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Designer for Bioshock and Brothers in Arms’ first board game is like Small World

Game of gods.

The latest entry in the Roll Player series is a tile-laying board game created by a designer for Bioshock and Brothers in Arms, Jason Lentz.

Taking place in the same universe as Roll Player and Cartographers, Dawn of Ulos sees players becoming one of five playable gods, each of whom agree to take part in a game in which mortals are their playthings. The upcoming board game is set in a world discovered by Azema – the dragon god – in which mortals have lived peacefully for many years. However, once found by the gods the land is thrown into conflict, with each faction siding with one of the interfering deities.

Featuring a total of 10 different factions, five of which are used per playthrough, Dawn of Ulos has players attempting to manipulate the mortals to perform their will. The better their chosen faction performs; the more favour players will earn and the more powerful they’ll become. Throughout the fantasy board game, players will have the opportunity to develop the land and establish new regions.

Cover image for YouTube video
Before You Play give Dawn of Ulos of go.

Similarly to the board game Small World, Dawn of Ulos sees players laying down tiles, spreading the influence of their chosen faction and growing in strength. However, unlike Small World, Dawn of Ulos features a battle system that has players comparing the power of their respective factions to determine who wins and who loses. Should players ever place tiles that connect territories to each other, then they will have to engage in a battle whose outcome is determined by all players. Besides the gods involved in the dispute, the other players can choose to contribute cards to either side of the conflict, depending on what better suits them.

Dawn of Ulos is Lentz debut tabletop title, with the designer having previously specialised in level design for video games such as the aforementioned Bioshock and Brothers in Arms. The artwork for Dawn of Ulos was created by Diego Sa, who has created illustrations for a previous entry in the Roll Player series, Cartographers.

An image of cards for Dawn of Ulos.

Thunderworks Games is the publisher responsible for Dawn of Ulos, alongside the previous entries in the Roll Player series such as Cartographers and Cartographers Heroes.

The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Dawn of Ulos is live until September 27th, with a pledge of $59 (£51) getting backers a copy of the core game in July 2023.

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Dawn of Ulos

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About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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