Cartaventura Vinland is a choose-your-own-path adventure with cards instead of a paragraph book. It comes in a little box about 10cm x 10cm x 3cm and is highly portable. All you need to play it is a space to lay out the cards. There are 70 cards which are stacked in order. You start with Card 1 and follow the instructions, picking cards and laying them out, or discarding them, as instructed.
At the start of the game, you are Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red. You are heading to Iceland, to the Althing to argue that your father was unjustly banished to Greenland. You worship the old gods and have the favour of one of them at the start. You will need this to survive, and even then you could die with your mission unaccomplished.
As you begin the game, you lay out the cards and pick the options you wish to pursue. You are then instructed to turn over other cards, discard some options, add new options, and so on. As you do so, you build a little tableau on the table. The artwork appeals to me, and the only thing I found that jarred was the transliteration of Icelandic terms. I am too used to the Old Norse, so that is on me.
The Saga of Leif, son of Eirik, known as Mummy's Boy
Leif went to Iceland to prove that his father was innocent of the brutal crimes he had committed. He approached the law-speaker and learned how the parliament worked. Seeing two crows, he took that as an omen and followed them north, where he encountered a wine merchant in a broken wagon. He helped the merchant and was rewarded with a bottle of wine, but the gods guided him and revealed that it was poisoned. Assassins were on his trail!
Worried that they might seek him out in the heart of the assembly, Leif camped away from the mass of people in hiding. Next day, he tried to find merchants willing to trade with him. Alas, most shunned him because of his father. A Christian merchant helped him, and introduced him to the ambassador from Olav Tryggvason, whose goal was to convert Iceland to Christianity. Leif agreed to help the ambassador. In return, the ambassador gave him a medallion depicting St Christopher.
The next day there was a vote on adopting Christianity. Leif voted in favour and soon found himself racing to his ship to escape the angry mob. He returned to Greenland, where he learnt that his mother had converted to Christianity and was building a church in Brattahlid. His father had gone to the northern settlement in a sulk. Leif's sister wanted him to support her in attempting to return her mother to the path of the old gods. Knowing that she was a psycho, Leif refused and sided with his mother. He was baptised and went on to rule the settlement in peace for the rest of his days. The End.
Conclusions
There are several endings to achieve here, and the game gives instructions for resetting it after each game. These include options where some cards get turned over to provide different options and outcomes next time you run through, a sort-of legacy mechanic, although it can be fully reset if you wish. So, next time around, I can try a different path and see how it all goes.
Being easily portable, it can be taken along when travelling, which is better than most of the games I have. I am not sure how much variety you can get out of it ones you have achieved all the endings, but I'll find out with time. My first run through only used about a quarter of the deck, meaning that there are still a lot of cards I have not seen, so I still have a fair bit of new stuff to encounter. It's a fun way to spend 45 minutes or so while waiting for the washing machine to finish. I had better hang the washing up now though.
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