If you’re a fan of the Critical Role universe, fantasy RPGs, or just a Codenames enthusiast looking for a fresh spin on a classic, here is everything you need to know about this upcoming cooperative adventure.
FULLY COOPERATIVE GAMEPLAY
Unlike the competitive nature of the original Codenames, Codenames: Critical Role Adventures is fully cooperative.
The game is designed to replicate the feeling of a GM leading their group of players on adventures—and the goal is for everyone to work together, using the GM’s clues to find the right words and overcome the various challenges the game presents.
MORE THAN JUST NEW WORDS
We wanted to recreate a true Critical Role experience within the realm of Codenames. We decided to add various RPG elements on top of themed words to make this game truly unique.
There are seven iconic Critical Role characters included in the base game. At the start of each game, you always choose three of those characters to form a party, no matter the player count.
Each character has their own character sheet with an XP track, stats (HP and roll modifiers), and unique abilities. As you progress through the campaign, you can level up the characters to increase these stats or unlock new abilities. You can also equip items as you progress, either by gaining them as a mission reward or by purchasing them in shops.
NEW LEVEL OF DEDUCTION
Instead of tapping the word card with a finger, in this version, a character has to be placed onto a word to guess it. With that, they carry the risk of losing HP if their guess is wrong—but if they’re correct, they gain XP and, more importantly, they get to use their special abilities which help with future guesses or interact with other characters in play.
The party is encouraged to discuss strategy and decide how (and when) to use each character’s powers, including the order in which to place the characters on the board to fully leverage the timing of abilities.
And it wouldn’t be a Critical Role without a little luck. A custom D20 is included to determine the success of some character abilities.
THE CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE
The game contains three campaigns, and each campaign has several missions. The missions tweak the basic rules of Codenames, adding new mechanisms and goals that require the players to adjust their strategy game by game. In some games, you’ll face three game-ending black tiles instead of one—in others, you’ll receive damage for each specific uncovered tile at the end of the mission.
One campaign takes about 2-3 hours to complete–about 6 games of typical Codenames. But don’t worry, you don’t have to play it all at once. The game includes a way to save your progress between missions so you can pick up where you left off.
What’s in the box?
- 3 campaign books
- 3 maps for the 3 campaigns, each containing multiple missions
- 7 playable characters with unique abilities:
- Character sheets
- Cardboard miniatures + stands
- Cardboard tokens for 2 of the characters
- 25 item cards that help characters succeed
- A custom D20 for ability checks
- 400 fantasy-themed words designed to be also playable by those who are not familiar with Critical Role
- 40 double-sided key cards (80 unique keys) + a key card stand in the shape of a GM screen
- 21 cardboard covering tiles of five colors
- Cardboard tokens: health, XP, coins and various markers that can be placed on the word cards to help with the deduction strategies
- Rulebook
Whether you’re a Critter, a Codenames fan, or you just love word games, this version offers a surprising amount of depth and progression that you can’t get in the original version of Codenames.
Pre-order it until April 10th!
Also, you can check out our recently uploaded video with more info about the Codenames: Critical Role Adventures:
