Review of Wrath of the Serpent Goddess

In previous posts, I've analysed the Dungeoneer set Wrath of the Serpent Goddess for its characters and setting. In this post, I review how it plays on the table.

If you enjoy playing a Black deck in Magic the Gathering, or RPG magic systems that have high costs, then this is the Dungeoneer deck for you. It seems that everything in Nakari's temple harms you as much as it does help you, and then there are other things that just harm you (like Nakari herself, if you get on her bad side.) This set is a gauntlet in some straight-forward ways (traps, powerful monsters, harmful room effects) but there's an edge of nihilism to it. When you heal in the Chamber of Channeling, it costs 2 Movement and you're really just stealing health from another player character. When you set a trap with a Peril card like Snake Pit or Acid Torrent, you're just as likely to trigger it later as another player.

Worse still, Nakari tempts you. Her temple offers you a small advantage when you need it the most, at the low cost of your very life force.

Legendary heroes

Wrath is a "Legendary" set, which means the heroes start at a level higher than 1. The mechaincal effect of this, in terms of how the game feels, is that you're taking a lot more damage than you are healing, which, at least in my experience, makes you feel both powrful and really really focused on getting out of the temple. Completing Quests in Wrath of the Serpent Goddess is like a mad dash compared to even small sets like Haunted Woods of Malthorin or Den of the Wererats. You just want nothing more than to make the pain stop.

Table maintenance

A practical aspect of a "Legendary" set is that all numbers are bigger, which means there's more upkeep. You have to calculate health using bigger numbers, you cycle through Peril and Glory quicker, monsters and effects persist longer because they're harder to get rid of, you have more Movement points, you have a larger inventory, and so on. It seems like it wouldn't be a big deal, because after all it's just more of the same. It's nothing you're not used to if you've played one or 2 or 5 other Dungeoneer sets, but in practise I do find that it requires more mental cycles than a standard set. I don't think a "Legendary" set (or "Epic", in the case of Call of the Lich Lord) is the game to grab for a quick and casual dungeon crawl.

Wrath of the Serpent Goddess is a set for serious Dungeoneers. It's for players who want the luxury of sitting back, puzzling over a seemingly impossible equation in which damage input is greater than the available health reserves, and Quests require more than one location on the map to complete. And also, the same goddess bestowing her blessings upon you is also trying to kill you. It's fun, but deadly, just as you'd want from a set dedicated to the dark goddess of Tarnys.