Meople News: Rebellious Guilds at Sea

For most of us, boardgaming is a wonderful hobby, a great diversion to pass the time with friends. But for some it’s even more than that. Over at Ars Technica, Laurence Kirkby tells how boardgames saved his life. It’s a great read and a touching story, and I’m happy and a little proud of his experience with boardgamers.

Promise of Power (Eldritch Horror: Signs of Carcosa, Image by Fantasy Flight)
Promise of Power (Eldritch Horror: Signs of Carcosa, Image by Fantasy Flight)

Fantasy Flight Games

Hastur is coming. That much is clear since the first Signs of Carcosa have been observed in the coming Eldritch Horror expansion of that name. But not all is lost, as always brave investigators are there to stand against the Old One. The two new investigators in this expansion are very different characters, a gun-toting gangster and a street urchin, but they’ll both be great assets in the coming fights. And they are not the only good, new things for the inhabitants of planet Earth. With Signs of Carcosa, the condition system may actually work for you. Investigators will be able to gain Talents, a new type of condition that actually helps its owner – although there is still a price to pay every time you use your talent. The new Promise of Power condition, a deal you make with a supernatural being, has the potential to be even more helpful when it finally happens, but I’m sure there will be deals that go horribly wrong, too.

Indie Boards and Cards

Coup: Rebellion G54 is a bluffing card game by Indie Boards and Cards. Players have hidden character cards but may use actions on their turn belonging to any character. If no one challenges them, they can take the action, even if they don’t have the card. If they are challenged and don’t have the right character card, they lose a card slot, last player with cards wins. It’s a great game and a proven system, and it can only get better with the six new characters in the expansion G54 Anarchy that is now on Kickstarter.

Plaid Hat Games

Rob Daviau, creator of the Legacy mechanic, has started a series of blog entries about his coming Legacy game SeaFall. The first revelation is that players will not only control a small fleet of ships exploring the oceans, we’ll also have to take care of our province back home. And the player who does this best will, at the end of all the games, become the Emperor to unite the provinces. I’m really curious already for more details, but there is this one quote that illustrates why I want this game:

As I told someone, “I want Indiana Jones in the Age of Sail.” For the most part, that’s what SeaFall is.

– Rob Daviau

Alderac Entertainment

Alderac’s Guildhall games are coming back. The basic idea of Guildhall was that you play cards from different medieval professions for an effect, and the more cards of the same kind you play the stronger that effect will be, until you have a full set of six and remove it from play to buy victory points. The mechanics work well and won the game some critical acclaim, but Alderac feels that the medieval theme didn’t do it any favors. Few people want to be Peddlers or Tax Collectors. And so the new games, a series of three, will be Guildhall: Fantasy and replace the professions with more classic fantasy classes like, presumably, wizards, bards and rogues. The Guildhall: Fantasy series will have three boxes titled Fellowship, Alliance and Coalition, each of which will have some cards from the original Guildhall, some from Guildhall: Job Faire, and some all new cards. All three of them will be out this summer.

This week’s featured photo was taken by Flickr user Ninara. It shows the Hermitage Museum, one of the world’s oldest art museums, in the historic center of St. Petersburg, Russia. Thank you for sharing, Ninara! (Photo license: CC-BY)

Leave a Reply