Tabletop Games Kickstarter Roundup - April 6th, 2022
Does your inbox fill up every Tuesday with Kickstarter emails? Well, mine does - so I decided to start writing my thoughts on new tabletop gaming Kickstarters every Wednesday. Keep in mind, most of these are based on initial impressions and looking at the Kickstarter video.
This week is another random assortment of picks from me: another gaming table, some people looking to open a gaming store, a non-werewolf game from Bezier, wallet-sized barnyard fun, and a small party D&D5e compatible adventure. Let's jump right in!
The Prometheus Modular Gaming Table
I have a suspicion that I could probably find a new gaming table campaign every week if I looked hard enough. This one caught my eye with the snazzy graphics and the fact I saw "AR" mentioned somewhere in the beginning. Time to watch the video. Holy exposition Batman! I'm one minute in on a FIVE minute video and I feel like I'm getting a comic book origin story. No mention of games yet, just talking about how excited they were for their first sleepover. I remember that excitement, but like….let's get to the point? Y'all have no idea the amount of willpower it's taking me to not fast forward through this (this is what I do for you people!!). Like, 1:30 in and we know his friend's dad's name and that these two friends had a teacher they didn't like. Oh, there's the D&D mention…10 seconds later.
"Hey if you skipped the video, we highly encourage you to watch it". Bro, no one has time for that. The narration and production is great - if it were the opening to a book/audiobook. By the way, consider writing a book - you have great skills as a writer/reader. What about the table itself? First of all, it does have a different "style" to it than most of the other tables I've seen. If you've got one of those black metal and glass topped dining room tables, then this is a perfect "gaming" replacement for it. The AR stuff I saw early on means that you can project it into your room to see how it fits. Not a bad idea - big box stores have started doing this, so seeing a campaign do it is pretty neat.
I saw $750 as a pledge level and got excited as that's a good price for those that can't afford more expensive tables, until I saw it was a deposit. Clicking multiple times to get to their website to find an actual price (not a great technique) and it turns out you can get it for $770…in a metal color and with no topper. Which….does not look great (unless you live in a hangar?). Getting the better looking black color costs like $300 more! Wow. Unless it matches your aesthetic, there are probably better options for only a bit more money.
Gamers' Command Local Gaming Community & Store
Most of you probably didn't know, but I just recently finished up my MBA. My "capstone" project that I developed over the course of several classes what that of starting my own gaming store. Now, given all the research I did, I now know I never want to open one, but it gave me a lot of insight on what it would take. So seeing a Kickstarter for a new store in Florida probably hit those strings and got me curious. Video does a great job of hitting you early with the details (which is a relief after the last one). They even put in a bunch of bloopers at the end so you can see some of the character of the owners.
Goal is $10,000, which from my research is *not* enough to open a store. In my capstone project, I proposed using a Kickstarter with a funding goal of around 10K as a way of building a community online, and that's what this campaign makes me think of. They aren't expecting to make it with the $10K, but they want customer buy in. Also, their website talks about how they want to be an inclusive place for gamers…which I wish they would have put on the actual page. Which is the biggest criticism I have: there's not *much* on the page. The rewards seem appropriate for people wanting to actually succeed for a store and not over promise, but there's not much info on the page other than "why". Honestly, I've seen so many stores with the stereotype of "magic bros want a place to play magic" that I would try and put so much info on a page to assure backers I've done the research. You've established that you are gamers, tell me you've done some business work. Regardless, I backed this one at $1 because it seemed like a good effort for that community.
Maglev Metro: Mechs, Monorails, & More!
Time for the MAINSTREAM* KICKSTARTER OF THE WEEK! (*mainstream for the board game community at least). Maglev Metro is a game that I wanted to try out at Pax Unplugged - it looked like a route laying game and had neat transparent tiles to build the routes. So I see emails about an expansion hit my inbox this week, so find out there are mechs involved? That seems like a twist to me, but I don't know anything about the game. Video does a great job of telling me what each expansion adds briefly (and early on) - also, is that a Eric Summerer I hear?
I kind of love games that have the option to throw in more maps to change things up. It's a factor that originally drew me into Terraforming Mars and also why I made sure to get Clank. I like the model of only getting the maps that you care about - although I have a feeling if you like the game and only get one series, then you'll probably regret not getting the others later. And adding on the base game for a total of $120?!? Whew, that's a lot of game for that price, but still a lot to throw down if you've never played the game. It does want me to see if anyone around me has the game though, or see if I can find a good price for it online.
Barnyard: A Wallet Game
"Hey look, Button Shy has a new game," I thought originally, only to find out this *isn't* a Button Shy game! Great video also, tells me briefly how to play, very well animated and is succinct! The brief gameplay gives me vibes of Kingdomino, but with cards. I might be completely wrong, that was just what the description made me think of. Only $3 for a print and play seems pretty good, and $10 for the full game is on par I think with these types of games. If you are a fan of these smaller style games, then I think you might want to check this one out. (Small writeup, I know but hey it's a small game!)
BEOWULF: The Trials of the Twin Seas for 5e
I don't remember much about the story of Beowulf, other than we read a few stories about it in high school. Seems like in the past five years I've heard more and more about it - is it because it’s a public domain property that hasn't been used to death yet? Our local gaming store has the main Beowulf book in stock, so I was aware that it was a thing, but other than it's a 5e game, I know nothing about it.
Seems like we are seeing a lot of "1 player, 1 GM" games, which I'm assuming is a result of the pandemic. Personally, I'm just a likely to get 1 player as I am to get a whole table, so it's not a game style that immediately draws me in, nor is the theme. Maybe if I was more familiar with the lore? However, I would definitely play if someone else I knew got it and wanted to run me through an adventure. Video does a good job of telling me what the product is up front, and the prices are on par with what I would expect for a RPG product. I'm assuming if you loved the first book you've already backed this, but if you have been looking to play more RPGs with your partner, you might want to give this a shot!
That's all for this week - would you play a 2 person RPG? Why or why not??
Note: I generally assume I know nothing. So if I've missed something, let me know in the comments. Or let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you like these types of posts, consider subscribing to our patreon.