General Catalyst, by the way, is "an American venture capital firm focused on early stage and growth investments", and I feel like I'm far out of my comfort zone when writing about such things. I'm more comfortable thinking about "game designer wants to make cool thing" than parsing out what "transmedia experiences" might consist of.
In any case, here's an overview of the game, which lists Kevin Wilson as head designer and Darrell Hardy and Brandon Perdue as co-designers:
Each quest has three phases: adventuring, battle, and exploration. In the adventuring phase, players make choices based on options presented on the quest cards and need to accomplish something (such as crossing a river or chasing down a suspect) by flipping the correct number and color of cards from their decks. In the battle phase, players work together to defeat enemies on a physical battle map. Turns are determined by drawing chits out of the destiny bag, with each enemy having numbered tokens that correspond with different attacks and actions. Players may play action cards on their own turns to do damage and can play boost cards on other players' turns to do things like reduce damage, move players, or even return a drawn chit to the destiny bag for redraw. The game doesn't end if an objective isn't achieved or an enemy defeats the heroes, but it will affect later gameplay and choice options. Lastly, on certain quests players can return to the city in the exploration phase to speak to NPCs, purchase items, and level up their decks.
Woven throughout each of these phases are cards that require you to make a choice, such as resting before moving on or charging into battle, or whether or not to spare someone's life. The characters in the game have their own set of morals and standards, and playing according to your character can earn you Kinfire tokens that help you level up. Ultimately though, the decisions you make are yours alone.
• In January 2021, Candice Harris wrote about two forthcoming titles from Mark Chaplin and his Giant Spider Games brand. One of those games — Where Humans Don't Belong — now has a preview Kickstarter page, and Chaplin plans to launch a KS campaign before the end of 2022.
Here's an overview of the game in case this is your first time hearing about it:
At the start of the game, you name your ship, choose its loadout, and pick the bridge crew. They will encounter awesome galactic horrors and fight battles in space as well as on the surfaces of strange alien planets. The game features a negotiation system so that you can attempt to talk your way out of sticky situations, rather than always relying on your fusion pistol sidearm, although that might be an option as well...
The game includes more than thirty maps of derelict starships, ringworlds, and exoplanet surfaces, and while primarily a solitaire game, Where Humans Don't Belong also provides rules for a two-player co-operative experience.