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Hiro Protagonist posted:So I posted this in the last thread, and I kind of wanted to talk about it. Apparently, the guy who makes this same is a believer in the ancient aliens conspiracy. This is weird to me, because despite a love of all that good conspiracy weirdness, I don't believe any of that crazy poo poo. The game looks interesting, but not perfect or anything, and I'm tempted to pledge a bit, but I don't know, I feel weird pledging to a Kickstarter for a game this guy thinks is based on reality. Eh. There are worse nutty things to believe in. Unless the guy's an anti-Semite or something (sadly common among conspiracy weirdos) I wouldn't be terribly worried about it. Unless you're concerned he might flake on actually fulfilling, which I think I would be.
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May 27, 2016 05:17
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So, significant Darkest Night 2E update today. In short, they've decided to waive all gameplay-related stretch goals and just pack all of that into every 2E box regardless of whether they reach the previously set goals or not (though non-gameplay stretch goals like the organizer and engraved dice, etc remain in play). But the flip side of that is that they are now only intending to print enough copies to fulfill the Kickstarter with some wiggle room for replacements, etc. So if you were planning to wait and pick it up in stores, that's probably not going to be possible unless the store backed the Kickstarter.Victory Point Games posted:As the publisher of this game, therefore, we are making an executive decision on behalf of you, our loyal customers backing Darkest Night 2. Since it seems clear to us that we will not be printing this game in quantities sufficient to sell to distributors and stores who do not pledge during this Kickstarter (making this campaign’s Big Box “Everything” Edition of Darkest Night a very collectable item, indeed!), we have decided to unlock all gameplay stretch goals in this campaign, effective immediately. This does not include non-gameplay stretch goals (e.g., the organizer tray, engraved dice, and designer’s notes), which will remain locked pending sufficient project funding.
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Jun 2, 2016 02:00
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JazzFlight posted:Ugnnnnn, I want it with the miniatures but like $170 after shipping is crazy high. If it was like $120 after shipping, maybe. If it helps, remember that this is the base game, all the content from the five first edition expansions, -and- at least another expansion or two worth of cards.
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Jun 2, 2016 02:22
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moths posted:I'm kind of worried about Darkest Night since "Unviable retail production" seems like a stone's throw from "Unviable production." I wouldn't be. Victory Point are a very small operation that doesn't usually do a lot of third-party retail business. Their Amazon presence is direct sales from them, for example. The Kickstarters they've been doing recently (the first, Dawn of the Zeds 3rd Edition, just arrived at my door yesterday) actually present a significant step -up- in print run size, hence the viability of nicer production values than they've had in the past. I think they were just hoping they might get enough traction with Darkest Night 2E to actually get onto store shelves beyond stores that are backing the project and haven't.
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Jun 3, 2016 00:34
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Gravy Train Robber posted:Do they do something similar with their other games? I just realized they're the same ones who did Nemo's War, which was another game I was thinking about waiting until release to pick up. The other two Kickstarted games, including Nemo's War, will probably be sold directly by VPG as has been their wont. I don't think they did well enough to go wide retail either, but they didn't do this thing with routing money to stuff the box instead of printing extra to direct sell. Then again, neither game has had five expansions prior to the new edition. I think maybe one or two for Zeds and not even that for Nemo's War? Not sure. So the new editions were cheaper. Also, no minis. FWIW, my understanding is that Darkest Night has been their most successful game to date, hence perhaps the higher expectations for this KS.
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Jun 3, 2016 02:14
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NTRabbit posted:And it's still made nearly a million dollars in a day. I've played Zombicide some. Don't care about minis, myself. Zombicide was interesting because zombie-themed pure coop games are actually pretty thin on the ground and it seemed like the one with the most interesting design and best-liked of that small crowd. (Most are either traitor/individual objectives games, one vs. many or free for all competitive, as far as I can tell.) Their various fantasy coop/semi-coop games seem like they tread much more well-worn ground and haven't brought anything much to the table that I care about and the prices and addon lists are always pretty out there on CMON stuff, mostly because of minis (although they were still charging quite a bit on XenoShyft, which is just cards.).
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Jun 9, 2016 03:37
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signalnoise posted:Wow! I actually received my MERCS: Recon pledge. It's a lot of loving minis, and the rulebook is unnecessarily large. I like the game well enough and the giant pile of additional minis will surely enhance the experience, but I do have a few quibbles with how they handled the whole thing. Like how they packed the stretch reward content straight up loose in the shipping box. And didn't label any of it. Thanks guys. A bunch of unlabelled, unassembled grey plastic minis. You shouldn't have. Also, they promised player boards (which you need to actually use them) for all the additional merc minis and....provided a PDF of them for the consumer to print and assemble on their own dime. The Lost Margin pack also seems pretty thin, which I would be more annoyed about if I had separately added it for the listed $25 instead of getting it in the All In package for $100 for like 8 or 9 packs.
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Jun 10, 2016 00:21
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Scyther posted:Everything Cryptozoic has produced has been some degree of garbage. Except Hex, which is amazing. And people swear by the WoW TCG back in the day. But that doesn't really say anything about their boardgames.
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Jul 13, 2016 23:58
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Spiderdrake posted:Good or bad as Hex may be, that's not exactly something you hold up for their game design chops I certainly would. It's got plenty of original ideas and the overall design is better than many other TCGs I've played. Yes, it's inspired by Magic - like, you know, the entire genre, albeit a bit more directly than many - but it's not Magic. And frankly, I think it's better.
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Jul 14, 2016 03:46
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JazzFlight posted:I only gave it a second look because Rahdo raved about it. It might be better off launching cheaper at retail with standees instead of miniatures. I would certainly be significantly more interested if they did that. At this point I have about all the KS miniature-heavy coop games I can handle and if I backed any other such projects they'd probably only be expansions for the ones I already own. (But I would back those, because I have compulsive tendencies when it comes to complete collections of gameplay-affecting boardgame content. ...and videogame DLC, for that matter.)
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Jul 26, 2016 00:16
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abardam posted:Apparently they'd changed the name from Trove, which is disappointing because Trove is a much better name. Anyway I am pretty hyped to play some knight vs. goblins vs. dragon vs. cave asymmetric free for all! Yes, but it's a better name that's associated with a Trion free-to-play MMO and Patrick didn't want to have to worry about possible legal action or confusion. I think Vast still works pretty well.
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Jul 30, 2016 06:50
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The mechanics have probably been tweaked since I playtested it but I found it pretty straightforward, honestly. That said, I had the benefit of the designer being the one explaining the rules. And the -strategy- takes a little while to figure out. For each role.
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Jul 30, 2016 14:12
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Flavivirus posted:Not to mention that a board game KS (Vast I think) recently had to change their name from Trove because that's the name of an MMO. Technically they didn't -have- to. I don't think Trion's lawyers got in touch or anything. They chose to to avoid the possibility and reduce any possible confusion.
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Aug 8, 2016 13:56
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CottonWolf posted:I get the impression that tabletop games are just a less risky prospect. I've never had a TG kickstarter fail on me, while my music/videogame kickstarter failure rate is about 10%. I think most tabletop projects, especially for board/card games, are launched more for production than for development, so there's already more there to work with than, say, videogames (where it seems like a lot of pitches are just "hey, we have this concept!"). That said, I've had about the same overall failure rate. For tabletop games, The Doom That Came to Atlantic City famously had the project creator spend the money on moving and setting up a business instead of producing the game (though it was rescued by Cryptozoic). The Up Front reprint was pretty much killed by the publisher's legal troubles (to wit, being successfully sued for their operating capital by an artist they hadn't bothered to pay). Rosemount Bay has been dead silent for long enough that it's probably not happening, same with Last Stand: Reinforcements (and any remaining stretch goals from the first Last Stand KS, which I think there are one or two). And I guess James Wallis still theoretically plans to deliver Alas, Vegas someday but I'm not holding my breath. For videogames, Haunts's team fell apart and the code was not in a salvageable place. Unwritten: That Which happened didn't happen. Cult: Awakening of the Old Ones was explicitly abandoned by the creator. And the developer of Roam claimed to still be working on it a year ago but hasn't posted since and see previous posts re: lawsuits etc. I will say that I have quite a few more outstanding videogame projects than tabletop, some for quite a long time (a handful backed in 2012, even), but aside from the ones mentioned above they are generally demonstrably still underway, some with playable alphas/betas/etc. Videogame development can be a fraught and complicated process, especially for indie studios, and Kickstarter delivery projections are nearly universally pure fiction, so I'm not too worried on the whole. (Seriously, I've backed almost 230 projects and I think maybe 5% of them delivered on time or before.) I don't back videogames much anymore, but that's less because I consider them especially risky and more because there's really only two reasons to bother: 1) it's something that won't happen otherwise and you really need it to (almost all of my videogame needs are being plentifully fulfilled these days or require licenses that aren't likely to happen on a Kickstarter budget) or 2) you just love the developer that much and want to support them. (So for me, Obsidian, Harebrained Schemes, a couple others. But not just any random indie dev.) Otherwise chances are it'll be available cheaper once it's actually out, you don't have to take any risks, and Kickstarter backers probably aren't getting anything unique that actually matters.
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Aug 24, 2016 00:18
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MollyMetroid posted:
Not in game development, they're not. I agree with pretty much everything else you've said, though.
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Aug 24, 2016 03:34
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That Old Tree posted:"Some rear end in a top hat won't communicate about his flat-lined Kickstarter" is a few steps short of "he's probably built an elaborate lie about a life-destroying illness." Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually ill. Maybe it even interferes with working on the project (though it feels like if he has energy to be all over Google+ as has been suggested, that ought to be translateable into writing RPG words). But communication is still important.
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Aug 25, 2016 04:57
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Covok posted:I just don't get contempt for your customer. Like, at all. Luke, you're selling them something: they have a right to complain. If you don't want to complain, don't sell anything. Listen, and this not whining, but I've received complaints for $2 products and have nicely apologized and kept a cordial tone, while responding to the complaint. If action was necessary on my part, I did it. You don't get pissy because you come off looking like an absolute bunghole. You want people to like you or trust you or both when you're a salesman, you don't want them to think you're a prick. This is true if you're trying to sell people something. From what I understand, Luke Crane doesn't make much profit (certainly not a living) off his games. He just loves making them and wants to share them with people that are similarly invested. Given that, I can totally understand not wanting to bother with people that aren't. Perhaps it might be more gently put, but...I don't know. I've never spoken to the man and text is a difficult medium to parse intent from.
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Sep 16, 2016 06:50
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IncredibleIgloo posted:Could someone who kickstarted Scythe give me their initial impressions of it? They have a second printing coming up soon, and I am considering getting it. I think I would prefer a Goon opinion as opposed to BGG, that audience can be, well, a bit weird. I've only played it once so I can't offer a super informed opinion about its longevity, but it made a really strong first impression. As others have said, it's an incredibly gorgeous game with absolutely top notch components in both production and design, the more so if you spring for the fancy bits (as I did). It also has some really neat use of said components: deploying mechs simultaneously activates the ability listed under them on your player board, deploying workers reveals increasing cost modifiers on the resource harvesting action, research moves cubes from the top of your board (where they were blocking additional bonuses from the actions there) to the bottom (where they cover up costs on the actions there), etc. Game-wise, it's pretty Euro-y, but the actual business of taking turns can go pretty fast (deciding what to do is the main time consumer) and there's just enough asymmetry between factions and player boards to keep things interesting. What others have said about the low degree of direct conflict is true, especially at lower player counts where there's room to spread out some, but a certain amount of carefully picked fighting is advantageous from a score perspective, and while resources don't necessarily drive intense expansion, territory control is one of the biggest sources of points so that most certainly does, particularly control over the Factory in the middle. Like I say, it's too early for me to tell if it's got legs, but I certainly enjoyed that first game.
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Sep 23, 2016 02:56
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Magpie Games are finally Kickstarting Bluebeard's Bride, a horror roleplaying game based on the classic fairy tale and Powered By The Apocalypse, designed for very unsettling one-shots. One of the designers ran games for the One Shot podcast and the Jank Cast podcast (links are on the KS page) some months back, and those more than convinced me I needed this game. It's real dark and since the core of the horror is to do with violence of all kinds towards women (and definitely not in an exploitative way), it's probably not going to be something everyone is going to be willing to play, much less enjoy. But I would really recommend listening to those APs and seeing what you think. Mind you, I would also like to hear an AP or two run by someone else. It's easy to make a game seem brilliant when it's being run by the person who created it (at least assuming they're a talented GM), but it's important that the game provide the tools to work when random GM #23 takes it on, too.
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Oct 19, 2016 00:06
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Jimbozig posted:Haha, wtf. This pitch is absurd. "Looks simple but is so deep and you can do anything, with anyone!" With no hint as to what the mechanics are or how any of its claims are achieved. If this wasn't Ben Robbins, we'd be laughing at this pitch for being so bad. That's why I didn't back it. I could see what was interesting about Kingdom and Microscope. This one seems so generic it's hard to see why I would want to play it.
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Oct 21, 2016 00:12
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GrandpaPants posted:Level 99 Games said that they're going to be Kickstarting a Megaman Pixel Tactics soon. Looks like Robot Masters up to MM6. Gonna be only the second Level99 project I haven't backed since I first heard about them. I'm interested but "about to buy a house" isn't a great time to be dropping cash on tabletop games.
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Oct 29, 2016 03:02
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Lemon-Lime posted:I'm very jealous of your house prices being so low that a boardgame will tip the scales. More like my cash on hand being so low that a boardgame worth might be an issue. Mortgage will take care of most of it, my family will loan me the down payment, but I still gotta worry about things like inspection fees and moving costs, probably.
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Oct 29, 2016 15:22
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Leperflesh posted:You probably can't borrow your down payment. At the very least, you have to disclose that your dp is borrowed, and this may mean a higher rate and/or PMI. Yeah, I did disclose that because I figured it would be important. I have been preapproved for an FHA loan, and I think that type is okay with it. I'm sure there are downsides to doing it this way but it's that or wait years to build up enough savings and probably see significantly higher interest rates and home prices by the time I do. Anyway. This isn't the thread for it. But I appreciate the concern. 
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Oct 29, 2016 19:06
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IncredibleIgloo posted:I have never come across a pile of poop so interesting I have to stop and investigate it. Am I living my life wrong? Investigating poop is a real world hunting technique (and animal research, for that matter). Eating it, not so much.
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Nov 12, 2016 07:51
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signalnoise posted:Complaint: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/megacongames/myth-dark-frontier/description If people ask maybe they'll make a pledge level for just the Myth stuff. They did with Mercs: Recon. Based on how they've handled the KS exclusive heroes for Myth to date, though, every time they release another level of Myth play you'll get charged anew to upgrade each one of your exclusive heroes separately, and you'll get to pay for a useless cosmetic update to the mini, too. So I don't see much point in getting any more unless you're already into the game they're coming with.
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Jan 7, 2017 04:53
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Doodmons posted:
It's not exactly sight unseen. This is the second KD Kickstarter and the original project shipped and people have been playing and reviewing it. I mean, I wouldn't drop a grand or two on it, but that's because a) I don't have that level of disposable cash and b) it looks like I would hate it. There's enough out there to make at least a semi-informed choice, though.
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Jan 11, 2017 04:19
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:I may be projecting though - I guess you could do this other ways, but that implies your decisions in each scene changes future scenarios That's not legacy, that's just a branching campaign. They're cool, but they're more common and have been around for longer. Legacy games involve hidden unlocks and, at least classically, permanent modifications to game components (including destruction) so that your game literally doesn't play the same at the end of a campaign as when you started. If Seventh Cross is doing that I didn't see any sign of it. (Also it doesn't feel like how Level 99 has historically operated but there's a first time for everything. Kai Tave posted:Doesn't pretty much every L99 game eschew dice in favor of other resolution mechanics? BattleCon, Argent, Exceed, I have no idea how Pixel Tactics plays but I'm given to assume it isn't dice-based, Millennium Blades, etc. Pixel Tactics has no dice, yeah. I can't think of any dice anywhere in any Level 99 game I've played, really.
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Jan 12, 2017 01:12
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The Burning Wheel folks are kickstarting a world book for Torchbearer, entitled Middarmark: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/burningwheel/middarmark $10 for PDF (although if you backed the original Torchbearer project, it sounds like they will be giving you the PDF of this for free - not sure if that's tier-based or not) $20 for PDF and softcover (no hardcover planned) And further tiers including the core book, player deck, etc. No stretch goals. Torchbearer was pretty cool, and I imagine this will be too.
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Jan 13, 2017 04:01
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Father Wendigo posted:Does anyone have any firsthand experience with Shadows over Brimstone? I'm intrigued, but dropping a benny for what looks like Arkham Horror is a put off at the moment. No, but my firsthand experiences with Last Night on Earth and A Touch of Evil suggest to me that Flying Frog are questionably competent at best.
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Jan 13, 2017 04:57
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My copy of Gloomhaven, with reference 6-quart slow cooker: After I unboxed and punched out the 17 sheets of cardboard tokens and standees:  And understand that all the cards and character stuff is still in the box there and I couldn't get a great angle on it to show just how much of that there is. But...1700 cards and 17 character classes in total.
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Feb 1, 2017 05:03
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Only played one scenario so far but preliminary findings are that Gloomhaven is extremely rad and an excellent investment of the $64 I paid on KS. (Probably worth the $120 MSRP, for that matter.) Storage is going to be an issue, though. Everything does (barely) fit in the box even once punched out, but there are a LOT of cards, a LOT of separate types of monster standee, a LOT of different tokens and overlays and map tiles, and while there's an insert that more or less handles the cards, that still leaves potentially dozens of baggies floating around up top.
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Feb 2, 2017 06:56
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gradenko_2000 posted:Is there anyone here who's even (still) pledged to Far West? I mean...I didn't back it (I wasn't really aware of KS back then even if I'd wanted to), but I will theoretically get a copy as part of having backed the also oft delayed Alas Vegas. Except, you know, Alas Vegas is out (at least in PDF) and awesome, and Far West is Far West.
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Feb 12, 2017 05:24
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That Old Tree posted:I think you're painting with such a broad brush that it renders the term "heartbreaker" meaningless. Certainly, D&D has had such an outsized impact on the hobby that there are traces of it in nearly every game. But if that makes everything from GURPS to WoD a heartbreaker, but not T&T, I'm not sure this makes any sense. Not to mention that "heartbreaker" is also often taken to specifically refer to some untenable financial effort to start what amounts to a self-important cover band. For what it's worth, I think the World of Darkness book that was mentioned is the D20 OGL World of Darkness book. Which is much more different from the World of Darkness games proper than you might expect.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:54
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Sig is pretty explicitly inspired by Planescape, yeah. I think the actual lore is meaningfully different and the game system is super not D&D, though. (This based more on an actual play podcast - I think One Shot - I listened to than having actually read the book.)
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Feb 24, 2017 01:15
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Huh? Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant Chronicles 3e, and Thunderbirds Boardgame all arrived right on time for me. Really? Mutant Chronicles 3E hit a bunch of delays from what I recall, to the point that they extended the time frame on the book subscriptions they offered at least once and I think maybe twice. I mean, they're definitely delivering and at this point most of the books are done, so I have no complaints, but I wouldn't call that "right on time".
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Mar 2, 2017 06:24
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PST posted:Mutant Chronicles Due date was July/Aug 2014 for PDF/Print Yeah. And the PDF Subscription (which I purchased) specified all books as they are released in 2014 and 2015. Since they didn't release anything at all in 2014 and only barely made 2015, it would not have been worth much if they hadn't extended it. Mind you, like I say, I don't really care about delays. But they definitely were there.
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Mar 3, 2017 03:27
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Covok posted:With the plethora of FRPG out on the market at the moment, what would it take for you to trust a kickstarter of a new one? This isn't so much a discussion of a real KS, but a hypothetical one. Don't know if thread appropriate. Assuming by "F" you mean "fantasy", it would have to be a drastically different take on fantasy than anything currently on the market (perhaps using different mythological inspiration, for starters), not even whiff of being based on any edition of D&D or similarly crunchy RPGs currently on the market, and have a <$20 PDF option that includes all books produced for the project. Or probably, be PBTA, because I have a weakness for those. Mind you, I'm not this picky about most kinds of RPG, but I am so tired of fantasy RPGs right now, especially in the D&D mold.
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Mar 8, 2017 02:36
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Peas and Rice posted:From its description it kind of seems like what I wanted the Pathfinder ACG to be: a boardgame version of an RPG where you keep your character and build them over time and have fun adventures with your gaming buddies but don't need a GM to plan poo poo out. In a lot of ways, yeah. Except IMO the combat is a lot more interesting tactically than most RPGs end up being. I should note that it's not possible to keep the same character through the whole campaign, though. When you create a character they get a Personal Story quest card and when you fill the conditions on that card, you must retire that character. But you do get bonuses for doing so, and the Prosperity mechanic means you're generally not starting out at level one again. And if you really want you could just roll right back into the same class.
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Mar 18, 2017 00:50
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:You do have some choice in goals so you can just take slow goals if you want to. None of them are super fast, but I don't think it would be possible to avoid retiring at least once during the campaign.
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Mar 18, 2017 04:53
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Alien Rope Burn posted:There's a revival of Button Men, the old Cheapass Games dice game. If you want to try it out, the non-licensed characters from the original game are available for free as print-and-play with old art with artists like Brian Snoddy and Brom. Its fairly cheap as long as you have your own set of dice (and if you're here, you probably do). This is by far my favorite game that Cheapass Games has ever done and online Button Men was pretty great back in the day so I'm glad they appear to be bringing that back too.
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Apr 29, 2017 05:58
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