Alex entered the store, glancing around. "I thought I knew every game and hobby shop in the area, did you just open up?"
The old man nodded. "Yes, yes, I've had to change locations several times now, you know how it is... and might I say you look like a man in search of something new and exciting in his life."
"Yeah," Alex replied. My group's getting a bit burnt out on our current campaign. Thought maybe I'd find something new for a quick little one-shot."
"I have just the thing! A game full of spells and potions, wizards and witches, genies and generals, and all the fae creatures of the wilderness..."
"Yeah... I was looking for a break from Fantasy RPGs though is the thing."
"Well, you're in luck! This, my friend, is a board game!" The old man opened the box to demonstrate. "And no mere frivolity, moving mindlessly around a track! No, there's strategy here!" He unfolded the board to demonstrate. "You see, the players may move in either direction, a single space at a time, along these tracks- the hinterlands, the mysterious forest, the city, and the castle itself, where one player might claim the crown and win the game. Each track is home to various encounters- strange magic pools, evil witches, and mercurial fae. With each, the player faces a challenge, or perhaps a bargain. You might chance upon some potion that improves your abilities, or a fortune of gold... or perhaps you'll fall victim to a terrible curse. Some of these challenges allow you to advance to the next track, taking you closer to the crown, but things get more difficult the closer you go! And of course, should a pair of players ever find themselves on the same space, they might use their abilities on each other. A crafty merchant might sell a cursed item to an unsuspecting friend, or a charming nymph might seduce a brave warrior to slay her next foe."
Alex perked an eyebrow, "Aha, so everyone has different skills and powers then?"
"Quite right," the old man replied, holding up a character card. "This mighty wizard for instance has plenty of Wits an is an expert in transformative magic, but as you can see, he begins with sadly little gold, and perhaps a bit lacking in Charm and Might."
"Well, I'll give it a shot. Seems interesting enough." Alex handed a wad of bills to the old man, who quickly stuffed the character card back into the deck before Alex could see the Gold value had changed.
"Enjoy the game, Alex!" he said, as Alex left the store, not registering that he hadn't given his name.
Returning to his own store, Alex opened the box, and set things up. He had a good hour before his friends arrived, and took the time to read over the instructions. It proved to be surprisingly straightforward, with most spaces explaining the rules for a challenge right on them. Players all started spread around the Hinterlands track, several spaces apart, with a randomly dealt character card that stated their Might, Wits, Charm, starting Gold, and any special abilities or restrictions, and there were a number of simple counters for tracking the various things they might pick up along the way.
Eventually, the regular group arrived- Ben, Charley, Dave, Evan, and Frank. They've been gaming together for several years now, and were all quite excited to try a new game. Ben had his guitar with him, coming fresh off a gig that had barely paid more than he spent getting to it. Charley was tired from the fencing lessons he'd been taking to get an edge at his next LARP meetup. Dave was bragging about the pair of twins he'd hooked up with the night before. Evan was still smiling smugly at how he'd managed to fast talk a group of orcs into fighting off a group of gnolls for the party last week, and Frank was discussing his newfound interest in parkour. Eventually, everyone settled down, Alex explained the rules, dealt out character cards, and everyone took their seats, agreeing to take their turns in alphabetical order, as they often did with these sorts of games.
Alex flipped over his card to reveal The Greedy Merchant. Not unlike himself, it featured a rather overweight bearded man, and the skill values seemed a bit low. The starting gold was quite nice however, and he had a special ability to buy things at half the usual cost. Looking at his options, he saw one of the adjacent spaces complimented that quite well. Reaching into the box, he found a plastic piece that matched his character card, along with a hefty number of gold tokens, and passed the box around for everyone else to do the same, before moving and reading the text of the nearby space.
"A wandering wizard offers a special bargain. You may pay two gold to receive three potions. While the wizard can't say what effects any will have, he assures you they are all beneficial." Alex reminded everyone of his merchant's discount, tossed a gold back to the box, and grabbed a number of counters to represent the potions, not realizing three real, unlabeled blue bottles had materialized in the nearby refrigerator to match. He gestured to Ben to take his turn while consulting the rules, trying to find something on how exactly to determine what these potions did and how to use them.