Play game
Fungal Shepherds (Root Jam 2025)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Clarity of Rules/Mechanics | #10 | 3.531 | 3.722 |
| Use of This Year's Theme | #14 | 3.426 | 3.611 |
| Creativity/Uniqueness | #26 | 3.215 | 3.389 |
Ranked from 18 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
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Really cool mechanics! It seems like almost everything relies on shroomlings being on the board. Is there a way to get back in the game if you are boardwiped? Or is that not much of a concern for this faction? I see that you recruit at nurseries, but you can only get nurseries or enlighten enemy warriors if you already have shroomlings.
I really like the idea of having strong warriors to fight for you that you can't completely control and that you have to sacrifice to score points. Very creative, nice work!
This faction has simple mechanics that are well thought out, and tied together with a little bow of storytelling and thematics. I like it a lot! I especially love how you've given storytelling reasoning behind things that happen, then they're reflected on the decisions and actions that would be made during the course of a game!
I do think the ability berry for the shepherds is a little redundant, since your recruit and enlighten actions specifically mention the pieces placed. Besides if you craft propaganda bureau you could be seeing a cool mechanic you might not otherwise see! (Though maybe this is by design?)
Awesome work!
Thank you for the review! I'm a hobbyist creative writer so I tend to design from a narrative perspective and then make mechanics to match that narrative.
The ability berry is to protect the shepherds from being locked up in coffin makers actually! I had a test game where all of my shepherds got eaten by my Shroomlings at the start of my turn and I couldn't get them back out to score and win because they had coffin makers. :( Not sure if that is worthy of an ability berry, but it seemed like a bad interaction that a single crafted card could keep the shepherds from scoring.
P.S. I love all of your artwork.
Wow yeah I hadn't even though of coffinmakers, sounds like you've put a lot of consideration into this faction!
And thanks so much, that's a huge encouragement to me!
Great job with this faction! I'm always a big fan of factions that force you to choose between two competing goals. Here, it's board presence vs. scoring. It seems like you might not want to score too much at the beginning of the game (and build up your shroomling presence), but you could easily score big points on a single turn if you can get things to line up!
I am a little confused on how this faction would best move around the board? It seems the best way to "move" most of your warriors (i.e. shroomlings) to new clearings is to set up Shepherds there on previous turns and "Herd" the shroomlings to the new location. But since shroomlings only move in Birdsong, the most warriors I could ever see in a new clearing is 2 (Enlighten, Enlighten, move), which wouldn't be hard for a militant faction to pick off. If that happens, does the ball of shroomlings just continue building in the same place it was before, without gaining new ground?
Thanks! The Herd action doesn't require you to have a shepherd in the clearing that you are moving the shroomlings to so you can move a large ball of shroomlings around the board.
I'm a big fan of choices in boardgames and mechanics that have to make the player very observant of the board.
You've hit the gameplay loop exactly on the head and honestly I don't think it's too stable as it is. Much like a mold infestation if this faction ends up being ignored for too long at the end of the game it can grow out of control and have a huge point jump of somewhere between 12-15 points.
Ah, that makes so much more sense! I thought the shepherd were calling the shroomlings to themselves, but I see that I misread the board. Thanks for clarifying :-)
Even if the faction isn't stable, I like the fact that opponents can see the swarm building (very visually) and decide to do something about it. And as a player of the faction, it will be satisfying to see all your hard work from many turns finally pay off ;-)