Headed into the final stretch!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 26, 2020 at 02:05:49 AM

Happy Sunday!

As we round out the last weekend before the end of the campaign, we're proud to unveil three extremely exciting Stretch Goals! Plus we have tons of other great stuff to cover today. Let's get to it!

Designer Diary - adding a 5th player to Dungeon Drop

First things first. Scott has recorded a fun designer diary video for you all. If you're interested in learning a bit more of the thought process that goes into something like adding a 5th player to a game like Dungeon Drop (and why we decided to do it the way we did), definitely check this out!

Google Sheet with details for all cards

If you would like to see all cards in the Dungeon Drop expansion and Tavern Tales, complete with the latest ability wording, you can check it out here! 

Community Designed Race

The results from the poll for the Community Designed Race were clear - the Catkin was a somewhat close second, but the Shapeshifter definitely won the prize! So this race will be added to both Dungeon Drop and Tavern Tales, as follows (exact rules subject to change):

•  Shapeshifter in Dungeon Drop: The Shapeshifter's race ability will let you draw a new Race card, use that card's ability, and then shuffle it back into the deck. With this ability, you will have access to a wide array of possibilities during your dungeon crawl! We are working on artwork now, and hopefully we'll be able to show you that sketch soon.
•  Shapeshifter in Tavern Tales: When playing the Shapeshifter elite hero, you will shuffle all the Feats currently part of the Claim back into the deck and then redraw the same number of cards to put add back into the Claim. Let's see what things turn into!

Community Named Specialty Drinks

This was the absolute closest poll we have ever run!! We're thrilled with the final results, but we would have been equally thrilled with many other names that were on the list. In any case, here's how we mapped your chosen Specialty Drink names to variable player powers in Tavern Tales (exact rules subject to change):

•  Endless Drop: When recruiting Heroes, draw four cards and discard two
•  Magician's Mead: Your starting hand limit is 5 (then it drops to 3 at score 16+)
•  Boblin's Bubbly: Start with 1 Goblin Kill Feat card (and gain its score)
•  Dragonsvein: Start with 1 random Elite Hero in your hand
•  Slime'n'Lime: Start with 1 random Treasure Feat card (and gain its score; draw until you get a Treasure Feat, and then shuffle the other cards back into the deck)

These names will all appear on cards in the game, and we are considering a way to give them all unique imagery too (we'll have to see if there is room on the cards)!

Community Designed Huge Monster

We will be grouping up to discuss the submissions and kick off the official poll tomorrow, so if you have any last ideas you want to submit for this epic stretch goal, now is the time! Click the image above to access the idea submission area on BoardGameGeek.
 

"Final Stretch" Stretch Goals

We are super proud to unveil these three new epic Stretch Goals, so much so that they deserve special attention in this update! Also, these are not the last stretch goals you will see :D

Please help us get the word out, so we can unlock all the goodness we have planned!! Share on Facebook and Twitter, write about it on Reddit, talk it up with your friends - anything you can do helps immensely and is greatly appreciated!!

Heroes aren't the only ones who can use treasure in the dungeon!

We're adding 2 brand new cubes to the Dungeon Drop: Dropped Too Deep expansion!! These 10mm translucent cubes come with a special rules card that enables them to dynamically "attach" to a nearby small or large monster, doubling the amount of Damage it deals. But if you can manage to defeat the monster, then you can use the Molten Shield for yourself!
 

A great component upgrade for Tavern Tales!

Cardboard scoring tokens? BAH! Let's upgrade those to some nice, chunky wooden tokens that really help bring out the fun theme of the game in a way it deserves! 

Store and draw your spell cubes with elegance and charm!

The Wizards and Spells expansion that allows Dungeon Drop to be played with up to 5 players will now be accompanied by an enchanting velvet bag to keep and draw your spell cubes from.

That's all for now, but there's still even more to come as we roll into our final days. Thanks for joining us on this incredible journey...  let's see where it all leads us!! Cheers!

Three Terrific Tidbits on Tavern Tales
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 01:31:37 AM

Good evening!

We've got several exciting activities going on in the tavern! 

Specialty Drink Poll 

The poll to decide the best Specialty Drink names is live! We chose the best 15 ideas from the community, and now we need to get that list down to the top 5 - let's see what you all think! Click the image above to access the poll. Cheers!

Latest Art

New artwork for both Tavern Tales and Dungeon Drop has been rolling in from our talented artists! Above you can see the final (fully colored) versions of the Molemyn and Lavaling heroes, the Flame Demon kill card (part of the Limited Promo Pack 2020), the Mimic treasure set, and the special Secret Door Feat!!

Do you dare to challenge the designer?!

Gregory Skulnick, designer of Tavern Tales, invites your challenge! If you are around this coming Saturday, and you have Tabletop Simulator, you can challenge Greg to a full game and attempt to claim victory over the designer! Simply jump on our Discord server anytime over the next day and a half and Greg will be happy to coordinate with you there - just pop in and say "hi!" and one of us will see and respond to you with further details. Click the button below to access our Discord server:

Have a great rest of your evening - cheers!

Followup update to BIG news for Dungeon Drop!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Oct 22, 2020 at 11:14:25 PM

Happy Wednesday!

First, we want to thank you for your patience! We've done a lot of talking, and a lot of math, over the past 12 hours. In short, we are addressing the requests to offer the Big Box storage solution and the Wizards & Spells 5-player expansion separately. Read on to see what we've worked through here, as well as some other exciting updates!

Big Box storage solution

As of now, you can choose to purchase the Big Box separately, for $20 plus $3 shipping. This will still come with the 5 game trays, card dividers, etc., but not the Wizards & Spells 5-player expansion. 

Of course you can still opt for the $25 version that bundles in the Wizards & Spells 5-player expansion. We really need to hit 1000 sales of this product to make it worth it (whether purchased separately or bundled), so we look forward to watching the numbers!

Also, we've had some pretty creative ideas for what we actually call this box - toss your favorite idea into the comments below. Here's some we've seen so far:

• Treasure Trunk 
• Wizard's Tower/Lair 
• Collector's Crate 
• Loot Locker 
• Chest/Crate of Containment 
• Wicked Warchest 
• Bounty Box
• Big Box of Holding
• Greater Box of Holding

Wizards & Spells 5-player expansion

As of now, you can choose to purchase the Wizards & Spells 5-player expansion separately, for $10 (with no added shipping). In its separated form, the retail rate for this expansion will likely need to be higher than $10, due to the costs involved, but we are happy to offer this rate to our Kickstarter backers. 

Of course you can still opt for the $25 version that bundles this in with the Big Box storage solution. We really need to hit 1000 sales of this product to make it worth it (whether purchased separately or bundled), so we look forward to watching the numbers!

Community Designed Race Poll

It's time to vote on your favorite community designed Race ideas! We have some GREAT ones in here, and always we'll be sad to see many of them not make it in. Still, let's figure out the BEST of the best together!!

Community Designed Huge Monster Submissions

Huge grats and thanks for unlocking the mother of all stretch goals - the Community Designed Huge Monster!! This was a dream of ours since before the campaign began, and we're thrilled we hit the mark together! Now let's see those amazing creative ideas that you are all so good at coming up with, and then we'll vote on the best ones in a few days. LET'S DO THIS!

New Stretch Goals

Having achieved our latest uber-stretch goal (the Community Designed Huge Monster), we have now added the next couple stretch goals that take us over that magical $200k mark!!

Thanks for allowing us the time to work through how best to serve our community of backers and fans. We hope you know we are always listening and working hard to meet all of your needs. Of course we can't do absolutely everything, for everyone, but we strive hit 99% at least :)   Cheers!

BIG news for Dungeon Drop!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 04:14:48 AM

We have BIG news for you this evening!

We're super proud to formalize the project that most of you know we've been working on, and perhaps there's even a couple new surprises in here for you! Let's start with a quick video:

Cover Design / Community Poll

The cover art for the Big Box shown above is a placeholder. While we like that overall style, we ultimately want to know what YOUR favorite heroes and monsters in Dungeon Drop are, so we can design the best cover art that you will really love. Please head over to BoardGameGeek and let us know what you think!

Game Trays

Each Big Box comes with 5 plastic game trays with lids, measuring 4x4x2 inches. We will make sure our trays are of the highest quality, strong and sturdy, intended to be used and reused many times.

The images below show trays from a different game produced by our manufacturer. They are good representations of game trays with lids, but our design will obviously be quite different from these:

Our trays may be fully transparent, on both the top and bottom, but that is still to be determined. 

Sinister Spells and Wicked Wizard

As you saw in the video above, we have also been hard at work on two exciting new game modes for Dungeon Drop! The Big Box incorporates a full expansion that includes all the components and rules needed for these new game modes:

•  Sinister Spells: This competitive game mode allows all players to utilize the new spell cubes against one another. Drop a cube into the dungeon on another player's turn to petrify one of their abilities, syphon their life, or open an infernal gate allowing an EXTRA huge monster to emerge! There are 9 different spell effects, each represented by a unique heat-printed 10mm cube. Plays with 2 to 5 players!
•  Wicked Wizard: This game mode introduces the concept of "1 vs. many" to Dungeon Drop. One player  takes on the role of the Wicked Wizard, wielding their devious spells in hopes to keep the locations of their Sinister Spellbooks hidden and maintain their dark grip on the dungeon. Meanwhile, the group of heroes works together to find the hidden locations of the Sinister Spellbooks and gain the knowledge necessary to banish the Wicked Wizard from the realm! Makes use of the 9 new spell cubes and the coop goals from Dropped Too Deep. Plays with 3 to 5 players!

Adding the Big Box to your order

This add-on is now available to be added to your order for $25, plus $3 shipping. You can use the WEB version of Kickstarter (NOT the Kickstarter mobile app!) to "Manage Your Pledge," and then on the screen after you select your desired reward tier you will see all available add-ons. The Big Box now appears on that page!

NOTE: As indicated in the video, because the majority of our backers indicated interest in both the storage solution and this type of expansion content, we are only offering the single add-on that contains both pieces. It would have been far more costly to separate them out. 

We can't thank you enough for giving us the opportunity to develop and launch an ambitious product like this! We know you will love the final product as much as we do, and we can't wait to see it arrive at your doorsteps!! Cheers!

BIG news for Tavern Tales!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 12:07:23 AM

Happy Sunday!

Ok folks, we've been VERY eager to get this update out. We've been working hard to expand Tavern Tales, and help drive its much deserved visibility and reviewer attention, which is what this update is all about!

Interview with the UK Games Expo team

The first thing we'd welcome you to check out is a great interview Greg and I did with the UK Games Expo team, chatting primarily about Tavern Tales. If you'd like to learn a bit about how Greg and Phase Shift met and some of the back-story of how this game came to be, check out this video:

Full playthrough with two reviewers

We had the opportunity to teach and play Tavern Tales with two different reviewers, over Tabletop Simulator. Following the game, Eric from Punchboard Media exclaimed, "this was fun! I love little card games, and I love this theme!" Ken from Geek-Craft indicated he plans to put out a more formal review after he's played a couple more times. Check out the full recorded playthrough video here:

Tavern Tales is now a *2* to 5 player game!!!

We are simply STOKED to declare that Tavern Tales now supports 2 players! And this isn't accomplished through some wonky 3rd "AI player" - it's the full Tavern Tales experience, with slightly tweaked rules to enable rich bluffing for 2 players. If you typically play Dungeon Drop with just 1 other player, please check out this full instructional and playthrough video so you can see how intense the 2-player experience is!!

Help us name our Specialty Drinks!

To add asymmetrical player powers to the game (one of the earlier Stretch Goals you unlocked!), the back side of each score card will show a unique player power, represented by a thematic Specialty Drink. We all know our heroes love the Traveler Tavern's famous Gingerbrew, but that's just for the start of the evening... what are some more interesting drinks that our heroes will move on to next?

Here are the unique player powers that need associated Specialty Drink names (exact rules subject to change):
- When drawing new Heroes, draw (and then discard) 1 additional Hero.
- Your starting hand limit is 1 higher
- Start the game with a Goblin Kill Feat
- Start the game with an Elite Hero of your choice
- Start the game with a random Treasure Feat

Click the image above to head over to BoardGameGeek to get your drink name ideas submitted, and then we'll do a community poll in a few days to decide which 5 will make it in. Thanks for participating!!