live Darkest Dungeon boardgame kickstarter from Mythic Games (yes, that Mythic Games :()

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Those who know me well generally know what a massive Darkest Dungeon fan I am so I've been very good to not post about this one yet. I've been holding off 'til nearer release date to avoid putting a thread up too early. There is going to be a kickstarter for a Darkest Dungeon boardgame. This makes me happy. It will have miniatures! This makes my heart sing with Joy. It's going to be by Mythic Games. This makes me somewhat concerned. I've heard horror stories about their rulebooks needing updates and finally becoming playable  a year or two after release (or even in a second crowdfunding campaign if it's their Joan of Arc game).

 

That being said it will have gorgeous miniatures that, while similar to many of the unofficial Darkest Dungeon miniatures, knock then pants off many of them. I'll probably be backing this for the figures alone but I appreciate any concerns that people might have.

 

They claim they're looking to launch some time in late October or early November.

 

 

 

There are a few more pictures and a handful of videos doing the rounds at the moment including two or three gameplay sessions. Here's what I was able to piece together from them.

 

It’s a campaign game. You don’t play as the Heir. You play as the Heroes. You randomly generate dungeons then head inside making important choices about your resources (food, torches, spades etc). When you meet monsters you lay out a mini dungeon board and fight it out.

Heroes and enemies occupy four positions. Attacker, Defender, Ranged and Support. The skills you can use are based on the position you’re in. The battles have a four round limit so they don’t drag on too long. Take too long and you have to retreat back into the corridor. Corridor encounters happen. There is a scouting system.

Every 3 dungeons you have to tackle a boss dungeon. You randomly generate the boss beforehand and he has in town effects and other effects so you really want to get rid of him when the time comes. Boss battles are all or nothing. If you fail a boss battle you don’t retreat. You just loose the entire party.

After 3 bosses you go into the Darkest Dungeon itself to end the game. So that’s 9 dungeon runs (or 12 depending on if the boss dungeon counts as part of the once every 3 dungeons frequency) then the end game run to complete the entire campaign.

They currently only plan to have 8 core heroes in the game (you can bet the other 7 or 9 will be stretch goals). When you loose a hero there are two replacement heroes in the stagecoach. Take a new hero. The stagecoach does not appear to generate new heroes beyond these two replacement heroes. If one player’s hero dies and they are unable to obtain a replacement from the stagecoach then you all lose. Game over man. Game over.

They intend to launch around late October or early November.

Mythic kickstarter campaign lengths are as follows.

Time of Legends: Joan of Arc 32 days
Solomon Kane: 24 days
Reichbusters 10 days
Super Fantasy Brawl 8 days
Time of Legends: Joan of Arc 1.5 15 days
Enchanters: East Quest 11 days
Steamwatchers 11 days
Hel – the Last Saga 14 days

So we’re probably looking at 8-15 days which is quite a short period to scrounge up cash in.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Balgin Stondraeg

[Knight of the Dinner Table]

I really don't want to be a spoilsport ... but ...

 

Solomon Kane: Estimated delivery: July 2019 - not yet finished production yet

Reichbusters: Estimated delivery:  November 2019 - seems like the Errata pack and other things have just been shipped, main game already in the hands of the backers (I think it shipped in late spring this year)

Time of Legends 1.5: Estimated delivery: October 2020 - but held up IIRC by legal disputes, they are doing "development updates", sounds to me like not even the rules for al factions are finished.

Enchanters: Easy Quest: Estimated delivery: September 2020 - they have been sent "validation copies" (I gather these are copies they have to accept - concerning quality and components - before mass production can start?)

Steam Watchers: Estimated delivery: March 2021

Hel: Estimated delivery: June 2021

Fantasy Brawl: Estimated delivery: Estimated delivery March 2020 - they are now predicting that shipping will be finished by end of October 2020.

 

I have no problems with delays, but having THAT many unfinished projects and starting a new one again (especially after legal disputes and rumors of monetary problems ... RUMORS! So there might be absolutely nothing to it), it's a light red flag for me.

 

[cmorse]

2 hours ago, Knight of the Dinner Table said:

I really don't want to be a spoilsport ... but ...

 

Solomon Kane: Estimated delivery: July 2019 - not yet finished production yet

Reichbusters: Estimated delivery:  November 2019 - seems like the Errata pack and other things have just been shipped, main game already in the hands of the backers (I think it shipped in late spring this year)

Time of Legends 1.5: Estimated delivery: October 2020 - but held up IIRC by legal disputes, they are doing "development updates", sounds to me like not even the rules for al factions are finished.

Enchanters: Easy Quest: Estimated delivery: September 2020 - they have been sent "validation copies" (I gather these are copies they have to accept - concerning quality and components - before mass production can start?)

Steam Watchers: Estimated delivery: March 2021

Hel: Estimated delivery: June 2021

Fantasy Brawl: Estimated delivery: Estimated delivery March 2020 - they are now predicting that shipping will be finished by end of October 2020.

 

I have no problems with delays, but having THAT many unfinished projects and starting a new one again (especially after legal disputes and rumors of monetary problems ... RUMORS! So there might be absolutely nothing to it), it's a light red flag for me.

 

 

At least they aren't in the middle of a lawsuit over Time of Legends anymore?

 

In regards to validation copies and mass production it varies a lot from company to company. Any given component could have already been signed off on and already fully manufactured or everything could be final samples waiting on approval for everything at once. Anyone's guess what Mythic is doing though.

[ced1106]

45 minutes ago, cmorse said:

At least they aren't in the middle of a lawsuit over Time of Legends anymore?

 

That got settled, yes.

 

One issue about foreign-designed games, which I'm sure overseas backers already know about, is that, while a game can be translated, this translation, ideally, needs to be done by a native language-speaking gamer, as well as playtested. For complicated, text-heavy Ameritrash games, I usually wait until the second edition, if I'm on the fence. Frex, Monolith / Mythic's Conan the Barbarian had translation issues resulting in gameplay ambiguity, and DUN first edition used incorrect non-standard terminology in their English translation. Of course, if DD is a must-have, by all means back it.

 

 

[Balgin Stondraeg]

The project will be launching on the 20th. Not just conflicting with the Nova Aetas revamp but actually launching on the same day too!

 

We do have some new pretty pictures to enjoy 'though (all the same it's a shame it's Mythic Games and not someone with a more respectable track record).

 

 

 

[Grefven]

Some cool miniatures, for sure. Will be watching this closely. :) A bit bothered by Mythic, though. Might drop out because of it.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

The project is live and not as expensive as I thought. I suppose they knew it was so popular they'd get loads of backers anyway and the slightly lower price point would help encourage more.

 

Link.

[Knight of the Dinner Table]

I have to hand it to them: The situation of their other projects (that they have not delivered quite a lot of them yet) is in the FAQs for all to see. Kudos for that.

[vutpakdi]

I'm glad that they are being open about the status of the other projects.  I'm still going to wait for retail and reviews.  So, I'll check again in  1 1/2 to 2 years, if not more.

 

Ron

[SamuraiJack]

This one isnt going to retail.. 

[lexomatic]

I like those minis but they are too big.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

20 hours ago, SamuraiJack said:

This one isnt going to retail.. 

At least it's not going to be an Epic Games exclusive during early access.

[R2ED]

I ended up putting in for this KS. I haven't played the video game, but am really taken with the art style. What I'm stoked about is getting them abs trying to paint them in a similar style.  

 

However, i look at the minis they have painted and have no clue how to replicate it.  Does anyone have examples of doing this type of paint style or have tips on how to do it?  I watched a YouTube video of painting comic style, but even that doesn't quite get it.  I'd love to know if anyone has video of this.  Eager and ready to get dark. 

[Spodi]

I give in. I have zero expectations of being interested in the game itself, but I like the minis. I do have some friends who are big fans of Darkest Dungeon, so who knows, maybe they'll want to play. After all, enough excitement can make most any game fun to play a few times.

 

I'm sure I'll regret my decision after Bones 5 arrives and become inundated in minis, but that's a problem for next year. 

 

 

[CashWiley]

On 10/30/2020 at 11:10 PM, R2ED said:

I ended up putting in for this KS. I haven't played the video game, but am really taken with the art style. What I'm stoked about is getting them abs trying to paint them in a similar style.  

 

However, i look at the minis they have painted and have no clue how to replicate it.  Does anyone have examples of doing this type of paint style or have tips on how to do it?  I watched a YouTube video of painting comic style, but even that doesn't quite get it.  I'd love to know if anyone has video of this.  Eager and ready to get dark. 

Look into artistic blacklining in a cel-shading style. Jessica @Bathory has a ton of great inspiration for this style, she's more or less pioneered it. I know she's active on FB, not sure what other social media outlets she uses.