Tabletop Games Kickstarter Roundup - March 16th, 2023
I imagine like many of you, every Tuesday I get a barrage of emails from Kickstarter. Usually, it’s a mix of previous Kickstarters telling me their newest one is live, or it’s a bunch of my friends all piling up on the newest/coolest thing. In the interest of my wallet, I should probably turn these off…. Yet I don't, because honestly I like seeing what's new and cool in the tabletop gaming space, and sometimes I find something I hadn't heard of before.
Since science has figured out that Tuesdays are the best days for launching Kickstarters, Wednesdays are a good day for me to go through and take a look at a few Kickstarters that stuck out to me and give some brief thoughts. Keep in mind I'm not doing detailed analysis on any of these. Most are going to be my initial impressions. Here we go:
The Academic 133+ XL
I've heard of the YouTube channel Tolarian Community College for many years now, but I've not followed most of their videos because they do lean a lot on the Magic: The Gathering side of things and that's not really my bag. What *is* my bag though, is components and organizers. Especially when GameGenic is involved. GameGenic is an Asmodee studio that's focused on game accessories, and I've become a big fan of their products. I recently did the laborous task of resleeving my Marvel Champions collection all to the GameGenic Standard Card Game Matte Sleeves because I like the way it reduces glare on them.
Well, now we have the peanut butter and chocolate concoction that is The Academic. It's a deck box where The Professor (hey….I used that moniker first!) has worked with GameGenic to produce his "ideal" deck box. I don't do the double/triple sleeving that he does where I would need the extra space, but I did think that this small box would be a good idea for taking Marvel Champions decks places. There's a couple of drawers for tokens, and the drawers are big enough that you could probably fit a couple of MC decks in them as well. I'm all for carrying a lot of organized cards in a little package!
Cthulhu Island
I gotta be honest, saw Cthulhu and a lot of neat looking minis and it grabbed my attention. However, I can get a little picky about the product video. This is because typically the video and the price are the two things I look at before I scroll through the rest of the page. Especially if I'm just browsing Kickstarter and have no prior knowledge of the campaign, these two factors are what I use to quickly eliminate options. This campaign seemed to want to capitalize on that "LOOK! MINIS!!" feel. The video is 1 minute 30 seconds long, and the first 30 seconds are just Roosevelts "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" as a buildup. Then we get to 1 minute before we even see gameplay components. In fact, I don't even know anything else about the game other than the minis look cool.
What about the price? Core box is about $100, which seems like an average price for this type of Kickstarter. For some reason, you can save $11 by getting the core box without the solo mode - is this a highly desired thing? Seems really specific for all the logistical stress of making two versions of the core box. But of course, most people at this time have gone for the "all in" pledge of $328. Nothing too shocking there. How does it play? Not sure. I had to scroll almost to the bottom of the page to find out, past all the addons, expansions, and pledge levels. If I had heard of this campaign before, that might make me go further to find out, but at this point I'm good. I will say all the artwork and components look GORGEOUS though!
Remarkable Guilds & Their Heroes - GM Guide for Any RPG
Hey look at that - within the first 30 seconds they've already told me the pitch for what this product is! That's nice, and so is the artwork here as well. Kinda weird how they mention at the end of the video that if you back within 24 hours you get your name mentioned in the special credits of the book. Normally, most RPG kickstarters put *everyone* who backed in the book, or are these "special credits" a different section of the book. Also, is that a big driver for people? Would you back a kickstarter within 24 hours just to get your name in the book? Maybe if the price was lower, or if I 100% knew that I would back it sure. Maybe that's the point? Get people who are going to back to back immediately instead of waiting?
Regardless, I like the concept of this book - how to create and roleplay fantasy guilds, no matter what RPG system you are using. System agnostic books are harder to write, but they can be a lot more helpful to players. $50 for the hardback and PDF seems on par for this type of product, but I found it weird that I couldn't find an idea of how many pages it would be (even if it's just a target). I would hope it's at least in the 150-200 page realm, because at the price any smaller seems a bit steep. Although on second pass I see the HC alone is $39, so maybe I'm wrong here. Lots of extra goodies here, such as a "Deluxe" hardcover, which I was hoping for an alternate cover but it includes a bookmark, dice bag, and dice...along with a guild cup, which looks more like a Chalise to me. Gotta admit, that cup looks pretty "Remarkable" to me, calling it a "cup" seems like a bit of a disservice.
Rhyme That Line
"We found it hard to find games that could include everyone, and keep everyone engaged." Um, that's a weird way to start your video, because my first thought was "Then you didn't look hard enough". Your game is literally in a list of thousands of games trying to get funding, and BGG has tons of board games that I'm sure you could find something that fits the bill. Wait…you spend the rest of the video showing people playing and laughing, but don't explain the game? I see cards and white boards, so I'm gathering an idea of how it's played. But the only speech in the video is you saying you couldn't find a game that works for your group so you made one?
Taken from a TeePublic shirt. I should probably get this one…
Ok the very top of the page has the how to play, and it turns out its exactly as presented. You draw a card that has lines and write a rhyme to it. It's pretty rare for a game's name to be all you need to know in order to play. Also, it's so simple that I'm kinda surprised that this game doesn't exist already. Seems perfect for the party game aisle in Target next to Cards Against Humanity and Never Have I Ever. Don't look at me, I don't have those kind of connections (I wish right?). $29 for the base game seems on par….wait there's a $39 option to get it by May? This from a first time creator on Kickstarter? Ehhh I'm gonna go back to my previous pic… (It might be totally fine, and you used traditional means to fund it, just seems off). Good job already funding though!
Habitats, Nine Lives, and Basketboss
This is the Kickstarter that flooded my inbox in particular yesterday, as well as it should coming from BoardGameTables.com. Gotta say though, video doesn't cut it for me. Then again, this is a company that's done *several* successful Kickstarters, including this one that's already funded - so who am I to judge? I just don't like 49 seconds of a bunch of other people telling me they like it. That's what the rest of the page is for, to put those videos of people saying it's great. One's an auction game and one is a bidding game I think? At least based on the video.
I've gotten pretty particular on adding games to my collection recently, especially since I'm not playing as much right now. However, $89 for 3 games is a pretty good deal if you are needing to buff up your game options. Especially since they are very different and diverse games. For me, it's not an instant click though. These are the types of games that I'd play if someone else bought them, but I'd definitely have to try them out before I bought them myself. Mostly because they are types of games I already have games of that don't get played as is.
Note: I generally assume I know nothing. So if I've missed something, let me know in the comments. Or let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you like these types of posts, consider subscribing to our patreon.