Merchants of the Dark Road
2022Brian Suhre
- Videos
- 80
- Creators
- 48
Mostly reviews and unboxings. Merchants of the Dark Road is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 30 reviews, 5 how-to-play guides, 11 recorded sessions, 22 unboxings, and 12 other videos.
1 - 4 players
60 - 120 min
Heavy weight: Expect a long teach
From BoardGameGeek
After half a year of daylight, we must now prepare for the dark season. The roads will be treacherous but they will still need to be braved by a select few in order to keep our cities thriving. In Merchants of the Dark Road, you are one of these brave few merchants that travel the dangerous paths between cities. While the job is perilous, fame and fortune await. Discover the capital city where most of your actions will take place using a rondel action system. Collect and produce items to add to your caravan, or sell these items to local heroes and hire them to travel with you. Manipulate the market price of items, visit the back alley sellers, or delve a nearby dungeon for magical items to gain the potential for even more coin and notoriety. Gather lanterns to ease your passage along the dark roads as you guide your caravan to distant villages. Deliver goods and heroes to the best destinations and gain fame for your bravery! Balance the money you earn with the height of your fame because your final score after a number of game rounds will reflect the lowest of these two values. After all, what good is a purse full of the coin if the people don't sing songs about you, and what good is a song with an empty mug of ale? -description from the publisher
Watch first
Which Merchants of the Dark Road video should I watch?
Merchants of the Dark Road has 80 videos from 48 creators: 30 reviews, 5 how-to-play guides, 11 playthroughs, 22 unboxings and 12 other videos. They date from 2020 to September 2025.
To learn the rules, start with "Merchants of the Dark Road Tutorial & Playthrough - JonGetsGames" by Getting Games, which runs 34 min. For a quicker teach, "How to Play Merchants of the Dark Road Board Game | How to Game with Becca Scott" by Good Time Society runs 16 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "The 4 Squares Review - Merchants of the Dark Road" by The Dice Tower. 23 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "Merchants of the Dark Road | Part One | Solo Playthrough | Learn to Play | Totally Tabled" by Totally Tabled, one of 11 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Freshwater Fly, Shadowrun: Zero Day and Merchants of the Dark Road: Patron's Provisions, also by Brian Suhre, or Stone Age, which shares several of its mechanics. It appears in convention videos from Gen Con 2021.
All videos
8 of 48
Creators who cover this
Totally Tabled
5 videos of this game
Tabletop Gaming Guild
4 videos of this game
BoardGameCo
3 videos of this game
Quackalope
3 videos of this game
The Dice Tower
3 videos of this game
Board Game Empire
2 videos of this game
Good Time Society
2 videos of this game
Rulebook Rundown
2 videos of this game
Games like this
2022Brian Suhre
- Videos
- 1
- Creators
- 1
Unboxings
1 - 4 players60 - 120 minMedium weight
About Merchants of the Dark Road
From BoardGameGeek:
After half a year of daylight, we must now prepare for the dark season. The roads will be treacherous but they will still need to be braved by a select few in order to keep our cities thriving. In Merchants of the Dark Road, you are one of these brave few merchants that travel the dangerous paths between cities. While the job is perilous, fame and fortune await. Discover the capital city where most of your actions will take place using a rondel action system. Collect and produce items to add to your caravan, or sell these items to local heroes and hire them to travel with you. Manipulate the market price of items, visit the back alley sellers, or delve a nearby dungeon for magical items to gain the potential for even more coin and notoriety. Gather lanterns to ease your passage along the dark roads as you guide your caravan to distant villages. Deliver goods and heroes to the best destinations and gain fame for your bravery! Balance the money you earn with the height of your fame because your final score after a number of game rounds will reflect the lowest of these two values. After all, what good is a purse full of the coin if the people don't sing songs about you, and what good is a song with an empty mug of ale? -description from the publisher
Designer
Brian Suhre
Artists
Andrew Bosley, Joey Julian, Matt Paquette & Co.
Publisher
Elf Creek Games
Categories
Mechanics
ContractsDice RollingEnd Game BonusesAction Selection