More stuff in the box! Character standees!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Apr 09, 2020 at 01:46:26 AM

It's Wednesday! (In case you forgot.) I hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and I hope the following news will bring you more joy:

I've heard your requests, and I have decided to include standees for all characters in the game! So you will have your normal miniature (or two, in the case of the Geminate) in the small labeled tuck box, as usual, but you will also have a standee included in your bigger tuck box with the character tokens. So whichever way you prefer to play, we've got you covered.

I realize not everyone will have the inclination to use the standees, but I decided there was a large enough group that would benefit, that it was worth including. Also, just so we're on the same page, this wasn't a planned thing. I came to the final decision just yesterday, based on people's feedback, so thanks everyone who pushed to make the game better!

And speaking of standees, what about all those summons? As you may know, we are also including summon punch boards in the tuck boxes of all characters with summons, with unique standee artwork for every type of summon. This didn't happen in Gloomhaven because of the extra punch board costs, plus I didn't really have the budget for more artwork. Well, there's a larger budget now, so I wanted to make it work. Here's a taste of some of the amazing summon artwork Alexandr is working on.

Oh, and you may be asking, "With all these extra standees, will we be getting some more stands?" And the answer is yes! We'd even like to have them in a different color, to differentiate characters and summons from monsters. I was thinking green, but I am open to suggestions in the comments.

And if you are wondering if you can gets standees for Gloomhaven characters or summons, I'm afraid those are not options at this point. We are focusing our efforts on developing Frosthaven, but maybe some day after Frosthaven is done we'll be able to revisit Gloomhaven.

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And if all of that wasn't enough, we also have a new guest designer to announce, Ella Ampongan! Ella is a fabulous human being who runs her Youtube channel, Ella Loves Boardgames, and is a member of the Variable Player Power podcast. She's a big fan of Gloomhaven, though she is of the same opinion as me that Gaia Project is the greatest game of all time (in case my own opinion wasn't clear from yesterday's update). I always enjoy hanging out with her at conventions, especially when we can beat Blue Peg, Pink Peg in a board game trivia quiz show.

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Who will be the first to breach 3000 points? Could it possibly be #TeamAlgox and their new fan fiction?

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Once again, I must apologize for the unsolvability of yesterday's daily puzzle. I cannot express how much it hurts to give you all something that doesn't work the way it should, so I am going to work extra-hard to make sure that doesn't happen again. I'm going to get up earlier and run through the puzzle one more time with a fresh perspective before I post it for everybody.

So, with that said, here is the solution to the revised Deathwalker puzzle from yesterday.

And now we have a new Banner Spear puzzle for today. It should be at least a little harder than the previous Banner Spear puzzle!

(Just a note: Injure is a new status condition that prevents characters from using items until the end of their next turn. It doesn't actually have an effect here, since you have no items.)

Two more mind-blowing guest designers
over 4 years ago – Thu, Apr 09, 2020 at 12:42:55 AM

So let's say you were to ask me, "Hey, Isaac. If you could have anybody in the world guest design a scenario for Frosthaven, who would it be?"

"Well, the designer of my favorite board game of all time, of course!" would for sure be one of my top answers.

That's right! Today brings us not one, but two more great minds: the owner of Feuerland Spiele, Frank Heeeren, and the co-designer of Terra Mystica and Gaia Project, Jens Drögemüller. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Jens in person yet, but Frank and I met a few years ago at Gen Con to discuss localizing Gloomhaven. Given that Feuerland not only publishes the best game ever, but also other fantastic games like A Feast for Odin and Crystal Palace, and Frank is a super-chill dude, it seemed like a pretty obvious choice to let them handle the project.

Now Feuerland will be localizing Frosthaven, as well, and Frank and Jens are making scenarios! Ahhhhh! It's so amazing!

And hey, did you know you could be a peer of these legends of the industry? In case you missed Saturday's update, there is a scenario design competition going on for the rest of the campaign. You could be a guest designer, too! Check out this BGG post for details!

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#TeamAlgox has pulled ahead in the polls, but #TeamUnfettered maintains a commanding lead, due to stuff like this fan-fiction! It's not exactly accurate, but it's a fun read none-the-less.

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Puzzle time! Here is your solution to the Geminate puzzle.

And now on to the second cycle! We're going to do another puzzle for each class, in a slightly modified order. Each puzzle will feature completely different low-level cards, hopefully giving you even more understanding of the various facets of each character.

We're going to change it up a little and start with the Deathwalker. Some things to keep in mind with this puzzle in regards to attacking from Shadows: a melee attack (no specified range) can be performed on an enemy in your own hex (since Shadows can occupy hexes with other figures), but if something says "target all adjacent enemies" that does not technically include the hex the Shadow occupies.

New heavy-hitting guest designer!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Apr 09, 2020 at 12:42:32 AM

Hello! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Here in Frosthaven, we raised another $300,000 or so in funding, which is just crazy. That's most of original funding goal. Over a weekend. You all just continue to crush it, so thank you.

But let's get on to the announcement! I warned you that we'd be having some truly impressive people join the team, right? Because our guest designer today is no other than Nikki Valens! Nikki worked at Fantasy Flight for many years on titles like Arkham Horror 3E, Eldritch Horror, Mansions of Madness 2E, and the equally monumental Legacy of Dragonholt. Since leaving Fantasy Flight, she has also released the wonderful cooperative puzzle game Quirky Circuits.

I met Nikki at SHUX last year, but we didn't really get a chance to hang out until BGG.Con, where she did some play testing on Jaws of the Lion. Even though she has played a lot of Gloomhaven, we decided it would be best if she pretended like she was new, and just let the other new player make all the decisions.  After learning about difficulty levels, the other player decided they were going to try the next scenario on hard, where he then proceeded to fumble around and not do much useful with his character (no offense - he was a new player).

Faced with the prospect of actually losing, Nikki went into beast mode, and more-or-less soloed the rest of this hard scenario with a character she had just picked up. I learned two things that day: save the discussion on difficulty until much later in the book, and Nikki Valens is a bad-ass. I am super-excited to have her on board.

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#TeamAlgox have almost caught up in the BGG poll, and have made themselves more known in the forums, but the Unfettered continue to dominate with their numbers and creativity. #TeamUnfettered member CrimsonKurenai went so far as to make their own Unfettered mini, and Reddit user FF2Happy made their own custom class! Impressive!

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Regarding the puzzle, right off the bat here, I want to apologize for Saturday. I had screwed up the range on one of the abilities, and then when I tried to fix it, I fixed it incorrectly, so the puzzle wasn't actually solvable until Sunday. So here is the solution to the corrected version, since the other versions weren't, umm, solvable. Sorry again for that.

And finally, the last of the six starting characters, here is a puzzle for the Geminate. Maybe sure you get those form switches in at the right time!

A closer look at the races
over 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 08, 2020 at 07:37:28 PM

Hello all! Happy Sunday! We're going to take it easy today. I know I told you there'd be another puzzle today, but I figure it would be better to save it for tomorrow, along with any Algox vs. Lurker vs. Unfettered updates. Today can just be a day off where we just talk about stuff, if that's all right with everyone.

So, yeah, what I wanted to do today was just give you a little background on the three new races. If you want to avoid any lore or monster images for Frosthaven and go in completely blind, you can just totally skip this update. There won't be any vital information for the campaign in it.

One other thing to mention before we go into details on each race is that, while these creatures are threats, if you are able to pacify and possibly even befriend them, you may have the opportunity to unlock up to two character classes for each race. Which means that most of the locked classes will actually be one of these new, exciting, and dangerous races!

So let's talk about them a bit more.

Algox

You may recognize this guy from the cover, about to throw down with the Banner Spear. Not all Algox are able to encase their fists in a layer of hard ice, though. He is part of a sect of Algox know as Icespeakers, who believe that the Divine speaks to the Algox through the intricate formations of ice that grow in caves underneath the mountains of the Coppernecks. They have a strong connection to that ice and are able to use it in a variety of different ways.

The problem is, there is another sect of Algox called the Snowspeakers. They believe instead that the Divine talks to them from above, through the intricate patterns of snowflakes that fall from the sky. They have a strong connection to that snow and the weather that facilitates it.

This disagreement between how the Divine communicates has sparked a vicious feud, as religious differences often do. So not only are the Algox fighting the outpost of Frosthaven, they are in a bloody civil war with themselves.

The tribal structure of the Algox is similar to that of the Inox, with warriors skilled both as guards and archers, and these are overseen by wise shamans. The Algox also have groups of scouts to provide information their enemies.

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Lurkers

Of course, this image is familiar to any veteran of Gloomhaven. Mysterious crab-like creatures would emerge from the sea. Sometimes they would be hostile. Other times, they almost seemed like they were trying to communicate something through the clicks of their claws.

For some reason, the Lurkers around Frosthaven seem even more intelligent, but also more hostile. Though it wasn't apparent in Gloomhaven, these creatures now seem to be able to communicate psychically with other intelligent races, sending projections of images and emotions into their minds.

The Lurkers want something, and they'll destroy anything that gets in their way. It also seems more varieties of Lurkers exist than previously imagined. Some focus on the strength of their physical forms. Others rely on an ability to manipulate the sea and its denizens. And still others exhibit truly frightening psychic capabilities.

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Unfettered

Yes, most of you now identify this strange pyramid with the enigmatic race of autonomous robots, when actually, Unfettered come in a vast variety of sizes and shapes. Where they come from and what their purpose is, however, is completely unknown at this point.

No one even knows why they call themselves "Unfettered". Frosthaven guards were able to catch one of the creatures roaming the frozen wastes aimlessly, and that is all it said with its rudimentary speech module. Though they have yet to attack Frosthaven, their increasing presence in the surrounding area does not bode well.

The Unfettered appear to have any number of functions, based on their form and construction. Most look like they have seen better days, but still, the machines persist and somehow survive in this harsh environment.

Get in on the action!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 04, 2020 at 11:47:07 PM

Hey, have I thanked you recently? Thanks for making this project such a stupidly unbelievable success. You really are a high-quality individual, and you deserve all the good things that are coming to you (like a giant box full of Frosthaven).

So what are we talking about today? The scenario design competition! We did one of these during the original Gloomhaven, and it was a huge success, if I do say so myself. I've had a number of request to bring it back, and it seemed like a great idea to me, especially now that people have a lot more experience playing and creating scenarios for Gloomhaven. Back then, people had no idea what they were doing, and they still created some fantastic stuff, so I am expecting even better this time around!

You can read the details in this BGG post, so I won't go too much into it here. All conversation and submissions will be handled in that and the accompanying post. To give you a basic run-down, though, you can submit your Frosthaven-specific scenario designs here, and once the Kickstarter campaign ends, I will select at least one scenario (though there may be more, depending on how awesome they are) to include in the game as guest design. The designer(s) will be credited and compensated for their work.

I am looking forward to all the awesome things!

There won't be any announcements tomorrow, but there will still be an update focused on the new races of Frosthaven, and there will be a new puzzle as well, so stay tuned for that!

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#TeamAlgox closed the gap a bit with some increased activity, but #TeamLurkers are still lagging far behind! They'll need to recruit more to their ranks if they want a chance to get back in this, I think.

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And on to the puzzle! First we have a solution to the challenging Necromancer puzzle. It was rough, so I did give some point to the team who posted the first solution on Reddit.

So what do people think of the puzzles? We are getting close to the end of the first cycle, and I am wondering how we should change things up when we revisit the character classes for a new cycle. Should they be easier? Harder? Longer? Shorter? Have higher level cards? Or different low level cards? Let me know!

And here is the puzzle for the Drifter. His eternal question: how will you charge your persistent abilities?