I’ve just returned from the Prignitz in Germany, where a few days playing games in a Schloss have left me full of ideas for the hobby. The Kraken is a boutique gaming retreat – if you’re at all interested in a diverse set of games with international players, join the mailing list and come and join us.

And I got to play three new (to me) games – all facilitated by other GMs, and all great. This is, I guess, a sort-of review – but full disclosure, I haven’t read these games, only played them – which is the opposite to how most RPG reviews work, but no less (more?) valid. This is a three-part post; I’ll take each game in turn, tell you about it, what I really liked (and was less keen on, if anything) – and crucially, would I play it again.

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Dialect

Dialect, from Thorny Games, is “a game about language and how it dies” – you create an isolated community, and in rounds invent new words as you chart the community’s rise and fall. If that sounds a bit obscure, or you’re unsure about the language stuff, you needn’t worry – the drama is what stayed with me more than the words.

We picked a playset from the book that was a thieves’ guild developing their cant – a secret language that allowed them to communicate in front of others. As we played, the table filled up with word definitions, while we acted out short scenes introducing – and using – these words. Again, this might sound complicated – but we were a multinational table, with two of the players playing in English as a second language, and we managed it. A stunning play experience that stays with me.

What I Really Liked – The new words really help you to bring emotional depth to the scenes – you’re pushed directly into dialogue in order to use them, which makes the scenes really immediate and grounded. Unusually, almost every scene was a disagreement – and all drove the plot forward. Only in Hillfolk have I seen this word so well – and scenes here were more reliably strong. The active player can also frame scenes that they aren’t even in if it works better to showcase the new word – which gave the story a proper flow and didn’t feel like an agglomeration of scenes.

What I Was Less Keen On – Honestly, there aren’t really down sides to this. A reliance on a card deck and cards on the table means you’d need to do your homework to play online, and you definitely need the right group for this – but you alway do, right?

Would I play it again? – Oh certainly. I’ll be looking out for it at conventions, and I’ll be buying it as soon as I can.