oddball Aeronauts--A Double-Take Preview

You're at the doctor's office. Or the DMV. (Shudder...) Or in line at at amusement park. Or waiting to buy tickets to a Radiohead concert. You're bored. You don't have a surface to play a game. But you have the sudden urge to battle it out for pirate-like supremacy of the air. What will you do?! I have just the thing...

The Overview

Oddball Aeronauts is a 2-player card game where you're trying to force your opponent to discard all of his or her cards. It's for ages 9 and up (which seems about right), and plays in about 15 minutes.

The Components

Note: We were sent prototype copies of the game. The quality and exact component list may change before publication.

Cards... That's it. No tokens. No nothing. Just cards. The cards are broken into two types:

Faction Cards - There are 2 decks of 24 cards per Faction. These cards have 3 skills listed on them - Sailing, Guns, and Boarding. Each of those skills has a primary "Skill Level" and a "Skill Bonus." We'll tell you a little more about that in a minute. These cards also have Special Abilities that will either affect this turn, or the next turn.

Event Cards - There are a total of six Events in the game, but with rule updates only three of them will come out in the game play. These Events come into play from one player's deck but affect the whole game and both players have to deal with its effect.

The Setup

Give each player a Faction deck, and randomly shuffle three Event cards into one of the decks. Players then hold their deck face-up towards them so they can see what is now the top card's face. The rules say to play Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine the starting player--the starting player is the one who loses. And you're ready to go.

The Gameplay

The game is played in rounds, and each round is essentially a portion of a battle between two rival Factions.

Before we go into how the game actually works, there are some interesting concepts and actual physical mechanics that should be noted and understood. As you probably noticed, the entire deck is being held by each player at this point. The goal of the game is to get the other player to discard all of their cards. It's a war of attrition. When a player discards a card they turn the card face down and puts it at the bottom of the deck. Once one player gets to his or her first face down card, they've exhausted their deck--and lose. Certain abilities and round results will allow players to recover a card, and in this instance players search down in their deck to the first face down card and then turn it face up, thus keeping more cards in the game. Some have an ability to add a bonus in the next round after it's discarded. They've printed this bonus on the back of the card in the top corner, so in this instance the card is discarded and then pushed up to reveal that bonus for use in the current round. There are also some abilities that take effect that round, and use the same mechanism to reveal the ability to your opponent by pushing the card up, without revealing the face to them.

The rounds are broken down into 5 phases:

1. Events -- If the player with the Event cards has an Event in their top three cards, it's brought out and dealt with. Or continues its effect on the round.

2. Announce Skill -- At this point each player will fan out their top 3 cards, and determine which skill they will use--Sailing, Guns, or Boarding. You're allowed to look past your top 3 cards to see what is coming up next, but you can only use up to your top 3 cards. Once both players have decided what skill they will use, they announce it and the next phase commences.

3. Play Cards -- Like we just said, you can choose to play up to 3 of your top cards. By playing more than one card you are supporting the top card in the fight. So you'll be using the top card's "Skill Level"--which is the big number on the top for that skill--but for the cards below it you'll be using their "Skill Bonus" value--which is the smaller number on the bottom of that skill. You also can only use the special ability of the top card. Once both players have decided how many cards they will play, the lead player--the one who lost Rock-Paper-Scissors--will count to three and each player will hold up X number of fingers: X being the number of cards they intend to play.

4. Winner of the Round -- Players reveal the cards they are playing, and show the total of their Skill, by adding up Skill Level, Skill Bonus and any Special Ability Bonuses that may be applied, and the player with the highest level of Skill wins the round. If there should be a draw, then no one wins and the cards are discarded.

5. Win Result --After one player is declared the winner of the round, both players discard any cards they played, and then you resolve the results. If the winning player used Sailing, they recover 2 cards. If they used Guns, the loser discards 2 additional cards. And if they used Boarding, the winner recovers 1 card and the loser discards 1 additional card.

The winning player starts the next round as the Lead player and you do the whole thing over again.

After all of the effects have been resolved, if a player has no more active (face up) cards, they lose; if both players have no more active cards, it's a tie!

The Verdict

Firestone--What a terrific idea! I have no idea if someone's already thought about making a game that needs no surface to play, but who cares? It's great. I'll definitely be grabbing this game on trips and hikes and any travel I have to do.

Jeremiah--Yeah, I'm sure there are a few micro games out there that don't use a playing surface, but this is much more than a micro game, and I love the idea. You could easily play this on a table and lay down the cards you're playing for a round. But I love the thought that went into making it work without a playing surface. I played this with a friend while we were sitting on my couch. That's just cool.

Firestone--Yes, steampunk is all the rage now, so there's a part of me that wants to avoid everything steampunky, just on general principle. But I can't help myself! The artwork is really cool and evocative. The characters are interesting, and I'm kind of a sucker for anthropomorphic animals... Let's make this into a kick-butt cartoon!

Jeremiah--Yeah, I'm okay with the Steampunk movement for now. It's creative and imaginative, and it's just cool to look at; this game is no different. Steampunk is very much the Japanese Animation of this generation. I remember when Akira hit these shores; it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and it blew up from there. Steampunk is riding that wave; I'm sure it will settle before long, but its carved out its niche and I'm sure it's here to stay. Lucky for us it doesn't involve sparkling vampires or any other lameness...

Firestone--With a box that small I wasn't expecting to be thinking too much, but there are definite, actual decisions to be made. Interesting decisions. You're always having to look at the next few cards and try to figure out the best way to play them, and when to tiptoe, and when to bum-rush.

Jeremiah--I totally agree. With not needing a playing surface, and holding all of your cards, I was really thinking along the lines of a streamlined micro game. But it's really not. Is it a 3-hour Euro? No. But the fact that you can plan ahead, and potentially throw a round so you can maneuver a card into a position to really slam your opponent hard in the next round, is a great mechanism, and adds a ton of strategic decisions to make. None of them are too deep that you get analysis paralysis, but enough to make the game really interesting and fun.

Jeremiah--If there was one thing I would add to this game components-wise, it would be something like three stones/tokens for each player. So instead of counting to three and sticking up your fingers, you would reach into your pocket and pull out a number of stones to reveal how many cards you're playing that round. It seems piratey to reveal stones in your hand, and wouldn't clutter up your non-existent playing area. But the fingers work fine.

Firestone--I've played this with adults, and they all thought it was clever and fun. Not super deep, but who wants to play Tigris & Euphrates at the doctor's office? I also played with my 9-year-old, and he loved it, once we got past the rules, which were a little hard for him to grasp at first. But as he was making his way through his deck, he kept seeing the next picture and saying, "Oh cool!" or "Aww....look at that one, Dad!" And then I'd have to remind him that he probably shouldn't show me his cards...

Jeremiah--I haven't played this one with either of my boys. My oldest could probably grasp it, and it would be good to work his math skills. Thematically and visually though I can't imagine many people that wouldn't think it's cool, including kids. The cards are just really cool to look at--very richly designed!

Firestone--I hope they come out with expansion cards, and maybe a way to customize your deck a little. It doesn't need that, but it would be fun, and give it some legs for the long-haul.

Jeremiah--I kind of don't want to see deck customization in this game; I feel like it could get unbalanced really easily, or just convoluted too much from what it is. It's a quick-playing game that you can throw in your pocket, laptop bag, etc. I'm sure there will be an expansion or two down the line--more events most likely--or maybe even another two decks that bring out more Factions. If there was a way to bring more than 2 players into the game, I'd be all for that, as long as it wouldn't break the game, because I really like it the way it is.

Firestone Final Verdict--oddball Aeronauts is a unique game. The footprint, artwork, and gameplay all combine to make a game I'm happy to play wherever I am. Even the DMV! I would say put this on the table, but it doesn't need a table! That's awesome!

Jeremiah Final Verdict--We totally agree on this one. oddball Aeronauts packs a lot of fun and strategy into about 15 minutes of gameplay. The unique mechanics and card design/layout seamlessly serve the purpose of the game, and don't come off as gimmicky at all. This a great play-it-anywhere game and yes, it doesn't need a table so, just go play it already!

oddball Aeronauts is on Kickstarter right now! They've got a little less than three weeks to go, but they're nearly funded! Yay!

We'd like to thank Maverick:Muse for providing preview copies of oddball Aeronauts. This in no way affected our opinions, and this was not a paid preview.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to find us on the interwebs!

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and our Podcast!

We Interview Crash Games' Patrick Nickell, and Designer Jason Kotarski, About their New Games

Today we’re joined by two gentlemen who are, in their own ways, shaping the face of indie gaming as we know it today. Patrick Nickell, founder, el presidente, and Grand Poobah of Crash Games. And Jason Kotarski, designer of last year’s Great Heartland Hauling Co., which made our top 10 games of 2013 list.

Patrick, Jason, thanks for joining us today!

Before we go much further Patrick can you give us a quick recap of 2013 for Crash Games?

Patrick: It was a busy year for Crash Game in 2013. The best way for people to see what we accomplished is to check out our 2014 State of Crash Games at http://eepurl.com/N1wG1

Some of the highlights include: 1. Shipped out The Lost Dutchman to backers worldwide

2. Kickstarted Paradise Fallen and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

3. Kickstarted Council of Verona and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

4. Kickstarted a true, pay-what-you-want campaign for Where Art Thou, Romeo? and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

5. Attended six conventions including Spiel in Essen Germany.

What was the biggest surprise of the year for you?

P: Council of Verona, and how amazing and fast the project came together. I had a great game designer in Michael Eskue, a phenomenally talented artist in Adam McIver, and my awesome graphic designer, Darrell Louder, was able to wrangle everything together. And my manufacturer Panda Games did a good job of making things happen in a very short amount of time.

Jason, since the release of Heartland Hauling, you haven’t been resting on your laurels--you’ve been working away, designing. How many designs have you completed since then, and how many are you working on currently?

Jason: Since Heartland came out I caught the bug. That was the first game I ever designed, but since then I’ve been working on something like 8-10 more. I published a game called FrogFlip with Sprocket Games, and another game is coming this spring from White Goblin Games, as well as another half dozen that are in varying degrees of development. It’s a fun space to create in. An idea pops up and I know pretty quickly whether or not I have to work on it. Then, I get to it until I get stuck and move on to something else until I get unstuck.

Now, you guys have known each other for some time, but you most recently sat down and talked business at Unpub 4. And there’s some big news that came about from those talks...do tell!

P: I have been a big fan of Jason’s ever since hearing his story back when he first met up with Dice Hate Me Games and recorded a “State of Games” episode on Chris’ podcast. I backed Great Heartland Hauling on Kickstarter and have been enjoying playing it to this day. Jason and I always chatted at various conventions and I felt we had a really good vibe going. When we met up the evening before the official kick-off of UnPub4 I had the opportunity to play Dead Drop and I really enjoyed playing it. Later in the weekend I heard all the commotion inside the venue and went over to discover that it was coming from another of Jason’s games, this time it was Sunset Shuffle. After playing the game I knew that it fit a very specific type of game I was looking to add to the Crash Games catalog--not to mention IT WAS A BLAST! I was very happy to walk away from UnPub4 having signed both Dead Drop and Sunset Shuffle, which I am now calling Sunset Showdown.

This is really cool news! First, let’s talk a little bit about Dead Drop. Jason can you tell us a little bit about the game, and how it plays? And Patrick, what drew you to the game and made you decide to publish it?

J: I guess Dead Drop started as a way to explore the microgame space a bit. I had a lot of fun making FrogFlip with my daughter, which consists of just 12 cards, and wanted to dig in a little deeper and out of my comfort zone. The idea hit me as I was watching the Alias television series this past year with my wife. In the show, the secret agents were always leaving sensitive information for each other in public locations. It was a way to pass on key information while keeping the agents’ identities a secret. So from there I worked on the idea that various organizations were racing to be the first ones to discover this secret piece of information that had been hidden. At its heart it’s a simple game of deduction and maneuvering, with some elements that make memory really important.

In the game there is a secret card, numbered 0-5, dealt face-down to the middle of the table. This is the “drop.” Then there are a number of cards that are dealt face-up to the “cache” as shared information, and the rest of the cards are dealt evenly among all the players. On a player's turn they can swap a card with another player's, swap a card with the cache, or add two cards together from their hand to demand that another player tells them whether or not they have a card equal to that sum, or to guess the card that’s in the “drop.” It’s a light deduction game but the twist is really in the maneuvering of the cards. You can’t just guess the card that's in the drop and say it out loud. You have to have two cards in your hand that add up to the number on the hidden card. I’m terrible at memory and deduction but it’s still fun for me to play and to watch others have these huge “a-ha” moments.

P: I have always been a big fan of games that have a little footprint. It just isn’t realistic to drag your copy of Railways of the World to play with you at Denny’s. When I decided to publish Council of Verona I started dreaming about an entire series of small games that people could take with them anywhere and play in a very small space. This dream resulted in the Pub Series and Dead Drop is an amazing fit into the Pub Series. Dead Drop at its core is a deduction game, which is one of my favorite mechanisms. I really enjoyed several of the mechanisms in the game and with a small amount of cards and tokens it was difficult to say no to.

Okay, now let’s do the same thing for Sunset Showdown! Aaaannd go!

P: Well I first heard people playing the game while I was having a discussion with another publisher. Once that talk was over I went over to see Jason teaching the game, and my nephew Spencer and I got in on the next game. I had the most fun that I had the entire show playing it, and I've been looking for a game like Sunset for quite awhile now.

J: The response to Sunset Showdown at Unpub4 was amazing. We made such a ruckus with that game. This one is a real-time dice game where players each have six dice that represent their family members who are spending a week trying to get the best spot on the beach to witness the sunset each night. Everyone rolls their dice trying to get pairs that match the three open beach spots for the round. But there is a Life Guard die that comes into play that slows folks down and gets passed around hot-potato-style. It’s a really simple, fast game that just keeps bringing great experiences out with whatever group I’ve tried it with. Think of the fun, intensity, and ease of entry of Spoons or Dutch Blitz, but with dice and some nice twists.

Will either of these games be an addition to the Pub Series for Crash Games?

P: Dead Drop will be a Pub Series game, but Sunset will not.

We’re assuming these will be crowd-funded through Kickstarter. Do you have a timetable for when we’ll see them hit our favorite Internet crowd-funding site?

P: Right now there isn’t a specific time table for either game but I would really like to try and have Sunset on Kickstarter this summer. Crash Games is publishing 8 games this year and it would be foolish for me to try and pinpoint when each one is going up on Kickstarter since there are so many parameters outside of my control.

So, what was your favorite game of 2013 that neither of you were involved in?

P: Machi Koro, which I tried to license and did not get. I also really enjoyed Keyflower and Trains.

J: That’s tough. I love Daniel Solis’ Belle of the Ball, which isn’t out yet, but I got to play the prototype a bunch at GenCon last year. And I’m pretty into Guildhall and Rampage, too.

The Lightning Round! Answer these questions with one word… or less!??

Favorite game you’ve backed on Kickstarter?

P: This is going to sound horribly biased, but my favorite game that I’ve backed is also the game that I play the most: Great Heartland Hauling Company.

J: Good answer, Patrick! I’ll say CoinAge. It’s just ridiculous.

Favorite Winter Olympic Sport?

P: Speed Skating, Luge and Bobsled. I really like too many.

J: Snowboarding

Favorite X-Man? (Which could be an X-Woman…)

P: Rogue

J: Wolverine

Favorite YouTube video?

P: “Biggest Zit Ever”

J: “Inspired Bicycles - Danny MacAskill April 2009”

The movie Groundhog Day… Love it or hate it?

P: Love it and I don’t watch it enough. We better get going if we’re going to stay ahead of the weather.

J: Never made it all the way through. I’m sorry.

Hans Im Gluck Announces Expansions for Carcassonne and Bruges

One of the many toy fairs in Germany is the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg, held in February. As you can imagine, there are many new games and expansions announced there--including new expansions for Stefan Feld's Bruges, and the latest Carcassonne expansion.

While we'll be the first to admit that some of the Carcassonne expansions have jumped the shark *coughCatapultcough*, Carcassonne: Sheep and Hills actually looks pretty good. First, there are some hill tiles, and when you place one you immediately draw another tile and place it under the hill tile, creating a...hill. Now, if there's a tie, whoever is on a hill will break the tie. This is an easy and neat little addition that's simple enough to even add to the base game when playing with newbies.

In addition, there are sheep tiles that let you draw sheep chits from a bag if you place your shepherd (a new figure) there. But beware...there are also wolf chits, and they'll gobble up your sheep.

And finally, though it's not mentioned in the title, there are also a few new tiles with vineyards on them. If you place one of these vineyards next to a monastery, then when (and only when) that monastery scores, you score three extra points.

These all seem like sensible, easy to include, not-insane expansions. I might finally dive back into Carcassonne!

The other expansion is The City at the Zwin expansion for Stefan Feld's Bruges. According to the description on the Geek, this will include:

• Components for a 5th player.
• Additional character cards from a new guild.
• New stock cards that each have a special power that modifies an existing action.
• A new mechanic where, "whenever a 3 or 4 is rolled on a die at the start of a round, a ship of the same color is placed on the supplemental game board. As an extra action, a player can discard a worker of the appropriate color, reveal the matching ship, and take the action depicted, such as advancing on the influence track or reusing a one-time power on one of your character cards."
• Some more statues of higher values to give people incentive to build canals.
• A revised Engraver card to replace the one from the base game, as some people thought it was overpowered.

Each of these modules can be added to the game separately, or you can add all of them for utter Bruges madness... Apparently Z-Man will be printing an English version, but no word on when it will be available.

Thanks for reading, and make sure you're subscribed, as THIS WEEK we'll be giving away a copy of Relic Expedition to one lucky follower/subscriber/liker.

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Wave 4 Announced

By Firestone

Oh well-played, Fantasy Flight... I finally get caught up with the first three waves of the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game over Christmas, and then you go and announce Wave 4. Sneaky devils...

People who were wondering how much more they'd borrow from the Expanded Universe should wonder no more. All four new ships are from the EU:  the Z-95 Headhunter, TIE defender, E-wing, and TIE phantom.

From FF's Web site:

• The Z-95 Headhunter enters the Rebel fleet as an extremely efficient missile platform, better enabling the Alliance to match Imperial forces ship-for-ship.
• The TIE defender is a straight-forward fighter with strong shields, weapons, agility, and a maneuver never before seen on a dial.
• The E-wing pairs the X-wing’s firepower and resilience with the A-wing’s speed and agility.
• TIE phantom pilots rely upon the ship’s unique cloaking device to evade enemy fire and pounce upon their foes with their deadly laser cannons.

Okay, if I'm being honest, those tie fighters look like something cobbled together at a Maker Faire. Maybe that's what Stormtroopers do in their garages on the weekend. "Hey, Steve. Hand me another cold one, and let's glue nine more wings on this thing..." Don't get me wrong: I'm still buying these, of course...

For more details on each of the ships, check out the press release at Fantasy Flight. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Kickstarter Weekly--Feb. 7, 2014

Well, it's been an exciting week for us so far here at TOG, and even with the news about us being a part of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, we've somehow found time to bring you another installment of games that are pleading their case over on Kickstarter. There's a ton of great stuff happening, so let's dig in with this week's Kickstarter Weekly!

Featured Campaign

This Town Ain't Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us! - Tasty Minstrel Games

This town may not be big, but neither is the price point for this one! For a paltry three American dollars you can get a copy of this game, plus all the stretch goals! Tasty Minstrel is owning the micro game market on Kickstarter right now, and for $3 there's no reason to wait to pull the trigger on this micro tile-placement western showdown!

The campaign ends Feb. 14, and, like we said you can get a copy for a pledge $3!! Find all the details including all the unlocked stretch goals right here!

Zeppelin Attack - Evil Hat Productions

Mooarrrr Zeppelins! Yep, the zeppelin thing is becoming all the rage in gaming this year. This might be the first zeppelin deck-builder in gaming though. A 2-4 player card battle for air supremacy, set in the universe of  the Spirit of the Century RPG from Evil Hat Productions. As with most steam punk-ish themed games, the art will pull you in on this one!

The campaign ends on March 1. You'll have to pledge $30 for the game, and you can find all of the details, right here!

Lagoon - David Chott

Lagoon has you embarking on a simple little objective: FORGING THE DESTINY OF A WORLD! A board game that features a solo variant and supports up to 4 players, Lagoon is a discovery and area-control game with a very mystical/enchanting feel to it. It also sports some really nice-looking components and artwork. And reviewers are claiming it has a relatively quick learning curve.

You can still pledge to get a copy of Lagoon until March 3, and it's only $35 for a copy of the game. Check out all the details right here!

Westerly Reboot - Analog Evolution Games

Ok, it's really just Westerly, and they've rebooted the campaign... Westerly is a co-op game where players work together to forge a trail out west using their unique characters and story-telling skills.

This game is finished and ready to roll, and more backers means more funding. They have a very lofty funding goal, but the game looks to have been very well-tested-out and tweaked, and comes with plenty of bits!

The campaign ends March 16. There are a few early bird level pledges left at $40, then it jumps up to $50 for a copy of the game. You can find out all of the details, right here!

Bigfoot - Game Salute

It's time to go squatchin'... I can't believe I just typed that...

Anyway Game Salute has launched a campaign for a 2-player card game called Bigfoot, about, well, finding Bigfoot. This is an asymmetrical game in which one player is a cryptozoologist, and the other Bigfoot himself. The Bigfoot player chooses a path to take, while trying to outwit and confound the cryptozoologist. Meanwhile, his counterpart is attempting to find the ever-elusive Sasquatch and claim glory and fame. This one looks to be a very light strategy card game that plays really quickly.

The campaign ends on Feb. 27 and it's only $15 for a copy of the game. You can find all the details of the game, right here!

Thanks so much for reading! If you like what you see here on TOG, you can subscribe to our blog over on the right. And you can tell your friends about us by liking, sharing, following, and subscribing to us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and iTunes!

Are you backing any of these campaigns? Are there any we missed? Let us know, down below!

Game Night at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference!

By Firestone We know this will only apply to a fraction of our readers, but please bear with us. Jeremiah and I are excited to announce that we'll be at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Columbus, Ohio in early March. And we're hosting a game night!

My company (Group Publishing) is putting on the conference, and they've been nice enough to let us have one of the late-night options after Gungor's music set. We'll be playing The Resistance, Coup, Two Rooms and a Boom, One Night: Ultimate Werewolf, and more! So if you're going, join us! And if you're in youth ministry, and not going...WHY NOT?!

St. Petersburg is Getting a Reprint

Well...maybe. The game company Hans im Gluck has announced that, thanks to numerous requests from gamers, they'll be crowd-funding a new edition of St. Petersburg.

The company is going the crowd-funding route because they're still now sure how popular the reprint will be. If enough people show interest, it'll happen. If it fizzles, it'll stay OOP--and prices for the original will likely get a boost.

According to the announcement, the new edition will include:

• A whole new phase (color) with private deck.
• Options for a 5th player.
• A graphical redesign.
• An updated rulebook.
• Additional modules.

It's scheduled to go live in March, on a German crowd-funding site.

Con You Help Us Out?

We here at TOG, love gaming cons... Well at least I (Jeremiah) do. Firestone often sulks from afar because most of the major cons happen states--if not time zones--away. Anyway, while there are some large staples in the gaming con universe: GenCon, Origins, Spiel Con, BGG Con, today we thought we'd make an open place for folks to inform others of the diamonds in the rough. It seems that unless you peruse the bulletin boards at your FLGS you won't hear much about the local cons in your area.

So here's where you come in. We'd love to hear from you, especially if you've attended a smaller local con that you think is worth checking out--just let us know down in the comments below. Let us know all the vital details: date, location, any special guests, events, and of course cost for admission. Feel free to include links or twitter accounts, and contact info as well. Remember, this is the internet and our readers are spread out everywhere, so don't hold back--the more cons listed the better!

So sound off, gaming folks: Where do you get your con on?!

Thanks for reading and contributing!

An Interview with Draco Magi Designer Robert Burke

It’s time for another sit-down and chat with a game designer, and this week we’re chatting with Robert Burke of Robert Burke Games, co-designer of the currently Kickstarting Draco Magi, among other things.

Robert, thanks so much for taking some time during your Kickstarting to share your thoughts with us and our readers.

First, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a husband and father of two from the Charlotte, NC area. I’ve been designing games for a few years now, and hope to continue since I have so much fun with it! I still have a full-time “real job,” but found that designing games is an excellent creative outlet for me. It’s also a great way for me to rationalize board game purchases to my wife. “But honey, if I’m going to improve my designs, I need to own and play more games!” :-)

What can you tell us about Draco Magi?

Draco Magi is a strategic and thematic card game where you play a Dragon mage apprentice vying for the throne of the dragon king. You do this by commanding dragons into battle on different landscapes to win gems. It’s a contest to become the head honcho.

Robert Burke Games is an “indie game publisher,” but you have some pretty heavy hitters who have contributed to Draco Magi. How did you get so well connected in the industry, and how did you manage to assemble this cast of characters to help develop the game?

Well I guess it boils down to two things. The first was putting out some games that were recognized--namely, Cartoona and Battle For Souls. And the second is, I was lucky enough to meet some great people in the industry, whom I meshed very well with.  I value the friendships I’ve made since I’ve entered the fray more than anything else.

You and Richard Launius co-designed Draco Magi; where did the concept of the game come from? And can you share a little about the design process?

The short version:

1. Draco Magi started as an abstract strategy game that was in my head for some time. It was just cards of numbers and colors.

2. I saw the dragon artwork of Kerem Beyit and fell so in love with it that I purchased a seed license to use it in my game

3. I played it with Richard Launius who loved it, but rightly let me know it had no connection to the theme, so we developed a partnership to design it together

So the rest is history. We think we have an excellent 30-minute game that is highly strategic and thematic, has world class art, and that we can sell on Kickstarter for $15. We hope this is the right combination for success.

The design process was fantastic mainly because we had two different perspectives and play testing groups helping to develop the game. The collaboration really forced us to look hard at every change since there was always another designer to review it, critique it, and streamline it.

You’re no stranger to Kickstarter, and the process of getting a game from idea to market. What is the most crucial piece of advice you would give an aspiring designer/developer before they jump into a Kickstarter campaign?

Get the word out from day one. Show people your design process publicly. You can’t be fearful of people stealing your idea. That won’t happen! Show them your art as you find it. Be transparent about what the game is. Make as much media available as possible: review copies, art, rules, videos, podcasts, etc. If you wait until your Kickstarter begins to do this you’ll have a difficult road indeed.

We know you’re neck-deep in the Draco Magi campaign, but is there anything on the horizon you can tell us about?

Yes, I am working with Steve Avery on a dungeon-delving card game with a traitor mechanic called Doppelganger. You have to complete quests as a team, but one player is a doppelganger trying to kill a party member off.

And another is a still-untitled, bluffing game. It was inspired by Coup, a game I love, but that I have some issues with. Namely, the limited number of roles and the player elimination. For this one I am focusing on removing player elimination and will have a lot more roles. Money is the key to victory in this. It should end up being small and inexpensive, but pack a lot of interactive punch.

You’re a self-described “music freak.” What does that mean, exactly, and what are five bands that we might not have heard of that we should be listening to?

I love and play music, and I write playlists for Yahoo Music and the brand new Beats Music.

Here’s a link to my top 100 albums of last year.

Hopefully, that’s better than 5. :-)

Okay, it’s time for the Rapid-Fire Section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Favorite dragon in Draco Magi?

Brass Dragon

TP: over or under?

OVER!

Favorite minor character in a book or movie? Queequeg

Smaug vs. Draco? (You know, the dragon from Dragonheart… Ok, maybe this one doesn’t need answered.)

Smaug

Favorite Kickstarter Game You’ve Backed?

Fleet

We'd like to thank Robert for spending some time with us today!

We've reviewed Draco Magi and you can find that review right here, and you can still get in on the Kickstarter campaign of the game for a meager $15 until Feb. 21, 2014 by clicking right here!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy TOG, we'd love it if you subscribed to the blog over on the right, and if you liked/shared us on Facebook, followed/tagged us on Twitter and Instagram, Subscribed/commented/shared our YouTube Channel, and subscribed/shared/reviewed our Podcast on iTunes!

Another Quick Microgame Kickstarter from Tasty Minstrel Games

Tasty Minstrel Games is back with yet another microgame campaign on Kickstarter. This time it's a tile-laying one cleverly called "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us."

The game comes with 24 square tiles, each with a fenced of tract of land, and some "brands" in the player colors. On a person's turn, he or she places a tile down next to another. If the placed tile finishes a series of fences, such that there's an enclosed section, you count up the brands, and each person scores VPs equal to the number of brands of the next-lower player.

Tiles with silver bars let you move around a tile that isn't locked into place--which happens when a section of land is completely fenced in. The game ends when each tile is played out. The game is for...2-4 players, and a pledge of $3 gets you a copy shipped to your door. (Tasty Minstrel is suggesting you pay $5, though...)

The campaign is only running for 10 days, so if this sounds fun to you, don't delay.

Thanks for reading!