Kick The Box
April 6th Edition
Kicking off April with a bang! A new convention that is trying to get a jumpstart via Kickstarter, a new RPG, a new social deduction game and Dragons all our accounted for in this week’s Kick The Box picks. Before those, we have the latest Kickstarter News.
Kickstarter News: The family abstract game Tao of Peg is just a little over $1,000 short of funding with a little over a week left in their campaign. Be sure not to miss Valeria: Card Kingdoms. There is only a couple days left in their successful campaign. Neon Sanctum has hit the 50% mark with their campaign. Whether you are a RPG veteran or newbie, check out their card driven, cyberpunkish RPG.
OrcaCon 2016 Game Convention
Project By: Donna Prior
Whether you live near the Seattle-Everett, Washington area, or not, you may want to check out a new tabletop convention called OrcaCon that is trying to raise funds for their inaugural Tabletop Convention set for January 8th-10th 2016 at the Holiday Inn Downtown in Everett, Washington.
They want to make this an annual convention and need your help to get it started. The first convention already has two Guest of Honors lined up. For the Games Guest of Honor, they have the award wining game designer, writer, and publisher, CEO of Green Ronin Publishing, Chris Pramas, (Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay second edition, and Freeport: The City of Adventure),
Their Artist Guest of Honor is Linda “Brasse” Carlson. She has worked in the video game Community Management position for several years and also has her own website with detailed maps of EQ2 and other incredible stuff at thebrasse.com.
If you’re looking for a new convention to hang out with accepting, like minded people that enjoy their tabletop hobby as much as you do, then head over to their Kickstarter page to see how you can help!
Blades in the Dark
Project By: John Harper
It’s too bad my wallet has nothing but dust left in it from the March Madness of Kickstarter Games and April isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, because Blades In The Dark looks like the RPG equivalent to video games such as Thief and Dishonored.
Blades of The Dark is set in a world where barren technology and occult happenings collide. The grimy port city of Duskwall is a perfect place to set up your thieving crew of scoundrels and role play through the faction levels of the city. Of course, your crew isn’t the only crew that is dead set on creating a vast criminal empire of fortune.
Blades of Dark stands out among the many RPG’s out there with it’s unique teamwork mechanics. Not only are you creating individual characters but those characters will act, live, and breathe as one entity as well. Some very interesting stuff and I suggest you check them out if you are looking to bring a different environment and play style to your table.
SALEM
Project By: Travis Hancock
Any game that was designed by a designer with the same last name as I, Hancock, has to be awesome. Right?
In this case, I believe this looks to be true with Travis Hancock’s new role deduction game, Salem. Salem is set during the “great” witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690’s. 4-12 players will either be townsfolk trying to hunt the witches, or witches trying to hide amongst their peers and trick other players into becoming witches themselves.
Unlike most social deduction games, the game offers rules to play either with or without a moderator, or you can start without a moderator and the first person that dies becomes the moderator for the rest of the game.
These and other interesting aspects make this one to check out, especially if you are looking for a new social deduction game with some strategy and twists and turns. Oh yeah! Almost forgot! The box has the look of an old text book from that time period with a magnetic lid. The pictures of it look amazing! Check it out!
Dragon Playmats and Tablemats
Project By: Robert Burke Games
Speaking of things that look amazing, Robert Burke has gone full fledged loco with the dragon art that first appeared in his magnificent 2 player game, Draco Magi.
He’s done a couple of small Kickstarter campaigns with new dragon art for the game and prints for the art. Now, after several successful testing the waters of these small campaigns, he has gone all out with playmats that feature the gorgeous artwork of Kerem Beyit.
The playmats can be ordered in three different sizes with several pieces of artwork to choose from. The smallest mats are 14″X 24″, where the largest ones are 29″ x 72″ and will completely cover a folding banquet table. The playmat size that fits in between these two are 34″ x 34″ and covers a folding card table.
These look magnificent. I love the artwork that Kerem has done for Robert Burke’s Games. Check these out if you are looking for a new table cover for your gaming table(s).
There’s you Kickstarter highlights for this week. If you tune into my podcast this Friday, you will get a preview of one of next week’s highlights as we have Brikenback Games, Paul Cosca, on the show talking about his new Kickstarter Shakespeare is Dead. Check it out this Friday!
Sign off with the question “What games are crushing your wallet this week?”