Do you like to get free things? Do you like to participate (at least vicariously) in silliness on the way to the free things? Do you have a soft spot for folks who try really hard to be creative and witty (but the jury is still out on each of those points, of course)?
Then follow me on Twitter and see what happens on Monday! #freestarter
You can now get Jump Gate, Second Edition, for $14, from either eBay or the BoardGameGeek.com Marketplace.
Order at either of those online shops will be a direct order from me. So, I’d be happy to add a message inside the box cover if you’d like me to.
RETAILERS (both online and FLGS): Send me an e-mail if you would like to have Jump Gate available via your store … I think you would like the wholesale pricing!
TheGameCrafter.com, which is the site I use for publish-on-demand for most of my games, has their own crowd-funding project on IndieGoGo to help them add shrinkwrapping to their offerings.
I was all set to write-up a pitch for you all to take a look at the project and offer your support if you could … but then Noble Valerian already did an excellent job of just that.
So … please read Noble’s description of the project, and why it should be funded: http://www.noblevalerian.com/1/post/2013/03/the-game-crafter-indiegogo-campaign.html
Thanks for considering it! 
Alrighty! I think I may have wrestled my favorite behemoth to the ground well enough to share it this weekend at Milwaukee. This has taken a while, and lots of twists and turns (as a couple of designers I talk with nearly daily can testify).
I still need to prepare a player reference sheet for people to use during the game, but for now the rules are ready. You can download them here: Magistrate (20)
If you played this game anytime over the past few years (variously called “Uncivil” and “Show of Power”) at the Protospiel in Ann Arbor, Con of the North in St. Paul, or at GenCon Indy last August … this may resemble more-or-less the same thing — but I think it’s quite better now. Certainly tighter and easier to consume, mentally, I think. I’d definitely love to hear what you think if you give it a gander.
We’ll see how it goes this weekend!
In order to be ready for Protospiel-Milwaukee, I wanted to have written rules for each of the designs I will be bringing along to test.
Folks in a Bag
This morning, I was able to get a first, rough (rough!), text-only draft of the rules for For Goods and Honor ready. Not sure I’ll do much more with these until after this weekend testing … they could really use some pretty pictures and some game play examples in them. But they should be good enough to let us play the game and see how things work.
If you’re curious, you can download and read the PDF: For Goods and Honor (17)
Thanks for checking it out, and feel free to send me any feedback or questions you might have.
And, just for candy, here are a couple more pictures:
This turned out to be a longer post than I intended. So, for the “tldr” crowd: SharkBait went out via the PPP and I got great feedback from Tom G. So, I made major changes. Feedback is appreciated.
Here are the latest rules: SharkBait Rules Booklet (20)
As Protospiel-Milwaukee gets closer, I am prepping each of the different games I plan to bring along. As I get each of them ready, I’ll try to post something about them here. For example, I’ve posted recently about Cosmic Critters (including rules) and For Goods and Honor (rules coming soon). I even plan to post a full set of rules for my behemoth (relative to most of my designers), Magistrate, before I leave for Milwaukee!
One design that I had fairly far along — or so I thought — was Sharkbait … a family-style dice game about saving fish from being eaten by sharks. (more…)
I’ve been thinking for a while now of repackaging the TGC edition of Jump Gate. I’ve been updating the graphics with an eye to getting everything to fit into TGC’s new Small Pro Box (which is their best packaging option at this point, hands down).
But with the new edition, there are a number of other things I am thinking of tweaking in the game. Here’s a quick list — and I’m looking for feedback and thoughts on these changes … (more…)
I’m very proud to announce that the big & beautiful 10th Anniversary Edition of Castle Danger is now available at TheGameCrafter.com!
This new edition comes with a gorgeous 18×18 inch quad-fold board with the look of an ancient hand-sketched parchment map on an old wooden table. The majority of the pieces are hybrid wooden/plastic tokens with classic-style icons. The rule booklet is full-sized, full-color, saddle-stitched and glossy (take a look at it here).
I still plan to have a short how-to-play video out in the near future … keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, please spread the word on the new version of this classic game!
I now have the Cosmic Critters artwork updated with the illustrations from my friend, Dan Higgins … cute little suckers, no?
I also took a first pass at the rules. You can download them here: Cosmic Critters Rules (28)
Please give them a read and let me know what you think. I plan to have this game with me in Milwaukee in March at the Protospiel event. Of course, I’m happy to give it a whirl before then!
The other new design that I have started to work on in order to test at Protospiel-Milwaukee is something I started a number of years ago called “For Goods and Honor.”
It’s an odd game that I’m not exactly sure how to give a short description for. It has chit pulling, bidding/negotiation, worker placement, and something (that I think is) novel where you are forced to give something of value to another player. You’re likely to gain something valuable for you from the transaction though, so it’s all good, hopefully.
The game story starts like this …
“Goodferd Valley is peopled with kind, productive folk that value a good day’s work and a helping hand from a friend. The valley’s elders look for the best way to put people to work in order to produce the most goods while gaining the most honor from their peers. They also strive to keep their people safe from the evil Nastigans who live over the ridge.”
The main gameplay is that you draw 2 worker tokens (as pictured above and to the left) from a bag … you get to keep one, and you have to give one away. Meanwhile, players get to offer honor chips, goods, and workers in trade for someone giving them a particular type of worker using this “offers” board:
The “Negotiable” space allows players to put some things that they can add to any of the other spaces at the point-in-time when another player is offering up a worker that player wants. Then, when it’s your turn, you gain goods based on how you’ve assigned your workers on your “Worker Assignment” board.
The threads are still very loose on how it all ties together … but I have a couple of weeks to get it into shape for testing with other designers.
