Cephalofair games has released their Backerkit campaign for both Gloomhaven 2nd edition and for the Gloomhaven RPG. I'm a bit conflicted on it, as I generally like the gameplay, the setting, the...
Cephalofair games has released their Backerkit campaign for both Gloomhaven 2nd edition and for the Gloomhaven RPG.
I'm a bit conflicted on it, as I generally like the gameplay, the setting, the puzzle-like nature of Gloomhaven and have nearly everything that's been released thus far, however, I'm not so sure the implementation would work as well for an RPG. I'm not sure how dependent the game is on card decks or if you'd be ok with just some dice, but it seems to have a special set of cards for each class, which seems problematic (though they do have a pledge for the book itself, so maybe it's optional). Otherwise, I'm not sure I care enough to move to a new RPG system for it, I kind of wish it was more just a campaign setting within an established RPG, rather than an entirely new system. The pain of trying to get my group to learn a new system is such a drag anymore.
Gloomhaven 2nd edition is right out, I'm not rebuying it, though I guess I understand why they can't just release an upgrade kit (changes are too extensive). I really wish they'd do a pledge/upgrade kit for just the characters/classes, so you could use that updated stuff, but maybe that's not practical either.
Correction: 2nd edition class upgrades are a thing, I hadn't seen those before!
Personally, I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm in the middle of a Frosthaven playthrough and am interested in seeing what the RPG system has to offer. I was also pleasantly surprised at how...
Personally, I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm in the middle of a Frosthaven playthrough and am interested in seeing what the RPG system has to offer.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how relatively inexpensive the RPG materials were. $30 for the book and $90 for the whole shebang seems like a pretty good deal when I'd normally expect to be paying significantly more for a D&D/Pathfinder book/full setup. It's not quite in the range that I'm questioning the quality, but maybe it speaks to the size of the publication.
I've been a supporter of Isaac's since his first game, Forge War (even pledged at a level to get my name on one of the cards), and I've always been quite pleased with the quality of his work. I don't necessarily expect the quality of the RPG to be as high as that of Gloom/Frosthaven, but at its price point I'm certainly ready to be pleasantly surprised.
Edit to add: I'm also interested in a game system that doesn't necessarily revolve exclusively around dice. The card system for Gloomhaven and Frosthaven works really well and I'm curious to see what they're doing with it and whether the cards will be mostly combat focused or how they'll affect roleplay. Given that they talk about there being distinct decks for classes and ancestries, it sounds like you'll be mixing decks together to create a character, which I like the sound of as well.
I keep coming back to one core problem, which is that games like this, with tons of bookkeeping and what not, really do feel better as video games rather than physical ones? I enjoy the steam...
I keep coming back to one core problem, which is that games like this, with tons of bookkeeping and what not, really do feel better as video games rather than physical ones? I enjoy the steam version a lot more because I can just pick up and play, not set up a night around it.
I agree that the setup required for the base games is a bit extensive. Playing through Gloomhaven at first with a friend we would have to dedicate about an hour each to setup and teardown. I do...
I agree that the setup required for the base games is a bit extensive. Playing through Gloomhaven at first with a friend we would have to dedicate about an hour each to setup and teardown. I do appreciate that with this campaign they're offering coil map books for Frosthaven so you don't have to go hunting around for the tiles and setting up every little bit and/or piece. Further, there are apps that speed up enemy and initiative management, even card draws, that make the gameplay much smoother. It also helps that my group uses a gaming table that we can put table leaves overtop when we're not playing so we can basically leave everything set up between weekly sessions.
With that being said, I don't know if a Gloomhaven RPG will have the same amount of setup. Since there doesn't seem to be any monster paraphernalia with the complete package, I'm guessing that they run a little more like traditional RPGs where the "Gloommaster" decides their actions, which should cut down on required setup. And since I imagine the GM will be the one creating any combat maps they can be as complex or simple as the party needs. Might be all you need is a sheet of hex paper and a few tokens/markers and you're good to go!
Confirmed for me and my crew, the video game version is far easier to get into, with smoother mechanics. Unfortunately in both versions, we ultimately found the strict action economy (and its...
Confirmed for me and my crew, the video game version is far easier to get into, with smoother mechanics.
Unfortunately in both versions, we ultimately found the strict action economy (and its subsequent hard turn count limit) to be frustratingly stifling. I can appreciate that such mechanics appeal to the more hardcore kind of "I'mma git gud, darnit!" players, but that ended up being the final dealbreaker.
Amusingly, that is one reason why the tabletop version may be more appealing to some folks: the ability to house rule mechanics as needed in order to change the flow and feel of the game.
I agree with this sentiment. My long distance game group ended up playing the full campaign via Tabletop Simulator, after they had failed to make it through a handful of scenarios in person. The...
I agree with this sentiment. My long distance game group ended up playing the full campaign via Tabletop Simulator, after they had failed to make it through a handful of scenarios in person. The specific mod we used had automatic set up and turn upkeep; we still had to move monsters and take their turns. But just the fact that we didn’t have to set up each scenario by hand meant that we could play much quicker.
Compared to another group of my friends that are playing through the campaign IRL, they have to devote a full day to one or two scenarios max. The upside though is that they are in person, face to face, which is really one of the true joys of boardgaming.
All of that to say, we enjoyed Gloomhaven only because we were able to remove some of the setup and upkeep work.
Played a bunch of Gloomhaven, and our group is 10 sessions into frosthaven. I am a long-time GM of RPGS and have played dozens of RPGs. I cannot, for the life of me, understand what would be fun...
Played a bunch of Gloomhaven, and our group is 10 sessions into frosthaven. I am a long-time GM of RPGS and have played dozens of RPGs.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what would be fun about an RPG using Gloomhaven's card mechanics. I am trying to keep an open mind, I do not know everything. But every ounce of Gloomhaven's system exists to:
A) Ride a very thin attrition based difficulty curve
B) Make Killing 10 things in 2 rooms take 3 hours.
C) Be extremely lethal.
I was interested in the idea of running RPGs in the Gloomhaven setting, but I don't want to just prepare Gloomhaven Scenarios in my free time. It's not... remotely interesting to me, and will either be a nightmare to balance or will lose all semblance of challenge.
Yeah, I like the idea of a stamina system that prevents combat sessions from running over too long, but unless they have some sort of super intuitive way of figuring that stuff out on the fly, it...
Yeah, I like the idea of a stamina system that prevents combat sessions from running over too long, but unless they have some sort of super intuitive way of figuring that stuff out on the fly, it seems like it will increase setup time by quite a bit. Just trying to balance encounters for games like D&D is already a pain, but then having to make sure you don't wear down the party and they pass out will make it a bit more nerve-wracking. And the swinginess of Gloomhaven combat can be incredibly aggravating at times, I don't know if it's the use of cards that makes it that way vs using dice or what.
I was excited by the news when they first announced it, but then the more I thought about it, the less appealing it seemed for an RPG. I feel like the general trend with alot of RPGs has been to go more rules-lite and just remove as many obstacles as possible to telling a story, whereas Isaac Childres (if he's the one writing it), seems to have gotten more fiddly and complicated with his rulesets as time has gone on, so I'm not sure if Gloomhaven RPG will actually be much simpler as a game or if it's just Gloomhaven with a more detailed freeform City/Outpost phase.
I'm a hands-on type of learner but this kickstarter looks really cool and promising! I would get the combo pack if I had the money because the models look sweet.
I'm a hands-on type of learner but this kickstarter looks really cool and promising! I would get the combo pack if I had the money because the models look sweet.
I do like the artwork and the models all look pretty good, but I've been in so many kickstarters that I probably have too many models at this point. I also don't want to feel compelled to use...
I do like the artwork and the models all look pretty good, but I've been in so many kickstarters that I probably have too many models at this point. I also don't want to feel compelled to use these models in games of GH, as it's already kind of a pain to set it up normally with just the flats. Trying to track down a bunch of physical models would just add more time to the process (though the flat map books could help in this regard).
If you want to try it out, look for the pdf version to see what it's about. If you find yourself liking it, and have the $30+tax/shipping, I recommend buying the book for moral reasons lol.
If you want to try it out, look for the pdf version to see what it's about. If you find yourself liking it, and have the $30+tax/shipping, I recommend buying the book for moral reasons lol.
Cephalofair games has released their Backerkit campaign for both Gloomhaven 2nd edition and for the Gloomhaven RPG.
I'm a bit conflicted on it, as I generally like the gameplay, the setting, the puzzle-like nature of Gloomhaven and have nearly everything that's been released thus far, however, I'm not so sure the implementation would work as well for an RPG. I'm not sure how dependent the game is on card decks or if you'd be ok with just some dice, but it seems to have a special set of cards for each class, which seems problematic (though they do have a pledge for the book itself, so maybe it's optional). Otherwise, I'm not sure I care enough to move to a new RPG system for it, I kind of wish it was more just a campaign setting within an established RPG, rather than an entirely new system. The pain of trying to get my group to learn a new system is such a drag anymore.
Gloomhaven 2nd edition is right out, I'm not rebuying it, though I guess I understand why they can't just release an upgrade kit (changes are too extensive).
I really wish they'd do a pledge/upgrade kit for just the characters/classes, so you could use that updated stuff, but maybe that's not practical either.Correction: 2nd edition class upgrades are a thing, I hadn't seen those before!
Personally, I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm in the middle of a Frosthaven playthrough and am interested in seeing what the RPG system has to offer.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how relatively inexpensive the RPG materials were. $30 for the book and $90 for the whole shebang seems like a pretty good deal when I'd normally expect to be paying significantly more for a D&D/Pathfinder book/full setup. It's not quite in the range that I'm questioning the quality, but maybe it speaks to the size of the publication.
I've been a supporter of Isaac's since his first game, Forge War (even pledged at a level to get my name on one of the cards), and I've always been quite pleased with the quality of his work. I don't necessarily expect the quality of the RPG to be as high as that of Gloom/Frosthaven, but at its price point I'm certainly ready to be pleasantly surprised.
Edit to add: I'm also interested in a game system that doesn't necessarily revolve exclusively around dice. The card system for Gloomhaven and Frosthaven works really well and I'm curious to see what they're doing with it and whether the cards will be mostly combat focused or how they'll affect roleplay. Given that they talk about there being distinct decks for classes and ancestries, it sounds like you'll be mixing decks together to create a character, which I like the sound of as well.
I keep coming back to one core problem, which is that games like this, with tons of bookkeeping and what not, really do feel better as video games rather than physical ones? I enjoy the steam version a lot more because I can just pick up and play, not set up a night around it.
I agree that the setup required for the base games is a bit extensive. Playing through Gloomhaven at first with a friend we would have to dedicate about an hour each to setup and teardown. I do appreciate that with this campaign they're offering coil map books for Frosthaven so you don't have to go hunting around for the tiles and setting up every little bit and/or piece. Further, there are apps that speed up enemy and initiative management, even card draws, that make the gameplay much smoother. It also helps that my group uses a gaming table that we can put table leaves overtop when we're not playing so we can basically leave everything set up between weekly sessions.
With that being said, I don't know if a Gloomhaven RPG will have the same amount of setup. Since there doesn't seem to be any monster paraphernalia with the complete package, I'm guessing that they run a little more like traditional RPGs where the "Gloommaster" decides their actions, which should cut down on required setup. And since I imagine the GM will be the one creating any combat maps they can be as complex or simple as the party needs. Might be all you need is a sheet of hex paper and a few tokens/markers and you're good to go!
Confirmed for me and my crew, the video game version is far easier to get into, with smoother mechanics.
Unfortunately in both versions, we ultimately found the strict action economy (and its subsequent hard turn count limit) to be frustratingly stifling. I can appreciate that such mechanics appeal to the more hardcore kind of "I'mma git gud, darnit!" players, but that ended up being the final dealbreaker.
Amusingly, that is one reason why the tabletop version may be more appealing to some folks: the ability to house rule mechanics as needed in order to change the flow and feel of the game.
I agree with this sentiment. My long distance game group ended up playing the full campaign via Tabletop Simulator, after they had failed to make it through a handful of scenarios in person. The specific mod we used had automatic set up and turn upkeep; we still had to move monsters and take their turns. But just the fact that we didn’t have to set up each scenario by hand meant that we could play much quicker.
Compared to another group of my friends that are playing through the campaign IRL, they have to devote a full day to one or two scenarios max. The upside though is that they are in person, face to face, which is really one of the true joys of boardgaming.
All of that to say, we enjoyed Gloomhaven only because we were able to remove some of the setup and upkeep work.
Played a bunch of Gloomhaven, and our group is 10 sessions into frosthaven. I am a long-time GM of RPGS and have played dozens of RPGs.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what would be fun about an RPG using Gloomhaven's card mechanics. I am trying to keep an open mind, I do not know everything. But every ounce of Gloomhaven's system exists to:
A) Ride a very thin attrition based difficulty curve
B) Make Killing 10 things in 2 rooms take 3 hours.
C) Be extremely lethal.
I was interested in the idea of running RPGs in the Gloomhaven setting, but I don't want to just prepare Gloomhaven Scenarios in my free time. It's not... remotely interesting to me, and will either be a nightmare to balance or will lose all semblance of challenge.
Yeah, I like the idea of a stamina system that prevents combat sessions from running over too long, but unless they have some sort of super intuitive way of figuring that stuff out on the fly, it seems like it will increase setup time by quite a bit. Just trying to balance encounters for games like D&D is already a pain, but then having to make sure you don't wear down the party and they pass out will make it a bit more nerve-wracking. And the swinginess of Gloomhaven combat can be incredibly aggravating at times, I don't know if it's the use of cards that makes it that way vs using dice or what.
I was excited by the news when they first announced it, but then the more I thought about it, the less appealing it seemed for an RPG. I feel like the general trend with alot of RPGs has been to go more rules-lite and just remove as many obstacles as possible to telling a story, whereas Isaac Childres (if he's the one writing it), seems to have gotten more fiddly and complicated with his rulesets as time has gone on, so I'm not sure if Gloomhaven RPG will actually be much simpler as a game or if it's just Gloomhaven with a more detailed freeform City/Outpost phase.
I'm a hands-on type of learner but this kickstarter looks really cool and promising! I would get the combo pack if I had the money because the models look sweet.
I do like the artwork and the models all look pretty good, but I've been in so many kickstarters that I probably have too many models at this point. I also don't want to feel compelled to use these models in games of GH, as it's already kind of a pain to set it up normally with just the flats. Trying to track down a bunch of physical models would just add more time to the process (though the flat map books could help in this regard).
If you want to try it out, look for the pdf version to see what it's about. If you find yourself liking it, and have the $30+tax/shipping, I recommend buying the book for moral reasons lol.