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This week two big names have teamed up for a Cthulhu game, Army of Darkness steps in front of Evil Dead and Soloman Kane puts on a show.
Death May Die but Cthulhu Games Won’t
The Cthulhu Mythos is birthing another game, but this one registers on the Richter scale. No less than Eric ‘Rising Sun’ Lang and Rob ‘godfather of legacy’ Daviau have come together to produce Cthulhu: Death May Die. Details of gameplay are scant, although dice are believed to be heavily involved and it appears you won’t be investigating a secretive cult because the ritual to summon a Mythos creature is well under way: you all have to stop it.
You also appear to start insane, which should lead to some hi-jinks. It’s been called ‘narrative, theme and action’, but we haven’t stopped with the big names because miniatures will be created by Mike McVey (and it’s CMON so there might be some big ones). The whole thing is setting up to be one of the Kickstarter projects of the year.
Dynamite are launching an Ash game in a world burned by Ash games
Fair play to Dynamite Entertainment. They’ve got the licence to the Army of Darkness IP, the third in the Evil Dead series and the fantasy themed platform for Ash/Bruce Campbell. The problem they face is the world has been burned by the Evil Dead 2 game which looks like it’ll never appear, so let’s give Dynamite as much of a boost as we can as they’re not connected to ‘the other lot’.
So, Army of Darkness: The Board Game will follow up many years of the comics they’ve been releasing with the IP; they know the subject. Four players will join together to play Ash and co against a horde of Deadites, Evil Ash and, we presume, the skeletons. You program your actions and then take them, with the end goal using the Necronomicon (but this time remembering all the words). There will be miniatures, but no word on release dates or if Kickstarter.
Fiasco RPG is being Reborn
It’s nearly 10-years-old, and the Fiasco RPG allowed you to play your own Reservoir Dogs experience. A streamlined character creation system, a set of player to player tensions/relationships with no GM needed, it was all about heists gone wrong. Now it’s being reborn with a second edition and a first look coming at Origins. Bully Pulpit are organising this and they explained a bit more on Reddit:
“We're not planning to replace the existing game, and ‘second edition’ may have been misleading. We have what we think are some really good ideas for the game in a different format, that we hope will make the game easier to understand and play for more people.”
Okay forget I called it a second edition…
Vast Sequel Enters the Mysterious Manor
Vast: The Crystal Caverns has a sequel which takes you out of the ground and into The Mysterious Manor. On the one hand, this is a standalone release which widens and refines the rules of the first Vast and sees you trying to survive as an adventure either in a Manor, or as the Manor! On the other hand, the game has been designed so elements can be used in the Crystal Caverns, so it’s not entirely unconnected.
The Manor is created from modular tiles, and everyone is trying to achieve different aims which include nobbling other players. The Kickstarter campaign has roared past the target already.
The Soloman Kane Game goes for it
With positive reports about Time of Legends: Joan of Arc and Mythic Battles Pantheon, now is a great time for Mythic Games to announce their new game. Soloman Kane uses Robert H Howard’s character of the same name as he journeys through the world/board defeating evil, and yes we liked the movie as well as the writing. The thing is, we’re supposed to be talking about the game but really we just want to go: the video trailer for Soloman Kane has taken things up a few levels when it comes to game promotion.
So, look at that, and then come back to discover that players take on aspects of Soloman Kane and direct him through a campaign that features a branching narrative. Enemies include pirates, the decidedly more paranormal shadows and… sorry, shiny shiny. The Kickstarter starts June 12.
Break Time: The Edible Games Cookbook
How often have you wanted to eat a game piece? Okay, maybe not often, but there’s something intriguing about taking your opponents pawn off the table and eating it. Before it looks like your scribe has gone insane, these thoughts have been triggered by The Edible Games Cookbook, a labour of love from Jenn Sandercock which is coming to Kickstarter. In it she explains designs/recipes for a host of games you can cook, play and eat, from code breaking in World War One using patisserie to a sibling of chess. The Kickstarter starts June 20, the eating some time after.
Gaming Backpack launches on Kickstarter
And now a product which must surely interest everyone bar agoraphobics (but if you’re the latter, stay strong my siblings, it can get better): a gamer’s backpack. GeekOn’s Ultimate Boardgame Backpack is designed to carry a cavern filling quantity of games in both safety for them and comfort for you. There’s lot of technical things like a no sweat back on the bag so you’ll arrive fresh, but we were impressed with the chance to find out ahead of time if your bigger games will fit. Head over to their Kickstarter.
Legend of the Five Rings introduce new fiction/card combination
Fantasy Flight Game's (FFG) Legend of the Five Rings card game is getting a second spin off novella, this time called Whispers of Shadow and Steel. What’s different here is each copy comes with two cards for the game, and they’re existing cards with major new art, with two in each volume and six in total. On the one hand this is a fun idea, on the other hand completists will now he banging their heads on their soon to be empty wallets.
Here’s FFG themselves explaining:
“They’re already existing cards (or soon to be existing cards) with full art. They’ll look different than what will be in the standard LCG packs, but will function the same in-game (same stats, abilities, etc.). From a pure gameplay perspective, these promotional cards won’t be exclusive to people who purchase the book, but if you’re looking for the fantastic alt-art cards to make your deck ‘pop’, these are for you.”
Pre-orders are being taken.
Tiny Ninja takes boxes seriously
There’s a Kickstarter exclusive called Tiny Ninja which answers the question of what to do with a box during gameplay by having the gameplay take place inside the box! The theme of the game is light and fun, and we’re not saying that because of the roll to defeat rivals gameplay, but because there’s a Ninja Panda.
Not Kung-Fu, Ninja.
Daily Magic Games bring us Crabs
Whereas a certain crab themed game majored in double entendre, Daily Magic are bringing out a much more family friendly one in Crabs. You and your fellows are trying to catch crustaceans from rock pool, to become the best crab catcher and win the game. You’re looking at three to five players, with a short play time and a mid-July release. Just in time for the beach.
Shadowrun Crossfire appears in Prime Runner Edition
Shadowrun is the IP mixing Cyberpunk and fantasy, with elves using guns and magic against corporations. Now the Shadowrun Crossfire deck-building co-op is getting a new edition called Prime Runner. It’s been revised to reflect the lessons of this game and others using the system, and now fits in five players. You can buy it in mid June.
Heroes of Land, Air and Sea reprint
Just a note to say Heroes of Land, Air and Sea is running a reprint Kickstarter right now and it’s funded. Gamelyn’s large, expansive empire builder is a great evening filler and see’s you controlling a range of fantasy races (expansions liven things up from the normal dwarves and elves to undead and merfolk) to do what fantasy races do best: grand wars of conquest.
Fantasy Flight Introduces the Heroes of Terrinoth
Are there any fans of the Warhammer Quest card game in here? Because it looks very much like FFG have taken that system and re-skinned it in the Descent IP to produce Heroes of Terrinoth, their new co-op card game. You play a set of questing heroes who must overcome a big bad force and survive long enough to need many, many expansions (we assume). It’s a ‘Quarter 3’ release into actual shops, not Kickstarter.