Campaign finale / French translation / a podcast and more
almost 9 years ago – Wed, Dec 02, 2015 at 06:42:32 AM

Dear backers,

It’s once again time for me (Timo) to return to backer updates. Dan did very well during my travels, but now sleep deprivation has been overcome and I’m back in the saddle.

Byron meets the demon

Byron Campbell, one of our best beta testers, has managed to play the campaign all the way to the last, passionate battle. It’s time to meet and greet the demon in the grand finale of the campaign. Read the whole story on BGG and see if the Heroes win after all their struggles…

And as it’s an awesome story, make sure to give a thumb for it. Byron sure deserves it!

The interview/podcast

The nice guys of SuperNerdFactory selected Perdition’s Mouth as their board game of the week because they really liked that it’s different and unique. Well spotted :) They did a short interview with me, which you can listen to here.

French translation of cards completed

Thanks to Thibaud Dejardin, we have now a complete French translation of the rulebook, as well as the symbol sheet (soon available via BGG) and all of the cards. We will be providing all translated cards as high quality PDFs for every backer of at least the Retail tier. This will allow French backers to print localized cards that they can put in sleeves with the originals.

And who knows? Maybe we can one day provide a full French print run. We’d like to encourage others to help us with other localized versions. We have an Italian version cooking as we speak, but German and Spanish would also be really great to have.

A Quick Reminder

Please add any required postal expenses to your pledge now. This will help us get a more accurate total pledge amount before the campaign gets close to the end.

More trait cards

Many of the comments by our backers have concentrated around even deeper immersion. That has always been our goal as well - to have the Hero personalities portrayed by the game mechanics as well as the backstory.

This hasn’t been an easy task: it has to be done in such a way as to be meaningful to the game rather than just cosmetic. And it has to be seamless and streamlined so as not to detract from the experience for players who aren't as interested in the extra immersion. And above all, it shouldn't unbalance the game. So after a long time of pondering and testing, we implemented the (optional) trait cards. These portray typical actions of each Hero as a method to “charge up” for a positive, one-time boost.

-- Timo & Perdition’s Mouth team

Social Challenge Success / Aisha Revealed / New Treasure Art
almost 9 years ago – Wed, Dec 02, 2015 at 02:46:15 AM

The Guide is Saved! With the support of the villagers, the elder has been moved to aid our heroes. Their guide has been saved, and a new wound card will be voted on in a BoardGameGeek thread for Timo to design a bonus card around. The Heroes can continue their journey to Perdition’s Mouth!

We’ll take the wound description that gets most thumbs within this week on this thread. Of course you can and should write your own descriptions as there is only one now.

Aisha and the Witch’s Grotto

Aisha is a middle aged halfling witch. She used to have a coven of 5 other witches, but only she remains. The coven is now infested by insectoids and she has locked herself in the supply room. There are not many options left, but making a suicide run isn’t high on her list. She has limited supplies and is hoping for a miracle.

By nature she is an extrovert and a fatalist, but possesses a strong charisma. She is not a loner, though all witches tend to limit their associations with the mundane world. In her youth she was a house slave of a human family in the metropolis of Gory, and she hated every moment of it. Witches always focus their powers on one aspect of magic or another; hers being transmutation and transference.

The grotto is a lush underground cave heated by a hot spring. It’s limestone walls sheltered the coven for centuries, but now the insectoids have burrowed their way in, and it’s usefulness to Aisha has passed.

Treasure Cards Redesigned

 The Treasure cards have been redesigned to portray the gorgeous art better and to enable proper randomness on card draws. The left part of the card is used for items in your backpack, while the right side of the card is for active items.

Please give us your comments on the treasure card design on this thread in BGG.

The orange upper right corner symbol is the item type, which becomes important with the Hideout expansion and item trading possibilities (along with the monetary value in the lower left corner). Item type is also used to limit a hero to one armor and weapon at a time.

One more thing…

We hope that our backers know how much we appreciate their support, but we also want everyone else to know it too!

So we’re going to make sure everyone can see who helped us get to the finish line by listing everyone backer’s name on our website. And then we’re going to list everyone that backed at the retail pledge level or higher into the official PM rulebook, including any future printings of the rules. You’ll be able to specify a name or handle you’d like us to use when you submit the fulfillment survey from Kickstarter after the campaign.

We know that giving your hard earned money to make a dream like this into reality is a big deal, and everyone should see who helped get us there!

Campaigns and Expansions (part 2) / Essen Bundle / Social Challenge Update
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 06:52:08 AM

Today we bring you some more information from Timo about the expansions and how they tie into the core campaigns and the world of Perdition’s Mouth.

HQ and Healing

“The Hideout" expansion uses rules for what takes place between campaigns: healing, resurrection, selling and buying treasures, etc.

Which actions are available is based on which civilians are present at your headquarters when you visit between campaigns. Civilians around the Abyssal Rift have lives of their own. Like most people, these civilians are focused on making a living, so they aim to profit from your situation; don’t expect acts of mercy.

Each time you enter, you’ll draw a Response card (average of 2, variation between -1 and 5) to determine which civilians are present:

• Armourer (sells weapons & armour)
• Healer (heals/discards wound cards)
• Priest (resurrects fallen heroes)
• Alchemist (sells potions)
• Trinket vendor (sells miscellaneous items)

Drawing a -1 or 0 means no civilians are around. A positive number allows you to randomly draw which civilians are present. But beware... Drawing any card with a star (*) symbol means that the cultists have returned to try and regain their hold!. 

As long as at least one civilian is around, you’ll be able to sell your treasures… who wouldn’t be willing to buy whatever riches you bring back from your adventures? Of course, these poor folks don’t have hard currency, so you’ll have to barter for whatever they have on offer.

The rules for running a headquarters and all of its actions will be made available as a free PDF. But of course Neshilim, the physical tokens, the maps, and other components from "The Hideout" will only be available within that expansion.

Along with the rules, we’ll provide a basic civilian token design you can print out. We want to make sure everyone can enjoy the role playing and functionality offered by having a headquarters; it will just take a bit of tinkering on your part.

The Mad Shaman

If the Mad Shaman is unlocked, we will modify the storyline of the main campaign, providing alternate maps and adding the chance for liberating a few extra treasures & victims from the cult.

Mogba'gh wanted me to share this photo he had taken recently:

Remember that every scenario in any campaign setting carries risk: You might get wounds or Heroes might even die. Alternative paths allow a player to choose a path that they assume that they can complete. Not all paths are equally hard or rewarding.

Bargain Bundle and Essen Pickup

For those of you planning on Essen pickup, you can still get the Bargain Gamer’s Bundle.

Just pledge at the normal $99 Essen Pickup tier, but make your contribution $160 USD. You will be able to choose a shipping option in the fulfillment survey for the bargain bundle with Essen pickup and Signature.

Status of the current Social Challenge

For those of you following the current social challenge, the town elder remains unconvinced, but seems to be softening. Keep up your efforts in sharing and retweeting to get the required number to show him the light. See yesterday’s update for full details.

In less than a day we already have 28 shares on Facebook and 16 retweets on Twitter.

That’s 44 pleas to the town elder, but we need 66 total to convince him.

Don't let the cult of the insectoid god win!

A Social Challenge / The Nature of Campaigns and Expansions / Another Goal Unlocked / Hotness Achieved!
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 03:00:37 AM

A New Social Challenge

On their way to Perdition's Mouth the heroes were ambushed by the cult! They managed to kill their assailants, but their guide received a very nasty wound from a poisoned blade. The heroes managed to reach a nearby village, but fearing the cult’s influence, the head elder is unwilling to help. Only if enough villagers plead for the heroes will the elder allow their healers to examine the wound and figure out what it is.

You, our backers and fans, represent the villagers, and Timo is the reticent elder. To plead with him to lend our heroes aid, do the following:

As soon as this Update (#20) is sent, it will be both Tweeted by @DragonDawnProd on Twitter and shared by Dragon Dawn Productions on Facebook.

If we get 66 combined Facebook Shares and Twitter Retweets then the “Elder” will allow the village healers to examine and heal the wound. Thus, a new wound card will be added to both Kickstarter editions of the game (but not future retail channel releases). The guide has only 48 hours before the poison kills him! The clock is running! Don't let him die, or the Heroes may never find their way to Temple of the Insectoid Cult.

Campaigns and Expansions

A lot of you have been curious about the setting of Perdition’s Mouth, how the expansions tie into the core set campaigns, as well as how it all connects to the future of the world we’ve created. Here are Timo’s answers:

About the world of Perdition’s Mouth and the Abyssal Rift

We’ve been playing RPGs since 1993 in this campaign setting, and my first board game (Zanziar) takes place in this world. There is loads of material which we’ll use to spice up the world of PM.

The current situation is what takes place in the main campaign, set near the “Abyssal Rift”

Each “side quest” brings a double-sided map with new scenarios. These are (so far):

• Hideout
• Witch's grotto
• Mad Shaman (which I'm sure will end up being unlocked)

Upcoming expansions will be similar in scale to “Abyssal Rift”, bringing new aspects to the game, not just new dungeons to explore. But we think that it’s better now to concentrate on the four campaigns that we currently having on the platter.

To start, you'll have access to four campaigns. The Mad Shaman is in middle of the Main campaign, basically expanding it, whereas Hideout and Witch's grotto are separate story threads that you can play either before or after the main campaign.

And by the time you're done with those stories, there should be more available.

Is Perdition’s Mouth a “Living World”?

We intend to add more and more content, and you will only find out in the end if the cult wins or if you are victorious. The “living world” that Gloomhaven did so nicely has been a real motivator for us, as well. We have, however, opted to concentrate on what is currently available rather than using future expansions as a selling point.

We also have chosen a slightly different approach as we allow “save points” between each scenario, so that you can always choose to backtrack to any given savepoint to try again with different tactics, heroes or strategic decisions.

Look to tomorrow’s update for more from Timo on the Hideout and its use as an HQ for the heroes, as well as more on the Mad Shaman.

Social Goal #4 Unlocked!

By hitting our 500th backer, we’ve unlocked the fourth social goal, which is a custom tuckbox for the scenario sheets. You’ve been doing a great job of unlocking additional scenarios, and with the announced expansions there are even more to keep track of. Luckily you’ll now get a custom fit tuckbox to keep them organized and protected.

What is The Hotness?

“The Hotness” is a measure on BoardGameGeek.com of games that are garnering a lot of attention. And thanks to you, backers and fans, Perdition's Mouth has achieved a place on the list! You can see it on most pages, in the left column.

Let’s try to keep it there through the rest of the campaign to maximize our exposure among gamers by being active in the forums, posting, thumbing, and generally contributing to the discussion. Thanks everyone!

Trait Card Preview

Finally, we have another Hero Trait card for you, straight from the Trait Cards deck add-on. Remember that the art isn’t 100% final, but it gives you an idea of the type of powers to expect.

Finalized Shipping Costs / Timo’s Travels / Aisha the Witch
almost 9 years ago – Sun, Nov 29, 2015 at 10:05:43 PM

Hello all, we know a lot of your are busy with your holiday shopping today, so we have just a few items for you:

Finalized Shipping Costs

We’ve updated the campaign page with the final shipping costs for the game, and the good news is that we’ve negotiated them down to lower than originally listed. We've also found a way to cover some of the additional cost so we can bring the most value possible to our backers. Here are the final amounts for the Retail and Exclusive tiers:

• USA, Canada, Australia, and the EU: $10 USD
• Switzerland, Norway, and Lichtenstein: $17 USD
• China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and New Zealand: $21 USD
• Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and anywhere else: $30 USD

Just add the appropriate amount to your pledge before the end of the campaign and you’ll be all set.

Shipping rates for the Gamer’s Bargain Bundle is integrated into that pledge tier so Kickstarter will ask you to include the required shipping when you set your pledge.

Timo’s Travels

As you may know, Timo and Jalmari (two of the game’s creators) have spent the last two weeks travelling across Europe to promote Perdition’s Mouth at gaming conventions and other gatherings of board gamers.

In case you’re curious, they met with people in all of these places:

• Poland
• Austria
• Germany
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Southern-Finland

They also drove through some beautiful countryside in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, logging 5500 km (3400 miles) in 14 days!

They handed out over 500 flyers to demo participants and Timo drank 44 cans of Coke Zero. 

They’ve finally arrived home for a much needed rest! Sadly Jalmari caught the flu along the way and is now recovering. Get well soon!

Aisha the Uncanny Shapeshifter

Witches are well known for avoiding the public eye, and shapeshifting ones are even harder to catch a glimpse of. But we were able to capture a quick silhouette of Aisha for you:

Reports claim that her skin has a sickly green tint. She’s the last of her coven, and she’ll present something we haven’t see in Perdition’s Mouth so far.