It has been a long time since I've posted anything here on my gaming blog. Seven years to be exact. Covid's effect on commerce plus social media's absolute destruction of the internet's value to human existence pretty much flipped the table on any hopes I had of running a game design company. But I keep this page alive just to resist the link rot and Dead Internet from consuming everything that isn't hosted by Meta or Amazon. That said, I know I don't contribute to it anymore except to host things for my own game group and annual private game convention, ScanCon. But one day I hope we all return to blogging and forums and sharing our hobbies with strangers without feeling the need to monetize it all. But more likely one day this page too will be swallowed up by the AI slop-driven nightmare the world wide web has become. But it is not this day...

This day we hold!

We’re down to the last 24 hours in the campaign, and closer than ever to unlocking even more Tower Adventures and the Engraved Dice! I’m really looking forward to getting these out to our backers before the end of the year. I know that there are some mega-huge monster-smashing boardgame kickstarters out there these days, and the fact that some folks took some time out to support us and our game is really, really great. I hope a year from now they’ll glance over at this rare super-dope embossed-leatherette wizard’s tome sitting on your bookshelf and think: “Man, that game is so weird and cool and unique... I need to play it again. Game night!”

I also know I haven't blogged nearly enough about other gaming since this Kickstarter began, so I'm also looking forward to having a normal gaming schedule again. Its hard to play games just for fun when you're tied up in your own kickstarter!

As promised, here is a full game playthrough of Return to Ravingspire! We explore dark corridors, fight grisly Foes, and explore dimensions beyond space-time in this complete two-Hero playthrough of Return to Ravingspire.

And in case you missed it, here's the HOW TO PLAY video:

We've done it! Florence Haymaker, mild-mannered Village Hero will join your Quest in Return to Ravingspire! At this level backers get another card-stock Hero Battlemat and Hero Vigor card, as well as two new custom dice added to Return to Ravingspire. Thank you all for your support and spreading the word of the campaign!

At first glance, one couldn't be blamed for considering Florence all brawn and no brains, but when it comes to utilizing Weapons in creative ways Florence has no equal. Florence Haymaker can discard any Weapon card during a round to generate two Vorpal! These he can spend as any attribute he chooses, allowing him to take down those pesky mages and rogues with sheer brute power. Sometimes the best offense is more offense!

At the next stretch level we can add five additional Oversized Tower Encounter Cards, themed toward the Fallen Heroes from the original Ravingspire boardgame. Encounter your old friend Garsome Cinderheart, once an ally but now blacksmithing weapons for his new Dark Lord, or help noble rogue Shayla Nimblenook steal some Loot from the Dark Tower.

Please keep spreading the word and help us make the game even more epic!

Thanks and Game On!
Cory

Kickstarter campaign is still going strong for our new game: Return to Ravingspire. We just hit the halfway point in the Kickstarter campaign and we've almost unlocked a sixth playable character. Every new backer helps us put even more cool stuff in the box!

Also, I was watching some daytime TV yesterday and ran across this ad that really resonated with me...

We've achieved our first Stretch Goal and freed another Hero from the Tower: Marcus the Runelord! At this level we're able to add another card-stock Hero Battlemat, Vigor card, as well as two more custom dice to Return to Ravingspire. Marcus is not only a Runelord, but when in combat he can re-roll his equipped Vorpal Artifact dice once per round. I'm excited he'll now get to be a part of the main game! Thank you all so much for helping us get here!

Please join us and help us make Return to Ravingspire even more epic!

Game on!
Cory

We've almost reached our first stretch goal, which unlocks Marcus the Runelord for Return to Ravingspire! At this level we're going to be able to add another Hero Battlemat and his own Character and Class dice to the game.

What Marcus lacks in physical stature he more than makes up for in his ability to maximize the use of mystic artifacts. Marcus can re-roll the dice once per turn for any Vorpal Artifacts he carries. Give him the Vorpal Cape and watch him dance around combat, or give him the Vorpal Ring and help him take down the brutes in melee!

Return to Ravingspire on Kickstarter now!

Thanks to everyone being awesome, Return to Ravingspire is already funded the day after launch! You are all rad to the max. Its hard to believe this kind of stuff can happen for a dopey gamer like me, but its a powerful and humbling reminder that ultimately people are cool and wanna be supportive of other people trying to create fun stuff. Thank you for your trust! I know you're going to love the hell outta this game.
You can watch the full Return to Ravingspire funding update video here if ya want. Game on!

Return to Ravingspire is finally now on Kickstarter! Please take a look if you like Wizards and Goblins and traveling through dimensional vortexes!

You know how you work on something in secret for ever and then its time to release it and you can't really wrap your head around showing it to anyone, even though you're super proud of it? That's kind of what its like to work on Ravingspire. We make fantastic art and we work through unique gameplay ideas but we keep things close to the chest until we can make sure our choices of manufacturing are  ready for launch and their quality is good. We launch the Kickstarter tomorrow so I can FINALLY start showing off what we've done and what we're doing. Problem is, there's so much at this point I almost don't even know where to start!

Well I guess, how about with the dope 1980's commercial we made for the game?

You can tell we miss those old TSR commercials.There was one for like D&D, Marvel Super Heroes, and Indiana Jones RPG all in one mashed up commercial with tons of silhouettes and smoke machine going on. That one was great.

Anyway, we're finally going to release Return to Ravingspire on Kickstarter on April 16th! I'm super psyched about it, because this game is gorgeous and really fun to play. Even the box is awesome. Its an embossed leatherette-wrapped wooden book-shaped box, and really looks and opens like a stout book. Its made of wood too so won't be falling apart and need to be held together with rubber bands after just a couple plays like most boardgame boxes.  Plus if its stored on a bookcase instead of hidden away in the boardgame closet (and the fact that its solo-able) there's a much better chance of folk playing it over and over. How many games have I bought for $50+ only to have played them once or twice before they get lost in the boardgame closet? Too many! We're hoping the decorative nature of the box helps keep this game on display and accessible.


But anyway what about the gameplay? Is it cool? Let me tell you that YES, it is cool! We've combined dice-battling with a choose-your-path style story-heavy adventure game, and I think it works really well. We made big colorful illustrated Tower Cards with storylines on them that each give two options for the Party to follow. One of those options is almost always fight the pictured level guardian head-on, but the second option can get crazy. It involves escaping through a portal into another dimension for a short jaunt and then returning to the tower after a short time. We put in a whole separate book of adventures in there that I think is really unique to boardgaming these days.

Also I've come to dislike having piles of chits everywhere when I play boardgames. The number of tiny ziploc bags I've had to buy just to keep track of sanity tokens over the years borders on ridiculous. So we've made tracking the Fight, Skill, and Charm values in combat into a single board that also contains the player progress and doom trackers. Just move it up and down the tracks as you roll the dice. Its straightforward and keeps things a lot tidier than piles of chits. I'm pretty happy with it.

Also one thing I really love is tactical skirmish combat, but that's difficult to emulate in a quick-play adventure game without the gameplay getting bogged down in maps with grids on them and 5-foot steps. So on that same combat tracker we've put a Marching Order diagram. Where the players can decide whether they want to have their heroes take the front/melee position (usually more dangerous but first choice of loot) or whether they want to hang back and fight with ranged weaponry (usually less dangerous but second choice of loot). Each Tower card will show whether the Hero in that position will take more or less damage, based on the monster they're fighting.

We knew this added a bit of complexity to the fights, but its a simple +1/-1 damage modifier and I think it really adds some fun to the game and helps me envision what kind of attitude the Hero I'm playing has when they're exploring.

Oh my gosh there's way too much to talk about all at once on the development of this game. I put tutorial videos up on the Kickstarter and I'll throw them on Youtube as well. I'll talk more about the game over the next few weeks as the Kickstarter goes on, but if you've got any questions on why we did what we did in the game give a shout and I'll holla back! :)