What KICKSTARTER(S) are you BACKING and WHY?

charlest wrote: I'm guessing it didn't sell well through their partner Greenbrier.

Screwing up the German and English editions probably didn’t help either.

hotseatgames wrote: I was going to jump in on Vengeance but the price is turning me off. I'll probably just grab the base game separately at some point.

I just crammed all of Street Masters into the giant box. It weighs 25 pounds. I have entirely too much Street Masters, which is equally good and bad.

I may decide to do the same thing with Vengeance, but the FOMO is real. But I've not bought in to it at this point, so there's always hope.

And yeah, regarding Street Masters, I sorted everything into the main box, as well, ditched all the inserts but the card trays in the bottom, bagging the enemy deck stuff separately. Fits quite nicely. Still took me two nights to get through it all, had to learn how to play well enough to do so, and then go back into all of the decks to pull the upgrade cards out and put them with the stories...

I'm still in for Oathsworn but still also interested in Aeon Trespass... ugh.

Thinking about Hour of Need , which looks like someone took Sentinels of the Multiverse, addressed all the usual complaints and concerns, and then smooshed it with a miniatures game. It's designed by the Sadlers who have a good track record but it is expensive and I'm doubtful that I'd get my money's worth out of it. I suppose it depends on how much of the game content is still hidden in as-yet unrevealed stretch goals.

Block Happy is a game that I don't want but it has some of the coolest fun-looking card designs I've seen in a long time.

If I didn’t already own Street Masters, I would back Hour of Need. I should say that both the initial SM and the expansion KS offered a TON of content. I might actually say *too much* content if I weren’t still in the honeymoon phase with the game.

Frohike wrote: If I didn’t already own Street Masters, I would back Hour of Need. I should say that both the initial SM and the expansion KS offered a TON of content. I might actually say *too much* content if I weren’t still in the honeymoon phase with the game.

I think this is finally starting to bite them, the perception that it's basically a re-skin of the last three games they've made, as everything is based on the MDS system. They claim they all play very differently, but my first experience with the system is is SM, which I just got last week (but admittedly am already on my 3rd solo game, which speak volumes to how good it is) so I don't have much of an opinion. I'm currently backing after skipping both Altar Quest and Brook City as I like the theme more. Hoping this is the Sentinels game that I might actually enjoy.

cdennett wrote:
I think this is finally starting to bite them, the perception that it's basically a re-skin of the last three games they've made, as everything is based on the MDS system. They claim they all play very differently, but my first experience with the system is is SM, which I just got last week (but admittedly am already on my 3rd solo game, which speak volumes to how good it is) so I don't have much of an opinion. I'm currently backing after skipping both Altar Quest and Brook City as I like the theme more. Hoping this is the Sentinels game that I might actually enjoy.

I backed SM and Altar Quest and can't wait to get my copy of SM. I decided to back HoN as well since the theme seems interesting and the price point was modest.

I think they do play pretty radically differently. Street Masters and Brook City are structurally different games and feel so.

I do think they're going to start to struggle unless they can appeal to different market segments. Your same core customers won't keep coming back every four months or so as the cost of miniatures games is too high.

I think Blacklist would do well to branch out and offer a non-MDS game so they could spread out the Sadler's work a bit.

cdennett wrote:

Frohike wrote: If I didn’t already own Street Masters, I would back Hour of Need. I should say that both the initial SM and the expansion KS offered a TON of content. I might actually say *too much* content if I weren’t still in the honeymoon phase with the game.

I think this is finally starting to bite them, the perception that it's basically a re-skin of the last three games they've made, as everything is based on the MDS system. They claim they all play very differently, but my first experience with the system is is SM, which I just got last week (but admittedly am already on my 3rd solo game, which speak volumes to how good it is) so I don't have much of an opinion. I'm currently backing after skipping both Altar Quest and Brook City as I like the theme more. Hoping this is the Sentinels game that I might actually enjoy.

I get irritated that they talk about the MDS-system like it is some innovation that isn't obvious. Basically like a themed deck from a CCG.

And, I agree with Charlie -- they need to diversify their appeal. I have Brook City and really like it. Hard for me to get any of the others since they are all so sprawling.

Charlie gets a nod in the first design diary for Vengeance: Director’s Cut.:

... I was listening to a review of Vengeance on the Ding and Dent podcast (you can check it out here) and one of the reviewers said something that sparked my interest: he felt like he was switching between being the hero (in the Fights) and being the director of the movie in the Montage).

"This game is focused so intensely on the medium of film, it has this dual aspect where you're not just acting in the game, but you're also the director - and that's very unique in games. (Charlie Theel, Ding and Dent)"

I had not thought of this and loved the perspective Charlie highlighted. It didn’t click immediately, but when I came to design the expansion and tried to solve the direct interaction conundrum Charlie’s words were heard in the room like a chorus of sagely cherubs. That’s it! That’s the solution!

I found Brook City excruciating to play. I didn't really care for the theme of Street Masters. Altar Quest was fantastic, based on the demo copy a reviewer friend of mine had.

DarthJoJo wrote: Charlie gets a nod in the first design diary for Vengeance: Director’s Cut.:

... I was listening to a review of Vengeance on the Ding and Dent podcast (you can check it out here) and one of the reviewers said something that sparked my interest: he felt like he was switching between being the hero (in the Fights) and being the director of the movie in the Montage).

"This game is focused so intensely on the medium of film, it has this dual aspect where you're not just acting in the game, but you're also the director - and that's very unique in games. (Charlie Theel, Ding and Dent)"

I had not thought of this and loved the perspective Charlie highlighted. It didn’t click immediately, but when I came to design the expansion and tried to solve the direct interaction conundrum Charlie’s words were heard in the room like a chorus of sagely cherubs. That’s it! That’s the solution!

Yeah, I've always viewed the game through that dual perspective. It's why the montage phase doesn't bother me at all or feel out of place. Really, I view a lot of games this way. It may be because I was an RPG DM for 10+ years before seriously getting into board games, and I've always taken a more directorial angle on the shared fiction.

It's been an interesting 2020 so far.

1) Against better judgement, I gave SJG some money for his 'Car Wars' campaign. Why? I want the components for GASLANDS!

2) Nostalgia has me currently backing 'Return to Dark Tower.' However, I'm not really jiving with the set-up. The campaign's introductory video highlights three aspects: Tower > App > Table. I did not know that an App was an integral part of this remake. And not just an integral part, no. The App is "the soul of the game." Funny, I thought the Dark Tower was the "soul." Wait, do board games have a soul? Also, the Tower now spits out skulls. For game effects! I also did not realize The Dark Tower was Fireball Island.

3) Monolith's 'Beyond the Monolith' KS is a hot mess. I've been the biggest Monolith supporter on this forum, but boy oh boy. This campaign is truly something else. A huge funding goal, a short funding window, and a overly complex campaign. Monolith previewed the campaign weeks ago, and their legion of fans were not happy. Countless criticism ensued, but seemingly to no/little effect. Currently, backers are evenly divided between those wanting material for their 2015 copy of Conan (me) and those putting a buck into the till for pledge manager access. It's kind of fascinating, in what is becoming a seven day, slow-rolling, train wreck.

I looked at that monolith Kickstarter because I thought there was cthuohu wars integration, and I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was looking at. Byzantine, wildly expensive nonsense is about the only thing I took away from it.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near anything by Monolith after how tremendously awful Batman was. Has to be my pick for the worst game of 2019.