"My dear reviewer, is it true you once played this game with the very designer himself?". "Why yes, gentle reader! In fact, I had the great pleasure to have Viscount Wallis himself teach us the game at GenCon 2017. To this day, the tale of the Rajah's elephant, a bottle of very fine whiskey, and all the tea in India (remind me to regale you some time!) remains one of my favourite gaming anecdotes, and a cherished memory".

I was indeed lucky enough to have James teach myself, my partner, and a table of strangers how to play The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (TEAoBM) at GenCon a few years ago. By the end of the hour, not only had we all had great fun, but we had bantered, made up outrageous stories and then somehow made them even wilder, put on silly accents and sillier titles, and laughed more than in any roleplaying session I could remember.

TEAoBM is a narrative-driven story game. The rules are simple, but fundamental to the game. They serve as both a framing device, and a way to encourage all the players into the action. Essentially, it is a game of storytelling and wagers, with each player taking turns to weave a tall tale, with the others interjecting to add additional wild details, or call doubt on the storyteller's recollections. Wagers drive the economy of the game, and their flow helps involve everyone in the collaborative storytelling. They also serve to determine the winner, though, as trite as it sounds, with a game this funny, everyone is a winner.

While TEAoBM is a GM-less game, I would definitely recommend that at least one player thoroughly read and be familiar with the rules beforehand. But fear not! The book is a treat to read, written by the Baron himself (with some not-inconsiderable contributions from James Wallis and his ancestors) and often laugh-out-loud funny. I don't own the previous editions, but the 3rd Edition is graced by Omar Rayyan's gorgeous illustrations, making the whole book pleasure to read. Also included are a variety of variants, ways to tweak the game, suggestions for playing it with younger players (and I bet kids would have a blast with it!), and more.

So, if you are looking for a narrative game that is simple to learn but has plenty of replayability, can be taught to novices or hardened grognards, that will flex your imagination and creativity, and above all, will make you laugh until your sides ache, then look no further.