Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games produces a number of games inspired by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and the gaggle of writers who created stories set in Lovecraftian worlds. Arkham Horror, Mansions of Madness, and Elder Sign are board games published by Fantasy Flight Games these days, so I'll naturally focus on those games in this article. I wanted to give readers an idea about the full scope of the games offered by FFG, so those interested in non-horror gaming can read the full page and learn about a lot of good board games, card games, and RPGs. By the time you're finished, you'll be able to tell your friends what a "living card game" is.
Arkham Horror and Expansions
Arkham Horror has been around in one form or another for nearly 25
years, but Fantasy Flight Games published the 2005 version of Arkham
Horror and its many expansions. Arkham Horror is a cooperative
board game where investigators move around a map of the town of Arkham and
try to keep cultists from bringing forth one of the elder gods. In my
experience, any gaming group is going to be challenged (if not frustrated)
by this game.
Arkham Horror expansions include The Dunwich Horror, Curse of the Black Pharaoh, The King in Yellow, Innsmouth Horror, Kingsport Horror, Black Goat of the Woods, The Lurker at the Threshold, and Miskatonic Horror. The "Horror" game additions are considered big expansions, while the other titles are listed as small expansions. You'll also find 49 products involving Arkham Horror investigator miniatures, 19 products involving monster miniatures, and 5 Arkham Horror accessories. These include 4 different Arkham Horror dice sets and an Arkham Horror Toolkit helps you take care of the game's bookwork on you iPhone, iTouch, or iPad with a dice roller, map display, and location deck.
Elder Sign
Elder Sign is a 2011 board game similar to Arkham Horror. The game scenario is similar and some of the artwork is even the same as Arkham Horror. You might consider Elder Sign a scaled-down version of Arkham Horror meant to be played in a shorter time span and designed to give the investigators a greater chance of success. While luck plays a hand in both games, getting lucky is more likely to lead to a victory in Elder Sign. Those reading this might think Elder Sign sounds like a pale copy (some have called it "Cthulhu Yahtzee"), but I imagine many board game groups would consider this an improvement.
Mansions of Madness
Mansions of Madness also has a similar feel to Arkham Horror. Again, characters and art are often the same, but this board game takes the investigators into a haunted house to save the world from the Elder Gods and their cultists. In Mansions of Madness, one player plays the Keeper, who controls monsters and challenges. Everyone else plays the investigators. Mansions of Madness expansions include Season of the Witch, The Silver Tablet, Forbidden Alchemy, and Til Death Do Us Part.
Fantasy Flight Games: Wargames & Dungeon Crawls
Many of the Fantasy Flight Games board game successes involve fantasy wargames and dungeon exploration in the D&D mold. Battlelore is a 2006 wargame based on Richard Borg's popular Commands & Colors system used for games like Memoir '44 and Battlecry. Battlelore is produced in English by Days of Wonder, but the French version is marketed by Fantasy Flight Games.
2005's Descent: Journeys in the Dark is a board game designed to give players the joys of the old school dungeon crawl. With excellent miniatures and a dungeon keeper-versus-group mechanic, it's no wonder Descent has 5 expansions and 1 additional scenario.
Runebound and Rune Age
Runebound is set in the same world as Descent: Journeys in the Dark and even shares some of the same character art. Both games, as well as Runewars, are set in the "Rune Age" card game world. Runebound has less direct confrontation than Descent, as players go on quests and either gain or lose items based on the outcome of these quests.
The Talisman Board Game
Fantasy Flight games also puts out the latest version of Talisman, the classic fantasy game. In Talisman, players take on the role of some fantasy or medieval character and tries to gain the money, strength, and spell knowledge to move to the center of the board and defeat the dragon. The character builds up their stats by defeating monsters and challenges along the way.
The Lord of the Rings Board Game
Fantasy Flight Games also produced the successful Lord of the Rings board games and expansions from 2000 to 2006. While many LoTR products came out in those years, the FFG board game (designed by Reiner Knizia) was one of the few that stands the test of time.
Fantasy Flight Games - Futuristic Board Games
Fantasy Flight Games publishes multiple science fiction board games. Fantasy Flight Games produced the 2008 version of Cosmic Encounter, the game of interstellar expansion that includes 50 core alien races--each with its own unique power. Cosmic Encounter has remained popular over the decades because it's easy to learn, easy to play, and has a lot of replay value. Cosmic Encounter includes three expansions: Cosmic Incursion, Cosmic Conflict, and Cosmic Alliance.
The 2008 board game, Battlestar Galactica, is set in the universe of the Scifi Channel's relaunch of the old TV series. Players must shepherd their fleet to safety while trying to figure out which players are the Cylons.
Android is a mystery board game set in a dystopian future. You have to solve a murder by traveling between a moon colony and the cyberpunk city of New Angeles. Android is complete with crooked cops, psychic clones, and (of course) androids.
Starcraft: The Board Game is a 2007 product from FFG based on the popular Starcraft computer game of the late 1990s. Since the long-awaited new edition of Starcraft never seemed to come out, 2007 was a good time to market a Starcraft board game to sate the hunger in some small way for many fans of Starcraft.
Fantasy Flight Games: Modern Board Games
2007's Tannhauser board game is a wargame set in an alternate world. It's the year 1949 and World War I never ended. The Allied powers (England, France, USA) have formed "The Union" and are under the command of Thomas Edison. Edison has led the allies to many technological breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the Axis powers have mastered the occult. You take on the role of one side or the other to finally win the War to End All Wars.
Dust is a similar board game to Tannhauser, in that Dust involves a never-ending 20th century war. Dust is a strategy board game, though. Also, history played out as you would expect until 1938, when Axis explorers found an alien starship and a still-living alien. This changed the course of the war to come. Beginning in the year 1947, 2-4 players take on the roles of Axis or Allied players and fight it out for control of the world. Dust features stunning art from Paolo Parente. Dust Tactics is a tactical board game set in the same setting and featuring similar artwork.
More Fantasy Flight Games
Other notable board games in the Fantasy Flight assortment of games include Beowulf: The Legend, Black Sheep, Britannia, Cave Troll, Deadwood, Dragonheart, Dungeonquest, Fury of Dracula, Gears of War Boardgame, Letter of Marque, Mag Blast, Nexus Ops, Penguin, Rattlesnake, The Hobbit, Reiner Knizia's Through the Desert, War of the Ring, and Wiz-War.
Miniature Games
The company also marketed the English-language version of the miniature game Wings of War, though it was dropped in 2011. The Italian game simulates World War I air aces. An expansion takes the action into World War II. Before ending its production of Wings of War expansions, Fantasy Flight Games produced 19 different products.
Roleplaying Games
In the past five years or so, Fantasy Flight Games has produced a few role-playing games with remarkable production value. Their game line is small, but all of them offer attention to detail and excellent, evocative artwork. Their game line focuses heavily on the latest versions of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 RPGs, but also include a couple of lesser known titles with the same level of production value.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Warhammer has been one of the best role-playing alternatives of the past 25 years. Based on the famous wargame, Warhammer's universe includes familiar fantasy elements like elves, dwarves, and orcs, but the setting they're found makes Warhammer's races have a slightly different feel. The world is based loosely on medieval Europe, though the setting is tweaked just enough that you won't feel like you're playing some re-hash of history. Combat is deadlier than Dungeons & Dragons, while magic is effective, yet potentially dangerous to the user. The magic system is still one of the most-balanced systems for spellcasting in role-playing. Fantasy Flight Games marketed the 2009 core rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, along with 17 supplements.
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplaying
FFG has produced four separate games based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe: Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Rogue Trader, and Black Crusade. Dark Heresy is designed for Inquisitors working for the Imperium. Deathwatch is for players who want to play space marines. Rogue Trader lets players go out on the frontier and play space traders, star travelers, and even meet alien races you would usually shoot in a standard Warhammer 40000 game. Black Crusade lets players play Chaos-corrupted characters, so the fourth game lets people play the traditional antagonists and villains of the Warhammer universe.
Anima: Beyond Fantasy and Grimm Fantasy Roleplaying
Fantasy Flight Games also offers RPG settings for people who would like to roleplay in scenarios they might have seen in other forms of media. Anima: Beyond Fantasy is a Spanish-designed game (Carlos B. Garcia Aparicio) for those who enjoy anime and would like to roleplay in a world similar to the anime settings they might have enjoyed on DVD and blu-ray. Anima is set in a medieval world and, like a strange number of anime, leans heavily on the Catholic Church and Christianity. The 400-page core rulebook has a lot of setting material including fictional kingdoms, archetypal characters, and great art, so game masters should have plenty of material.
Grimm is a fantasy role-playing game from Fantasy Flight Games which uses the linear d6 system. Like Anima, Grimm takes its inspiration from a real world source--in this case Grimm's faerie tales--and twists that world into something entirely new. Players are meant to play children trapped in the Grimm world. That makes the game sound cutesy, but this world's characters tend to be real sadists and perverts, so it's not recommended for small children. That might be why Grimm didn't find quite the audience that other Fantasy Flight Games RPGs have, but that doesn't mean the game wouldn't entertain your group.
Books and Graphic Novels
Since 2009, Fantasy Flight Game has gotten into the book and graphic novel market. Some of their books depict fantasy worlds involving one or more of their board games, such as Android, Fireborn, and Arkham Horror. Several contain collections of fantasy art, such as The Art of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and volumes 1 and 2 of The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire.
Living Card Games
A sizable percentage of Fantasy Flight Games production goes into their living card games line of products. Those wondering what a "living card game" should know this is a design and marketing innovation from FFG, distancing themselves from traditional collectible card games. Many collectible card game players and collectors have been turned off over the years because of the blind-buy aspect of CCGs. The living card game does away with that drawback while retaining the dynamics of an expanding and evolving card game.
Examples of these living card games by Fantasy Flight Games include A Game of Thrones card game, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars: The Card Game, Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, and Warhammer: Invasion.
Blue Moon is a living card game by Reiner Knizia with many expansion decks. The success of Blue Moon led to the creation of Blue Moon City, a board game set in the same world. Blue Moon City is more of a German-style board game and is not compatible to the Blue Moon card game
.