At Gen Con 50 Laura Hoffman and I talk about Game On Tabletop and how it is different from other crowdfunding platforms. One of those differences is it’s by gamers! Some of the others include fulfillment and marketing assistance.
I do believe I will be using Game on for my first game later this year, or early 2018.
I caught up with Erik Bauer of Gaming Paper at Gen Con 50. We talked about paper and the the future of Mega dungeon and the potential for Starfinder.
Any one else looking forward to the vinyl mats?
Ares Games is opening pre-orders today for a limited edition of the Game Rules, Strategy Guide and Gameboard in a deluxe format matching the components included in the War of the Ring Second Edition Anniversary Release.
For players who missed pre-orders of the Anniversary Release (now sold out), or who are interested only in these components and not in the full set of 205 painted figures, it’s the chance to become the owner of a set of very special items: an extra-size War of the Ring gameboard (two boards, each 64 x 88 cm) with UV and hot foil printing; the deluxe edition of the Game Rules (56 pages); the Strategy Companion written by Kristofer Bengtsson (104 pages). Each of these two volumes is hardbound, with quarter binding in cloth paper and hot-foil imprint on the slipcase.
Arcane Academy
$39.99
Challenge rival students to become the best in class in Arcane Academy, an innovative board game of tile linking wizardry for 2-4 players that pits young spellcasters against one another in a duel for honor and prestige.
Forge potent magic items and wield wickedly powerful elemental energies to outthink and outmaneuver your opponents in this elegantly simple and quick-to-learn board game that will appeal to families and experienced players alike!
Game design by Eric M. Lang & Kevin Wilson.
Artwork by Sarah Ellerton.
2-4 Players
Ages 12+
45 minute play time
Contains:
53 Assignment Cards
30 Prestige Tokens
30 Red Plastic Shards
30 Exhaustion Tokens
35 Action Tiles
4 Will Dials
4 Player Slates
1 “First” Player Token
1 Cloth Tile Bag
1 Rulebook
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Board Game
$50.00
Will Sarah manage to defeat Jareth and his Labyrinth, or will the Goblin King turn little Toby into a goblin babe? You have thirteen hours to find out and the clocking is ticking.
This is the maze that players must navigate every time they wish to save Sarah’s baby brother. Each game is different with the blank card spaces being filled with the magical encounters and monsters that are depicted on the deck of cards that comes with the game, this ensures a great deal of replayability and unpredictability in the game, giving the Labyrinth its signature feel.
The game consists of two distinct stages, one where the group must adventure through the labyrinth trying to find the goblin city whilst keeping their willpower as high as possible (nobody wants to fall into the oubliette!), and a second action-packed stage where the players must fight their way into Jareth’s castle where Sarah must say the magical words that will release her brother.
Ages 6+
1-5 players
30+ minute play time
Contains:
5 Collectable Figurines of the main characters
16 page Rulebook
2’ x 2’ Game board lavishly illustrated with inspiring new artwork featuring all the legendary places from the movie, including the Oubliette, the Bog of Eternal Stench, the Goblin City and Jareth’s Castle
32 Labyrinth Cards
30+ Game Tokens
6 Polyhedral Dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20)
6 Reference Cards
4 Character sheets
4 Ability Cards
4 Weakness Cards
4 Card Stand-ups: Humongous, Goblin Infantry, Goblin Cavalry & Goblin Artillery
1 Goblin Clock
Cubicle 7 are proud to announce the imminent launch of the Cthulhu Tales Kickstarter.
A story-telling card game, designed by award winning designers Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, with stunning art from Scott Purdy, Jon Hodgson and Sam Manley, Cthulhu Tales develops the themes introduced in the Cubicle 7/Sophisticated Games co-production Hobbit Tales, enhancing the structured, story-telling mechanic with a range of new Elder God-appropriate rules and tweaked play style suitable for tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Dominic McDowall, Cubicle 7 CEO:
“I’m delighted to be able to bring Cthulhu Tales to Kickstarter this week. It’s a development of the rules which Francesco and Marco have been working on for a long time, and it’s really great to be able to finally bring it to light.
We’re planning a very straight forward campaign. As gamers we’re suffering a little bit from gigantic Kickstarter fatigue, so for this one we have a very clear, simple goal, with a handful of pledge levels. It’s all about the game, and the game is really, really good. Not only is it great fun to play, producing some eerily Lovecraftian stories, but is also shaping up to be one of the most good-looking games we’ve produced. I’m very excited to see how it will do!”
The Cthulhu Tales Kickstarter launches this week.
From the Cubicle 7 website (www.cubicle7.co.uk):
“In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative.”
– The Tomb, by H.P. Lovecraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKYHpLz1Hc
The dawn of the 20th century. New England, America; Lovecraft country.
Home to university libraries filled with worm-eaten tomes, legend-haunted towns populated with degenerate locals and their rustic superstitions, Cyclopean ruins from long-forgotten aeons, and the disquieting glimpses of things from beyond…
You are the unwilling guests of a disquieting and antiquated sanatorium, perhaps the infamous Arkham Sanatorium, or maybe the Danvers State Asylum.
Your only hope of escape is to convince your fellow inmates, and perhaps yourself, that you do not belong here. And so you begin to explain the sinister series of events that led to your unjust incarceration.
Unfortunately, your memories are populated by the stuff of nightmares…
In Cthulhu Tales, players take it in turn to tell their story using a hand of Story cards. The other players play Hazard cards to disrupt and darken the tale. In the course of the game, the narrators receive Treatment tokens, representing the misguided therapies and medication administered to them by the terrifying medical staff.
When everyone has told their tale, count up each player’s Treatment tokens and the player who underwent the least therapies is the winner.
Designed by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, the designers behind award winning games such as The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Hobbit Tales, The War of the Ring and many more, Cthulhu Tales brings horrifying and darkly humorous story telling to your gaming table.
Inside the box you’ll find:
• 115 beautifully sinister and disquieting, large format playing cards with artwork from the C7 art team Scott Purdy, Jon Hodgson and Sam Manley
• A board to guide your tale-telling
• A 16 page full colour rulebook (which is available for free download now)
• A 12 sided die, or perhaps if the stars are right, a unique Cthulhu Tales 12 sided die
• A set of Treatment tokens
More about the game:
In Cthulhu Tales you take the role of unwilling inmates of a fictional 1920s asylum or sanatorium. Using the cards as both inspiration and guide, you’ll take it in turns to make an accusation explaining why one of your fellow inmates, the Narrator, should be incarcerated.
The unfortunate Narrator then answers the accusation with their card-driven tale – choosing to either explain away the mysterious and sinister events, or perhaps having little choice but to reveal the secrets of the deeper horror that lurks just beyond the veil of reality.
As the Narrator attempts to refute the accusation of madness using Story cards, the other players disrupt the tale with Hazard cards, trying to force things to take a darker turn.
The cards have three main elements that can be used to aid your story. The title, the illustration and a quote from Lovecraft’s fiction. You can use any or all of these as inspiration for your tale. This makes replayability huge, with endless combinations of scenarios, mysteries, situations and horrific scenes possible.
Cthulhu Tales is very much a game, rather than simply a guided storytelling activity – it features structured and elegant rules for the telling of the tale, and for Hazard card interruptions. Players use the symbols on the cards to determine whether a card can be played, and its effect on the Narrator’s tale. The die introduces an element of luck into the proceedings – perhaps that Viscous Black Slime was merely a passing detail, or perhaps its arrival was the precursor to something far more sinister and madness inducing…
Players keep score with Treatment tokens, the aim of the game being to gain as few tokens as possible, and thereby be judged the least insane inmate.
There are, of course, some tweaks along the way – some cards are harder to match with, and thus harder to interrupt. But they come with other dangers: Phobia and Hazard symbols make playing these cards a risky gamble. There are also Deity cards, featuring the mind-bending Mythos deities, whose appearance can change the course of a tale entirely.
There are optional rules for awarding a bonus to the best storyteller, allowing the most Lovecraftian tale to shine, and perhaps take first place.
A Note on Madness.
The Cthulhu Tales rulebook includes this note on “madness”, which we think is pertinent to share here:
Cthulhu Tales deals in the madness described by H.P. Lovecraft in many of his stories. It is a fictional condition, an imagined state of derangement, where the walls of reality fall away and the frail human mind cannot contain the reality of the universe inhabited by The Great Old Ones.
This is an entirely distinct condition to the tragedy and pain of real-world mental health issues which sadly are statistically likely to touch all of our lives. We encourage players of Cthulhu Tales to wholly enjoy the fictional nature of the various maladies and madness described here, while remembering that in the real world mental health issues are no laughing matter.
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Roleplaying Game Adventure Kit
$44.99
Become a hero. Battle fierce monsters. And eat them.
Welcome to the savage side of the Iron Kingdoms! Iron Kingdoms Unleashed explores the untamed lands of western Immoren, where even the heroes are monsters. To survive, you’ll need a bad attitude and a big appetite. Bash, slice, and chomp your way through your foes, then use their broken bodies as a power-packed snack to fuel your rampages or as ingredients for your primal magic. Monsters may be bad, but being a monster is good.
Let loose your bestial nature with the Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Roleplaying Game Adventure Kit (PIP 417)! This kit contains everything you need to start playing right away.
REDMOND, WA (February 17, 2015): Paizo Inc., creator of the popular Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, announces today the Top 8 finalists for 2015’s RPG Superstar, the annual, worldwide, game designer competition.
RPG Superstar™ 2015 Top 8 Finalists and their Winning Monster Designs
Gabriel Almer — Gloomwasp
Brian Fruzen — Geomaw
Scott LaBarge — Coryphae
Monica Marlowe — Narrick
Ben Iglauer — Occularictus
Kalervo Oikarinen — Dread Glutton
R Pickard — Spiroskek
Christopher Wasko — Deeplit
“Making it to the RPG Superstar Top 8 is a major achievement,” says Owen KC Stephens. “These contestants have overcome some of the most difficult and unexpected challenges we’ve ever had in this contest, and my sincerest congratulations go out to the Top 8 and their monster designs.”
There are two rounds left in the competition, where the remaining finalists will be kept on their toes with next round’s challenge, Design an Encounter. Contestants will be required to design a new map for a location within Nar-Voth (the subterranean realms of Golarion, Pathfinder’s campaign world). They must design an encounter for that map, use another contestant’s monster from a previous round, make the encounter balanced for specific level range, and hit a 1,300-1,400 word count.
The deadline for Round Four entries is February 20, 2015, and public voting on the encounters will end on March 2, 2015. For more information, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.
Now in its 8th year, RPG Superstar receives thousands of entries from all over the world, which are reviewed by a panel of experienced game designers, and then voted on by the paizo.com community, who have cast millions of votes over the years.
The winner of the competition will have their adventure published by Paizo as a Pathfinder Module, a full-color, 64-page, high-quality softcover book, compatible with not only the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG), but also with any game published under the Open Gaming License (OGL). Also, three runners-up will win assignments to write adventure scenarios for Paizo’s Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, offering all four finalists professional writing contracts with Paizo Inc., and an opportunity to begin their game design careers by working on the world’s best-selling roleplaying game.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is the world’s best-selling tabletop RPG, in which players take on the role of brave adventurers fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. The Pathfinder RPG is currently translated into multiple languages, and the vibrant Pathfinder universe has been licensed for comic book series, graphic novels, miniatures, plush toys, and apparel, and is being developed into a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.
About Paizo Inc.
Paizo Inc. is publisher of the world’s best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the wildly popular Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, as well as Pathfinder Tales novels, board games, and gaming accessories. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the twelve years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 60 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry. For more information, visit paizo.com.
From Paizo
REDMOND, WA (February 3, 2015): Paizo Inc., creator of the popular Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, announces today the Top 16 finalists for 2015’s RPG Superstar, the annual, worldwide open call for would-be game designers to have their talents discovered, and the chance at being published in an official Pathfinder RPG module.
Round Two required contestants to develop a single, one-page map, and the Top 16 Finalists were determined from the Top 32 Finalists announced in January. The Top 16 will move on to Round 3, with the task to develop a Monster and Stat Block.
RPG Superstar™ 2015 Top 16 Finalists and their Winning Map Designs
Gabriel Almer – Caverns of Steam, Near Dwimovel (Darklands, Sekamina)
Charlie Bell – Smokemount Hold
Russ Brown – Lost Water Gardens of Jalmeray
Brian Fruzen — Salvation’s End
Jeff Heikkinen — Inside the Glacier
David Higaki — The Gravepit Basin of Fallen Sercai
Dana Huber — Elven Guardpost on the Tanglebriar Border
Ben Iglauer — The Haunted Dinosaur Graveyard of Mediogalti Island
Jason Keeley — Leviathan’s End
Scott LaBarge — Shadde-Quah Shoanti Cliff Dwelling. Calphiak Mountains
Monica Marlowe — Firebrand’s Redoubt: Stronghold of Lady Delbera Axebringer
Kalervo Oikarinen — Ancient Cyclops Stronghold in the Icerime Peaks
Anthony Pennington — The Fancy Reefclaw Brewery
R Pickard — Town of Griffon Falls
Chris Shaeffer — Treant’s Crossing
Christopher Wasko — The Drowning Temple
Says Owen K.C. Stephens, Pathfinder RPG Designer, “We’re cranking up the pressure again with the Bestiary entry for round 3. We’re giving the tightest word count range we’ve ever required, and every monster has to be strongly tied to Nar-Voth, a subterranean realm within Golarion, Pathfinder’s game world.”
The deadline for Round Three entries is February 6, 2015, and public voting on the maps will end on February 16, 2015. For more information, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.
Now in its 8th year, RPG Superstar receives thousands of entries from all over the world, which are reviewed by a panel of experienced game designers, and then voted on by the paizo.com community, who have cast millions of votes over the years.
The winner of the competition will have their adventure published by Paizo as a Pathfinder Module, a full-color, 64-page, high-quality softcover book, compatible with not only the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG), but also with any game published under the Open Gaming License (OGL). Also, three runners-up will win assignments to write adventure scenarios for Paizo’s Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, offering all four finalists professional writing contracts with Paizo Inc., and an opportunity to begin their game design careers by working on the world’s best-selling roleplaying game.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is the world’s best-selling tabletop RPG, in which players take on the role of brave adventurers fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. The Pathfinder RPG is currently translated into multiple languages, and the vibrant Pathfinder universe has been licensed for comic book series, graphic novels, miniatures, plush toys, and apparel, and is being developed into a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.
About Paizo Inc.
Paizo Inc. is publisher of the world’s best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the wildly popular Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, as well as Pathfinder Tales novels, board games, and gaming accessories. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the twelve years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 60 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry. For more information, visit paizo.com.
