Re: [KS] Gloom of Kilforth
Piccola e simpatica intervista su bgg:
*** The following interview is intended to be entertaining and informative. Viewer funnybones are strongly advised!***
[sidefield goes into 'Interviewer-Mode' for BBC-X]
Q1."So, Tristan you're recently initiated your FIRST Kick Starter, Gloom of Kilforth. Congratulations, we're anticipating a successful run. Can you tell us what inspired the game's origin and name?"
Thank you Sidefield, if that IS your real name… For my first Kickstarter, I expect nothing but am asking for everything. Wait, that didn’t sound right. Anyway, the Gloom is a mystical, environmental blight which sucks the life and colour from every living thing it envelops. It spreads across the land and the heroes in the game must act to defeat the evil causing the Gloom before all is lost. The name Kilforth comes from a small area of a fantasy world I’ve been building and working and writing within on and off for the past 20+ years. It began as a campaign world for the Dungeons & Dragons adventures I used to run as a teenager and basically grew from there. I even tried to write a fantasy novella set in the same world. It was horrible.
Q2. "Good. Good. We're read the rules and watched the videos. But, I have to ask... The 'Sagas,' they seem to be like a player's personal campaign within a gaming session. Would that be fair to say? Are there plans, or is it possible, to have over-lying epic campaigns that continue from one gaming session to the next?"
Yes, it would be fair to call the Sagas the players’ own personal campaigns. The idea of Gloom of Kilforth is to condense that whole campaign experience of a long RPG into a single evening’s play session, so players get closure on their particular story in the same evening session. I’d be hesitant to add campaign play because things can go wrong when retro-fitting new play styles over an existing concept. I’m not going to bad-mouth other board games here so let me use the TV show Heroes as an example. Season 1 was great, and offered a complete experience that could be enjoyed in its entirety. When they stitched on a new ending to try and flog more life into the show and add more seasons it undid all the great work they had achieved and produced less than desirable following results. So I wouldn’t want to cripple Gloom of Kilforth by over-burdening it with bloat and too many extra mechanics. I think plugging in a huge variety of encounters, heroes, sagas, ancients, etc. would be where the expanded replayability would initially lie. Even new areas of the world that could potentially fall into gloom: jungles, deserts, islands, etc.
That said there are a number of ways campaign play could be introduced into the format. Narratively speaking, suppose the land has already succumbed to the Gloom. This is actually where my novella began – after this horrible event that had destroyed the world as everyone knew it, with disparate factions of surviving humans and ‘good’ folk holding out against ever increasing, overwhelming odds, with little hope, and under blackened skies, and with the land engulfed in demons and legions of darkness. Within this world the heroes set out against the darkness to try to restore the land…
There are also a number of mechanical Euro-style ‘beat your score’ methods of playing through the game again, and we’re going to have an Achievements pdf online (can’t fit it in the rulebook) that players can use to tick off cool things as they play through them, e.g. Starting the game AFTER resolving 7 Night cards, etc.
Q3. "The Legend Level pledge, 'Tell your Saga of Fantasy Quest by (sensibly) naming one of the cards or having your name appear in the game.' So, you are providing a limited opportunity for die-hard supporters to become IMMORTALIZED in the game. Can you explain how this process will work, so that LEGENDS can ponder some pre-thoughts? Tristan, I wonder if the existing backers realized that increasing their pledge level to Legend, the remaining 71 pledges left would raise an additional 3,621 pounds (minimum)? (turns to audience) That would be a significant contribution to the pot, wouldn't you say? (turns back to Tristan) I might add, I am extremely looking forward to finding, holding, sleeving, and playing MY CARD!!! (*vibrates like Mr. Humphries in 'Are You Being Served' in anticipation*) Thank you for this personalized opportunity!"
There will be up to 100 cards which we can personalise, including characters, items, creatures, etc. The ‘sensibly’ clause works to ensure that the crazy mofos who opt for this Pledge level are already pretty invested in the theme of the game, and will therefore help to create something beautiful and cool.
And thank YOU for taking this opportunity and investing in the dream!
Q4. "There seems to be a fair, or unfair, amount of talk on your profitability on this project. On the success of your ~2 Pence/Hour wage (8 year development) do you plan on acquiring a castle for atmospheric authenticity? Or, are you concerned that the Paper Mache construction costs maybe too substantial for your new found riches?"
My plans for the Scrooge McDuck castle extension are nearing completion. Now all that stands between me and my domination of the neighbour’s sunny patch at the back of their rear garden is you fools and all your bags of GOLD, mwuhahahaahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa (trails off into maniacal laughter… coughs…. draws breath…. continues laughter, albeit marginally less maniacally….)
Well... that's all the time we have now, folks. Join us next time, maybe we can get Mr. Tristan Hall (or is that Sir Tristan Hall, can you get Knighted in the UK for gaming?) to chat about some of his favorite aspects of the game or discuss the Races/Classes in further detail. Thank you Tristan, here's to your (and our) success!!!"
***The above transcript was non-profit reporting***
Individuals referenced, either living, dead, or half-dead maybe merely coincidental. No animals, game geeks, Tristan Freddies, or game designers were harmed during this interview, MUCH! All Rights Respected. And, sidefield should really, really cut down on the Strongbow, Guiness, and Glenlivet!!! But, then again we're raising funds to bring a concept (game) into reality, shouldn't this be FUN?!?! However, if you were offended in this interview process you may want to consider a regiment of cider, stout, and single malt; wash, rinse, repeat!
THE END.... Or, is it! mwuhahahaahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa