You've read that right: In the Ashes is not played with miniatures placed on tiles like other board games but everything is played within the book. My intention over the past few years has been to distill the entire experience provided by the great thematic-narrative games into a compact and portable product yet with great depth in mechanics story tactics and atmosphere.
In the Ashes can be seen as a solo dungeon crawler with an epic campaign legendary battles and a dramatic story that will provide you with memorable plays anywhere all within the confines of this book.
The experience of the great thematic-narrative games in book format.
This means that by drawing and marking on the paper:
You'll move your character across the board to fight against sinister enemies.
You'll play action cards to create spectacular combos.
You'll level up your character to specialize in forbidden disciplines.
You'll find legendary items to enhance your abilities.
You'll make difficult decisions that will affect the story.
You'll tempt fate by applying sources of controlled chance to actions and behaviors.
You'll battle powerful bosses with unique mechanics and cunning intelligence.
You'll discover hidden references in the images that will grant you access to secret advantages.
You'll be able to study a grimoire of runes to boost your attacks.
And all this you'll do in the book using nothing more than a pencil (or a pen).
An epic campaign of more than 12 hours and fully replayable.
In the Ashes has been designed from the ground up to be played solo. You'll play through crucial moments in the lives of various characters switching between them as the story requires. However nothing is stopping you from playing in a group reading fighting drawing and making decisions together.
If you're looking for an experience inspired by games like Descent Imperial Assault Gloomhaven Kingdom Death Monster Tainted Grail Mansions of Madness Arkham Horror LCG Journeys in Middle-Earth or Sleeping Gods but differently and originally portable and compact this is your game.
It takes a second to start playing In the Ashes and another second to pack it away. Whether you have only five minutes or an entire afternoon you can play it on the train at the beach at a bus stop on the sofa or even lying in bed. There's no need to erase anything even when you want to replay the campaign after finishing it.
In the Ashes follows an open and play philosophy: you'll learn to play as you progress through the first pages in a tutorial of increasing complexity fully integrated with the story. However detailed rules are available in the final pages for consultation whenever you want.
Focus on living the adventure without maintenance or complications.
You don't need a table an app to print out a character sheet or even an eraser (there's no need to erase anything). Forget about constantly flipping from page to page to read sections or check statistics as the book has been designed to minimize upkeep so that you can spend your playtime fully immersed in the different scenes applying your strategy to each challenge.
You also don't need dice (though you can use them if you like) as the sources of controlled randomness are in the book itself. As you progress through the story and unlock new characters you'll need not just luck but also your memory insight and precision to maximize your attacks.
Is an epic solitaire adventure with tactical tabletop combat that offers you a 12-hour narrative campaign that's fully replayable. You can set up and save your current situation instantly and you can play as long as you want — from five minutes to all day. It contains an epic story with character evolution dozens of enemies legendary items and spectacular combos with cards.
