Tabletop Games Kickstarter Roundup - March 30th, 2022
Does your inbox fill up every Tuesday with Kickstarter emails? Well, mine does - so I decided to start writing my thoughts on new tabletop gaming Kickstarters every Wednesday. Keep in mind, most of these are based on initial impressions and looking at the Kickstarter video.
We are back to a mix of projects this week, not a bunch of big huge names/campaigns only. One of which throws some big red flags up for me. But let's get into it, starting off with the big hitter this week:
Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game
Color me shocked - a thematic trailer AND they start describing the game before the first 30 seconds are up in the Kickstarter video! I was fully prepared to give this one a pass given it’s a very popular property. In the vein of all the other video game based Kickstarters recently, Dead by Daylight is a board game based on the video game where one person is a supernatural killer trying to kill the other players. Level 99 Games is behind the board game, which comes in a standard and collector's edition.
The standard edition comes in at $49, which comes with minis, which again shocked me. I expected the "Standard" edition to have standees, as that seems to be the trend these days (which I'm fine with). Is it wrong that on first glance, I'm turned off by the collector's edition because it looks like a double-wide box that I'll struggle to find space for? I have the video game of Dead by Daylight but I've never played it, so *normally* this would be a pass for me. However….my wife and daughter are *huge* horror movie fans, so I might be backing this one if they show interest in it.
RIOT QUEST — BOARD GAME EDITION
I don't know if I can explain why, but this graphic design immediately screamed "90's Video Games" to me. This game is from Privateer Press, so we've got a name with some credibility to it. I was curious why the title had "Board Game Edition" on it, but the first paragraph talks about how apparently "Riot Quest" is an arena miniatures game line that Privateer had been producing for a while. This Kickstarter is apparently just to make a collected box version of the game. Probably makes the game more appealing to people if they can get in with just one box.
First off, major props for having the video go straight into what the game is and how it plays. Yet, everything about this game screams Arcadia Quest from CMON to me. To be fair, I LOVE Arcadia Quest - it's one of my favorite games to play with my podcast co-host Philip…once a year when we get the energy to set up the game. That said, I don't have much desire to back this Kickstarter, as it just makes me want to play Arcadia Quest. I know some people are turned off by the "chibi-style" nature of Arcadia Quest's minis, so if you are one of those people, I would suggest taking a look at this game.
Nightbreak
I wanted to have a couple of campaigns in this week's post that weren't "Funded in first day" type games, so I stumbled onto this card game from Lancaster Gaming Co. Video sets up a lot of world building in the beginning, but by the 40 second mark they start to talk about the game. Nightbreak is apparently a 2-4 player competitive card game that uses some day/night style timing mechanics to drive the gameplay. The artwork and graphic design look really well done. I kind of like how the game has tokens to easily spell out all the "status effects", as I've played many card games where that becomes a stumbling block, causing me to constantly flip through the rulebook.
Something seems off about this campaign though. It's from a first time creator, so that's already 1 red flag to me - not that the campaign is "doomed" or anything, but just a flag that there is a chance that not everything has been thought of. However, the game is at over $5,000 of its $11,800 goal…with only 36 backers. By the math, that's over $150 average per backer! For a game full of minis, that's pretty normal, but for a card game? Especially since nothing I see on the page and video really stands out to what makes this different than other Magic-style combative card games. Yes there's timing and stuff but ok? That's doesn't sell me on a game. Next red flag: when you scroll through the pledge levels, most of the backers are at the $39 core box level or the $49 "Moon Combo" pack. What is all the thousands of dollars from? Scrolling down, there's ONE backer at the $800 level. Makes me think they've got someone backed at a large dollar amount to get their game backed quickly. Seems sketchy to me…
ARcana: Augmented Reality Platform for TTRPGs
Ok, so you start telling me about your product 40 seconds into the video, not bad. Also doesn't hurt that you have Joe Manganiello as the first thing you see, along with the voice of his wife Sofia Vergara. Given Manganiello's reputation for D&D, it definitely lends some credibility to the project. I'll be honest, I scrolled down to the "meet the team" section of the Kickstarter to see if he is actually a part of the team or if they just hired him (he's the Creative Director).
What is ARcana? Basically, it’s a virtual tabletop…on your table top. Using augmented reality, you point your tablet/phone/computer at the table and terrain appears as if your GM had hundreds of dollars of Dwarven Forge pieces. First thing I thought off was that the tablet/phone idea is cool, but kind of wonky to see people moving their devices around the table to see. Would be super cool if all these AR glasses we keep hearing about actually implemented this. Which, when I scroll down the page, that's apparently the goal! I pledged a dollar because while it’s a cool idea, the implementation sounds a bit tricky and I'd want to see a finished product and mess around with it before I drop $30-150 on digital tile pieces.
The Origins Season 2: The Gaming Coffee Table
Boo, points off for no Kickstarter video! Especially when we are talking about a large (and expensive) item. What's that? There is a video, it is just down? That's still points off for me haha. Apparently, this is a follow up to a campaign from last year (FYI, starting off your video reminding me that your CEO wasn't a hardcore board gamer last year doesn't seem like the best tactic). "We truly had a unique campaign" Wait…what? You raised $1 million on Kickstarter. That's impressive, but not unique. You had backers request products - most of those products are just accessories that other companies are already making for their tables. This time around, they are doing a coffee table, as no one has "solved" the problem of a coffee table for playing board games.
Disclaimer: yes, I'm biased because I really like Wyrmwood's products. However, I don't have one of their tables. I do have a gaming table, but it's from *another* vendor, Game Toppers LLC. Again, there's a lot of competition in this space, so labeling a campaign as "unique" is weird to me. However, I will say that this table attempts something different. You can keep the table small if you want to play party games, or flip the topper around and slide in the "full size" pieces of the table to make it more like the "standard" board gaming table. I….don't think I like this approach. I'm much more of a fan of the "put a topper on the table to make it like a normal table" instead of sliding on bits for games. Also, I get that sometimes you want to play games around a small coffee table and couch, but have you ever tried playing a full board game from a couch? It's not really desirable. Most of the time you are standing up to reach pieces that aren't immediately in front of you. I'd rather have a cheap IKEA coffee table for playing card games and then a normal gaming table I can sit at for full games. So, definitely not for me, but it's funded and at $1,200 still is a decent price if it's up your alley.
What do you think? Do you have a "fancy" game table yet? I wonder when we hit market saturation for these types of products. Let me know in the comments!
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