Meople News: Conference in the Underdark

Plaid Hat Games

From the first time we talked about Plaid Hat Games’s dice and card game Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, we knew there would be expansions. It’s a game that is made to be expanded. In a new blog post, Plaid Hat have revealed details about the game’s future. Starting with two decks next April, we can expect new decks every three months, with a special release next fall when two new schools of magic, Sympathy and Divine, will be added to the game. The April expansions will be The Frostdale Giants with a natural magic deck and The Children of Blackcloud with ceremonial magic.

FryxGames

This week’s card preview for Terraforming Mars has not one but two cards to show off. The Olympus Conference, the biggest because only scientific event on Mars, rewards you for every further science tag on cards you play. And then you get Research, which has two science tags. The cards’ effects also make it clear that hand cards are a valuable resource and you will want abilities to draw fresh ones.

Gale Force 9

Gale Force 9 have announced a new boardgame in the AD&D universe by Peter Lee and Rodney Thompson, designers of the excellent AD&D boardgame Lords of Waterdeep. As setting for the new game, they discovered the one place that is a bigger hive of scum and villainy than Waterdeep: the Underdark, subterranean home of the dark elves, the drow. In Tyrants of the Underdark, you will take control of one of the drow noble houses and fight for control over the Underdark. You recruit monsters, demons and other baddies into your army with a deck-building mechanic, but your ultimate goal is to control more of the Underdark than any other house. There are different strategies you can employ to get there, but none of them include goodness or diplomacy – these are drow politics we’re talking about.

Fantasy Flight Games

For the first time, players of Elder Sign will leave the city of Arkham. And it’s not to explore the sunny surrounding countryside, either. Elder Sign: Omens of Ice takes the players to the wilderness of Alaska. It comes with an all new deck of adventure cards to replace the original ones, and the new Old Ones are not your only problem out there, maybe not even your worst. You will have to survive in the Alaskan wilderness to even get to them, if you want a harder game even in winter. Expect everything from hungry wolves to icy river crossings. In addition to all the usual problems you’ll have to manage your expedition’s supplies, because running out will quickly spell your doom. This will easily be the toughest Elder Sign experience yet.

You thought with all four corners of the board filled there wouldn’t be any more Talisman expansions? Well, think again, Fantasy Flight are simply starting over in the center. With Talisman: The Cataclysm they replace the center board with an all new one where a cataclysm has turned the Outer Region into a barely inhabitable wasteland and the once fiery Inner Region into a frozen hell. New heroes have their own motivations to find the Crown of Command and the new denizens of the lands are just as friendly or unfriendly as the familiar ones. There’s no word yet if The Cataclysm will be compatible with the previous expansions, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find new corner boards to match the post-apocalyptic theme.

This week’s photo of the week shows the Great Mosque of Damascus, part of the Ancient City of Damascus heritage site in Syria. The photo was taken back in 2004 by Flickr user seier+seier, and with the civil war raging in Syria it’s doubtful if we, or our children will be able to see it like this ever again. Next to the horrible loss of life, this loss of cultural heritage is a further tragedy of the war, and it saddens me that the world seems both unwilling and unable to stop it. (Photo license: CC-BY)

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