Around The Republic
This week (and last week) are all about GenCon 2014. We were there, and we hope that you enjoyed our admittedly-intermittent coverage. It has been a little bare, we know. The good news is that we’re back on track and we’ve lined up a lot of awesome stuff for you for over the next few months!
Games & Expansions
Title: Glitterdoom & The Fey Sisters’ Fate
Publisher: Goodman Games
Designer: Michael Curtis
Anticipated Release: Now
Why You Should Care: Two new adventure modules for D&D 5E. Glitterdoom is aimed at Lvl 3 characters and tells the tale of a dwarfish curse. The Fey Sisters’ Fate is geared towards Lvl 1 teams and deals with a mysterious pair of sisters defending a Briarwood.
Title: Wildcatters
Publisher: IDW
Designer: Andre Spil & Rolf Sagel
Anticipated Release: Sometime 2015
Why You Should Care: It’s a heavy strategy game about becoming an oil tycoon, basically.
Title: Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Designer: Corey Konieczka and Nikki Valens
Anticipated Release: Q4 2014
Why You Should Care: The second expansion to Eldritch Horror was as inevitable as your lost sanity. It takes place in the Antarctic and includes eight new investigators, two ancient ones, and a handful of assets, spells, and artifacts.
Title: VS System
Publisher: Upper Deck Entertainment
Designer: Edward Fear, Mike Hummel, Matt Hyra,Danny Mandel, and Patrick Sullivan
Anticipated Release: Some advanced release at Gen Con, more widespread in Q3 2014.
Why You Should Care: Vs. System was a collectible card game when Upper Deck premiered it in 2004, but as is happening with a lot of older CCGs in the gaming industry, Upper Deck is going to try to bring it back as an LCG.
Title: Munchkin Steampunk
Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Designer: Steve Jackson
Anticipated Release: Summer 2015
Why You Should Care: Just like every other version of Munchkin, only with more brass, gears, and Phil Foglio at the art helm. It’s enough to garner a second look at least.
Title: Neptun
Publisher: Queen Games
Designer: Dirk Henn
Anticipated Release: Likely early 2015
Why You Should Care: Neptune, god of the sea, must be appeased. In Neptun (spelled correctly), players are Roman-era merchants trying to dash around the Mediterranean looking to make a buck and win the favor of the nautical overseer.
Other Interesting Things
What: CoolStuffInc Partners With Eagle & Gryphon Games
Why: Eagle & Gryphon puts out a lot of quality games, and this strategic partnership helps make their games more affordable to customers. So that’s good. Interestingly, it’s garnered concern in some corners as CSI extends its gaming reach again, as it’s already one of the few big gaming retailers and is heavily interconnected with the Dice Tower apparatus.
What: How to Explain Games
Why: A games teacher at a board game cafe offered up a short but thorough Do’s and Dont’s list over on Reddit on how to introduce players to new games.
What: The ENnie Awards
Why: The annual Ennies, one of the biggest awards in gaming, were once again held at Gen Con 2014. Here are the winners.
What: Gen Con is Ginormous
Why: This year’s Gen Con not only set a new attendance record (at almost 57,000), making it not only the largest convention held in Indianapolis, but it actual overtook last year’s Essen numbers, making it the largest board gaming convention in the world. Wow!
Crowdfunding Corner Top Three
Title: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Publisher: Minion Games
Designer: Kane Klenko
Buy-In: $39
Why It’s Special: Avast me hearties! We be seein’ a pirate game where…you’re working together? Wait, what? Yes, the pirate-themed Dead Men Tell No Tales deviates from many other pirates games by having players work cooperatively to save their precious treasure. You’ve finally captured the treasure-laden ship you’ve been chasing. The only problem is that it’s on fire, and it’s not going to last much longer. Your goal: avoid guards, other pirates, and, uh, fire, to grab as much booty as you can and get back out again alive.
Title: Goblin Quest
Publisher: Grant Howitt
Designer: Grant Howitt
Buy-In: 8BPS for the PDF, 12 BPS for the physical book
Why It’s Special: Your quest: Go deliver this package to the town center. We’ll send twenty of you. Twelve will likely die.
Goblin Quest has players being a group of hapless, inept goblins looking to undertake some basic – if not perilous – tasks. Naturally, things quickly go awry. Goblin Quest navigates the same goofy, lighthearted tabletop sphere as Kobolds Ate My Baby, making it another exercise in organized chaos. Things will likely go off the rail in this game pretty quickly, but that’s sort of the point. Not every adventure has to be super serious.
Title: Rogues to Riches
Publisher: Grow Giant Games
Designer: Sam Fraser
Buy-In: $43 CAD
Why It’s Special: There’s nothing like a game centered around bluffing, lying, and storytelling. While it may not be in my wheelhouse of games to play, it’s certainly an interesting combination of design features going on with this game. Rogues to Riches is ultimately a storytelling game where each player is given a handful of items and a goal to steal a treasure from another player’s lair. Then, players have to explain to everyone else how they got through all of the various defenses. Your goal is to tell the most convincing story of the bunch, but players have the ability to call you out if your story seems too unbelievable, forcing you to make dice rolls to see if it actually succeeded. It’s like Aye Dark Overlord, but instead of being cowardly goblins, you’re trying to explain how you’re the best thief around.
Speaking of that, but I believe this wallet is yours.
Honorable Mentions: Heist; Hedron; New Salem
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