Crowdfunding Round-up: Natives, Witches, Monks, Pirates and Viceroys (Is That the Plural of "Viceroy"? WTF is a Viceroy Anyway?)

The Taluva story: In bygone days, clans were challenged by Mother Nature to use their ingenuity to build villages on volcanic islands in a constantly-changing tropical environment. On Taluva island, players represent those ancient clans and play tiles which extend out and build up the surface of the island.

This constant alteration and expansion of the topography of the island may allow one clan's villages to be glorified by adding temples and towers, while simultaneously it might destroy other clans' villages, postponing or perhaps permanently preventing their quest for glory!

Biblios Dice is a dice adaptation of the popular game Biblios. As in that game, players assume the role of medieval abbots seeking to establish the most prestigious scriptorium by reproducing and illustrating valuable manuscripts. The artwork contains a wide variety of brilliant colors and the dice will be etched, providing an aesthetically pleasing effect to a fun and thoughtful gaming experience. It is for 2-5 players and it lasts about 40 minutes.

The game's mechanisms are simple. In each round, the starting player rolls the dice. The player then chooses one type of dice from the "dice pool". In most cases, this will be a "resource", such as ink, quills, or scrolls. The player then moves his track marker up the corresponding resource track. In clockwise order, the other players choose dice from the dice pool until all the dice are gone. In addition to resources, players may choose the gold die (which provides gold) or the adjustment die (which can change the value of the resources).

At game's end, players score victory points based on their resources, but the values of the resources change during the game. Also, periodically through the game, players auction for resources using their gold. As with Biblios, players must make some hard choices about which resources to choose and, during auctions, about how much gold to spend.

Viceroy is a board game of bidding and resource management set in the fantasy universe of the famous Russian CCG Berserk. As the players struggle for control over the world of Laar, they recruit a variety of allies and enact various laws. These cards allow players to develop their state's military and magical might, increase their authority, and get precious gems they need to continue expanding their nation.

As the game progresses, each player builds his own power pyramid using character and law cards. Each card has its own effect that depends on the level of the pyramid where the card is played. These effects may give more resources, more cards, or victory points. The player who has the most power points at the end of the game becomes the ruler of entire Laar and the win.

Covenis a game of secret alignments for 3-5 players in which each player represents a Witch serving either the darkness or the light. Not only is your starting alignment a secret, but each of the five non-player Goddesses has an unknown alignment as well. Deducing which Goddess(es) and which other player(s) share your alignment will make your strategy clear and victory easier to achieve, but not guaranteed by any means.

Gameplay is deceptively simple, with five possible actions as players traverse a circular board with an inner pentagram rotating widdershins changing tactics with each rotation. Coven presents an interesting strategic challenge: the side (Light or Dark) that scores the most Balance defeats the opposing side — but on the dominating side, only the Witch that scores the most Power can win, so players must be careful not to invest too much in one while neglecting the other.

Coven includes five playable characters (along with their miniatures) – Witches of Earth, Water, Spirit, Air and Fire. The game also includes a Goddess Power/Balance board, Black and White magic crystals, hidden alignment tokens, "reversal" alignment crosses (for players who dare to change sides), Artifact Cards and Balance cards, a Goddess Board, and a two piece circular playing board with a rotating pentagram.