A Peek Inside the Vault
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jul 09, 2020 at 05:26:02 PM

The end is near, Overlords! In this penultimate day of the campaign, we've been blown away by the pace of new backers. Yesterday was our second-biggest funding day, and today we've already surpassed yesterday's day-end results! From the data sources we have, it looks like a lot of new backers are fans of our other game set in the world of Arcadia, Boss Monster. As such, we've gotten a lot of questions about Vault of Villains, the new Boss Monster set that will release at the end of October alongside Overlord.

For those of you who don't care at all about Boss Monster, you can skip to the end for a closer look at Explodo and Porkus, two of the Boss cards you'll be getting with Overlord. But for those of you curious about Vault of Villains, which will debut as an Add-On for this campaign, read on!

One Expansion to Unite Them All

Throughout the history of Boss Monster, we designed every new release to be backward-compatible. But with so many different expansions, you can start to dilute mechanics if you just shuffle them all together. In particular, it can be hard to combine our last standalone expansion, Rise of the Minibosses, with earlier sets.

This new set of 64 cards is designed to integrate your older sets. However you want to play, Vault of Villains can enhance your game. Here are some examples of how you can combine it with other sets!

Vault of Villains comes with a set of chipboard Coin tokens. This resource premiered in Rise of the Minibosses, and can be used to pay for Miniboss cards. Here's a first look at four new cards from Vault of Villains, showing off how the set incorporates Minibosses and 5-6 player cards compatible with Crash Landing, while also including some great new cards building on the original game's core mechanics.

 For more card previews, check out the Vault of Villains page on BrotherwiseGames.com.

If you're a Boss Monster fan just learning about Overlord today, there are two other things you should know. The first is that every Kickstarter edition of Overlord will ship with a Limited Edition bonus pack, including special Overlord content and two Boss Monster promo cards!

 We'll also be offering a limited print run of sold-out Boss Monster products: the Paper & Pixels Pack, the Hidden Secrets Pack, and the Collector Box! For more details, check out this update.  

Adding Your Add-Ons

If you're interested in Vault of Villains or any other Add-Ons for this campaign, you'll be able to upgrade your pledge in BackerKit. We'll notify you 1-2 weeks after the end of this campaign, providing your BackerKit link. It will connect with your Kickstarter account and allow us to process your shipping payment. But as long as you're paying for shipping, why not get some other sweet merch? As long as you've pledged at least $1, you'll have access to the pledge manager and can upgrade to The Game ($40), the Tower Edition ($55), and a discounted selection of Brotherwise Games titles!

The Final Countdown

We're now in the home stretch of this campaign, closing in fast on the last 24 hours. We've crushed every stretch goal and have no surprises left up our sleeves, but at least we can give you a closer look at two of our Boss cards!

Explodo loves anything that goes boom, but there's a method to his madness: when the Market is full of great tokens, you can destroy three unwanted Monsters to replace them (in addition to getting your new token and tile for that turn). His secret scoring objective allows you to make the most of your bands, not worrying about matching Monsters. Porkus is a picky demon-swine, capable of selecting any token-and-tile pairing with his Reveal ability. He's at his best when building a chaotic horde, full of different Monsters and Minibosses.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for tomorrow's end-of-campaign update! Our goal tomorrow is to bring in as many people as possible, but we'll also be sharing an updated rulebook for your feedback, as well as details on post-campaign logistics. Thank you for everything, and here's to a big last day!

Lords of Overlord
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 12:24:16 AM

Well met, Overlords! As we head into the final days of this campaign, it feels like a good time to go back to the game's originators: Aaron Mesburne and Kevin Russ. Today, the designers of Overlordwill answer questions from backers! But first, a fun surprise.

Yesterday we added a card to our Limited Edition bonus pack, which will ship to every backer of this campaign. In addition to the Tower terrain tiles and The Collective Boss card, we added a promo card for the original Boss Monster card game. The response was really great, so we're adding another!

Overworld Gate is an Advanced Trap Room that can be played over any treasure type, and it's chock-full of treasure icons. The catch is that it's a low-damage room, and it must be played in your first (leftmost) Room slot to trigger its ability. But if you do, it has a powerful late-game effect: pulling an Epic Hero to your dungeon. It's a direct reference to the Dungeon tiles in Overlord, and it was co-designed by Aaron and Brotherwise.

To play with these cards, you'll need a copy of Boss Monster, which will be available at a discount in our BackerKit pledge manager. If you're not a Boss Monster fan, they're just fun mementos of a great campaign.

Now, on to the interview. Thanks to everyone who provided questions in Update #14, including Marcus Lawrence, Everett Tang, Chris Montgomery, Grayson, Robert Clagett Jr, and Dwayne Teamer!

What games do you play on a regular basis?

• Aaron: Some recent favorites have been "Sonora," "Point Salad," and "Abandon All Artichokes."
• Kevin: Some favorites include "Heaven and Ale" and "Carpe Diem."

Are there any secret inspirations behind Overlord?

• As the Brothers mentioned in Update #2, the original Overlord prototype used to be about plants!

What are your favorite Bosses to play as?

• Hard to choose! Cerebellus and Kazanna have scoring conditions that can be satisfying to pull off. Belladonna and Killa are interesting because they make you think about your token choices a bit differently. King Croak and Explodo have powerful abilities. And The Collective can be flexible but tricky.

What other projects are you guys currently working on? Will this game be turned into an actual video game in the near future?

• We certainly hope so! There are some compelling design reasons why Overlord would work particularly well as an app game.

Will there be other various styles of gameplay to add to the game? Are expansions planned in the future?

• We have some additional gameplay content that could be developed further, including content related to bosses, heroes, and new terrain types. If Overlord does well, hopefully we'll be able to develop this content further and release it as an expansion. So if you want to see more Overlord content, spread the word about the game!

What with the pattern of modern games being designed for larger groups of friends to play (and Overlord itself being boosted from 4 to 5 players), do you think we'll be seeing an expansion that adds an extra player or two to the game or was 5 the maximum limit you could reach with the balance system?

• It's certainly something to explore. The current max player count (5 players using the regular 3x4 boards or 4 players using the big 4x4 boards) is currently capped by the number of some of the components, but this component count is itself based on game balance needs and intended game experience.

The rules call for every game to include 5 terrain types (plus Dungeons). Is this a hard set for balance reasons, or would it work with more in a round?

• Yep, the game would technically be playable but less balanced. If you dilute the tile pool in a game with more sets beyond 5 + Dungeons, tiles that use ramp scoring or contest-style scoring (Forests, Deserts, Camps, Graveyards) quickly become less consistently viable. And even if you don’t play with those specific tiles, each new tile set comes with their respective tokens to add to the bag, which will dilute the token pool and reduce the probability that special tokens like minibosses and portals will be drawn. This will all cause the game to play differently and make some bosses less competitive. So while we don't recommend it, if you’re ok with playing a less balanced experience, you’re welcome to combine tile sets in any way you want!

Will there be suggested tile combinations/themes for rounds? Such as "Classic" being the base tiles before stretch goals, and "Civilization" including Castles, orc Camps, and Summoning Circles?

• Yes, there will be some suggested preset tile combinations for games. Your mention of “Civilization" is very close to one of them!

My group is a real competitive bunch. What ideas did you have to add even more player interactivity? I understand there is hate drafting and such. We just love to ruin each other's day.

• If you want an Overlord experience with more direct (and cutthroat) player interaction, we recommend you play with the included Command Cards. Command Cards are an optional mechanic that let you build tile patterns on your board in order to earn actions that can be used to mess with your opponents' boards in really significant ways!

How important is a balance between flavor and function when it comes to coming up (and going forward) with gameplay mechanics, and (aside from playtesting) how do you decide on what works best?

• Making sure that the theme and mechanics are strongly intertwined is super important. In evaluating mechanical-thematic harmony we often think about whether the theming suggests the mechanic in some way in order to aid the player in better remembering the mechanic (Eg. on towers you stack tokens, etc.).

What other projects are you guys currently working on?

• Our next joint project is called "Verdant" which we're currently working on in conjunction with Flatout Games, Verdant revisits the gardening theme we love, but with some very different tableau-building mechanics we're quite excited about. Aaron also has some animal-themed card games in development and Kevin has another upcoming tile-laying game about backyard birds with Flatout Games and a train-themed, Mancala-style game with Talon Strikes Games, both of which should be released in 2021. 

Alright, that's all for today. Be sure to check out Aaron and Kevin's upcoming projects, because these guys are super talented.

Tomorrow we'll take a closer look at Vault of Villains, and we'll begin the final countdown!

What's in the Box
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 07, 2020 at 04:21:13 PM

Overlords, the end is near! This Thursday is the last day of our campaign, so now it's time for the final push. Today we have a look back, a peek behind the curtain, and a fun surprise for Boss Monster fans. 

How Far We've Come

It's pretty crazy looking at Overlord on Day One versus the final game components. Here's a look at everything we've unlocked over the course of this campaign: 60 Terrain tiles, 50 Monster tokens, 5 Crystals, 10 strategic Boss cards, 18 cutthroat Command cards, Solo Mode, 5-Player Mode, and a premium tray insert. On top of that, we have our special rewards for backers: the Original Backers bag and the Limited Edition set containing one bonus Boss, 12 Tower tiles, 10 Monsters, and a Crystal.  

But wait, what's that little card in the very bottom right-hand corner? Let's take a closer look!

A Monstrous Bonus

A lot of people have come to this campaign as existing fans of our original game of videogame villainy, Boss Monster. We already have some rare Boss Monster cards available as part of our BackerKit Add-Ons, but we decided it would be cool to do something special for this campaign. So as part of the Limited Edition bonus pack shipping to every backer of this campaign, we're including this new Boss Monster promo card.

The manifold power of the The Collective can harness the power of your slain heroes, turning them into mindless zombies who will defend your dungeon. Thanks to Bertrand "DaLk" Dupuy, pixel artist for Overlord and Boss Monster, for creating this great illustration on short notice!  

A Peek Behind the Curtain

Over the holiday weekend, Chris "Brother One" O'Neal recorded an inside look at the pre-production process for Overlord. This video gives you an in-depth look at how we move from our Print&Play prototype to our first factory samples. He even shows off our first "white" sample (which might be better called a "printed with random images" sample) that we use to assess dimensions, weight, and quality. This is the biggest game we've made... twice the weight of our last game, Call To Adventure! But we want to make sure every tile is thick, durable, and easy to read from across the table. Check out the video:

As we head to the final days of this campaign, we'll be doing a big marketing push, including ads on BoardGameGeek and other places where we can reach tabletop gamers. If you've enjoyed being a part of this campaign, we'd love it if you could use this last week to spread the word! Whether you post one of our images on Instagram or just make a post letting your friends know about #BossMonsterOverlord, everything helps. Either way, thank you so much for your support in making Overlord a hit!

Fireworks, Hot Reviews, and Burning Questions
almost 4 years ago – Sun, Jul 05, 2020 at 01:05:12 AM

Greetings, Overlords! To our fellow Americans, happy Independence Day. We hope you have a great weekend of barbecues, fireworks, and board games. Holiday weekends are the perfect time to play "gateway games" with friends and family, the kind of approachable games that can get people into the tabletop gaming hobby. By the end of this year, you'll be able to add Overlord to your holiday rotation!

We continue to be amazed by the momentum of the campaign. Kickstarter tends to benefit from a virtuous cycle where success leads to more folks checking out the campaign, so thanks to all of you who have pledged so far. Anyone checking out the campaign right now is seeing a lot of excitement and a ton of value thanks to everything we've unlocked.

Speaking of stretch goals, we’ve been able to get some updated prototypes out to reviewers in the last few days, and the responses have been fantastic! Here are the latest:

It’s awesome to hear that reviewers are having a great time with the basic game, then really enjoying the depth added by all the content we've unlocked in this campaign. (By the way, these prototypes pictured above have boards that were a little too big; in the final game, tiles will fill the board as shown in earlier prototype photos.) We've gotten a positive response from everyone who received a preview copy, and we can't wait to see the reaction when we ship you the final-quality versions!

Questions for the Masters

For our next update, we’d like to give you the chance to connect with two of the coolest guys we know: Aaron Mesburne and Kevin Russ, the designers of Overlord! Normally, when you ask questions anywhere in this campaign, you're hearing from Chris and Johnny, the Brothers Wise. But we're just the publishers! So what questions do you have for Aaron and Kevin? You could ask about their design process, what it's like to be a professional board game designer, or questions about gameplay. Just post your question in the Comments and we'll post their answers in our next update! 

Add-On Like a Boss
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Jul 04, 2020 at 08:53:15 PM

Overlords! What a blast this has been. We've got over a week left in our Overlord campaign and we've already unlocked all of the stretch goals, and the pace of new fans joining the campaign actually seems to be increasing. We're once again humbled by the amazing people here on Kickstarter. With the stretch goals unlocked, that gives us a chance to use these updates to share more about the design, planning, and art of this game, as well as to discuss what else is coming from Brotherwise. But first, now seems like a good time to answer some questions we've seen about  the end of the campaign.

BackerKit

We are using a pledge manager for this campaign called BackerKit. Most of you are likely already familiar with BackerKit, but for those who are not, BackerKit allows us to collect all your relevant information at campaign's end, organize and calculate your shipping costs, and gives you the opportunity to add more pledge copies to your order, or even get other Brotherwise games you don't already own. Sometime after the campaign ends you'll get an email from BackerKit asking you to complete a shipping survey and if you want to include any add-ons to your order. BackerKit will walk you through the whole process and is simple to use.

Add-Ons

One of the benefits of BackerKit is that it provides some flexibility to Kickstarter's fairly limited pledging options. For example, if you want an extra copy of the Tower pledge, you can do so, simply by adding it in BackerKit. While Overlord is the main event for this campaign, BackerKit also gives you easy access to a bunch of other cool Brotherwise products, such as...

 The entire Brotherwise Games catalog of games and accessories will be available to add to your order, discounted from MSRP. From the original Boss Monster to The Stormlight Archive, all our titles will be available.

The new Boss Monster expansion: Vault of Villains. Vault of Villains brings the popular Miniboss cards of Boss Monster 3 to all of your Boss Monster expansions. It includes all new coin-oriented rooms, powerful Minibosses, and all new Bosses and spells. Vault of Villains is the one expansion to unite them all, and if you order it on BackerKit, you'll be one of the first players to get it.

The Boss Monster: Collector Box! The Collector Box has been out of print for over a year and a half now, but we're bringing back a limited print run for those of you who are fans of the original Boss Monster. With space to hold all your Boss Monster cards AND a set of unique cards called the Portable Pack, the Collector's Box is a critical part of your Boss Monster collection, and of course once you have that you'll have to get...

Out of print expansion packs like the Paper and Pixels pack and the Hidden Secrets pack. These hard-to-find packs introduce new spells, new Bosses, and new mechanics to your Boss Monster game. We're reprinting a limited number of these just for this campaign.

And there will be more, including the opportunity to add just the Market Board to your base pledge if the Tile Tower isn't your thing. We think you'll be thrilled with all the little bits we've brought back for the dedicated Boss Monster fan. Until then, however, we've got a week's worth of work to do. Tell your friends! Tell your family! You've taken this Kickstarter this far, now help us take it over the top!