By: Michael Randolph
Khronos – “This game has not yet been rated.” While many of the other gamers were diving into the heavily themed games on this year’s Halloween game night, Kevin took theme to a whole new level. Zombie movies have a history as allegories of social issues of the time (nuclear power, the Vietnam war, economic struggles). Kevin suggests Khronos, “an interesting game about time travel”, to a group of unknowing, unsuspecting players. What he was really doing was unleashing an allegory to the zombie movies genre.
The rules explanation paralleled the “at least it is a way to get out of the weather for a few hours” movie intro. It also served as the “forbidden love gets you eaten” theme as Michael Ennis quickly fell victim to the lure of the game before the first time traveler adjusted his chronological setting. Kyle, Andrew and I used nervous attempts at humor to mentally seperated ourselves from the ever growing hoard of placement restrictions. Buildings were built, domains were controlled and time was inverted, but everything just felt wrong. At one point, I glanced longingly over my shoulder at the gamers enjoying Betrayal at House on the Hill at the other table. How I wished, like many a zombie hero, that I could share in their obliviousness to the plague that Kevin kept stored in that oddly named box.
Returning my focus to my own game, I noticed that Kyle was now mumbling about I could use one card to seperate two domains in the Age of Faith and gain more points by adding an Abbey. Yes, Kyle was infected. As far as Khronos was concerned, he had been running in high heels. Really, Kyle? Did you want to be caught?
At that point, my only hope was that Andrew and I could just last until we found the Khronos equivalent of a flamethrower, known as Round 7. In an attempt to buy a little time, I pretended to be “one of the fallen” by quickly placing a couple of buildings in the Age of Might and randomly pointed at buildings that might be affected by my move. The slobbering hoard pounced on the opporutnity to calculate temporal disruptions and the cascade of distruction in the following epochs. After stumbling for another round, Andrew and I had made it to the final scoring phase. I certainly did not win the game, but the two of us had survived to the sunlight of the game’s end.
Kevin held the allegory to the end. All zombie heroes make a fatal mistake. Mine was confusing zombies for vampires. There is no safety in sunlight. In a George Romero worthy twist, the game ratings were revealed.
Ratings: Kevin, a 9. Michael, a 9. Kyle, a 9. Andrew, a 7.5.
Nooo!!! Not Andrew!
<<Scene fades to black>>
East Tennessee Gamers 
Hilarious report, Mike! While playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill, I did feel as if we were being watched. I thought it was just paranoia induced from the horror game. I have never played Khronos and cannot judge it, but if time travel was real, you could go back and join us for the horror games. Still it is good to hear the zombies didn’t get your brain!
By: Zach Smith on November 2, 2011
at 10:55 pm
Khronos burdens itself with a messy and contrary ruleset, but rewards the determined gamer with a truly unique experience. The time-travelling theme is barely utilized, but this is cool stuff and Khronos can be a brain-burner. (6/10)
By: tripgodel on November 22, 2011
at 7:26 am
I really liked the building through time element. It was hard to grasp the consequences of the builds early in the game but I felt I had a good idea by the end of the game. The difficulty is being able to move through time. The cost is very restrictive.
By: wkusau on November 28, 2011
at 8:05 pm