Barbarian Prince

Barbarian Prince is a solitaire board game published in 1981 by Dwarfstar Games, the smaller game line released under Heritage Models, casting its single player as Cal Arath, a barbarian prince trying to raise five hundred gold pieces within seventy days to finance a campaign to retake his throne from the usurpers who deposed him. Play covers a hex map that the character crosses one hex per day on foot, faster when mounted or using some other means of travel, and every newly entered hex triggers a random event drawn from an accompanying event book, ranging from combat against bandits or monsters to encounters with local rulers, ruins worth searching, or opportunities to recruit followers who can help later on. The full package, a map, a single twenty five millimeter figure representing Cal Arath, dice, a twenty four page rulebook and a forty eight page book of encounters and mechanics, let one person run an entire adventure without an opponent or game master. Dragon magazine reviewer Glenn Rahman called it the most satisfactory solo game he had seen up to that point, and the game went on to win the Charles S. Roberts Award for best fantasy board game of 1981.