Let's talk about the campaign tracker, and a new guest designer!
about 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 18, 2020 at 08:22:07 PM

Hey, so you may have noticed the prevalence of video game designers in this week's updates, and we're going to cap it off with one more - someone with more experience designing Gloomhaven scenarios than anyone else in video games: Mike West, creative lead for Flaming Fowl, the studio behind Gloomhaven Digital!

Before co-founding Flaming Fowl, Mike worked as lead design for Lionhead Studios on the entire Fable series. With Gloomhaven, Mike has demonstrated his prowess over the system, developing balanced, randomized dungeons for the new adventure mode, as well as designing new monsters and bosses to live within that mode. Gloomhave Digital is in great hands, and I'm sure the Frosthaven guest design will be as well.

And just a reminder that Gloomhaven Digital is available as an add-on in this campaign. It is $18, a price that includes all taxes and is cheaper than any sale price that has been offered on Steam (the retail price is $25). We will be delivering the Steam keys for the add-on as soon as possible after the wave 1 pledge manager closes in June.

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Earlier this week, I asked what you all wanted me to talk about in these updates (and I'm still open to suggestions!), and one of the topics that sounded like a great idea was the campaign tracker. You may have noticed it in the components graphic, and I've mentioned here and there in interviews, but I wanted to go a little more in-depth on what it's all about.

So, first of all, I'm going to show you a picture of the current design, but you have to keep a few things in mind. This is absolutely not the final design. This is something I threw together at the last minute right before the campaign went up because our real graphic designers were busy on other stuff. So, really, it's just a proof of concept, and should be treated as such. The number of scenarios is obviously way off and it will probably be significantly bigger or maybe even be two separate trackers - one for the campaign scenarios and one for the side scenarios. Either way, I just wanted to use an image to help explain, and so don't read too much into them.

So the thing is, I really liked the flow-charts that were made to keep track of the Gloomhaven scenarios. The fact that the campaign is a little hard to keep track of is certainly valid criticism, and I wanted to fix that going forward with Frosthaven. The problem was, of course, that that flow chart is full of spoilers. Discovering how the story plays out is part of the fun, and you don't want to see the entire structure of the campaign up-front. Which is why I turned to the brilliant system in Pandemic Legacy I keep calling an "advent calendar".

It's essentially two heavy card stock sheets, one of which is punched so that you can open little doors and see what is hidden between. In our case, each time you unlock a scenario, you will be told to punch out a door, and what is hidden between is the name of the scenario and how it fits into the campaign, with arrows going to and from the scenarios it is connected to.

In addition, we are looking into take one more page from Pandemic Legacy's book and having the stickers for the scenarios included in the window too. This will just be more convenient, but also reduce spoilers even further by hiding all of these stickers up-front, so you don't accidentally look at the stickers sheet and learn the name of some late-campaign scenario. It's a small thing, but it is nice.

Now, the inevitable question here is about replayability and how we are introducing another destructible element to the game. And if these advent calendars hold stickers, is that also how the removable stickers will be packaged? And the answers to those questions is still a little unclear, but that seems like the most logical solution to us. If we present the removable stickers for the scenarios in the same way, then that item, which will be available later through our web store and retail, can function as a recharge pack if you want to punch out your scenario flow chart again.

So hopefully now you have a better idea of how the flow chart will function and how it will aid in your campaign.

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#TeamUnfettered went in a creepy direction yesterday with this photo montage. And #TeamLurker explains why they are having so much trouble in the contest. I'm still pulling for you!

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The Demolitionist pulls through, destroying the Ruined Machines in today's puzzle solution. It did require one kind of obscure rules resolution, but that's one reason why these puzzles exist - to better learn all the intricacies of the game.

And now the final member of the Jaws of the Lion takes the stage - the stoic Voidwarden. Many of her abilities rely on the strength of her allies, but she finds herself alone. Perhaps she can get her enemies to fight each other...

Just a small note that the Curse condition, like Muddle and Strengthen, would have no effect on the attack modifier deck.

Forteller spotlight and three new guest designers
about 4 years ago – Thu, Apr 16, 2020 at 03:44:42 AM

Greetings everyone! Most of this update I'm going to turn over to Forteller Games to tell you more about the audio narration they're doing and their production process, but first I wanted to tell you about new guest designers!

Alexander JL Theoharis, Joe Holmes, and Zac Cohn are the guys behind Satire's Extended Battle Goals and the custom Curseborn class for Gloomhaven. We thought the extended battle goals were great and approached them about using some of them in Frosthaven and Jaws of the Lion. That then grew into a more significant partnership, and they ended up helping out significantly on the development of Jaws of the Lion and designed the first four scenarios - most of the tutorial section - for that game.

They want to do something similar (but smaller) for Frosthaven and give players a "scenario 0", if you will. A chance for new players to get more familiar with their character and the mechanics of the game with much lower stakes involved. It won't have any impact on the campaign and can be easily skipped if you don't need it.

Alexander, Joe, and Zac will also be helping with events, quests, and, yes, more battle goals. And also other secret stuff that I don't want to spoil for you! They've generated some really great content for Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion already, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do in Frosthaven!

Oh, and one more thing before I hand things off to Forteller: I'll be doing a Reddit AMA on r/boardgames next Monday, April 20, so I hope to see you there!

And now Forteller, in their own words:

Hey all, we’re Forteller Games, a six-person self-funded team of career technologists with a passion for gaming, both digital and physical. Our love of board games and tabletop RPGs runs deep! So naturally, it’s led us to develop a platform that could bridge the gap between the tabletop and digital gaming experience.

What Is Forteller?

Forteller is a platform that offers an enhanced gaming experience comprised of professionally voice acted and musically scored audio narration. Simply put, we’re a full-service audio production & software development company that makes original audio content to bring the designer’s world to life.

Through a mixture of script writing and story architecture, we make it easy for game designers to connect with their audience through new mechanisms. Part of that is ensuring we work with the best talent available. Many of our voice actors have been in large AAA projects like: World of Warcraft, Horizon Zero Dawn, Borderlands, League of Legends, Hearthstone, and many more.

Our Current & Upcoming Projects

We’ve had an exciting year that’s allowed us to get involved with four amazing board games. We want to keep you informed on our latest projects, so here’s what to know.

Gloomhaven Narration

We have the main story campaign ready on the Forteller app, with scenarios 0-51 available to buy. As for the side scenarios, we’ve heard you loud and clear, so we’ve started pre-production on them. Scenarios 52-95 will be released this summer! Even better, these scenarios will be included in all Gloomhaven purchases at no extra cost to you. After all, we’re gamers first, and we don’t want to DLC people to death.

You can listen to our Gloomhaven audio on SoundCloud or access it on our app. Let us know what you think!

Frosthaven Narration

For Frosthaven, we’ll be producing 100+ scenarios, as well as 14 Solo Scenarios. We’ll also be introducing a fully composed music soundtrack designed just for Frosthaven, making your gaming experience one of a kind. It will be available once Frosthaven is released.

In the meantime, have you heard our audio for Frosthaven’s prologue and the first scenario? We just dropped the trigger 1 audio this week. Check it out on SoundCloud.

Other Products

We’re providing audio narration for other games you might be interested in. First, in June, Succubus Publishing will be retiring its audio app and moving Middara’s audio files to our platform, where you can listen to them for free as you play.

Additionally, Forteller is producing audio narration for The Isofarian Guard. It will be released next year; we’ll update you on the exact release date via our social media pages—such as Facebook—once we know more.

Our Audio Production Process

Curious about Forteller behind the scenes? Here’s a rundown of our process. First, we review the game’s scenarios to get a feel for the characters. Then we write a script, mapping the characters and their personalities to it. We then start the search for the best voice actors, going through 30-40 auditions per role. We work with our partners to whittle down the role to one actor, and then live direct through a virtual studio when necessary.

This is where the fun begins! We use digital audio workstations (DAW), like Adobe Audition CC and Pro Tools, to bring the tracks together. Combining ambience, Foley, music, and other sound effects can bring the world to life. To do this, we use a combination of our own custom libraries, personal voice effects, and stock libraries that Hollywood studios and video game companies use.

Once it’s done, the final audio is imported into our content pipeline. We then use real and raw assets from the board game to enhance the scenario and story tracks. Now it’s ready to be released for you and your friends to enjoy on your next game night!

Guild Mode

Last week, we announced a new feature we’re including in the app: Guild Mode. This lets you create a game session and invite your socially distanced friends to join and listen to the audio from their devices. All you have to do is buy the audio files for the game you plan to play, and then pick Guild Mode to get your virtual gaming party started!

We originally planned this feature for 2021 as part of a membership package. But with the state of the world, we’ll offer it for free during a time when it’s not realistic to meet in person. When it makes sense, we will be clear about when the membership program will roll out and what other features that will bring. Short term, we want you to enjoy our app and stay "social" with proper distancing.

Supporting Forteller

You can add-on the Frosthaven Forteller narration in the pledge manager, or back one of the tiers that includes Forteller. And if you are interested in the Gloomhaven audio files, you can get them directly from our website to use on a mobile device.

Additionally, we’d love if you’d interact with our posts on social media, such as our Facebook, Instagram, and Youtubepages. We enjoy hearing your feedback! You can also join our Discord channel, where we make exclusive announcements and polls. And if you have a favorite game that you’d like us to do audio narration for, be sure to let us know, as well as the publisher of that game. We’ve only gotten this far thanks to many of our “Forfolk” making these supportive moves, and we appreciate it!

Before we wrap up, we’d like to thank Isaac and Cephalofair Games for giving us a chance to bring one of our favorite worlds to life. And we’d also like to thank you, the board game community, for your support—as it’s what has allowed us to turn our ideas into the audio narration platform we envisioned.

Sincerely, the Forteller Games Team

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And #TeamUnfettered surges forward a bit, largely thanks to a lot of fan art on Reddit and Board Game Geek!

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So, yes, I screwed up again with the puzzle. I had to modify the Hatchet's puzzle halfway through the day yesterday, so here is a solution for the updated version, with a bonus discussion about the character mats for Jaws of the Lion. You may notice they are different. We're toying with also changing Frosthaven character mats to the same format, so let me know what you think of them in the comments!

And now, the Red Guard has a chance to shine in the latest puzzle. Can he do as much damage in three rounds as the Hatchet did?

Hint/clarification: The bottom of Blinding Sickle can be used to just generate light, since the first ability is a non-targeted effect that can be used even when no enemies are adjacent.

New characters in the puzzles and new guest designer Tyler Sigman
about 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 03:11:52 AM

Hello all! Two weeks in and we have raised $7.4 million! Stupendous!

I don't have too much news today. We're adding some new characters to the puzzles - those from Jaws of the Lion, which is a smaller, more easily approachable Gloomhaven campaign that will be hitting stores in July. More on that down in the puzzles section, for those who are interested.

I also just want to let you know that we do have a number of updates from other people working on the project in the works that should be very interesting. This week, we'll hear from Forteller about their team and production process, and then we'll also hear from Monica Paprocki, who cosplayed the Banner Spear for us at PAXU, to learn about that process. And next early next week we'll have that Broken Token update that a lot of you have been asking for.

So what else would you like to hear about? I'm happy to dedicate other updates to learning about other aspects of the project if people are up for it, so let me know in the comments.

One other thing we definitely need to talk about today is our new guest designer, Tyler Sigman! Tyler is the designer of my absolute favorite computer RPG, Darkest Dungeon, which has certainly had a huge influence on the creation of both Gloomhaven and Frosthaven.

I think it's biggest impact was just showing me that it was possible to break out of to break out of the stale, traditional RPG combat system with something that was engaging and innovative, but still felt familiar and thematic. I was running into a similar problem with tactical combat board games. It all just felt very stale, this concept of moving and rolling dice to attack over and over until one side was dead. Tyler and Darkest Dungeon planted that seed that there had to be a better way.

Not only that, if you're looking for influences for the new town-building aspect of Frosthaven, you don't have to look much farther than Darkest Dungeon either. I couldn't be happier to have Tyler join the team. And if you haven't played Darkest Dungeon, you really should try it out!

And finally, I need to invite you once again to the final live art show with Tatiana Quigley, which is going down at 9pm EDT on Facebook. Last Thursday, for the second installment, she made a little comic about the interactions between the Drifter and the Geminate. It went in a sort of... Animal Crossing direction.

Tonight she'll be tackling the Blinkblade and the Deathwalker, so please join us!

Oh! One other thing to mention! The next road event is up for the community-driven campaign, so please participate and go vote on that!

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All right, so for puzzles, I've decided to start throwing some Jaws of the Lion characters to mix things up. You also may start seeing some more monster types in there, like with the polar bears in the last puzzle. I'll do at least once cycle with the four Jaws of the Lion characters, but let me know if you want to see more or whether you'd rather stick to the Frosthaven characters. Marcel also has a Diviner puzzle if anyone would be interested in that?

Anyway, on to the Necromancer solution. I actually had a different solution than the one in the video, but this was posted by Beyoken on BGG, and I liked it better than my own solution, so that's what I filmed. If Beyoken has any team affiliation, let me know, and I'll give the team 50 points, which could be a huge deal!

And now, the first Jaws of the Lion video, featuring the Hatchet, a ruthless killing machine. Can he fell the great Steel Automaton?

Introducing a new pledge tier and guest designer Travis Oates!
about 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 14, 2020 at 02:20:44 AM

Hello! After a weekend of anticipation, we are ready to launch the new pledge tier that was discussed on Friday. First of all, I want to thank you for all your comments and opinions. After reading through all of them, and ruminating on the best option, I was able to come up with something that should be beneficial for the largest group of people.

I do want to acknowledge, of course, that it isn't going to fit everyone's needs - that would have been a futile goal. Just remember that if something you want isn't in the bundle, you can always add it to your pledge in the pledge manager. Also, if you don't feel like you can pay for everything now, you can always back at a lower level and then upgrade your pledge to this bundle in the pledge manager - it will be the same price there.

So, with all that said, we're creating a bundle of Gloomhaven, Forgotten Circles, Frosthaven, both solo scenario sets, all three sticker sets, and the Frosthaven Forteller narration. The price is $285, which is 33% off the total MSRP of all those items. This provides a good discount on those interested in going all-in on the game play items of the series. All Gloomhaven and Forgotten Circles items will still ship in July. Because of the size of the games, there would be no savings in shipping everything together anyway.

Also, just a reminder that if you are also interested in the Forteller narration for Gloomhaven, which has the 51 story scenarios now, but will be upgraded for free to include all 95 scenarios, you can get that directly from Forteller on their website.

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And if that weren't enough news for the day, we also have a new guest designer: Travis Oates, the voice of Piglet! Travis has been voicing Winnie the Pooh's Piglet in animated features, television, and video games like Kingdom Hearts II since the mid 2000's. And if you need more credentials than that, well, first of all, PIGLET, but, okay, I guess that doesn't speak to his board game experience.

Travis also created and co-hosts the television series Above Board, which provides an entertaining and informed look at all the intricacies of our hobby in an easily digestible format. Think Top Gear, but for board games. The show hasn't aired yet (though it should be hitting later this year), so for now, you'll just have to take me at my word when I say this show is going to provide top-notch entertainment for people in the hobby, and bring in a lot of new people as well.

He's also a huge fan of Gloomhaven, which helps. He may also be providing his voice work for the Frosthaven Forteller narration, which is super-cool. Plus PIGLET.

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#TeamAlgox made up a lot of ground this weekend with more fan fiction and a lot of #TeamLurkers defecting to their side, fleeing the sinking, crab-infested ship. Can #TeamUnfettered maintain their lead? We've got a close race here, and there's still a lot of time left!

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And finally for today, we have a new puzzle. But first, the solution to the Geminate puzzle from Saturday.

The final character in this second cycle of puzzles is the Necromancer, once again bringing you a brain-burner. The only requirement here is for the Necromancer to not take any damage from attacks for four rounds. But there are a lot of nasty enemies, and they want to bring their multi-targeting friends to the party as well!

Happy Easter! Let me tell you about the Great Oak
about 4 years ago – Sun, Apr 12, 2020 at 11:56:18 PM

On this relaxing Easter Sunday, I wanted to tell you about religion. Religion in Frosthaven, that is.

There are numerous pockets of other religions on the main continent, but far and away, the most dominant religion, particularly among humans, is that of the Great Oak.

As the story goes, the main colony of humans had been living for centuries in the caves under the Imperial Mountains, too afraid to go above ground because of stories of demons passed down by their ancestors. When they finally did emerge, the first thing they saw was a massive oak tree sitting atop a hill.

They were drawn to it for shelter. They ate its acorns and the birds in its branches for sustenance. They used those branches and its children to build their homes. While under the protective arms of the tree, no demons attacked them. Life was so much better than down in the caves, and they were happy.

Naturally, they began to worship the tree and believed that it was a sentient force watching over them. They built a city around the tree, always giving it proper reverence. This city was White Oak, the capital of human civilization. And even today, the tree lives strong and is the tallest thing in the city, watching over everything around it. Its acorns are planted in every new city that is founded as a basis for a new temple to worship the Great Oak, so that it will watch over those residents as well.

Some might say that it is just a tree, but that would be wrong. Maybe it started out that way, but belief gives things power in this world. The yearning and worship of its believers eventually did call energies from other planes to inhabit the tree. And the more the energy helped the people, the more praise and worship it received, and the more the energy grew as a result. There is a benevolent force in the tree, and in all other trees planted from its acorns that are worshiped. And Keepers of the Oak, those who follow closely to its teachings and maintain the temples, can certainly wield a divine power in the Oak's name.

So what are the teachings of the Oak? Many foster a general benevolence among its followers: treat others fairly and with respect, help and protect your fellow man, and do no harm. There is a darker side to its edicts, however, mainly in those that encourage its followers to grow and spread across the continent, planting its seeds wherever they can. The humans' aggressive expansion, all in the Oak's name, has led to numerous conflicts with the Inox, Vermlings, and Valraths over the years, which has certainly gone against the teaching of doing no harm.

And so, as the human's thirst for expansion continues, Frosthaven was recently founded, resulting in even more conflict with the Algox, Lurkers, and Unfettered. A lone oak sapling sits near the center of town, desiring to grow and shelter the community. But what edicts will the residents of this new outpost follow? Will they try to make peace, or will they just try to destroy everything that threatens them instead?

See you tomorrow with more announcements and puzzles!