Riding into Adventure with the Fun Stories from Questline
Arrange the exciting tale of a hero to remember the feats and important moments as the life of an adventurer in Questline.
Yet another new arrival! I’ve become better at opening and unboxing everything pretty quickly to remove the barrier to the first play, but Questline was an easy choice… Very little organizing and setup required! This interesting concept spoke to me not just from the fun of finding scoring opportunities, but the idea of weaving a tale from the cards. To the adventure!
Game Overview
Game Name: Questline
Publication Year: 2026
Designers: Marc-André Lavoie & Martin Lavoie
Artist: Megan Graham
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to arrange a line of 7 cards with various values and scoring opportunities. There are skills, terrains, and tags to consider, along with the need to work up to some of the higher tier cards. Best of all, though, is the little story that comes from the card text and illustrations at the end!
First Play
July 16, 2026
Complexity
2
Latest Play
July 16, 2026
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
45
Game Area
24" x 16"
Low Score
35
A Paladin’s Adventure
The solo mode is easy enough to understand, with a setup process that ends up mirroring the tension of completing a card line as early as possible. Must earn the best hero title!
My plays clocked in somewhere around just 5 to 10 minutes, and what fun! I focused on the card abilities and bonuses as I played, then went back to narrate a story to myself.
This paladin was too excited about running after ghostly shadows in the forest, then befriended a bear and griffon.
You can’t get better allies than that! He flew into the dragon’s lair, then claimed a mighty title… With air quotes.
Litiguous Lifestyle
In another play, I had a knight who was dedicated to freeing the wrongly accused. Her passion led her to dive deep into some dusty old law tomes, sealed away in the caverns.
Wouldn’t you know it? One of those books was a grimoire, oozing with evil spirits! A lich even emerged, and that was when she soundly defeated it and trapped its life force.
This knight’s motto became, “Free the riches, trap the lichs!” It was fairly nonsensical, but then again, so was she.
Her allies rallied when she conquered a rebel kingdom and the song of her adventure ended with: “The defense rests!”
Outrider Penguin
Every line begins with a class card, and I had a very suitably attired Calico Critter to show off the fierceness of this card! Well, maybe we’ll just call this fiercely cute. Ha ha!
It was neat to see the different card combinations and ways to earn victory points. My scores were near the higher scoring tiers, yet it was still a challenge to reach the top.
Only a portion of the cards were used each time, too, so I saw plenty of variety and liked making do with what I had.
Flavor text can be easy to forget in a lot of games. Here, I had an amazing time coming up with a quick, short story.
A Modern Retelling
Since the outrider clearly rides a polar bear, I went in search of a willing participant. He was quite adamant about modern times allowing for better modes of transportation.
And so this adventure was reenacted with the help of a green car! Cutting down the cultists was done at a terrifying pace. I believe this is what we call… Need for Speed. Ha!
No one was actually harmed in this tale, aside from the car, which had a lot going on with a polar bear driver. Naturally.
Fun times! I had a lot of laughs with the storytelling aspect, yet appreciated the puzzle of maximizing victory points!
Flipping Around the Idea of Flavor Text
In a lot of my solo games, the flavor text helps enhance the game while I play. I enjoy little snippets as each card comes into play, which gives me a memorable moment here and there. Fun times! But I often forget all about the stories associated with each card by the end. That’s not a criticism, yet a point to showcase how this one sort of flipped my perspective.
While I didn’t exactly ignore the card titles and art during play, I was much more focused on the icons and scoring bonuses. Rather than trying to find cards that matched thematically, I looked for scoring conditions that worked together.
Then, a funny thing happened in the end… It was like I had an unexpected adventure to narrate, almost like I surprised myself with the card choices. Very neat! I can see other ways to play, of course, but this was a fun observation of what happened during this session. I would have thought the card titles would have determined my decisions. Nope!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Expansion: Questline: Solstice Expansion
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 41, 39, 45, 35 (4 Losses)
Just not quite good enough to reach the highest scoring tier! Even some of the same cards created a different situation, particularly in the context of the little stories. I enjoyed this one as a quick card game, and it may grow on me over time. There are some clever possibilities with ordering the line, skipping over levels with shortcuts, and finding unexpected card synergies. For now… The defense rests. Ha ha!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each card offers a scoring opportunity and, possibly more importantly, an interesting addition to the story.
- Pausing to narrate a tale at the end is enjoyable and quick, often with a few laughs or realizations of neat interactions.
- Only part of each deck is used, which adds a lot of variety and the challenge to make the most of what’s available.
- Gameplay is extremely quick, often lasting just a few minutes when an amazing card combination can be created.
- The artwork is beautiful and interesting, calling back to other games from the publisher in a way that’s enjoyable.
- Not a lot of table space is required to play, and this can be further tightened up by having a couple of card rows.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rules are mostly clear, but a few more examples would have helped with understanding the scoring concepts.
- Although it’s possible to mill through the deck at the cost of victory points, there is some luck with the card order.
- Shortcuts and the card line order are a little confusing at first with the requirements, though this becomes intuitive.
- Keeping track of the card synergies takes some effort to ensure that a useful card isn’t accidentally discarded.
Victory Conditions
Score 48+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 40 points.
Score at least 45 points.
Score at least 50 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Questline? Is it a game you enjoy for the scoring opportunities, stories, or both? Narrating a play to myself often happens when I’m at my solo table, so this was a great experience to reinforce what I usually do! My tales were often rather silly, but I loved how the cards could be interpreted in different ways and tones. Definitely a great experience!
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