So what did I learn from my "research" playing City of Thieves as a fully grown adult?
When I first rolled the maximum score for skill I thought that coupled with
my superior adult brain (in your face child-Phil) that it would be a breeze. I'd punch stuff in the face and cruise past any puzzles. Simple.
Not to be.
The actual mechanics of the game aren't that complicated. If I was to draw a map of the choices made it would be a fairly simple three way branch at the start and a set of different adventures/challenges/death down each one. You're then steered to a central point (the wizard) given a list of Maguffins to go after then it branches off again. In theory I should be able to do something similar when I come to have a go.
However, there are a few elements of the mechanics that haven't made the transition to the 21st century that well in my opinion. Mechanics I'd want to fiddle with when it comes to my attempt.
Fighting using dice adds an element of tensions and quite good fun, but feels a bit, well, wrong as an adult. The dice took a bit of finding too (thanks old backgammon set). I could have downloaded a dice rolling app I'm sure, mind, but reading a book in one hand and fiddling with a phone in the other? Not ideal.
Flicking back and forth to the sheet where you record your various abilities/items/provisions etc is annoying. There are way too many changes to stamina/provisions/gold. No one wants to play an RPG as an accountant. No wonder I rarely bothered with these bits as a kid. It could be done on a separate piece of paper to avoid the flicking, but having to cart round extra stuff - much like the dice issue - for a book you might well want to read on the train isn't ideal.
If you want to read more about playing on the train (turn to 005)
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