Back in the before times I used to make an annual pilgrimage to Colorado for an informal Horror Writer’s Retreat at the Stanley Hotel. The last time we managed to make it happen was in 2018 (I think) and I subjected everyone to a storytelling game called Gloom. The basic idea is to play cards that a) score you points and b) describe a terrible disaster that befalls a member of one of the game’s quirky families. Players are encouraged to elaborate on the description on the card to create a story but don’t gain any points unless their family meets its demise. Gloom has a dark, Addams Family-esque feel so playing it with a bunch of horror writers was great fun. I have all the expansions (and a Cthulhu variant) of the game so when I saw that there is a new version being funded on Kickstarter I didn’t think twice. In the words of the team behind the game: Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall is a darkly humorous stand-alone competitive storytelling card game for two to five players. To win, you make your characters suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. … Read More
Kickstarter of the (not every) Week – Coyote & Crow
I have a Kickstarter problem. According to my profile, I’ve backed 237 projects since February 2016 plus 22 that I either dropped out of or were unsuccessful. That’s a lot of projects. Most of the projects I back are book, role-playing game, board game, or video game related but I’ve backed whiskey glasses, wallets, and running gear, too. Most of the projects have been delivered although the very first project I backed just passed its five year anniversary with no sign of it actually being completed. I have cut down on the number of projects I back but there are a lot of cool creative things happening on Kickstarter so I thought I’d start highlighting some of the interesting ones here. Hopefully if you back them I don’t need to feel so bad when I succumb and back them as well. First up, Coyote & Crow. In the words of the team behind the project: Coyote and Crow is a tabletop role playing game set in an alternate future of the Americas where colonization never occurred. Instead, advanced civilizations arose over hundreds of years after a massive climate disaster changed the history of the planet. You’ll play as adventurers starting out … Read More