We must unite to defeat the Tower once and for all..
I missed the original release of Dark Tower – by 1981 I was 16, and increasingly distracted by girls and music rather than games – but I can imagine the wave of nostalgia when Restoration Games announced this gorgeous new edition. This is what the company is all about – taking beloved favourites and restoring them to a better-than-original shine. And what a stunning job they did with Return to Dark Tower.
Because this game pretty much sums up all the reasons I was first attracted to the world of games. The classic fantasy theme, the amazing bits, the incredible production, the sense of adventure. And on top of all that there’s a huge electronic tower thing! Well, maybe not that last reason, but what a beast the titular tower is. I’m agog with wonder at how the team at Restoration Games tackled and completed this project – not least working out the rights with Milton Bradley (who, according to Wikipedia, originally ripped off an idea submission and subsequently had to pay out $700K in court).
The great thing that Restoration Games does is not just to re-release old games, but to make them as good as you remember them to be. And for anyone who has tracked down a game from their childhood and been disappointed when they finally played it again, that is a huge distinction. I’d guess that the original 1981 Dark Tower is a bit ‘meh’ compared to your childhood memories when you give it a spin, but this fantastic new version is going to be a treasured possession, much played, for many years to come.
The essential app component works so beautifully you hardly need a summary for this game, but it is handy as a rules refresher. It includes the Alliances expansions and Covenant expansions.
The link appears to be broken. When I click on it, it takes me to https://www.orderofgamers.com/downloads/ReturntoDarkTower_v1, but gives a 404 error.
Sorry, fixed.
Just watched your YouTube return to dark tower. This has definitely sparked my interest. Where can I get the rubber mat. Loved your video. Paul
It was a Kickstarter special item, but if you google ‘Return to Dark Tower neoprene mat’ I’m sure you’ll find people willing to sell you one!
These are also available on the Restoration Games website.
I have a copy, but have yet to get it to the table!
I believe some updates are needed.
CORRUPTION
The corruption scenarios should be:
→ an effect tells you to lose warriors, spirit, items, and/or virtues that you do not have (warriors, spirit, items, and/or virtues could be replaced with “resources”)
→ an effect tells you to place one or more skulls on destroyed buildings
→ a building in your home kingdom is destroyed
→ an effect tells you to gain a corruption
“You cannot gain more than 1 corruption per event, battle card, or dungeon room…” should be “You cannot normally gain more than 1…” + “Building destruction and “gain a corruption” effects are exceptions to the one-per-effect rule and can result in multiple corruptions at once.”
BUILDINGS
Text should be “When a building is destroyed, the building and any skulls on it are removed from the game.” instead of “and the 3 skulls on it” as there could be more or fewer than 3 skulls when this occurs.
I’m not sure those clarifications are particularly essential, but I’ve made the changes anyway and updated the sheet. I left out the multiple corruptions clarification because that line of text doesn’t encompass those ways of gaining destruction, so the clarification is unnecessary. Thanks for your help!
Thank you!
In the “Monuments and Wastelands” section, paragraph 2 you have “Once a foundation has 3 fofering tokens”. Just a very minor typo, but your sheets have so much attention to detail, I thought you would like to know.
Fixed! Same version number.