The Quest for Piptwynn's Scroll 1996

User Summary

The The Quest for Piptwynn's Scroll is a tabletop miniatures game that pits two players against each other to obtain Piptwynn's Scroll, an artifact of great importance, that can be found on the top of Star Snag Crag. The object of the game is to reach the top of the Crag, retrieve the Scroll, and then make it off the Crag again. The game board is defined as a series 49 four inch squares arranged in four tiers. The top tier is the peak of Star Snag Crag.

Each player controls a team, or Quad, made up of 4 different specialists, selected from the 8 possible types listed in the game. Some types focus on mobility, others on combat, and some, like the Beastmastr [sic], level the playing field with unusual abilities. These character types also rely on items (magical & non-magical) to give them an edge in certain situations.

Each turn the players perform game actions in a set order of phases: Activation, Movement, Exploration and Occurrences (weather effects or wandering monsters), Conflict Resolution, and Evening (a time of healing and recharging). Both players act simultaneously so occasionally members of one Quad will end up in conflict with each other quite by accident. Random game elements can also send creatures or primitives to attack members of a Quad. Terrain effects are randomly determined the first time the member of a Quad enters a new square. These effects can produce anything from a Refreshing Spring to a Dragon Nest.

Unlike most miniatures game, death isn't a feature of Piptwynn's Scroll. When one side wins a conflict, the other side is driven away. Since this is fundamentally a race to the peak of Star Snag Crag, getting pushed back on any given turn can make the difference between winning and losing. In this way the game is more family-friendly than the many miniatures games that focus on death and dismemberment.

The rulebook also contains several rules variants, including set up a larger board for tournament play. Also included are reproducible sheets, charts, tokens, etc., along with tips on how to paint miniatures and how to build a proper three-dimensional game board. (Players must provide their own miniatures, a playing surface--which can be simple map or more traditional war game terrain, and a set of polyhedral dice)

There were several planned follow-up games for this title, including an RPG crossover. None of them seem to have ever come to fruition.