Frosthaven Preorders (Q1 2023)

Greetings from Gen Con
about 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 11:01:22 PM

Hello! I know we have a scheduled update this week, and I promised to tell you about our organizer solutions, but being at Gen Con has gotten in the way of that a bit, and we need a little more time to get all our ducks in a row to give you a proper update.

I am very sorry, but I am just here to tell you that we'll be delaying the update a week, so expect regularly scheduled updates to resume next week. This also puts us on a better schedule anyway for when Origins would interrupt it again in two weeks.

So thank you for your patience, have a great week, and we'll see you at booth 737 if you happen to be at Gen Con this weekend!

Production timeline and a look at the scenario flowchart
about 3 years ago – Mon, Sep 06, 2021 at 05:22:05 AM

Hello! There's a lot of stuff to talk about this week, so we'll get right into it.

First of all, we are still in the middle of working out an organizer solution for you. I'm sorry we don't have more to report on this right now, but we are excited about some of the prospects we are looking at, and you can an expect an in-depth update on this in two weeks. One important thing to note is that I don't expect any changes made here to cause any delay with the overall project.

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And speaking of, let's move on to an update on our production schedule. In our last production update two months ago, I anticipated that we'd have the game out to you early next year, in quarter 1. While we can't be more specific than that because of the continued global shipping situation, it looks like we are still set to meet that goal. On the development side, I had anticipated having all files ready in the next week or so, but we are a little bit behind in that regard. We are looking at another month to finish things up on that front, rather than a week, but like I said, it shouldn't affect the delivery date.

As I did last time, I'm going to frame the timeline of development in the context of the scenario and section books, which are still requiring the most effort. The section book is actually ready for its final editing pass, which is great, but to do that, we also need the scenario book ready, because the two are so closely tied together. And the scenario book required an extra major editing pass, which is the main reason for this extra time. We're in the middle of that pass now, and once it's done, we'll get both books together in front of a lot of eyes for a final review, and then they should be good to go. As I said, this whole process could take another month, and in that time, we should be able to finish all other outstanding efforts as well.

We are so close to finally putting this thing to bed and getting into production, which is huge relief, given that I've been working on this game what feels like 24/7 for the past two years. But it's not just me. The entire team has put an unbelievable amount of time and love into this game, and it really shows. This is the final stretch!

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And so I wanted to end todays update sharing with you some more of the work we've been doing. From the beginning, I've mentioned the inclusion of a scenario flowchart in the game, and I think it's time to talk more about that.

The flowchart is intended to be an easy way to see, at a glance, how all scenarios are connected to each other and the important information about all of them. It is, by definition then, full of spoilers, so we've crafted it as a punch-out envelope. So, like an advent calendar, you reveal more information as you open up the windows.

You can see here the full flow chart with all 138 scenarios on five separate 8.5"x11" boards - for the first time, a visual representation of the scope of the game. The first three boards, which mostly contain all the main campaign, fit into each other so that their order is clear and it is easy to tell which arrows go where across the breaks.

And then here you can get a glimpse of what it looks like when you pop off the first two windows for scenario 0 (the tutorial) and scenario 1, both of which unlock at the start of the game, so not a spoiler. The main thing to notice is that the stickers for the scenarios are on the reverse side of the window, so even while playing the game, you won't be exposed to any scenario spoilers by having all the stickers out in the open. You won't see them until you need them.

Then you'll also get some basic info on the scenario in the window, including any requirements and connections to other scenarios. There's not many examples of that in the spoiler-free image, but you can get a better idea by looking at the key on the back of the boards.

Haha, this may lead to more questions than answers, but it'll all make sense in the long run. Like I've said many times before, this game is nothing if not epic, and I hope this gives you a better idea of that. If you are coming in expecting just another Gloomhaven, expect so much more.

Okay, those are all the items we needed to get through today. I hope you have a great weekend, and maybe we'll see you at Gen Con in two weeks (booth 737)! Stay safe!

Items and a change for the wooden inserts
over 3 years ago – Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 04:06:20 AM

Hello! Right off the bat, we need to address the Broken Token issue. If you are unaware of the situation, this is probably a good place to start. In light of the accusations and Cephalofair Games' commitment to making this hobby a safe space for everyone, we are ending all our licensing agreements with Broken Token, which includes the wooden organizer sold as part of this Kickstarter.

Although we will no longer be proceeding with Broken Token produced organizers, we are dedicated to upholding our obligation to you by vetting responsible solutions and paths forward, i.e. alternative partners, producers, refunds, etc. This will require some more time on our part, and we ask for your patience as we pursue what those options are and promise to keep you closely informed over the coming weeks. In particular we ask that any refund requests specifically related to the organizer wait until we do have a concrete solution in place so that you can make the most informed decision possible.

With all that said, I do want to emphasize that these Kickstarter comments are not the place to litigate the inciting incident and, as always, be respectful.

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So now let's move on to the regularly scheduled update. I'm planning on having another timeline update/check-in in two weeks, but for now, I realized that I haven't ever spent an update talking about items, and I figure that could be interesting.

Yes, you are probably aware of the crafting system, where you collect resource loot in scenarios and then use those resources in town to make new items and build buildings. Resources earned while playing the game are added to an individual character's supply on their character sheet, and from there they can be used at the craftsman to make whatever items are available. Much like Gloomhaven, you'll have a stack of available item cards, but instead of a gold cost, they'll show what items or resources are needed to craft it. And this stack will grow as the craftsman is upgraded and when more item blueprints are discovered throughout your adventures.

One thing to note is that you can transfer resources in your personal supply to the Frosthaven supply (tracked on the campaign sheet) at any time, but resources there cannot be used at the craftsman. (It's Frosthaven's now, after all.) This is to stop retiring characters from dumping extra resources into the Frosthaven supply and then immediately using them to completely outfit their new incoming character.

We are a little more lax about this with the alchemist, however, where you can turn herb resources into various potions. This process is more collaborative and discovery-based, where a lot of the time you will be combining herbs and not knowing what the result will be until afterwards. We found it a little too restrictive requiring players to only use their own herbs, which are harder to come by (especially so because once a potion is made, it can be given to anyone in the party), so potions can be made using Frosthaven's herbs as well.

Moving beyond crafting, though, there is also a separate selection of items that are purchased with gold, which is something else you'll be collecting on your adventures. At the start of the game, purchasing items with gold can only be done in a limited capacity (when you create your character and during specific events). These are items from the world outside of Frosthaven, and many of them will be recognizable to Gloomhaven players. And, look, you didn't hear this from me, but once you start building new buildings in Frosthaven, you may discover a way to more freely trade with that outside world.

And, of course, on your travels you may discover new items with a gold value. You can always sell these for half price, as in Gloomhaven, but even then, buying them back is limited.

So with that basic understanding of the item system, I'd like to now talk more about the development process for the items. As it turns out, in Gloomhaven there was some room for improvement when it came to item balance. The stamina potion is a famous example, but there are others. The general sticking point is that you encounter a lot of powerful, universally useful items pretty early in your Gloomhaven journeys, and as you progress and discover more niche items that only benefit you in specific circumstances, you are less inclined to ever even try these items out, which overall didn't do much to help the sense of progression we were aiming for.

Well, like with everything else in Frosthaven, we're putting more time into it this time around and improving as much as we can. A lot of consideration was put into when you will encounter the item in the campaign, how powerful it is, and how much it costs to get it. So, in general, there will be a better sense of progression throughout the campaign as your items slowly grow in power. It's not quite that simple, though, because of the vast array of choices you have with the order in which you encounter scenarios, and also your play style and the great diversity of items in the game. So you still have the chance of encountering something quite powerful early in your campaign, and you may also still find simple items that you acquired early to be useful far into your journey.

Wherever possible, we did try to emphasize the diversity of the items, such that direct upgrades in power are rare. You will see some recipes in the craftsman that just directly improve existing items by adding more resources to it, and three-herb potions are, to some extent, upgraded versions of two-herb potions, but the vast majority of items are going to give you new and exciting ways to interact with scenarios.

Oh, and another thing! In Frosthaven, we have also been working for a good long time on another class of item that I think is pretty cool. In Gloomhaven, items either gave you a passive effect for the entire scenario, an effect usable once per long rest, or an effect usable once per scenario. But now we also have flippable items! These provide an effect on one side of them, and, when used, the item will flip over to a different effect on the back. Use that effect, and it will flip back over to the front side. This gives you more flexibility on when and how often you use the item.

I'd like to give you a concrete example, but all the ones in the game are spoilers, so, to instead give a vague example: one item many have you consume a specific element for a nice effect on one side, but then the other side will have you consume a different element for a different effect, so you'll need to have a consistent source of both elements if you want to use the item frequently.

So then, one final question you may have is whether there is any cross-compatibility with items from the Gloomhaven box, given that some purchased items may be similar to them. We did try to stay open to this as much as possible, identifying items from Gloomhaven that we felt were interesting but less essential (as anything more essential will already be in Frosthaven). They also needed to be easily understandable and functional from the perspective of the Frosthaven rule set. Their syntax doesn't necessarily need to match a Frosthaven item with a similar effect, but the function should still be obvious without having to consult an FAQ.

There ended up being about 30 items from Gloomhaven, plus a handful from Forgotten Circles that we decided were cross-compatible, so that if you own those games, you'll be able to unlock their use over time while playing. Like the other items, some are more powerful than others, so you'll see a progression of unlocks there as well.

And, yeah, I think that about covers items. All in all, there are 247 different items in the game, so I'm sure you'll be able to find some that you love. I'll see you again in two weeks with more news on inserts and timelines! Stay safe!

Proceeding along
over 3 years ago – Sun, Aug 08, 2021 at 05:19:18 AM

Hello! We're going to do a relatively small update today as I write to you from Huntington Lake in California. Technically, I am on a family vacation right now, which was planned back when I was confident that Frosthaven would be well-finished by now. Instead, I'll be spending the majority of my day today editing PDFs. At some point, though, I've gotta start on dinner, because it's my turn to cook a meal for 12 people.

And I'm not telling you this for sympathy or anything. Just letting you know what's going on and making clear that getting this project finished is my highest priority. And I'm still having a great time, getting to see everyone I haven't been able to see in two years.

So, yeah, I want to start by thanking Price for covering for me last time. He had a lot to share, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I did just want to clarify further that all of those miniature samples from the factory were not produced through the same process we'll be mass-producing them with and clearly didn't have the time or pressure in the mold necessary to make sure everything showed up like it should. The feature loss you saw won't be a problem in the miniatures you actually receive.

Also, Price wanted me to mention that we will be at Gen Con (Sept. 16-19) and Origins (Sept. 30-Oct. 3) in the coming months with new demos of Frosthaven, production proofs of Frosthaven on display, and lots of other cool stuff. We'll be in booth 737 at Gen Con and booth 453 at Origins, and we'd love for you to come and say "Hi" (preferably wearing a mask)!

And with that said, there's not a whole lot to report this week. Things are moving along on schedule. We've received the layouts on the Scenario Book and Section book from the graphic designers and, as I said at the start, we're now going through another in-depth round of edits on those, which should get them pretty close to final.

In the mean time, Josh is continuing to work on finalizing more card decks and other files like the scenario flow chart, so I'm still feeling pretty good about our current timeline.

Finally, I just want to let you know that I saw a bear last night. We were driving down the road at night, turned a corner, and there was this giant, shaggy thing right there, bounding away from the car down the road. This whole California trip has been a nice change of scenery.

By next time, though, I'll be back in Indiana, still working on this monster, so I'll catch you then. Have a great weekend!

We're going to need a bigger box...
over 3 years ago – Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 04:43:14 PM

Hello!

Today’s update is a little unusual, but only in that Isaac has stepped away from the helm, if only for a moment, to celebrate his 10th Anniversary with his lovely wife Kristyn. Happy anniversary to you two!

Instead, today’s update is being brought to you by Price, VP of Cephalofair Games from the Cephalofair West Coast Office (my house).

So, as we’ve alluded a few times, this project is immense, it’s big, it’s dense, and it’s HEAVY. We’re bringing an additional 10lbs/4.5kgs of fun in Frosthaven (compared to Gloomhaven) and so today I thought it might be fun to help better convey just how much more content our backers and retail partners will be receiving once Frosthaven inevitably arrives on your doorstep.

So without further ado, here is a side-by-side deconstruction of our latest “White Box” sample of Frosthaven next to its predecessor:

So here it is! What do you all think?

Observant eyes, and those familiar with Gloomhaven, will notice a sizeable increase particularly in the following component areas:

Punchboards: 18 → 28

We have significantly more map tiles, enemies, and overlays in Frosthaven, almost all containing entirely new artwork (see Update 77) and immersive, thematic, environments created by the incredibly talented David Demaret whose work you may know from the scenario maps inGloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion.

Card Decks: 12 → 17

So not only do we have more (non-character) unique decks of cards in Frosthaven, but almost all of them have more cards too. Gloomhaven brought with it just over 1700 cards. Frosthaven is, currently, touting ~2400 cards. Isaac will ask me “Is it problematic to add 1-2 more cards to a certain deck” and I get a chuckle - that breaking point, if it existed, is miles behind us at this point. No going back now!

Item Cards: 133 → 404

With over 3x as many items in Frosthaven, you’ll have many more options when it comes to outfitting your mercenary party.

Monster/Boss Groups: 47 →  58

With a larger cast of new and returning foes - mercenaries now have a total of 344 unique monster ability cards they will be battling against across their campaign. An increase from Gloomhaven’s 232 monster/boss ability cards.

Scenarios: 95 → 138

As Isaac has already been sharing, we have broken scenarios up by way of a supplementary section book to help keep that “fog of war” alive between scenario “rooms'' to allow more intrigue, surprises, and fun for all members of the party - including the player(s) responsible for setting up the game sessions. For those who have been following along, Frosthaven also just has way more scenarios at 138 compared to Gloomhaven’s 95.

Unlockable Envelopes: 3 → 17

No. Comment.

Ok. Ok. So that’s the big stuff out of the way. Let’s talk about some small stuff...

MINIATURES.

We finally have semi-final miniatures that are currently being reviewed by myself, and Chris (Lewis), one of our primary sculptors on the project. Chris has a large background in miniatures, having worked on several large Reaper Bones projects and is helping us identify some of the final adjustments in these next-level sculpts. Speaking of which - for those of you fond of miniature based projects and 3D printing, Chris has a brand new project launching next Tuesday the 27th, I’m sure he’d appreciate you checking it out HERE! (There will be some really slick model files I wish I had the time to learn how to print haha).

Disclosure: The following miniatures may contain some less than desirable blemishes that Chris, myself, and our manufacturer are well aware of and we are already taking steps to adjust the casting process as needed. This can come in the form of process refinements, or adjustments to the type of plastic we are using. Our manufacturer has already given us their reassurance that these can and will be addressed - but we wanted to let you in on this part of the process. It should be noted that none of our previous samples have had these issues, so we have confidence too that this will get resolved. We’re in the endgame now!

That out of the way, here is your (semi-final) Frosthaven starting cast:

And here are a few side-by-sides to show you how they stack up to their Gloomhaven counterparts:

We had a few objectives when starting out on the Frosthaven cast of mercenaries. First, we wanted to maintain the new detail quality standard we feel we set with our Jaws of the Lion miniatures. Secondly, we wanted to make sure each mercenary felt dynamic and told some sort of story with their pose and movement. Lastly, we wanted to provide some default basing detail to each miniature to further drive home the theme and provide miniature painters more surfaces to slap some paint on!

So yeah - that’s how it’s coming along! Isaac has, and will continue, keeping you in the loop on where we stand with digital proofing and the last bits of our editing and layout - but it’s really exciting to see it all coming together and starting to feel real now that we have more of a final product in hand. If you happen to be at GenCon, Origins, or PAX: Unplugged this year - you MIGHT just get a sneak peek at the full artwork version Frosthaven in all of its glory. So stay tuned!

In the meantime - if you’re looking for something to fill the Frosthaven sized hole in your heart and Kallax game shelf - I can’t recommend enough checking out our Frosthaven Store Locator to see if you have a participating Local Game Store near you. Pop in, say "Hi!" - and who knows, you just might find a board game that can temporarily fill that frozen void.

We really are fortunate enough to be working with over 600 brick and mortar retailers internationally, most of which are big-time KS backers, and ALL of whom help drive our industry and tabletop community forward. Game stores such as I’m Board! Games & Family Fun (WI, US), Black Knight Games (ON, CA),Fanboy 3 (ENG, UK), Mind Games (VIC, AU), & Meeples Cafe (SGR, MY) - just to name a few.

And FINALLY, we have some NEW merch and restocks happening today in the Cephalofair Webstore including puzzles, stickers, & Jaws of the Lion pints! We know many of you are still waiting on International shipping to become available. Between navigating changing EU/UK laws, warehouse limitations, and shipping issues/backups, we’ve been needing to make a few pivots to our rollout. There are still one or two logistical hurdles to make sure things run as smoothly as possible but Chris (Kessler) and I are working diligently and making strides - thank you for your patience.

Alright - I was asked to provide a "filler" update and that’s the best I’ve got. Enjoy a great weekend everyone (and the aquarium Isaac & Kristyn). We’ll catch you all again in two weeks with another frosty cold update.

Stay happy, healthy, & safe everyone!

-Price & Team