While I've already hit the quota for this months posts I spotted a few rather interesting kickstarters I'd like to share.
The first is Council of Blackthorn which feels like if someone made the Crusader Kings council into a board game.
Council of Blackthorn is a board game for 2-6 players that plays in 45-90 minutes. Players assume the role of a member of the king's council. Each player must build influence with the kingdom's four political factions by utilizing ally and building cards. However, grabs for power may seem like treasonous acts to a suspicious king. Players will gain hidden treason points as they gain power. The most treasonous council member is beheaded! The remaining player that is the most influential member of the council wins the game.
Seems simple enough but what really drew me to the game is two factors:
1. Players do not know who has scored the most influence points until the end of the game, this stops any one player been targeted or people wanting to give up mid game when it is obvious who is most likely to win.
2. One player gets beheaded for Treason at the end of the game and no one knows for sure who will get beheaded meaning the person who seemed most likely to win may just be a head short.
The gameboy geek has posted a short demo video of the game in action and the kickstarter is here.
The second kickstarter is Gemhammer and Sons Gaming Deck of Many Things.
While I'm not personally a fan of the artwork style chosen (I would have prefer traditional fantasy to the cartoony style) having an actual tarot deck of many things with the rules written on each card is a major time saver and a rather nice little gift.
Gemhammer and Sons are also creating their own expansions and there are a lot of stretch goals that are well thought out (including up to 25 custom cards) and aimed at retailers however I do fear they will not be meeting their goal of £10,000 which does seem a bit high without much detail beyond paying artists and print costs.
Meanwhile Simian Circle Games have created World Architect Cards which is a deck of 53 double sided cards that is aimed at allowing
GMs to quickly create and describe unique maps and
locations.
Each card has an image of an overworld map location (like a forest,
mountain, desert, etc.) on the front and back of the card. Cards are
chosen at random to create map locations. Each location has a series of
descriptors to describe the location. The location is then drawn on a
piece of paper and described.
The map maker continues to draw cards and
create locations. Other cards in the deck can be used to describe
specific locations within a map (like a mine, temple, bridge, etc.).
These cards also feature a series of descriptors to inspire the map
maker and easily describe the location. The goal of the World Architect
Cards is to take the guesswork and time out of creating a map from
scratch.
Having already hit its target and now into stretch goals this is Simian Circle Games third kickstarter with the last kickstarter been their Dungeon Architect Cards series.