There are 7 new projects in this week's crowdfunding round up. A large chunk of this week's entries are re-prints and expansions for popular titles. The hugely popular Elder Scrolls franchise has a new entry with The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era. This new game is not linked to the recent 'Skyrim board game' and features all new mechanisms. Remember, back with your head, not your heart and most importantly, love your games.
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is a 1-4 player cooperative tabletop adventure set during Tamriel's Second Era – specifically during the events of the Planemeld, as the Order of the Black Worm plots to secure the Amulet of Kings. As the dark cult schemes, however, one of its members is planning an even darker betrayal, one that will tie Tamriel in with Oblivion forever. Adventurers work to uncover her machinations and stop her plot amid a bevy of endlessly repayable content. As in The Elder Scrolls video games, players will travel on an epic journey, balancing exploration, character building, dungeon diving and close quarters combat.
Each adventure in the game takes place over the course of three gameplay sessions, with sessions being roughly one hour per player in length. Players customize and control a single hero throughout all three sessions of an adventure as they manage multiple skill lines, classes and experience the many regions of Tamriel, each with their own unique flavour and mechanics. Experience points are handed out generously, allowing players to build interesting and unique characters in the consolidated timespan required in a tabletop experience. Session to session progression is meaningful, but players are not required to remember complex narrative points or play with the same group forever.
The Thinning Veil is a 1-4 player solo or co-operative board game of horror fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology and Irish legend. It can be played as a narrative based progressive campaign across many scenarios or as one shot games from the Game Night Scenarios book. This gives players the option of an adventure game format or a dungeoncrawl experience. This roguelike system offers elements of puzzle solving, objective based and narrative based scenarios, and compelling gameplay, exploring a world familiar yet fantastical.
Once you have selected a Hero your journey begins! Will you be valorous and pure, or villainous and corrupt? Will your legend help bring humanity to a new dawn of fresh hope or prolong the night, plunging us into ever deeper darkness? Confront treacherous and deceitful cultists with hidden agendas, fight restless spirits and veil-dwelling horrors from the Land of the Dead; combat or outwit the denizens of the Other Side of Midnight, in this exciting game of high adventure!
D.E.I. (Divide et Impera) is a game of exploration and survival set in the Earth devastated by a new ice age. The cities of the future, from the crucible of civilization, have become icy deserts dotted with the carcasses of skyscrapers now reduced to uninhabited rubble. Between alleys of old London, bands of survivors use their abilities to explore and plunder the scarce resources that are left, to sell them to the Pure Caste in exchange for food and fuel. The only ones who still have high technology, the Pure Ones are the elected heirs of the old civilization. Protected by fortified citadels, they manage the bands of survivors, helping them in their research or putting them in competition, so that they cannot ally and threaten their domains.
In D.E.I. each player will control one of the four bands of Survivors, and they will be competing with each other for the wealthiest loot to trade with the Pure Caste. They will have to explore London on two levels, between the streets and on the roofs of the old buildings, to look for the precious resources of the past era coveted by the Pure Ones: Technologies and Energy cells.
Each faction will start with 8 cards, a Hero and few Explorers, but during the game it will be possible to acquire new action cards from London black markets, building new structures such as bridges and elevators, and obtaining temporary control of the hi-technological Drones that the Pure Caste will give to them.
The game map is completely modular and three-dimensional so that every game of D.E.I. is always different and compelling. The explorers will often be able to contend for territories for resources and to have greater influence in the markets, and therefore, the fighting will be inevitable. Also, during the games, the players will have to solve missions of increasing difficulty, which will grow their victory points. The survivors' gang that earns the most victory points, satisfying the Pure Caste, wins the game.
Crown of Ash is a strategic worker placement and area control game for 1 to 4 players.
The promise of a dreamless sleep was a lie. The Lords awoke after a hundred years of staring into deepest depths of oblivion; every moment wracked by nightmarish dreams. They no longer cared for peace, but now desired power.
The bleak slumber had revealed an ancient secret to them, the arcane knowledge of necromancy. It gave them the ability to build armies from the wastes of their lands. Those fallen in the first war, would rise again and march into a bloody second, a devastating conflict that would determine who, at last, would lay claim to the Crown of Ash.
Players take on the role of vengeful necromancers. Sending out their loyal minions to do their bidding.
Gathering resources to the raise powerful undead armies
Building mighty structures offering better resources and earning influence over the land
Marching your undead army into battle to take other players structures and defend your own with all your might
Over 4 rounds players will earn influence points based on the structures they control, the player with the most influence at the end of the game will take control of the kingdom and rule for the rest of time.
In the Irish myth cycles, the land of TÃr na nÓg is the realm of the Otherworld, the place where the Fairies lived and heroes visited on quests. It was a place just outside the realm of man, off to the west, where there was no illness or death or time, but only happiness and beauty.
The golden path to TÃr na nÓg is open once more, and the greatest Celtic Storytellers have gathered for a once-in-a-lifetime journey. When they return, they’ll bring with them tales of the creatures they met and the adventures they lived. Over time those stories will become a saga — and the most epic saga will live on forever.
Play overview
Journey to the Otherworld by placing Storytellers between Story cards in the shared grid. When all Storytellers have been placed, draft cards and add them to your hand. From your hand, add cards to your personal tableau - one card to hand, one card played. At the end of 5 rounds, score each row according to the rules on its corresponding Goal card, and earn points for having the most connected Story cards of each colour. The highest score wins.
On the riverbanks of Limbo, cloaked and masked individuals patiently wait for a sign from you. At a wave of your hand, you will place them in one of the boats that are bobbing on the oddly coloured water below.
Most of these figures are honest and good Souls that try to reach the eternal bliss of the Afterlands beyond. Some, however, are devious Demons that hope to get smuggled across by one of your corrupted colleagues!
So who do you trust and why? Which boat can be safely sent out? Or maybe it's you that is working in secret with the other Demon smugglers in play...
Each round, passengers are placed facedown in one of two boats. When placed, unique Gifts are collected that will help their owner to figure out who might be trusted and which boat will score highest for their team. Finally, all players will vote on the boat that they will sent out to the Afterlands.
Passengers is a game of tactical communication, about knowing when to share information and when to remain silent. When to be honest and when to bluff in order for your team to win.
Caged In is a fast-paced 2 player fighting game that has players squaring off in MMA combat. Fighters will choose from four unique styles and try to knock each other out, submit each other, or impress the judges for a decision. Caged In is perfect for those who like games that are simple to learn and hard to master. The strategy comes from managing your hand and trying to exploit your opponent's weaknesses. The game features a unique hexagonal box design, dual layered player and game boards with damage cubes that sink into the board and custom designed 3D miniatures.