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It takes a certain confidence to publish an open letter appealing to gamers, but Jamey Stegmaier has some asking to do. Meanwhile Star Wars Destiny looks towards tournaments, Fruit Ninja aims to take over the real world, and… ponies. Oh and we also have two new expansions on the way from Uwe Rosenberg....
Good news for Uwe Rosenberg fans
A Feast for Odin is in many ways peak Uwe Rosenberg, combining the development of Agricola and Caverna with Patchwork and the desire to be a Viking settler. It remains a large investment in a great game. But it’s been a hit so that means expansions, and what’s coming out at Essen is small but fascinating: three region cards for you to settle.
Two of these make sense given the Viking theme, as they’re Lofoten and the Orkney Islands, while the third is Tierra del Fuego. For everyone wondering why, as the Vikings never settled it, the explanation is Tierra del Fuego’s name translates almost the same as publisher Feuerland, ‘Land of Fire’, so that’s alright then.
Onto Fields of Arle if you want a meatier extra helping. The Tea and Trade expansion introduces plenty of new rules, and they’re about… tea and trade. Yes, they love tea enough to have introduced special tea drinking mechanics and consequences, like performing actions twice. It doesn’t come with tea bags, but basically you know have to drink that when you play (this last sentence isn’t approved by the publisher.) There’s also extra rules about ditches and lots of other stuff, including enough bits for three players. Now pause reading this to brew up.
Jamey Stegmaier of Scythe and Charterstone writes (another) open letter to gamers
Jamey Stegmaier designed Scythe and Charterstone, so he knows a thing or two about success and he’s been involved in running a small company and turning it into a larger one. He’s interacted with gamers, he’s been to cons, he’s done a lot, and all this is necessary context because he’s written an open letter to gamers about the way they, and designers, interact.
He’s done this before, with his ‘An Open Letter to Kickstarter Backers from a Tiny Publishing Company’ that broke down the relationships between everyone involved, so now there’s ‘An Open Letter to Gamers from a Growing Publishing Company’ and it’s something to listen to.
What does he cover? Well, it’s worth reading yourself but there’s a plea for sanity. If you have a missing piece in your box, fill in the missing piece form. If you don’t like a game, politely say why so the designer improves, don’t just post all over the web he’s a t***.
Perhaps most importantly, point 10 on his list of 10, is:
“Don’t harass people. The gaming community can be a wonderfully welcoming place for people of all shapes, sizes, creeds, races, genders, nationalities, sexualities, and ages. The entire industry–gamers, designers, publishers, etc–benefits from this diversity and ever-expanding community. So don’t harass people who are different than you, and when you see harassment happening (in person or online), don’t turn a blind eye.”
Tails of Equestria expansion will let you play as non-Ponies, but why would you want to?
Tails of Equestria is the RPG that lets people who once thought they’d never be really into a My Little Pony game play a really superb My Little Pony game. But there’s a new expansion for it that lets the PCs play as non-ponies, as if anyone wants to do that. Okay, maybe they do.
The Bestiary of Equestria fires up Buffalo, Griffons, Dragons, the Diamond Dogs and Crystal Ponies, as well as details on people you’ll recognise from the TV show… which you watch cos your kids have it on, of course you do.
Travelling Man in Leeds just got the perfect way to promote their games
Russell Brand, once a presenter and comedian, then a man who thought his pronouncements on politics would influence the young in an election, then a person in search of a new role in life. Not your first thought when it comes to board games, but Brand took a visit to Leeds Travelling Man recently and the chat he had with manager Matt Barker is presently doing the rounds of the web.
Brand is tempted with Elevenses, then Pandemic, followed by Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, a game of insanity and curious creatures that inspire horror and chaos, so basically perfect.
Voice Originals is going to use Amazon’s Alexa in your board games
Dear reader, you find this scribe torn. On the one hand, the news that Sensible Object is launching a new board game/technology hybrid series called Voice Originals is very interesting, especially when the first volume, When in Rome, will see you travelling the globe answering questions in a fun and educational manner.
On the other hand, it makes use of Amazon’s Alexa in the game and we’ve had some rather odd moments with her / it, so aren’t sure whether this is the start of a great future or a Black Mirror episode. When in Rome is out in March.
Fruit Ninja is getting three physical games
According to the makers of Fruit Ninja, they’ve had one and a half billion downloads of their apps, so the market for physical version must be large. So large, the property is getting three ‘tabletop’ releases at basically the same time.
The first is a deck-building game with an app-based timing system, the second uses dice and a timing system, and the third appears to be called Combo Party because it’s meant to be played in quick groups. Production is coming from Lucky Duck Games via a Kickstarter, which is going now but has passed the funding goal. Pricing is around twenty two quid each, but there’s a deal for all three.
Star Wars Destiny has its eye on tournament play
Star Wars Destiny has cards, it has dice, and it has one of the hottest themes going: Star Wars. Now the makers have turned their Death Star laser onto tournament play by producing the Rivals deck to facilitate draft and sealed play. Draft games will see each player start with a freshly opened Rivals pack, and then take turns picking cards from boosters to build to 50 cards, before cutting to a standard deck.
There are more rules, of course, but that’s the basic idea, while sealed play also starts each player with a Rival deck and then taking eight boosters to build their lot. You also get revised characters (multi-purpose good and bad Anakin), some new characters and others for a small fee a pack.