I previously posted The Lunar Dial as an Omnium Gatherum about this, but I was interested in checking it out, for reasons.

The box arrived and I opened it.

The Lunar Dial [Amazon, Wondery] is a board game from Goliath Games, nominally related to the Morbid true crime podcast from Amazon’s Wondery podcast label.

Here’s what comes in the game box, which doesn’t look like a whole lot until spreading it out.

The satiny fabric game mat is bigger than I thought it would be, and actually too big to fully fit on my work desk.

In the center of the game mat is where the eponymous lunar dial is placed, and that determines the suit of each of the three “celestial realms”.

There are 52 moon cards in the main deck, with four suits (Full, Half, Crescent, and New moons) with 10 small cards and 3 court cards each (Shadow, Priestess, and Goddess for 11, 12, and 13, respectively).

There is also a deck of 12 zodiac cards, each has some self-amending rule effect on gameplay when revealed.

In addition to the 12 white-glass scoring “moonstone” tokens, there’s a set of four quick guide / scoring cards, on for each possible player.

As predicted, I can find no reason to think this actually has anything to do with the podcast other than as a marketing gimmick. You need know absolutely nothing about the podcast to play this game, nor is there anything I can find that’s even slightly enhanced for fans of the podcast, such as easter eggs or references in the box. Claiming this game is in any way based on the podcast is beyond the pale. Other than on the box the game comes in and on a few game components, the only mention of the podcast is on the back cover of the rulebook which is an ad for it, so that appears to have exactly fuck all to do with anything except brand name licensing and ad copy.

Also, yep. After checking it out, I feel this is obviously inspired by the gameplay of Illimat [Amazon, Twogether Studios],, though there appears to be neither any involvement by Keith Baker, which is good for me personally for reasons, nor, way less cool, any even passing hat tip or mention of the inspiration. Whilst it is reasonably slick in design aesthetic, also as predicted, it doesn’t anywhere come close to the lush artistic work of Carson Ellis on Illimat.

There’s definitely an overall kind of blandly New Age aesthetic here. Switching from Illimat‘s seasonal and tarot theme to a lunar and zodiacal one doesn’t give any spicy witchy notes anywhere in the design or rules to balance the New Age-y feel of the basic symbolism they’ve used. I suppose the intention was to make it more broadly acceptable to those inclined toward an allergy to rich secret society, occult, or even witchy themes, but that seems to me likely to end up triggering another allergy instead for those who might sneeze at just a purely New Age feel.

I would be remiss to mention that there’s a kind of endgame divination included, for which they borrow the term “synastry reading”. The relative balance of the four elements of all four zodiac cards in play are compared to a list on the last three pages at the back of the rulebook. For one example, if the zodiac cards are perfectly balanced, one of each element, the reading is “This symmetry of the elements reflects a perfect balance of energy in the room. You will find harmony within yourself and your surroundings. Appreciate the connections with those at your table.” I suppose that one could simply draw four zodiac cards and derive a reading without actually playing the game per se.

I haven’t played it yet, nor have I contemplated the rules long enough to consider what changes to make when trying this solitaire; but, I’ll probably get around to it eventually.

There’s QR code link to an explainer video on the rules manual. For even more of an explainer about rules and gameplay, watch “Morbid Lunar Dial How To“:

“Gather around the stars in this wickedly-cool, out-of-this-world strategy game brought to you by The Morbid Network! Based on the top True Crime podcast, ‘Morbid,’ this easy-to-learn lightweight strategy game is perfect for anyone fascinated by the stars, astrology, and the mystical arts!”