to your opponents is a really interesting way to decision point. This faction feels like it has a lot of meat on it, and it'd be really interesting to try it out!
Just wanted to make sure I understood how other factions interacted with the monopoly tokens. If I read it right, there are two options:
1. Spend the token, take the action. When the Raiders get to "Refresh", they may reset the token and take a card (or a point, if I'm out of cards).
2. Don't spend the token. When the Raiders get to "Chastise", they may lose a point and remove warrior(s) from my most populous clearing.
Is there a way to get rid of monopoly pieces, if I wanted to?
I don't understand your phrase "spend Token", but if I look at the keywords I found in the Law of root, it should be "Exhaust items". It is also called directly "item" not "token".
Both of your other choices are correct; however, there's just a minor issue with choice 1. They don't take a point from you, you simply lose a point for each card. If you don't have cards!
You can't remove them, but you can use the downtime between when they have the normal item and when they get the monopoly item during the next turn's Enhance action to swap them with yours. This is described in the "crafted items" box.
I'm really excited about your interest! I've officially completed the final version and shared the contest link. After voting is over, I will update my faction. Thanks for your support! 😊😊😊
Yes, sorry; I meant "exhaust item". I don't know why tokens were on the mind ;-) Great job!
I really like the monopoly items that this faction introduces to the game. Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by the different actions that can be taken, but the more I've looked at this faction I am charmed by how wonderfully you have captured the feel of a raiding party with the Count the Spoils action.
Wonderful work, Bravo!
Hey there! Just to be honest, the version you’re seeing isn’t quite finished yet. I actually have a polished version ready to go, but sadly, the contest rules don’t let me update my submission ;(((.
No need to worry, though! It’s just a few minor bugs that need fixing, and the main parts are all good to go. You can check it out in the link I’ve attached below. Thanks for your visit!
Oh cool! Thanks for pointing out the finished version in the links!
While uploading, I realized I missed including a few additional components. I’ve attached the link here for you: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JDtxvoyqqGpk3FCA7U1HpcwjK3ss5gC9?usp=drive_link. I truly appreciate your understanding, and I’m sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused!
Hey ! I'm planning on testing your factions, seems great ! Just to be sure, do each of the five different monopoly items have 4 copies ?
Haha! Actually, there are five different Monopoly items, and each one has three copies.
I'm really excited to meet people who share my passion for this game! It's great to connect with others who enjoy it as much as I do.
I can only agree ! So I just played a game with the Tusked Riders and I have a few questions and remarks , if you don't mind helping me clarify things a bit :D
1 - Naval War
-Can you reroll one of the battle dice as defender ?
2 - Transfer
- What do you mean by item track ? Is it the lord of the hundred's hoard ?
-Can the vagabond aid a player to take a monopoly item from their crafted item box ??
3 - Enhance
-What do you ean by "spending a crafted card" ? Is it spending a crafted improvement that you crafted on a previous turn ? That's how we played in in our game.
-From where do you remove the non-monopoly item ? Is it from your crafted item box or from the supply ?
4 - Chastise
-As it's written right now, you can choose to remove any piece you want in the clearing in question. So for example you could remove the cat's keep, so maybe it's a bit to harsh ? What about removing warriors first like with the vagabond's crossbow ?
5-Exhausting items
-The horn is EXTREMELY powerful and it is all I've been doing all game. I spent the game in only two clearings, just recruiting with hammers and flipping anchors, to then remove 4 warriors to draw 6 cards to place more anchors and reveal a lot of pairs. It was a very passive game were I never moved or attacked, I just stayed there revealing 8 cards a turn to score 4 points.
-Stealing cards every turn with the harpoon is a bit harsh I feel, especially when you are already stealing cards during evening.
-Do you need to exhaust any two items to refresh a monoploy item as well as revaling a card ?
6-Retrieve
-What is a removed non-monopoly item ? One you removed during the bestow action ?
Thanks !
1. Yes, of course? There is no limit on whether you have to be an attacker or a defender to be able to reroll a die. Best of all, if there is a battle in a clearing with Knarr, you can do this too!
2.
- Yes, it mentions lord of the Hundred's hoard and others like it.
- No, the keyword does not match. Vagabonds cannot take monopoly items! But they can still aid a player and improve their relationship.
3. I don't understand what you mean, but this is my explanation: https://cards.ledergames.com/search?q=game:%22root%22&d=images&s=id&b=asc&p=3 . The card named Saboteurs mentions exactly what a "crafted card" means! Or the 4.1.3 in the law of Root. http://root.livingrules.io/#_idTextAnchor000 .
- You remove non-monopoly items from Crafted items and put monopoly items here because regular items always go to Crafted items, and no description changes this either.
4. =))), I thought that Root's 4.3.3 also applied to removal out of battle. By the way, you choose the clearing with the most of their pieces to remove, but they must choose to remove all their warriors there before they choose to remove any of their buildings or tokens there in any order.
5. I don't know how possible it could happen. Reveal in the MATCHING clearing and always along the river, play without getting into any damage from the battle, and have to build your buildings to refresh yours. There are too many obstacles here that will prevent you from always being able to play passively in a specific position. During testing, there were always a lot of factors that affected it unfavorably under the condition that the factors were balanced between the players. However, I may reconsider.
6. No, it is one you removed during the enhance action.
Especially number 5, I will review carefully. I look forward to your continued support in the next tests. Thank you!
There are many debuffs, I think you ignored when you tested it:
1. Like other actions like "Raze", "Resolve the decree", or "Adjust the Outcast", you always take "Chastise" and lose a point because of it per turn.
2. Generating monopoly items becomes slower if you score too many points early in the game, as you won't have any cards to craft, which is vital.
3. More Knarr does not mean you have more times to reroll.
As for the horns, you can try "Remove any 3 of your warriors and/or tokens to draw 2 cards" - an original that was tested for a long time before being replaced for being too weak.
Thanks for the clarification ! Helps me understand the faction better. To reply more specificly to your answers :
1- Okay ! Just wanted to make sure because to me it felt more intutive that it worked when you were the attacker, sort of a twist on the extra-hit-in-battle-as-attacker effect we have seen with other factions. But this offers a lot of interesting choices as well.
3- Okay so we played it right, good to know. However it seems that there is a LOT a hoops to jump through just to add a monopoly item to your armory. As I understand it, you need to : craft an item, craft another card to spend, remove the item to place two monoploy items to your crafted box, craft yet another card to spend, hope your opponents do not switch their own items with your monoply items, and finaly you can add a monoply item to your armory.
5-I dont remember the specifics but it went like this : starting hand a bird,a fox,a bunny, I place 6 warriors in a river bunny clearing during setup.
Turn 1 I exhaust the horn and remove 2 warriors to draw 3 cards. I refresh the horn by exhausting to other items and revealing the fox card. I exhaust once again the horn. I now have 8 cards in hand :3 birds, 2 bunny, 2 mouse, a fox . I exhaust a winged boot to move one warrior to an empty adjacent mouse clearing.
During reveal actions I place three anchors in the bunny clearing and flip 2 of them ( 3 warriors placed in total )and build forges in the mouse clearing
Evening I refresh all my items, and so on everyturn where I draw 6 cards, find a least 2 bunny or bird card to place and flip an anchor...
Thank you for taking the time to answer my previous comment, really helps !
Haha, I can only admit that my design thinking has thrived in an environment where everyone is ambitious and "brutal" 🐧, they can do anything to destroy a player, even if it means coming together to attack that one who is just one point ahead of the rest.
But I think you're right, I need to adjust mine. Guess what, it's done! You can see the edit table in the link I attached above.
Wowow so creative! Your faction board and artwork are amazing, and your thematics are off the charts! I also love how creative and interactive your factions abilities are! Though I feel it could benefit from 3 ability berries as naval warfare has a lot going on. Great stuff!
TTS stands for tabletop simulator btw haha
I truly appreciate your guidance and thank you for it. If you hadn't explained it, I would have misunderstood the TTS file. lmao =))
Thank you so much for your enthusiastic response! I’m excited for you and wishing you the best of luck!
Thanks!