Mistfall: Not a Zombie

I’ve been a long standing fan of JourneyQuest, an independently created video web series about a group of somewhat unlikely adventurers trying to complete a heroic quest of utmost important. I like to come back to some of the episodes now and again, which usually ends in me watching the whole series start to finish

JourneyQuest is a deeply amusing indulgence, and some say that you will get the most of it if you are or have been a gamer – specifically: a role player – because it uses a lot of the tropes most often observed in role playing games. From the cast of characters and villains, through the main plot to some of the absurd but endearing quirks of its world, all seems to be borrowed from a role playing game.

Most certainly a zombie by Enggar Adirasa

When designing Mistfall (a game we are currently Kickstarting), I would also borrow – and I would borrow a lot, since I have been and partly still am a role player. I built the characters thinking about the well known classes and roles they would fill within a party of adventurers. I made them “handle” similarly. I made sure that if you like casting spells – from powerful blasts to small tricks – you will feel right at home with the Arcane Mage. I made the Shieldbearer a simple to use warrior. I made the Dawnbreaker Cleric a healer and destroyer of the undead. The Seeker - your basic rogue if you like - is sneaky and handy with the dagger. You probably get the gist now.

What I also did, was make sure that Mistfall plays well with people who did not or would not have anything to do with role playing games. Every building block added to the game, every Enemy or Feat, was crafted both with theme and playability in mind. It was supposed to invoke a specific feeling, but still remain a cerebral experience which (with the addition of fully deterministic combat and despite all the trappings of Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer) would first and foremost build a board game a board game. And a damn good one, if I may say so myself.

I’ve seen people who would not be caught dead playing an RPG have fun with Mistfall – just as much as those who spent years crawling through dungeons. So, Mistfall is not an RPG. JourneyQuest is not a game. And Carrow is not a zombie.

And yet, it’s all so much fun.

Oh, one more thing: if you’ve not seen JourneyQuest yet, do yourself a favour and go watch it now. If this can get a chuckle out of Andrei (the least probable person to play an RPG in this century), it can sure as hell get a chuckle out of you.

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Mistfall is a go!

Ladies and gentlemen, fans and true gamers of all shapes and sizes, we are happy to announce that Mistfall, our first cooperative fantasy adventure game, has just launched on Kickstarter, where it will be gathering funds until April 1^st 2015.

Mistfall is a mix between thematic adventuring and cerebral cooperation, set up in an original, beautifully illustrated dark fantasy world, where you get to be the Heroes questing to save your lands from mysterious Mists and its nefarious servants – or perish trying.

You can find more information on our Mistfall site, and if you want to pledge, simply click here to go to Mistfall’s Kickstarter site. Waste no time, as we have an early bird special, that allows you to get a good deal on Mistfall, as well as some pretty cool add-ons.

Join the Heroes of Mistfall today!

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Mistfall: the Deadlands

The knowledge of the corrupting influence of the Mists spread like wildfire, but it took some time for humanity to come to terms with how powerful the new threat really was. Today we take a look at the lands of Mistfall taken away from humanity by the dead brought back to life by the dark power of the Mists.

The Desolate Lands

Much like the Borderlands, the lands of the dead were once inhabited by children of the goddess Dawn. Sometimes surprisingly far the humanity’s frontier, some of them fell within a few days, as the cemeteries and barrows suddenly swarmed with corpses leaving their graves and either going after the living or simply beginning their march north, were they would serve the new dark power.

The Deadlands, as they came to be known soon afterwards, are desolate and dark places that offer little respite to those who enter them, even after the undead have been drive away or destroyed. And although sometimes even in those places a glimmer of hope can be found, those who venture into the lands of the dead should always remember that they are on a truly hostile ground.

Art by Enggar Adirasa

Deadlands in the Game

The Deadlands are often featureless and desolate – and that means that Heroes will be left on their own when it comes to replenishing their strength after a battle with the undead. That means that those who plan their route through multiple Deadlands locations may quickly find themselves stripped of their strength and in need of a respite elsewhere altogether.

The enemies encountered in Deadlands are – unsurprisingly – those, who where once humans, but are now both unrelenting servants of the Mists. Next time we will take a look what dangers they pose – especially those who come to their lands without fire or the light of the goddess Dawn.

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Pros and cons of standardizing in board games (II) - Cards

We were talking last week about standardizing components in board games, covering the box, the rules and the game board. There's yet another type of components which come in various sizes, thicknesses and sometimes even shapes and while we all think we know all about them, they still hold many secrets.

I am talking about playing cards, of course.

Image source: ebay.com

Size

At one point in our lives we've all touched or, at least, seen playing cards. We're mostly used to the standard poker size or bridge size cards, but we are aware that there are more common types of sizes out there. Us gamers would probably have no problem with any size of cards if we didn't care so much about our game pieces that we want to sleeve them.

The most common types of cards used to be:
- standard poker size: 3,5 x 2.5 in / 88 x 63 mm
- standard bridge size: 3.5 x 2.25 in / 88 x 57 mm
- tarot size: 4.75 x 2.75 in / 120 x 70 mm

But with the rise of the board gaming phenomenon, we are now accustomed to:
- "7 Wonders" cards  - roughly 100 x 65 mm
- "Corey" cards - roughly 62 x 41 mm 
- square cards - 70 x 70 mm
and many more.

Luckily, sleeve manufacturers have upped their game and they're now offering a lot more sizes. To have an idea what are your options, have a look here. But having access to all these sleeves should grant game designers and publishers infinite freedom to make their own special cards?

We have discovered that any non-standard (bridge / poker size) cards come with an extra cost, other that the material. This cost covers custom die-cuts and it can be as high as a few thousand dollars. Overall, 5 decks of cards in a game printed in 5000 copies will cost roughly 50% more if they are a non-standard size compared to when they are a standard size.

I prefer standard poker size cards, they're easy to sleeve without passing by a hobby store with old sleeves from Magic: The Gathering, they usually come with better quality material than "special" cards and... I got used to them.

What are your preferred sizes of cards? Does this aspect of a game make a difference when you decide to buy a board game?

Material

This is when things get really technical, at least when you talk to a manufacturer ready to impress. Do you know the difference between Blue Core, Grey Core, Chinese Ivory Core, French Ivory Core, Casino Black Core, French Black Core and so on? I don't and I've been dealing with these terms for the past 5 years. I have a booklet somewhere where I wrote down all the specs for each of them and when I have to make an informed decision I check it out.

But I was intrigued by the price difference and the multitude of options, so I asked for samples and compared them from a gamer's perspective: I bent them, look "through" them using powerful light sources, shuffled them about 250 times to check wear and tear and I am probably missing some other tests. The truth is that I am still not able to distinguish between Blue and Ivory Core if the weight of is the same. In my opinion, putting casino quality core (light doesn't pass through, therefore it is impossible to cheat by seeing through the cards) into board game cards is a waste of money which is supported in the end by gamers - the final customers.

The industry standard for producing cards is a 290 gsm (grams per square meter) Grey Core. I have noticed that upgrading the cards to 320 gsm requires an increase in price of 30%, which of course, reflects in the MSRP. Upgrading to a 345 gsm cardboard is even up to 60% more expensive!

I was temped to think that thicker cards would deal a lot better with wear and tear and their life span would be a few years longer (without sleeves). I was wrong. The biggest difference is the finishing and the core only affects marginally the durability of the cards.

Did you notice differences in core quality of the cards between various games? Do you have and tips?

The part which does make a difference, both visually and when we look at the resistance of the cards in time is made by the finishing. I personally love the FFG linen finish, it gives a great feeling but I like even more the matte varnish on borderless cards.

I must admit that I am no expert when it comes to the type of finishing and I don't even have a strong preference between matte and linen paper. Most manufacturers I've talking to have failed to explain to me what is the advantage of a certain type of finishing. For example, we asked what is the best type of finishing for cards which require shuffling all the time - this has happened with Mistfall (our next release). The answers were:
- linen finishing (3 out of 9)
- matte AQ varnish (3)
- upgrading from Blue core to Casino Ivory core (1)
- upgrading from 295 gms to 320 gms (1)
- our quality is the best (seriously!) (1)

So, it looks like there is no consensus among the manufacturers on the best possible way to make more durable cards for an acceptable price.

What was your experience? Do you have a favorite finishing type? Or perhaps a publisher whose quality you admire?

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Mistfall Rogues Gallery: Of Beasts and Men

For ages beastmen were the most dangerous enemies of mankind and a constant threat always lingering beneath what humans believed to be the borders of their lands. Tough and ferocious, they have proven over time that they should never be underestimated, even when their simplicity might imply they are less of a threat than some of the creatures inhabiting the dangerous world of Mistfall.
 

Art by Enggar Adirasa

Rage and Resilience

Venturing into the wilderness, humanity would always find the same enemies waiting there: beasts of prey ready to defend their hunting grounds – or make do with new and different game that had decided to enter their territory on their own. And things got even more dangerous, when the Duskfather willed to elevate animal hunters and use them to create a race more similar to humans – but more ferocious and easier to control.

Natural hunters and warriors, beastmen usually employ a simple strategy: striking fast and hard. Their inborn resilience and toughness makes them difficult to repel, especially when in the heat of battle they make use of their inner rage to strike even harder at whoever stands in their way. Whenever able to tap into the potential of their true ferocity, beastmen become more than a match for Heroes seeking passage through their lands. The beasts of pray display similar features, and although less resilient, they may make up for the lack with sheer numbers and the relentlessness with which they stalk their prey.

Wildlanders in the Game

In a way, fighting beasts and beastmen is simple – although not necessarily easy – matter and players should never underestimate the sheer power and stamina the denizens of the wilderness demonstrate. Especially when augmented with magic of the shamans and the fact, that some of the beasts and beastmen will not be discarded when other enemies leave the game – making elimination the only viable option.

When facing off against beasts and beastmen players should also pay special attention to how easy it is to enrage these enemies, often allowing them to attack faster or hit harder. And this can make beastmen no less formidable than the devious Borderlanders or the terrifying undead.

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