Review of Cora Quest, a TTRPG board game published by a parent + kid team!
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Age target for Cora Quest recommended at 6+
Cora Quest, on the box, is recommended for ages 6 and up, which, I would say, is pretty on point. This game was designed by a parent + kid (8yo) duo, so it is honed in on that rough age and was made to be accessible for young players.
The adventures include combat as a core mechanic, and you can describe this how you like (i.e. we described it as we scared off our baddies when they got to zero health). Combat mechanics were easy to follow with everything on the character and cards in front of you and a clear indication of what dice to roll each round.
The adventures themselves are also made for kids with quests ranging from diving for treasure to recovering a stolen cheesecake, and are made to offer a decent challenge without being too intense. For example, the first time we played, we got overwhelmed by mobs spawning when we weren’t investigating every turn because kiddo wanted to see what would happen, and that was OK. We just tried the same adventure again next time with a little strategy, and it was a good learning experience without it getting too frustrating either.
You will likely need a grown up to help with set up since there’s a bit of sorting story pieces involved, but once that’s all arranged, it is a very smooth gameflow for the rest of the mission.
Setting in Cora Quest
Cora Quest is set in a medieval fantasy world with you questing into dungeon-like scenarios. There’s a variety of stories, and the tiles used for each adventure are different and shuffled. While it may use a dungeon path style of gameplay, and my initial thought was that it could get repetitive, it actually offered a lot of variation and replayability. We got a pretty different dungeon layout each time, and each set of story prompts and read-alouds adds plenty of flavor to keep things fresh as you play out new tales.
For a look at a specific setting/quest… kiddo’s favorite was the Easy Cheesy Lemon Squeezy mission, where you need to go find a cheesecake that some critters stole and made off with into a dungeon! We ran into a wide range of baddies and treasures as we made our way to the kitchens where we found the theives’ previous attempt at making their own cheesecake… and eventually located our prize in time for a birthday celebration!
Your character(s) in Cora Quest
In Cora Quest, your group will control a total of four heroes, divided up amongst your players. This means that for kiddo and me, we each controlled two characters… and this was manageable for us both!.
Characters come premade on their own card that shows their health, speed, damage die, and special ability. Everything is marked with symbols, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for at a quick glance. Each character will also have a starting piece of equipment, which is marked on a special deck of cards, and can find other equipment and bonuses as they adventure onward.
The game is primarily focused on questing and adventuring, so there’s just enough flavor on the card with the picture, name, and special ability to get a sense of that character’s story without needing a bigger explination so the focus can stay on the primary gameplay goals.
For example, kiddo really loved Healer Cat. This character is a cat who has a healing special ability and who starts with a special helper cat item – from this info, kiddo RP’d Healer Cat during our adventure with no problems. My favorite was a tanky robot character with a tea kettle for a head, purely because this character just looked particuarly amazing, and I had fun giving them a voice and bodyguarding the group to the last cup of tea!
Mechanics in Cora Quest
Cora Quest has a few main mechanics going on: basic and powered attacks, special abilities, and interacting with the map itself.
For basic attacks, these are rolled for using the die indicated on the card plus whatever your weapon indicates, so they are all picture-focused. Dice are color coded as well, so they are all d6’s with different marks and values on them. Once you roll everything (usually 2 dice), you total up the values shown and apply your damage… however… if you roll all zeros, instead of just not hitting, your character becomes determined.
When a character is determined, you flip your card and get to roll an extra die whenever you attack until you land a hit! This takes a bit of the sting out of missing a hit, and it builds excitement for the next round as your odds of landing a hit increase!
Each character also has a special ability that gives a particularly awesome power up for that turn. For Healer Cat, it’s a healing move that came in VERY handy towards the end of a few encounters and while exploring new parts of the dungeon. For Wizard Woman, it’s a bonus damage move that lets you power up a hit you just landed! And for Halfling, it’s a damage dodge! Each character has something unique that encourages strategizing and teamwork. Cool down for specials is tracked with a group round counter, so it’s also very easy to see where everyone is as with their specials so you can plan ahead together.
And, last but certainly not least, the map itself is part of the mechanics in Cora Quest too!
You start out with a stack of tiles assembled based on the guidebook, and you reveal them in the dungeon as you explore, so it’s a mystery what you’ll end up uncovering next! Rooms throughout the dungeon will have treasure, rest zones, mob spawn points, and story prompt keys (letting you know to read the next part of the story from the guide book), and you’re encouraged to keep things moving with your exploration since mobs will spawn if the timer ticks down too much between popping into a new room (so you can’t really just sit and heal up to 100% between each round). It provides a great sense of both anticipation for what’s coming next AND urgency by trying to keep ahead of the mob spawns.
Overall thoughts on Cora Quest
We had a lot of fun with this! The stories in Cora Quest were easy to run since they come all pre-made, and this has been one of kiddo’s favorites this past year. I think he really enjoyed the balance of silliness and clear challenges that are part of each quest, and he really loved all the pieces. Kiddo was literally jumping out of the seat with excitement before placing the next tile and was happily dancing pieces around the board throughout the entire session. The enthusiasm was VERY clear, and it’s a wonderful pre-made, all-in-one-box TTRPG that’s well focused on being a dungeon run for kids.
Find a copy of Cora Quest
You can find a copy of Cora Quest through retailers like Barnes & Noble and Game Nerdz. You can also play online through this link on the Cora Quest website! We found our copy through the gaming library at our FLGS, Game & Company, so check with local game stores as well!
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