Doty, take this down –
Initially released in 2019, this new edition of For the Queen, designed by Alex Roberts, has found its home at Critical Role’s tabletop publishing house, the Darrington Press. For the Queen sells itself as a “collaborative storytelling game” game that presents 2-6 players with open-ended questions you will need to answer – such as “When did you know you would never forgive the queen?”. Each response is 100% left up to each person and how they interpret the question, and they can answer as logically or as nonsensically as they wish. The entire experience comes in a small, sturdy box that can easily fit in most bags and be “learned” in moments. The big standout with this little package has to be the queens themselves. In addition to some new prompts, this new edition of For the Queen features 25 all-new queens, all done in different styles, giving each one a distinct and diverse personality. Some queens are your traditional high fantasy queen, while others rock the boss lady queen pantsuit or a more abstract cyberpunk option. The artists have knocked each one out of the park.
While I’m impressed with the presentation and build quality of For the Queen, I have a hard time considering this product as a “game” as there isn’t much “game” stuff to it. I would imagine that when someone is asked, “do you want to play a game?” they imagine something that has a winner or losers that has a defined goal that they are aiming to achieve – either in a competitive or cooperative setting – maybe earn some points or roll some dice. These are all things that For the Queen is missing. There is no victory condition or threshold you are racing towards; in fact, there’s no winner or loser. Instead, you and your friends will simply take turns answering the prompt on the card flipped over, and then you draw the next, repeating until the card that asks, “The Queen is under attack. Do you defend her?” is flipped.
While I don’t view For the Queen as a “game,” don’t take that as “I don’t think it can’t be entertaining” or “I don’t see a point” – in fact, it’s the opposite. For the Queen shines as a fantastic improv and role-playing learning and practice tool that would be PERFECT for any session zero (the session of a new TTRPG campaign where everyone makes their new characters) or even just as a way to help someone new to role-playing become more comfortable pretending not to be themselves. I can see many scenarios in my own group of players where these sorts of improvs could help get them into and explore the personalities of their characters without needing to necessarily put in the open (or create on the spot) more of the intricacies of the backstory or motivations.
For those individuals who may be intimidated by role-playing in a group or feel like they may not be quite as good, For the Queen is an excellent method to exercise in the comfort of a one-on-one session too. There is enough variety in terms of the questions that let you address and practice all sorts of situations or even expand to act them out.
I don’t see myself busting out For the Queen at my next game night with friends, as its experience isn’t quite what we look for in a game when we play, but I have no desire to get rid of it from my collection. For the Queen offers an excellent resource that has earned it a spot on my shelf of TTRPG goodies and tomes, and honestly, it will probably see more use than even my favorite board games do.
For the Queen is available tomorrow on the Darrington Press official store
Thanks to Darrington Press for providing an early copy of For the Queen.
