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Preparing for and attending the Spiel game convention in Essen, Germany eats the days like nothing else, but I think that I've finally slept enough to be getting back into the swing of things, including an inbox clearing run at ongoing crowdfunding projects such as Jason Kotarski's Dead Drop from Crash Games. (KS link)
As I noted at the time, I played a prototype version of Dead Drop four times at the Origins Game Fair in June 2014 and had a great time with the game, mostly because it was a hidden information game in which I didn't have to bluff being someone. Phew! Role-based bluffing games like The Resistance and Coup are poison to my system as I'm terrible at them and can't fathom how to bluff in a convincing way. Dead Drop, though, is more about deducing which cards you think other people hold so that you can then figure out which card is face-down in the center of the table while also manipulating the two cards in your hand to ideally sum to the number on that hidden card.
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• With Web of Spies, designer Cole Medeiros has put together deck-building and spycraft, with you trying to sabotage opponents and put them out of business while your agency stands above everyone else. (KS link)
• Jenny Donovan is a first-timer on Kickstarter with Werewolf: Dystopia, which is apparently another take on the familiar Mafia/Werewolf party game with some Leo and Diane Dillon-ish artwork, but I'm not sure what it brings to the table aside from that — and the pillowcases. (KS link)
• Takashi Sakaue's Akindo from Product Arts puts players in the role of Edo-period merchants who are trying to put together sets of goods from separate east and west markets by dividing goods-based die rolls. (KS link) Since this game is Japanese, I am compelled to reproduce the cover art at a larger-than-average size:
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• The other Spieleschmiede project funding right now is The Warriors of Well-ish from designers Till Meyer and Nicole Stiehl of Spieltrieb, a casual deduction game in the publisher's "Little'N'Nice" series of games that contains at most ten cards. The game is not described in any detail, but with a print-and-play version costing only €1 and the printed version only €3 this project feels similar to Tasty Minstrel's "ah, whatever, I'll give it a shot" approach to minimalism. (Spieleschmiede link)
• Worthington Publishing has its own Viking title with Lewis Pulsipher's Sea Kings, but this design focuses on the travel-and-conquer aspect of Viking lore instead of the stay-home-and-conquer aspect featured in Nord. (KS link)
• Peter Newland's ZtoZ from Mind the Gap Studios is a party game in which you are a zombie and must do your level best not to laugh at anything as zombies are well-known for their staid nature and you will be punished should you veer from that ideal. (KS link)
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• Mystic Ape Games is launching its first title on KS: Private Die, which gets across the two aspects of the game fairly well in the title, that being a die-rolling game in which players are private investigators who are trying to get clues from sources. (KS link)
• Sebastian Bauer is looking for more than $100k to fund the self-published Cyntopia: The Future Is Now, the title of which seems like a parody of cyberpunk but which is in fact an actual game set in a dystopic, cyberpunk-based future. (KS link)
• Collapse is another take on deck-building, with designer/self-publisher Jordan Goddard positing a world that will collapse for one reason or another (or several). Build up your fortifications so that you can survive better than your neighbors can. (KS link)
• Designer/self-publisher Andreas Propst is trying to bring about a professional version of his Panzer Clash customizable card game, which was first released through The Game Crafter and which was initially inspired by his own Elemental Clash. (Indiegogo link)
Editor's note: Please don't post links to other Kickstarter projects in the comments section. Write to me via the email address in the header, and I'll consider them for inclusion in a future crowdfunding round-up. Thanks! —WEM
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