LANDS OF GALZYR

We explore Galzyr with Sami Laakso

Words by Christopher John Eggett

Daimyria is world that’s been expanding for a while now. Starting out as the cute-butcutthroat setting for Dale of Merchants and its standalone expansion-slash-sequels that include classic motivations like being the best at running a train station, it then became the spiritual home of not-a-wargame Dawn of Peacemakers. This interesting inversion of the usual wargame concept of smashing your opponent’s miniatures up sees players cooperatively attempting to broker a ceasefire between Macaws and Ocelots. Here, players are attempting to take the blood out of the fight on both sides at the same time, making for an interesting puzzle of peace.

And now, we have the outcome of putting so many games in the same universe – Lands of Galzyr is an adventure game with a persistent world and so many stories to tell. From a mid-sized box of fairly unassuming pieces comes a game of rich storytelling that happily goes toe to toe with games like Descent and Gloomhaven, but with a focus on story over combat. With an web driven choose-yourown-path adventure which takes you through the story, provides choices, and triggers your tests based on your stats and the keywords your and your companions have to hand.

The game uses time and seasons as a key factor determining how your adventure is going to go, and companions might only stay with you for a handful of days, making your time together importantly shaped by their presence. This urgency of characters makes your choices meaningful, and the world feel more alive. No character feels like an item, and everything you do has an impact on the world beyond its immediate effect.