Roll Player: Finding a New Familiar and Swarm of Fiends
Explore new strategies with the arrival of fiends among the dice and familiars to add to a character’s journey in Roll Player.
At last, I added together all of the currently available content for Roll Player! It’s been quite some time since I picked up the last expansion, yet I was still glad to work through some plays to get a grasp of the main strategies. With very different aspects that can divide opinions, I cautiously approached… Probably a good idea with a badger familiar, anyway. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Roll Player
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Keith Matejka
Artists: JJ Ariosa & Luis Francisco
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to build a character with a variety of dice and cards, making the most of the options. However, the new content adds on strategic layers to look for additional ways to have a successful sort of adventure. With plenty of variety and options, each character ends up with a tale to tell!
First Play
July 26, 2020
Complexity
3
Latest Play
June 18, 2025
Expansions
2
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
28
Play Time
35 Minutes
High Score
44
Game Area
26" x 20"
Low Score
0
Fiends and Familiars
This is an expansion that isn’t universally enjoyed, and I can understand why. Fiends add penalties for choosing the most valuable dice, and these random features can be punishing.
Familiars look amazing, because who doesn’t want to have an animal companion?! But adding another row to complete with another ability to think about can be a lot.
Additionally, the first few turns involve choosing 2 dice, but only activating a single row ability. Not exactly the same.
However, there are also more cards to add plenty of variety to every other part of the game… So I was still excited!
The Lion and Badger
Whoa! Initially, I really disliked the new content. Like, to the point that I was so upset over the random fiends who felt like they locked me out of the highest dice. Slow down!
It was true that my previous strategies weren’t going to work with this new content, but that didn’t prevent me from doing well. There was just a major shift in my mindset.
Managing fiends could be frustrating, but since familiars typically wanted low-level dice, these worked together.
Although my character’s score was extremely low, I still saw some neat ways this expansion opened up the game.
Monstrous Fiends
The minions and final monster battle still kept me focused, and I loved nothing more than defeating a minion to learn about the monster’s location, obstacle, or attack. So cool!
Fiends are exactly that… Absolutely annoying! I had to take into consideration what it would mean to claim valuable dice at a price. Sometimes, the fiend wasn’t so bad.
With a familiar who specialized in fiend banishment and the conjurer class, I actually enjoyed the new challenge!
But my understanding of the core strategies had to shift a lot, and I know not everyone wants that in an expansion.
Barking Up a Skill Tree
I felt a lot more comfortable as I took another character on an adventure. This time, I ended up with a lot of skill cards, which is a strategy I rarely try out. But this was excellent!
The puzzle came together for me a little bit, and I also got quite lucky with the dice rolls… During several rounds, the “low” dice rolls were actually great. Take that, fiends!
Perhaps this expansion isn’t as highly recommended as the first one, yet I loved how I had to think through much more.
Play time didn’t feel longer, but I had to take my time in some instances. Really fun experience with all the content!
Going Into a New Expansion with Caution
This is one of the few expansions that almost comes with a warning about how divisive it can be, but that’s valuable information. As I played, I kept a question in the back of my mind: What makes it create such strong reactions? That’s not to question anyone’s opinion, yet it’s not that common to have very little middle ground with an expansion.
From what I’ve seen, I think it combines more complicated choices with a shift in the base game. For those who have played for a long time, the older strategies can be very hard to adjust to the fiends. Even the multiple dice choices during the first few rounds are a major change, as that means more attribute abilities won’t be used during each play.
Of all of the expansions I’ve played recently, this is one that definitely feels like it changes the base game by a significant amount. And I think that could be a piece of the puzzle: Expansions often are associated with adding to a game, rather than changing it in major ways. Or I might just be rambling because I had to deal with too many fiends… Ha ha!
Session Overview
Play Number: 19 & 20
Main Expansion 1: Roll Player: Fiends & Familiars
Main Expansion 2: Roll Player: Monsters & Minions
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 27 & 36 (2 Losses)
Ruinous, indeed! I need to work on putting together the puzzle a little bit more with this latest expansion. Such a great time, though! There was some more tension with the choices, especially since the penalty for choosing the highest dice in solo never felt too punishing. Seems like a good balance of strategic choices, and it’s still on my table!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each character feels quite different right from the start of setup with the random elements, through the final battle.
- There is a huge amount of variety in the components, particularly the market cards, which offer many strategies.
- Figuring out how to approach each turn takes a bit of thinking that rarely feels overwhelming or too complex.
- Scoring feels balanced with the opportunity to explore all sorts of strategies with challenging final scoring tiers.
- Uncovering monster cards after battling minions is an exciting mechanic that helps drive certain decisions.
- All of the artwork is colorful while fitting in the fantasy world, adding a great deal of immersion to the stories.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Fiends can be extremely frustrating to deal with in some instances, especially when following certain strategies.
- New mechanics create additional decisions and points to pause to think, which can feel like a major shift.
- A decent amount of luck comes into play at times, particularly with initial dice rolls and waiting for a certain card.
- Although minor, it would have been nice to have less character boards with more modularity and unique portraits.
Victory Conditions
Score 40+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 35 points.
Score at least 40 points.
Score at least 45 points.
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite way to play Roll Player? How do you feel about the expansions? I thought I might get overtaken by a dislike for the fiends, yet I was surprised by how the different strategies opened up! My standard way to play isn’t going to work every time, which makes the game even more interesting… Which is why I still have it set up on my solo table!
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