#34: Social goals, Tharnix is restless and a few hours to beat the competition
almost 9 years ago – Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 11:27:20 AM

Social Goal #5 unlocked: New “A witch victim in a Cage” miniature 

Woohoo! We’ll now have the second victim miniature based on Jamie’s awesome art. Our 3D designer Chris Gabrish has been working with the design already - he recently commented, “It will make a great mini I think. I've not seen anything like it before.”

And we will allow purchasing extra copies via BackerKit, just in case you want more than one.  

And that means that next social goal, which is really close now contains a new map to the main campaign AND two additional scenarios to the main campaign, also.

The Tharnix is Restless 

We know you’re all very curious what this dark creature looks like, but he’s remained in the shadows where he prefers to lurk. But if you look closely at the stretch goal list, you’ll notice that he’s moved from his original spot and made a new home, much closer to you now.

I would suggest you start trembling now, because as soon as we hit $77,000 in funding, he’s going to invade every box! And if you have an Exclusive Edition coming, then he’ll be bringing his mate. It's important to keep in mind that Tharnix on every box allows us to modify all campaigns to include this new threat to scenarios.

The competition - 3h to win!

There is about 3h left to win and only about 1800 USD to go. Should you manage, there will another map with two scenarios added to the main campaign.

Pet Laboratory

This level presents the breeding pit and training areas of insectoids, along with living quarters of few of the cultists. It also introduces the portcullis & levers.

On Pet Laboratory level, the scenarios also provide a divided setup, where Heroes get separated and must begin from opposite ends of the dungeon. Will the mighty Chi'leens of this lair vanquish you, extinguishing all hope of preventing the demon awakening?

#32: Final 48 hours, Painting Guide, Posters and more
almost 9 years ago – Wed, Dec 09, 2015 at 09:11:17 PM

Final 48 hours!

What an amazing ride this has been so far! Our team has been forced to learn quite a few new skills along the way, and I have to say that we couldn’t have asked for a more dedicated bunch of backers. You’re more than awesome!

We’re now on high alert as we run through the final <48 hours. As we all know, the last two days of a campaign are typically a final sprint - so we assume that’s what we’ll see here as well. We’ve seen nice spurt even before famed 48h and it seems to be continuing as we’re only $4944 dollars from funding. 

Painting Guide Add-on

Our backers never cease to amaze me. Not only has Ben promised to paint the one set for the lucky winner, but he and few others of our active backers have pledged to help us to create a painting guide for the Perdition’s Mouth miniatures.

This will be a $5 USD add-on, delivered in multiple digital formats with high resolution images and links to materials used for easy access. 

Posters - provide your thoughts, please

There have been a few questions about the posters of the magnificent art we’ve shown you so far, and so we’re investigating the possibility of providing posters as an add-on.

Let’s assume that we offered one size. We’d need to know if ISO A2 or A1 would be better and whether we should do both the cover art and the victim in a cage or just the cover art. Also, would you prefer the cover art with or without game title and logos? Please provide us feedback on this poll. Do note, that we can’t make every version.

Estimated price range: 

• A2 (approx. 17” x 23”) = $6.50 USD 
• A1 (approx. 23” x 33”) = $10 USD

Shipping would be free to US / CANADA / AUSTRALIA / EU (or Essen pickup) and an additional $2 USD anywhere else, when shipped with the game. This would be a flat rate for any number of posters per order.

The entrance

The first level of subterranean caverns of the old dwarven complex has two entrances; the obvious main entrance which is guarded and then there is a sneakier side entrance. Perdition's Mouth comes with two different scenarios, the standard version through the side entrance and harder version through main entrance. These two scenarios are highly recommended for everyone, just to learn the game. And even if you consider yourself a die-hard-veteran of countless dungeon crawls, I'd still recommend that you'll play the standard scenario (1A) once and only then show your skills by completing the rest on Hard...

 -- Timo & whole PM team

P.S. Tomorrow you should expect probably the biggest surprise of the campaign... What could Jalmari have been cooking up for last week or so? Even I'm thrilled as it'll be news to me as well...

#31: Watch us play! New Victim Art! A New Challenge!
almost 9 years ago – Wed, Dec 09, 2015 at 12:26:21 PM

Victim art 

Our team has been exceedingly happy to work with the amazing Jamie Noble from the UK, who has done our box cover, Hero portraits and quite a lot of art for Perdition’s Mouth. His art will also be used to beautify the rondels, which have been likely the most criticized part of the visuals in Perdition’s Mouth.

But now we’re happy to show what a real treat Jamie managed to put together for the new victim art. She’s none other than Lady Spara, the venomous alchemist - one of the witches designed by our active fans. This, along with a number of other selected pieces will be made available as high-resolution downloads (suitable for printing or wallpaper) to all backers that pledge at least $5.

 A New Challenge

Just as we’d hoped, things are heating up as we come into the final stretch. We’d really love to hit funding and then reach some stretch goals, so we have one more ultimate challenge for you all.

If we can hit the $75,000 funding goal before the final 24 hours, then we will add an additional map to all Kickstarter copies of the game (retail and exclusive), along with two bonus scenarios! This is in addition to any other Social or Stretch goals that you hit.

Watch us play!

There were quite a few backers who said that they’d like to listen to more of my accented English - now here’s your chance. We demonstrate a gaming session of Perdition’s Mouth and explain many of the details as we go.

This is what Ukko says about the game session we had: 

I originally hooked up with Timo when I offered to paint some Perdition's Mouth miniatures for him and got sucked into the PM team big time. The miniatures were a pleasure to paint, but that's another story.

To explain my gamer background here's the deal: I have played A LOT of dungeon crawlers, board games and miniature games, so I had absolutely no problem learning the rules of this particular game. It is different, but it has a logic which is easy to follow once you get the hang of it. It IS different from Descent and many other dungeon crawlers. As a gamer I enjoy thematic games where you tell a story rather than count how many points you get. I like Winter Tales; I love Fiasco! (it's an RPG, sorry, but you really have to play it!). I have Overlorded Descent 1st & 2nd edition and Imperial Assault and really enjoy Level 7: Omega Protocol. I also play and enjoy a lot of miniature games: Warmachine, Malifaux and X-Wing to name a few, always on the lookout for the next hot thing. I'm not a huge fan of cooperative games as I always feel that there isn't enough at stake. If I win I lose interest. If the game wins it is more interesting, but there's no one to gloat and lose to. The butterfly effect PM has in its campaign sounds really good to me. Even if you win the scenario you might not be OK enough to continue. But you don't know for sure. This game is evil.

So one night two weeks ago, I had a chance to try out Perdition's Mouth with Timo (Multamäki, the game designer) and Riikka, who both have a lot of experience of playing Perdition's Mouth. Instead of doing the first scenario which everybody has seen quite a lot we did a scenario called "The Summoner's Lair", where the Summoner is sleeping while the heroes try to sneak past. We also decided to try and bring some campaign elements to the game by adding some wounds to the hero decks to test out how the real deal could be at that level.

It was interesting, challenging, fun and brutal. This game is something different. The biggest plus for me is that Perdition's Mouth is HARD and by hard I don't mean it is hard to learn, but it is hard to master. I know my way around in the dungeons and Perdition's Mouth really challenged us. I will not tell you how the game ended as there will be a video available soon, but I can tell you it's not easy to stop the that damned Cult.

I played Simma the Halfling Prophet. At first his two (yes TWO, as much as any villain in the game!) hit points made me really nervous. How can I keep this dude alive with enemies everywhere? Luckily that is one of the moments when the teamwork comes in. You can try to predict when the enemies are attacking and can try to get out of their range or can try to make them choose a more preferable target. I use the word try as it isn't that simple once you're in there. Simma's deck played beautifully and although I did take some wounds I was able to heal them. He's a cross between a healer and a ranged damage dealer and is a very interesting character to play. We didn't use the trait decks, but I can believe those bring even more depth to the game play as you have to optimize also to the characters’ personality thus bringing RPG elements into the game.

The other characters seemed very different from the one I was playing. Olazabal the female dwarf with a circular saw seemed like a jack of all trades. Tyra the Barbarian got stronger once wounded, which makes you balance between good damage and lethal damage interestingly.

I did enjoy the game. The flow was easy, but most of the time the choices were between challenging and hard. There is seldom an easy "move and attack" choice in this game so often seen in Descent-type games. Figuring out the best ways to solve the puzzles in front of you brings pleasure of accomplishment. Especially if you can predict the outcome of the response deck correctly and play just the right amount of attack/defense/action points to overcome the challenge in front of you. Some bits kind of reminded me of Mage Knight, although you couldn't calculate every little thing in Perdition's Mouth because of that dreaded response deck that replaces the dice.

By the way I like rolling the dice, but I didn't miss them one bit.

In Perdition's Mouth there is always a chance of failure unless you horribly overspend your cards and resources. The problem is if you do, even a momentary success can turn into a failure in a long run. Again this game is evil, but in a very good way. The beauty of the response deck is that it is balanced in a way that you can "expect" a two to come up. But you can't count on it. So it is up to you if you feel lucky or not.

Keep in mind that this is a quick run through after one session. But I wanted to share my thoughts. I think you will see the video tomorrow and see what actually happened in our game.

Social Goals / A Powerful Artefact / The Guard Chamber / The Art of PM
almost 9 years ago – Tue, Dec 08, 2015 at 09:35:36 PM

Yesterday we told you about Ben’s amazing offer and promised that we would take a close look on what we can do to further up the ante for our awesome backers and to attract more new fans.

Our team once said that we will not change the Social Goal targets any more. But I’m decidedly stepping over that now :) We want our Social goals to be reachable and sensible. But I’ll admit my lack of experience in Social circuits (yes, I still don’t have Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Reddit or most others). I’m a luddite, and in my dark seclusion I’ll have more time to make awesome board games for awesome people. We really want to encourage a huge final push on social media and the community at large!

We’d also like to remind you that Social Goal #6 is actually something that many of you have wished for, be very happy to see it.

 I was able to re-arrange our family's finances so that we can cover the additional expenses of the social goals that I’m sure you’ll reach. But it’s the least we can do after seeing the amazing effort our backers are willing to put forth to make PM a success story!

We are now also revealing one of the treasures of Witch’s grotto. This powerful artifact is usable only once per scenario as it takes a long time to recharge. Aisha carries this item on her person, guarding it jealously:

Icon of Saint Ben

As always, the art is by Matthias Catrein, the very same graphic designer who created the distinctive look of Dominion among many other games.

Usable by Warriors and Magic users (thus, not Priests) 

Temporary (you have to draw a Response card whenever using it; if you draw a star, it’s destroyed) 

Type: Miscellaneous

The Icon of Saint Ben is a good luck pendant, containing a fragment of fingernail from St. Ben, who lived in Haugen just before the Norri occupation (some 400 years prior) and became a renowned artist despite his lowborn social status. St. Benjamin painted collections of tiny icons of varying pantheons.

His fame originates from the siege of Siros, when ruthless Norri mercenaries were about to sack the city and enslave its occupants. Saint Ben managed to negotiate a deal with the Norri invaders, exchanging his collection of icons for a promise that the citizenry and their property would remain unmolested.

Of course no one believed such promises and the surprise was vast when the Norri actually upheld the bargain. Of course the city treasuries and noble houses were ransacked and the former the ruling class was sold into slavery. But the tens of thousands of base inhabitants were left in peace, rather than in pieces..

Sadly for Saint Ben, after nine years of Norri rule, the remaining nobles (with considerable help from Gory) ousted the invaders. In the aftermath, Saint Ben was found guilty of witchcraft and was burned upon a huge bonfire in the town square. The ensuing rebellion by peasants, merchants and artisans threw the nobles out once again and invited Norri rulership, which has remained until today. In Gory, worshipping Saint Ben is considered witchcraft and will typically result in being burned alive.

Game effect: The Icon of Saint Ben works a powerful luck charm, allowing the redraw of one Response card in any situation, after the initial Response card has been revealed. You can then choose which of those two will apply.

Guard chamber

In this level there are two victims, nice treasures and for some reason the overpowering demonic influence is having a nap. The Heroes can actually surprise the cult and its ilk, but is it enough to rescue the victims - the two remaining witches of the Witch’s Grotto?

The Guard chamber presents new kinds of challenges, possibilities for “sneaking around”, heroic moments, and meaningful sacrifices. This is a level that none of our team has ever managed to pull through without losses.

The Art of Perdition’s Mouth

Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of interest in the great imagery that our team’s artists have produced. We are very proud of it, and so we want to share it in a meaningful way. With that goal, we will make a selection of high-quality game art, including the box cover, available for digital download to all backers that pledge at least $5. We’ll have more details on the specifics soon, and as always, questions are welcome.

-- Timo & the whole PM team

Amazing contest, Short stories, Abyssal Rift & Postal costs
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Dec 07, 2015 at 04:55:37 PM

Contest to have your PM set PAINTED FOR FREE

I have always known that we have awesome backers. Today I was wonderfully surprised yet again by the enthusiasm and support shown by Ben who promised to paint a single set to be randomly selected from everyone who pledges at the $160 Bargain Bundle tier by the end of Kickstarter (post-campaign orders or updated pledges in backerkit will not be eligible for the drawing).

Just how awesome is that?! I think Ben should get at least 100 thumbs, like, yesterday. You'll learn tomorrow what we can on our side to spark up more late pledgers.

Short Stories in the World Book

The World Book content is shaping up nicely. We have three internationally recognized, award-winning novelists creating amazing short stories to give additional depth to the world of Perdition’s Mouth.

Joonas Konstig: A Finnish author with three published novels and a short story collection. Joonas has been an avid role gamer since boyhood, and that background is strongly present in his published works. In Perdition’s Mouth Joonas takes a critical look at a couple of the Heroes, their motivations, and their conflicts.

Elge Larsson: A Swedish author, our team’s favorite Cultist of Change, lifelong LARPer, professional editor, and translator of over 100 books who has also published dozens of scientific articles. Elge burrows deep into the mindset of the cultists, their motivations, beliefs and religious doctrine.

Martin Threlfall: An Australian author who’s background is creative writing (published poetry, two novels, and two screenplays) and journalism, and has held professional technical writing posts, producing user guides and manuals. Martin will focus on fleshing out the Witch coven and its conflict with the Cult of Change.

These awesome short stories will be made available as part of the World Book (which we plan to make available in both .PDF and .mobi file formats) creating an even richer narrative around the setting.

The Abyssal Rift 

This is the lowest part of the dungeons, where only the best of the cultists are allowed to visit - unless they’re being offered as a sacrifice. If the heroes manage to reach this far and see the ever-so-slowly expanding rift, they will know that they’re almost done. Yet, it’s a long way ahead.

Shipping costs

One of our backers made very handy recap of the shipping costs (thanks jambb4l):

GAMER’S BARGAIN BUNDLE: 

You only pay $160 if you live in the following places:

• 1. US 
• 2. EU 
• 3. Australia 
• 4. Canada

You have to add $17 for shipping if you live in the following places:

• 1. China 
• 2. Taiwan
• 3. South Korea
• 4. Singapore
• 5. Thailand
• 6. Malaysia
• 7. Philippines
• 8. New Zealand

You have to add $22 for shipping if you are in any NON-EU places in EUROPE.

You have to add $32 for shipping if you live in the following places:

1. Russia 2. Belarus 3. Ukraine 4. anywhere else not mentioned above.

----------------

FOR THE ADD-ONS:

Shipping is free for:

• 1. US 
• 2. EU 
• 3. Australia
• 4. Canada

If you are not located in those 4 locations, you have to add $2 for EACH PHYSICAL add-on you include in your pledge. The physical add-ons are:

• 1. Printed localized rulebooks ($10) 
• 2. Promotional zero-sided die ($5) 
• 3. Backer t-shirt ($30) 
• 4. Wound promo deck ($5) 
• 5. Black hat ($45) 
• 6. Modern society ($15) 
• 7. Inquisitio ($15) 
• 8. Hero trait deck ($15) (included in gamer's bargain bundle) 
• 9. Hideout expansion ($35) (included in gamer's bargain bundle) 
• 10. Portcullis and levers ($20) (included in gamer's bargain bundle)

The non-physical add-ons:

• 1. digital world book ($20) (included in the gamer's bargain bundle) 
• 2. team signs your copy ($6)

So let's say I go for the gamer's bargain bundle PLUS promotional dice PLUS wounds promo deck PLUS signed copy, and I'm from the Philippines:

160 (+ 17 shipping) + 5 (+2 shipping) + 5 (+2 shipping) + 6 = $197