Here at BPG HQ, we've played a lot of Zhenya's Wonder Tales and we've been living with these characters for a while. We love them all, but here are some of our favorite characters and moves.

Among my favorite moments with Zhenya’s was playtesting the King of Snakes tale at a convention. I wasn’t entirely sure the players were going to be into the game, but they immediately picked up the rhythm of the story from the cards and had a great time! They had fun detailing the weird, underground kingdom and the court full of gossssiping ssssnakes writhing all around the visiting humans and whispering their secrets into the king's ears.

A detail that I love about the Snake King is that he is portrayed as a cobra with a crown, and his description says his “dress and manners are impeccable.” Does he just wear that crown well, or can he also change his shape and wear human clothes? That sort of choice is entirely up to the players at the table, and that happens all throughout the tales, which really opens up replayability for the game.

My favorite move card is from the Carp Princess tale, “When The Morava Rises”. Instead of giving one or two players a choice to make, this card lists 8 very interesting possibilities like “something magical happens” and “important words are missed” and asks each player at the table to choose one.

The Carp Princess tale is arguably the most romantic, starting with a love… well it can’t accurately be described as a triangle, so we’ll say a love wedge, so this card leaves a lot of room to interpret as you like at your table. This tale has an indentured servant girl, a brave knight, a monster hunter with marriage on his mind and a cruel Countess, so the river rising means big changes and all players get to decide what that looks like!

My favorite tale is The Bear Lovers and my favorite card is "When You Summon A Helpful Spirit To Your Child's Cradle" which isn't helpful at all. It almost always injects an atmosphere of menace to the game and everyone is on edge until it is resolved.

There are a ton of cards in various tales that just... ramp things up in unpredictable ways, and I love each and every one of them. "When You Learn A Horrible Truth" is one from Silverhands that is also bound to happen, and when it does, something is going to change for the worse. 

Finally here’s another video from Jason exploring all the different character cards and the illustrations created by Momatoes! It's a whirlwind tour of some great, evocative art, so don't blink!