Shadows Upon Lassadar (2011)

The land is corrupted. The silent Grayking, brooding upon his throne in the Tower of Ash, is a far-reaching shadow upon Lassadar. We feel his presence in each of our days. His servants grow bold, stealing into our cities, inhabiting the alleys and dark places of our streets. They jeer at us from our mirrors, shaming our reflections.

The books of the Council of Wardens, handed down to us across the years, say that the era of broken barriers is upon us. Omens tell us, by winter, the Grayking will break through the few defenses we have remaining, cross to Lassadar, and our lands will fall to despair.

We few who are left, who remember the Grayking’s original imprisonment across the Barrier Planes, struggle to keep his power from growing further, but we have little time and far too few disciples. You are young but have proven to hold the strength of our teaching inside you. We have trained you in the arcane arts of ice, oak and flint magic and have taught you those powers are capricious and can damage your spirit if relied upon too much. We wish we had more time to train you further. We do not.

Go now into the wider world, with our blessings, and seek a means to defeat the Grayking. Find the three Warding Keys stolen by his servants and re-lock the gates to force him back behind the Barrier Planes forever. Our agents, spread thinly across places still untouched in Lassadar, will aid you in your quest as best they can.

Go now, and save us all……

Shadows Upon Lassadar is a solitaire fantasy quest game. You play a young magic adept who has been charged with finding three lost keys to lock the gates between the Barrier Plains and prevent the Grayking from reaching the world of Lassadar. You will journey to different cities using a deck of cards; other cards list spells you learn during the game. Magic in Lassadar is, however, a two edged sword and if you use powerful spells you may end up corrupting your own spirit in the process and lose the game. Three specific cards lead to expanded battle maps where you fight the Grayking’s servants for possession of the keys. The game uses a variety of AI mechanics to simulate an enemy that learns and adapts as the game progresses.

Needed to play:
the 48 game cards + the 4 last battle cards
9 six sided dice
25 black eurocubes
and 3 eurocubes: one each in red, blue and yellow.

This Print and Play game can be assembled as a deck of cards or as cards and a series of mini game boards.

There are several types of quests in the game that will need to be completed. These quests are encountered by turning over cards from the draw deck:

City Quest cards showing the name of the city you’ve journeyed to, win and loss table reference icons and event instructions for the battle in that city. As you win battles in these cities you will remove these cards from the game. If you lose a battle in this city you will place this card on the Quest discard pile to be shuffled back into the game. Dice are rolled to determine the outcome of these battles.

Council of Wardens Quest cards always have a white top. Their event instructions will help you gain spells and refresh your Mana and Spirit. These cards will always be placed on the Quest discard pile to be shuffled back into the game.

Three Warding City Quest cards, each with a colored band and a numbered Warding Key icon across the bottom will signal when you use the Expanded Battle Maps (wargame hexmap style). On the Expanded Battle Maps you will encounter AI driven servants of the Grayking. Dice are rolled to determine the outcome of these battles. As you win the battles in these cities, and gain the Warding Keys, you will remove these cards from the game. If you lose a battle in this city you will place this card on the Quest discard pile, to be shuffled back into the game.

Winning or losing the game:

Draw cards one by one working your way through the quest. If you gain each of the 3 Warding keys you may cast the Oaken Spell: Barrier Lock and lock the gates of the Barrier Plains. The Grayking is instantly drawn back to the Tower of Ash and you have saved Lassadar and won the game.

If at any time your Spirit falls below [1] on the Character Stats card, or if the Grayking reaches Lassadar on the Progress Track, you have lost the game.

2nd place in the August 2011 Solitaire Print and Play contest
and was also awarded Best Art, Best AI and Best Horror Game

Tied for 1st place in The 2011 Print 'n Play Awards for Best Solitaire Game

2012 Golden Geek Awards Nominee - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/864240/2012-golden-geek-awards-nominees-announced-vot