Hmm, What To Talk About...

I am the Warden!!

Geez, talk about a boring day. Absolutely nothing happened, there's nothing to write about, no reason for me to be excited or proud, to give thanks for or feel great humility.

Oh, wait...

(See the official announcement on Broken Ruler Games for more details. For now, I'm just too giddy to stay in my seat much longer.)

The Trials and Tribulations of Being the New Guy

I am the Warden!!

What's that? Who is the Warden? Hmm, that's a good question, isn't it? In the big scheme of things, I'm nobody. My name only means something to those few who know me and this blog will only be read by a fraction of those friends and backers of Killshot. Aside from one particular post on the old Matrix RPG I was pondering, my best post has garnered 60 views. In the ocean that is the Internet, my ripples are dwarfed by the tidal waves of giants.

That's how it feels sometimes in the struggle to get started and it can be daunting. During the past month as I push and push and push to get as much funding for Killshot as I can, three projects have raised over $1 million and numerous others started by recognized names in the industry and made their goal in 24-48 hours. And we're talking goals in the thousands of dollars. Like I said, tiny ripples.

All that anxiety and disassociation is gone once that glorious email arrives proclaiming the inclusion of yet another backer to the project. Regardless of the amount, it's a herald of victory against all odds because it's a complete stranger taking up the cause. Out of the 26 backers currently slated for contribution, only one of them is a friend or former associate of mine; the remaining 25 are total strangers I could ignorantly pass by on the street.

Plugging Dungeon Crawler

A sample card from Dungeon Crawler.

I am the Warden!!

Busy, busy week last week. And looking to be equally busy this week. While the previous days were spent polishing off the latest revision to Killshot, this week will find me knee deep in writing for RPC (AKA Roleplayers Chronicle) summarizing the Game Summit convention in Ottawa this past long weekend. Specifics will follow on that site within the next few days... which reminds me, I wanted to include a link to all my Under The Hood posts, interviews, and more from this blog. Sigh, the list just got bigger.

But today I wanted to make a special effort to highlight a game I discovered at Game Summit called Dungeon Crawler, an "expandable card game" which gave me cause to commit the ultimate sin: consider playing a card game.

For the first time in its history (brief though it may be), Game Summit had a "Game Designer's Lab" set up for designers to pitch new or upcoming games. The only booth with a really nice set up was by Jey Legarie and his wife (who's name I never caught, unfortunately) complete with banners, playing mats, sample cards, and more. After recording a quick little interview with Jey, we had a good off-mic chat about the process of bringing games to market, the hassles of distribution, shipping, and getting your dream project off the ground. What really struck me about DC was how professional it looked when everything was put together with the same size and ambition of my own work.

As for the game itself, I'll get into that in my official review/interview. Suffice it to say, I've never been one for CCGs and I'm making exceptions for this one in particular. Dungeon Crawler is described as an "expandable card game" built to play like a RPG with adventures and expansion packs to add unique terrain to your ever increasing campaigns. Plus it has a solo play feature for those moment when your friends ditch you because their wife's gone into labour again... sheesh.

If you're a fan of CCGs (or card games in general), supporting Canadian businesses, or have thought about breaking into a card game, seriously check this one out.