''Citadel of Blood',' subtitled "Fantastic Adventure in the Fortress of Evil," is a dungeon-crawl

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

published by

Simulations Publications, Inc. Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board game, board Wargaming, wargames and related magazines, particularly its Flagship (broadcasting), flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an ...

(SPI) in 1980.

Description

''Citadel of Blood'' is a cooperative fantasy

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video g ...

where 1–6 players enter the dungeon of the evil wizard "X the Unknown," kill any monsters encountered and take their treasure. Unlike fantasy role-playing games with a dungeon-crawl theme such as ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

,'' ''Citadel of Blood'' does not need a

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...

to design the dungeon and play the monsters within during combat, nor does it use numbered paragraphs as were used in Flying Buffalo's ''

Buffalo Castle ''Buffalo Castle'' is a gamebook first published by Flying Buffalo in 1976 (). Using the ''Tunnels & Trolls'' role-playing system, ''Buffalo Castle'' consists of 150 paragraphs in A4 format. Description After a friend suggested that someone sh ...

'' expansion for ''

Tunnels & Trolls ''Tunnels & Trolls'' (abbreviated ''T&T'') is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more access ...

.'' Rather, the players randomly draw tiles representing rooms and corridors one at a time as they progress, slowly building up the dungeon tile by tile. This game is based on SPI's previous publication '' Deathmaze'', but with the addition of character races, dungeon levels and different "colors" of magic depending upon phases of the moon.

Publication history

SPI published ''Deathmaze'' in January 1980, a dungeon-crawl board game designed by

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959), sometimes known under the pseudonym Designer X, is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing ...

and

Redmond A. Simonsen Redmond Aksel Simonsen (June 18, 1942 – March 9, 2005) was an American graphic artist and game designer best known for his work at the board wargame company Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in the 1970s and early 1980s. Simonsen was consid ...

. Eric Smith then modified the game, adding variations of races and magic. The result, ''Citadel of Blood'', was published as a pullout game in '' Ares Magazine'' #5 (November 1980), then released as a

boxed set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

. The game was published in 1982 in Poland as ''Labirynt Śmierci''. It was one of the first, if not the first, "serious" board game published in Poland, and likely contributed to the growing popularity of both board games and role-playing games in that market.

Reception

Keith Gross reviewed ''Citadel of Blood'' in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 37. Gross commented that "''Citadel of Blood'' is recommended to fans of ''Deathmaze'' and to fantasy gamers who want something to play when they don't have the time for a bigger game." In Issue 54 of '' Moves'' (December–January 1981), Jules Leites commented that the redesign of ''Citadel of Blood'' lifted it above ''Deathmaze'', making it "much more nearly state of the art than its simpler predecessor, and it is capable of challenging even the most advanced antasy role-playinggamers." He also pointed out that SPI's previously published ''

Swords & Sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of ...

'' boardgame (1978) had separate "Army" and a "Quest" games, and suggested a set of rule variants for ''Citadel of Blood'' to allow it to be used as a link between those two parts.

References

{{reflist

External links

Boardgame Geek Article on Citadel of Blood

SPI Compendium
by

(lists games, magazine contents, etc.) Board games introduced in 1980 Cooperative board games Fantasy board games Fantasy role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 1980 Simulations Publications games