Like a "Boss Monster" - Kickstarter Weekly

Hey gang, we're rolling in super late in the game on this one, but it's definitely worth checking out! Brotherwise Games is totally crushing their Kickstarter campaign for Boss Monster: the Dungeon-Building Card Game. I mean their over funded by like $145,000, they've got 3 days left on the campaign and if the get $3,000 more in backing, they will have hit every stretch goal they have planned. Here's the cool thing about the campaign, it's super cheap to get in on. To get yourself a copy of the game you'll only have to buy in for $20! Ok, enough about the campaign, let's talk about the game for a minute or two. From what I can tell Boss Monster, is like the Grand Theft Auto of 8-bit side scrolling card games, in a fantasy realm setting... Instead of playing the hero or the adventurer, players take on the role of the main bad dude, and try to create a dungeon to lure as many adventurers in and then slay them. The theme sounds like a geeky good time and most of the cards look pretty silly (in a good way). There's even a surprise visit from our favorite pixelated president Pixel Lincoln!

So you've got a few days left, head on over and check it out, and maybe help them hit that last stretch goal! You can find the campaign right here!

Lost Legends — Kickstarter Weekly

This week's Kickstarter project comes to us courtesy of Mike Elliott—designer of such great games as Thunderstone and Quarriors...and the far-less-great game Sword & Skull. Lost Legends is a card-drafting game from Queen Games for three to five players. You'll get a hand of cards, and choose one to equip your character or use the cards for new traits and abilities. Then you pass the leftover cards to the next person, and you'll get a batch from the player in front of you. Lather. Rinse. Repeat, until the cards are gone. Then you start kicking some monster butt—or the monsters start kicking yours...

From the Kickstarter description: At the beginning of your turn, if you do not have a monster in front of you, you must encounter a new one.  You can choose to take on the face-up monster in the middle of the table... or you can draw the top card from the monster deck.  If you don’t think it’s a good idea to fight this monster, and another player also does not have a monster in front of them, you can evade that monster and it will attack them.  But, if you do this, you then must take on the next monster from the top of the deck.

The monsters get stronger as you go through the rounds—and after three rounds the game is over. The warrior with the most points, wins.

The project has already blown past its goal, and the stretch goals include gobs of new monsters, and some new heroes, too. It sounds fun—and the artwork is way cool.

If you have a Kickstarter board game you'd like us to highlight, please contact us. Thanks for reading!

Ruse -- Kickstarter Weekly

If you read our interview with Ruse's designer's yesterday, you know they had a desire "to design a murder mystery game that went beyond deducing what was in an envelope." Ruse is that game. It plays from 3 to 5 players—ages 12 and up—in 30 to 45 minutes. They designed it using a standard 54-card deck (but with cool steampunky pictures), so they're seeing it as a gateway game, too. Many people don't have a desire or the patience to learn a whole new batch of cards, but since this game uses a "standard" deck, they might be more willing to jump in and try it. In fact, they're even including the rules for the Victorian-era card game Whist.

The Kickstarter page says: Players take turns making Accusations of Method, Motive, or Opportunity against each other or providing Alibis to counter those Accusations. You must remember what has been played and craft your Accusations well to pin the murder on another player.

Sounds like it'll be a fun storytelling, whodunit game. Jeremiah and I should be getting our pre-production, review copies any day now. We're going to give this a whirl once we do, and we'll have our reviews up ASAP. In the meantime, you can go check out the Kickstarter campaign—they're already close to being funded!

Small Box Games Offers Three Games in One Kickstarter Campaign!

My first experience with Small Box Games was when I Kickstarted their game Tooth & Nail: Factions. It was a great experience—the game came when they said it was (even earlier, I think!), and the quality was great. So I was excited to get an email from them announcing a new Kickstarter campaign. I was pleasantly surprised to see the campaign is for not one, not two, but three different card games!

Shadow of the Sun is for 3-4 players and is set in the city of Hemloch—one of Small Box Games' other games.

The Valkyrie Incident is a deck-building game for 2 players.

And Stone & Relic is a kingdom-building game for 2-4 players.

If you back just one game, it'll run you $23, including shipping. $44 will get you two of the games shipped, and $62 gets you all three games. This is an interesting strategy. On the one hand, $23 is very reasonable for a quality card game, but as you ramp up the price, $62 seems expensive. It's not that it's a poor value, but rather that's a lot to spend at once. (It's certainly more than my gaming "allowance.") It doesn't seem to be affecting the campaign at all—after less than a day they've very nearly hit their funding goal, and the vast majority of backers have opted for the all-three-games option.

From the Kickstarter page you also download and read the rules for all three games, so you'll have a good idea about each game before you plunk down your hard-earned money. Will you back any of these? How many? Which one are you most excited about?

Thanks for reading!

What You Missed...

Well, we're not sure why it happened, but it was a record-breaking week here at Theology Of Games! And we couldn't have done it without you. (No, seriously. That's how it works.) Thanks for reading. Here's the week's wrap-up. First we told you about the 2nd Netrunner pack that's coming (we haven't even seen the first one!).

We reviewed that great, cheap, fun, and easily-found-at-Target game Spot It!

We gave you a bonus interview, with the folks behind the Extra Life benefit.

Then we interviewed the folks behind the upcoming deck-builder Pixel Lincoln—both Jason Tagmire and President Lincoln himself!

We gave you the news that Looney Labs is launching an iPhone version of their popular card game Fluxx.

This week's Kickstarter spotlight was We are Dead, a zombie game—from the zombies' perspective...

And finally, we revealed that the GenCon exclusive adventure in the Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is now available as a print-and-play deck.

Again, thanks so much for giving us a chance. We're doing everything we can to bring you fun, interesting, thoughtful, and useful posts regarding this crazy hobby of ours. Have a great weekend.

We Are Dead - Kickstarter Weekly

In other news, someone has designed a zombie board game. I know...shock and awe. We Are Dead is a collaborative effort between a couple of very accomplished artists Mike Morris, and Mike Collins. Morris being a 5-year veteran animator for The Simpsons, and Collins, whose accomplishments are a laundry list of Cartoon Network series. We Are Dead is a co-op play game, where players are actually not trying to survive the zombie apocalypse but you are actually inciting the apocalypse. Through co-op efforts and resource management you move through the mall infecting, and feasting, upon shoppers while trying to defeat any uprising heroes.

The game is touted as an easy-to-learn, fun romp, in a very stylized, cartoony zombie setting.  The game is completed, tested, and ready to go, Never Peak Games is simply asking for funds to send it to press.

This Kickstarter is one of the less expensive ones to get into on the ground floor; if you're one of the first 100 backers, you can get a copy of the game for $30. [Update: This level is sold out, but you can still get the game for $35.] You can also—for $20—get yourself a We Are Dead t-shirt.

As always, we'd love to hear what Kickstarters you're backing, or if you're starting your own campaign, let us know!

Storm the Castle! - Kickstarter Weekly

Somewhere in the Bizzaro Universe while Castle Panic! was being developed, Storm the Castle came into existence, and made its way to our reality--well, at least it will if Giant Goblin Games has its way. Storm the Castle is a 1-4 player semi co-op battle game where, unlike Castle Panic!, players are joining forces to lay siege and conquer the castle. Over on Kickstarter there's still plenty of time to jump in on the campaign, and there are a TON of stretch goals waiting for you (all the way up to $100k).

The game looks interesting and the concept sounds really fun! The premise of "being the bad guy" is always an interesting twist on your gaming experience. Giant Goblin is promoting this as a kid/family friendly game, although to be honest, I'm not sure I'd be cool with my 6-year-old taking control of the "Undead Horde."

The Kickstarter Campaign looks like it will be funded, so jumping in now is just one step closer to the next stretch goal! Head on over and check out their campaign, and we'll see you next week with another Kickstarter Weekly!

We Interview Jesse Catron—Designer of Salmon Run

Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions. Can you tell us a little about yourself?  Sure, I’m 35 years old and I live in Maryland with my wonderful wife and our 6 dogs.  I‘m an Optometrist by profession; my hobby is board gaming, and my passion is board game design. Your new game Salmon Run is a combination race game and deck-building game. What gave you the idea to combine those two types of games? Salmon Run was very much a theme-first design. The theme led me to develop it as a racing game.  The salmon would race each other upriver to spawn. The long and grueling nature of the salmon's journey upriver led me to develop the fatigue mechanic. Being more of a marathon than a sprint, I wanted to emulate the struggle the salmon endure and reward pacing. Having fatigue cards accumulate in each player's deck to slow them down by the end of the race seemed natural.  Having “rest” areas where players could remove fatigue also seemed logical. Since the movement (swim) deck was dynamic and changed over the course of the race, I layered in the other special cards that could be added along the way. This greatly enhanced the experience, allowing for more deck specialization and more player interaction.

What’s your favorite race game, and why? Not including my own, I have always been fond of Wolfgang Kramer’s racing system which includes Daytona 500, Top Race, Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix. I really enjoy its simplicity and accessibility, its pre-race auction, and its card-driven movement. The dichotomy of controlling both your car(s) and your opponents is fascinating and makes for some interesting decisions and some light diplomacy.

What’s your favorite deck-building game, and why? I must preface my response by saying there are many DBGs I have yet to play, so my experience is limited. That being said, I will have to stay with the original: Dominion. Often imitated and enhanced, the simplicity and genius of the design still shines through. It's fast and accessible, with multiple strategies and great replayability.

How did you first discover Euro board games? I grew up playing a lot of board games like Risk, Monopoly, Axis and Allies, and the original Survive! Later on I got into collectible card games like Star Wars and the Star Trek CCG. Games were always an interest of mine and I never really stopped playing them. One year my brother bought me the Settlers of Catan for Christmas. Perhaps it was its dry theme but it sat on my self for about a year while I continued stupidly pouring money into CCGs. Eventually I played it and became hooked, and began to expand into other euro games.  Though it's not perfect, Settlers remains the game I've played the most and I still very much enjoy playing it when I can.

Who is your favorite game designer, and which of that designer’s games is your favorite? This is a very tough question to answer!  There are many designers that I respect and admire, and the reality is I have yet to play enough of their games to form a valid opinion. A few that come to mind are Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Schacht, Antoine Bauza, and Stefan Feld. However, at this time, my favorite is Martin Wallace. I enjoy his unforgiving economic mechanics and historical themes. I admire his innovative use of deck-building in a war game in A Few Acres of Snow (despite its flaws). My favorite game of his is Steam. Steam melds many mechanics together in a very smooth and refined package while keeping in track with its theme. 

One-word Response Questions:

Creamy or crunchy? Crunchy

Burger topping? BBQ-sauce

Favorite musician/band? (This can be more than one word, as necessary.) The Beatles

Trek or Wars? Wars

Batman or Superman? Batman

Thanks to Jesse for taking the time to answer our questions. Now go check out his Kickstarter campaign, Salmon Run! And as always, thanks for reading.

When We Last Left Our Heroes...

Well it certainly has been a busy week for us here at TOG! We've had lots of exciting news, an interview, and we've got a TON of stuff in the works behind the scenes! We started the week off with a few deep thoughts about the LARP community.

Stay on Target... Or at least go to Target to grab some new titles or a few clearance gems!

We also learned a little more about the wine making community in an interview with Viticulture designer Jamie Stegmiaer.

Thursday we kicked off a new weekly feature: Kickstarter Weekly with news about the Purge: Sins of Science Kickstarter campaign.

And we brought you a heads up of the Halloween Freighters add-on for Ticket to Ride.

We are always so glad to have your support, and thank you as always for joining us for another week here at TOG! The next few weeks will be chock full of game reviews, a TON of interviews, Kickstarter info, and of course up-to-the-minute news from around the gaming community!

Purge: Sins of Science--Kickstarter Weekly

Nova Forge Enterprise has  spent years developing a "No draw" real time strategy card game. The product of this work is Purge: sins of science, and a few days ago they launched a Kickstarter campaign. The game looks amazing, the artwork is top notch and from what we can tell from the overviews of gameplay, it will be a gaming experience that is both unique and engaging! Here's the kicker with this campaign, the first 100 backers will receive DOUBLE incentives! That's right, if you back it and are part of the first 100 (There are currently 62 as I write this) you'll get 2x your incentive level. The down side is, you don't get a copy of the game until you back for $65. Unlike some games on Kickstarter, Purge looks amazingly refined, Nova Forge is basically just looking for funds to put it into production, so if you're into the type of game their describing, chances are you won't find many holes in the design and development, and at higher backing tiers you'll receive the first expansion so they're already upping the re-playability.

Check out Purge: sins of science on Kickstarter RIGHT HERE!

Or dig a little further into the game on their website RIGHT HERE!

We'll be featuring a Kickstarter campaign each week here on TOG! Please contact us if you know of one that we should write about, or if you're starting up your own! We'd love to know what you're in to! Thanks for reading!