Thanking everyone who has come along for the journey
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 21, 2023 at 06:20:26 AM

Thank you all!

I just want say that I am so grateful for everyone who has come to help fund the project and make it a reality. It is a dream come true to be able to bring this game to tables across the board gaming community. I am pretty confident that within the next 48 hours, we will reach our funding goal. 

I remember back in July of 2021 when the game board was simply a bunch of 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper taped together and drawn on with marker. I remember printing so many card updates from my home printer and testing them out every weekend to iron out the power level of each district. I remember that moment of finally feeling like the game was mostly balanced and we could focus on only doing small wording tweaks and number changes. All of this couldn't of been actualized into a physical game without the support from you guys!

With most of the likeness tier promo cards being bought, I have been busy brewing up card mechanics for those. I can't wait to continue to the next step of this process as we start finalizing files for our manufacturer.

Intellect Hoarder Gargantua

I still need to iron out the mechanics of the 2nd monster so its at a similar gameplay level to the Death Stitched Hydra. Anyone who has backed the 70$ pledge level will be able to print out this mini and will receive the pdf files for their monster reactions boards. I would love to have a swath of monsters that players can choose from when playing City of Myrkesh later down the line. It was a real treat to be able to digitally sculpt both of these and flex my zbrush skills.

- Mark.W

Triggered Abilities + More Likeness Tier Rewards
over 2 years ago – Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 06:19:45 AM

Happy Friday everyone!

We are less than a week out from the campaign ending and I am blown away by all the support my project has been getting these last three weeks. This card game of mine couldn't be where its at now without your phenomenal support! I have big aspirations for the future and I really hope the first box of this game brings many people to the board game table!

DESIGNER INTERVIEW with the Boardgame Rundown

I spoke to the Board Game Rundown YouTube channel and I mentioned to them "If the audience reception is good enough, I would love to work on further expansions. There are about 47 keyword abilities and I would love to combine them in different ways on new cards". Here is that interview where we also rank our top 5 deckbuilding games!

Triggered Abilities

I wanted to share an interesting rules interaction with you today. This will involve us looking over two cards, The Spice Purveyor and the Professor of Reconstruction

Both of these cards have abilities, Innovation (Inner City) and Rush (Inner City), that trigger at the same time. Lets say that Progenitor of Progress is in the Inner City of the Industrial Grounds and a player buys it with these two cards out. 

The game will ask you "Which of these abilities do you want to resolve first"? 

• Lets say the active player wants to resolve the Rush (Inner City) followed by the Innovation (Inner City). 
• The active player would spend 4 Coin (🟡) to buy the Progenitor.
• The Progenitor would be placed on the top of the player's deck due to Rush.
• Innovation would check that the bought card costs 4 or more and would allow the active player to draw a card.
• The active player now has the Progenitor of Progress in their hand. Draw some more cards!

More Card Likeness Tiers have been unlocked

I saw how fast the initial run of five likeness tiers were bought that I decided to include one more for each district. I am always for creating more cards for this game, and I hope this allows more people the chance to become a part of this game's world! A lot of my playtesters who helped me get the mechanics refined over the last two years have also been immortalized within the card illustrations as well.

Lets finish this campaign with a bang!

- Mark.W

Mechanic Spotlight of the Wilds + Featured Game on Kickstarter!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 07:02:54 AM

Hey everyone!!!

Hope you weekend was well. 

Today, I wanted to show some mechanics that show up in the Wilds District.

The Wilds specialize in gaining as much Power as possible. If your a player that wants to aggro the monster and get as many points as possible, this is your district.

The some mechanics that show up most in Wilds are Taunt, Revitalize and Traverse.

Using the Taunt keyword will gain you more power while also taking some away from an opponent. The Revitalize keywordwill allow you to either give dead cards to an opponent or let you cycle through the dead cards in your deck faster. Lastly, the Traverse keyword will make sure you can always attack, regardless if your in Rubble or not. 

Featured on the board games page of Kickstarter

I was able to get in contact with the project coordinator at Kickstarter and she was able to set this up. Only for today, but its still huge.

Thank you to everyone who has backed so far! Your awesome and are making this project become a reality.

- Mark.W

Mechanics Spotlight on the Cold Blooded Promo Cards + News
over 2 years ago – Fri, Nov 10, 2023 at 06:27:17 AM

Happy Friday everyone

My co-publisher and I were were speaking and he suggested I share an mechanic spotlight on a cycle of cards. The Cold Blooded Cycle of Reptiles and Amphibians that show up in each district.

All of these cards are above the power curve for what they do at their cost. The Scaleborn Mariner for example costs 1 Coin but gives you 3 Coins when played. SUPER VALUE!

You will notice that each of these cards shares the Non-Partisan Mechanic. This forces the player who  played it to place it in one of their opponents' discard piles at the end of their turn while also giving them a Debt Token. I wanted this mechanic to represented how easily their allegiance can be swayed during gameplay. A player with a Debt Token will lose the first coin they gain on their turn, while also losing the debt token. So in a way, they paid the cost of the non-partisan card they were given.

I hope that I can expand the design space of future cards with this mechanic, maybe making a 3 cost card that has Non-Partisan (3). 

Good News

I have been speaking with Asia, the Games Coordinator from Kickstarter, and we should be featured on their games homepage on the 13th! Woot Woot! I am really looking forward to the coming weeks and I hope you all are as well.

What two questions did I want to solve in my game?

While designing City of Myrkesh, I had two design questions I wanted to solve:

• How can I make it so every strategy in the game is available to players at all times?
• How do I remove the side market?

If you want to see how I addressed these design concerns, have a listen

-Mark.W

100! Backers + Mechanic Spotlight on the Royal Courts
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 07, 2023 at 06:22:05 AM

Hello Everyone!

I feel it mentioning that getting our first 100 backers is something worth recognizing. Thank you for everyone who has contributed and said "I believe in your project". I remember back in July of 2021 when the board was just a bunch of 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper taped together with pen lines. And now its here! YOU ARE AWESOME!

Mechanics Spotlight on the Royal Courts

The Royal Courts is a district that specializes in generating both Coin and Power, think of them as a middle ground between Merchant's Row and Wilds

The Royal Courts offer the player a few ways to control their opponents while also not needing to attack the monster to gain prestige. Use abilities like the Levy Mechanic to distribute Tax Tokens to players you think need to be stifled in their coin gaining, forcing them to lose the next coin they gain. Why attack the monster when your background and status can gain you prestige all on its own. Using the Majesty Mechanic will allow you to accrue Noble Prestige. Noble Prestige and Normal Prestige are almost identical. However, a player cannot spend Noble prestige like using the Renown and Excavate Mechanic, but also cannot have it stolen by an opponent who uses the Slander Mechanic.

Exhibited at Lodge Con

I had the pleasure to show off the game at a local small convention in Peotone, Illinois . here are some pictures from that event.

Call to Action

Please continue sharing with anyone you know that may be interested in deckbuilding games or just board games in general. If you have any thoughts or ideas you want to talk about, please comment below and I will response as soon as I am able.

- Mark.W of Grindstone Games