Well, if you've followed our Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Periscope accounts over the last weekend, you'll know that I (Jeremiah) was at Origins Game Fair taking in all the sights and sounds--and, of course, the games!

While there I had the chance to catch up with Ray Werhs and Cassidy Werner. Ray is the Big Cheese of Calliope and I was invited to sit in while he showed off two of the upcoming games from the Titan Series. Here's what I can tell you:

**What I'm describing below are two games very much in the early stages of development. I took no pictures because all of the components are simply placeholders. No artwork is final, nor are the mechanics. I anticipate many minor tweaks and changes to these titles once the final version is published.**

Game One- currently has no working title. It's being designed and developed by Jordan and Zack Weisman. It is essentially an introduction to worker placement. Players will have two menu cards in their hands that are kept secret, while there are three down on the table for anyone to claim. There are three markets made of three different decks (each market has a different type menu items, veggies, proteins etc.). Players can either place a worker in the market in order to purchase items there, or claim ownership of the market to collect whatever money is spent there. There's a few other wrinkles, such as a finite amount of money that gets passed between players, making it important to take ownership of a market in order to gain money. Also the order in which you place workers in the market will affect the price and order in which you purchase.

The game looks very streamlined, but not skimpy on decisions. I'm really intrigued by this one and can't wait to see the polished, finished version. 

Game Two- This one is called Running with the Bulls, and is designed by Paul Peterson (of Smash Up! fame). This is a dice-roller in which players' dice are running through the streets being chased by bulls (big red dice). The path they take will zig-zag depending on the number of dice on a current path at each intersection. Players can play a Sign token at the intersection to cause a shift in the path. If there are odd numbers they'll go one way, even take a different path. There are also some action cards that will mess with your opponents and hopefully give you a good bonus as you go!

There are a ton of dice, and lots of chaos as players jockey for position and race towards the restaurants at the end of the board. Each of the restaurants (represented by randomly dealt cards has a different point value, and a game consists of three rounds. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

This also looks like a great gateway into a genre that others may only have dabbled in with games like Farkle... Rolling dice for more than the sake of rolling dice makes this deeper and more interesting than most press-your-luck dice rollers.

Calliope has more than just the Titan Series going on (as if 12 games in development wasn't enough!). They're getting ready to release the Anniversary Edition of Tsuro, and I was shown some super-top-secret art for the box which will be a beautiful carved dark wood box, along with some amazing sculpted player tokens, a heavy silk bag for the tokens, and bamboo boards. It will be simply stunning.

As always, thanks so much for reading! Please be sure to jump on board on Periscope as well as our mailing list and other social media outlets! And stay tuned for more coverage from Origins 2015!