Hey everybody! Welcome back to my blog! It’s been an exciting, history-filled week for me, but I thought I’d end on more of a gaming-geek note, following a very exciting email I had yesterday! For the 4000-odd of you who know – eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! For the rest, well, sit back and let me explain!
Back in October 2013, Flying Frog Productions launched their first ever kickstarter project for a new game, Shadows of Brimstone. A massive dungeon-crawl game set in the Old West but with eldritch elements, the idea of the kickstarter was to launch an entire game line in one fell swoop, rather than bring out a base game with a series of expansions following for years after the fact. Anybody who understands dungeon-crawl games will appreciate having a mass of gaming components from the get-go is a huge deal!
Despite some controversy over the levels people could pledge at, not to mention a delayed start, the project was wildly successful, being fully-funded within 80 minutes of go-live. Stretch goals were no sooner added than they were reached, and the team blew through their projected goals for the project within the first week. But perhaps a lack of preparation from what is a really established company led to a lot of negativity, and indeed in the final minutes funding dropped as backers pulled out, making the project re-lock one of the stretch goals. But all that was back in November, so let’s not dwell on it!
From the word go, I was a huge fan of this idea. In the months leading up to the campaign I was admittedly dubious, largely because I didn’t really know what it was all about, but once I saw the kickstarter page I was completely sold, and backed it like I was a millionaire. Indeed, I’ve thrown thousands of pounds at this project, over-pledging ridiculously just to show my support for it! The upside, of course, is that I’ll have masses and masses of stuff to play with when the game arrives, so it’s a win-win for me!
The rulebook is going to be posted soon, but back on TableTop Day the company gave demos and it looks insanely good. However, it’s Flying Frog, so was it ever not going to be? I never understood the amount of backers during the campaign who professed to play Last Night on Earth, or Fortune and Glory, and yet held some scepticism for this game. The lack of a gameplay video seemed to put many off, but I just didn’t get it. Some vindication has appeared in recent months, however, by people asking around online whether there’ll be any way they can get in on the game before it goes to retail. Muwahahaha!
As a FFP game, it will play largely like A Touch of Evil. Rather than photographic card art, they are using a team of artists to produce art for the game, and it looks absolutely amazing! I’ve never had a problem with the photo art – heck, I’ve never had a problem with FFP! I just love their stuff, but this game is perhaps going to be the crowning achievement!
The game’s premise is that you control a hero delving in the mines of the Old West in search of darkstone. However, other beings are also interested in darkstone, and are crossing the portals between worlds to find it! The game is being released in two core boxes, each with mine tiles, but with different heroes, enemies and Other Worlds to adventure in. I have two of each coming, because I pledged with two separate accounts to get the game twice. Ye-haw!
The Other Worlds are simply amazing! From the swamps of Jargono to the icy Targa Plateau, the team have brought several others in stretch goals and add-ons such as the lava Caverns of Cynder, the war-torn land of Trederra, the Derelict Ship, and the Blasted Wastes. I think it’s these Other Worlds more than anything else that make this game so amazing to me, as I love the idea of exploring these places. However, there are also somewhat more generic mission packs that you can buy to give a different flavour to the base game of choice. As well as more monsters that can be slipped into any campaign, including the Ancient One!
Once heroes have completed a mission, they can then level-up in the manner of a RPG, which is just far too cool for me to cope with right now! But as the mines are explored, you can get the opportunity to draw loot from the encounters you have that can potentially help you further down the line, but also XP, which allow you to level your character along one of your chosen talent trees in true RPG style! Fantastic stuff!
I am basically really excited for this game – while A Touch of Evil is currently my favourite boardgame, I have the distinct impression that Shadows of Brimstone might in fact overtake this once it’s out. There is just so much that I’m looking forward to about this game, but I want to share some of the things that really tipped me over the edge during the campaign:
So, yeah! It’s looking pretty amazing! I just cannot wait to have it all in my little hands!
I’ll let you into a little secret, too. I’m going to be in the game! Well, not massively. There’s a map, apparently, that will bear a feature with my name. And my likeness will be used for a background character, apparently, too! Magnificent times! Maybe not as awesome as, say, having a hero personal to you, but I couldn’t afford that pledge level 😉
When August strikes (at least, I think it’s still on for August release), I’m going to do an immense blog on this game (mark your diaries, folks!). Well, I will once I pick myself up off the floor, because I’m going to be a gelatinous lump of excitement when it arrives, I just know it!
I think it’s fairly obvious, but none of this material is my own property – I have shared it simply for illustrative purposes, for my adoration of the game, and for the fact it’s just so dang awesome! It’s definitely not my intent to breach any copyright, which remains with Flying Frog Productions.
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