Pathfinder Adventure Card Game - Skull and Shackles Review

At the end of April, I picked up a copy of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game - Skull & Shackles.  It was a second hand copy, but still in the shrink wrap.

The base game is playable with 1-4 players, but if you buy the character add-on deck you can play up to 6 players.  The character add-on deck isn't just for more players; it also gives you access to additional characters to play.

This game has a heavy pirate theme.  This is seen in the artwork, available items, possible allies, etc.  If you like pirates, then great, but if not, then you might not like the game.

The cards a decent but maybe a little on the thin side.  I choose to sleeve the cards in the game.  FYI... there are A LOT of cards in this game.  The number of cards is a plus as it offers more variety to your games as you play more and more scenarios.

This is a deck building game, but unlike other deck building games you get to improve your deck as you play more games (assuming you are playing a campaign and not just a one off game).  Each hero starts with a deck of cards that must fit certain criteria.  However, during the game, you will find items, weapons, armor, allies, spells, and blessings that can be added to your hand.  These things will help you in completing the tasks set forth in each adventure.

After you complete the adventure you are able to keep some of the things you found in your deck as you prepare for the next adventure.

You deck of cards also serves as your hit points, so you will have to be careful with how you use the resources available to you.

I have played this game once and I really liked it.  It was a fun experience to play an RPG style game without a GM.  Keep in mind that this is a different kind of experience than having a GM sitting there who can adjust things as you play through the adventure.  Having said that, this still fulfills a gaming area for me that I'm not always able to make time for.

I'm not sure this game would be a good one for one-off style games.  The ins and outs of card interactions is something that you will become more familiar with as the game progresses.  The advancement of the characters is also a highlight of the game and if you are only playing one game you will miss out on that aspect of the game.

If you like deck building and pirates and plan to play through the adventure packs, this is a good game.

As far as replayability goes, I think this game will have plenty.  You can mix up the heroes that go on the quests, the location decks get random monsters and the base box has the basic adventure plus it includes the first adventure path deck.  There are also 5 more adventure path decks that you can purchase and play through to follow your heroes through even more exciting quests.

I picked up a couple of models from my FLGS to represent the models at the locations instead of the token cards.  These are not necessary, but I like them.  I'm guessing I will be painting these at some point.