Closing in on that goal!
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 08:55:18 AM
Good day! We are starting Thursday off strong as we approach that funding goal. I also enjoyed watching the first photos from the Origins Game Fair coming in yesterday. It's a little sad I couldn't be there personally, but we've got a BackerKit project to run! Plus, the convention team is still out there and we will start running demos of Gloomhaven: Second Edition and the RPG today, so if you are out at Origins, please stop on by and check them out! We'll be at booth 1200.
If you missed what happened yesterday, our main stream was the first session of our Old School campaign. We tooled around town for a while, playing in a jam band and looking for a missing wagon. We didn't get into any combat, but we explored the non-combat mechanics with lots of attribute checks.
We'll have to wait a bit for the next installment (partially because Alice is out at Origins!), but we'll be back on Saturday, June 30, and each Saturday after that.
We also released the first puzzle of the crowdfunding campaign. And if you want to talk about the puzzle, or are looking for hints or solutions, check out this BGG thread.
So what's going on today? Drew, Dennis, and I will be doing a Reddit AMA at 9am PST today (which is right about now!) on r/boardgames, so come ask us questions over there. Then right after that at 11am PST, the three of us will be streaming another live play of Gloomhaven: Second Edition. Maybe I'll embarrass myself less than I did last time.
And finally, I wanted to spend the rest of the update delving more deeply into the new faction reputation system in Gloomhaven: Second Edition.
How were reputation and the faction conflict handled in the first edition?
There was a single reputation track, ranging from -20 to +20. Generally, you could pay an immediate cost or take a more difficult path to do something “good”, or you could do something “bad” and get an immediate reward. Positive reputation would give you a discount on item purchases, whereas negative reputation increased item costs. And there were unlocks at each interval of 10 on the reputation track. This system had a couple of issues both thematically and mechanically:
- A binary “good” vs “bad” scale is overly simplistic.
- The short term rewards of doing something “bad” were not significant enough to justify the long term increased item costs. “Good” was always the correct choice mechanically. And while you could theoretically address this by just tweaking the rewards, that would create a system where the immediate rewards were so great that current characters would be overpowered and later characters would struggle to purchase items effectively, which is generally not fun.
The faction conflict was built up as a significant choice in the middle of the campaign, but after completing it, the game treated you the same regardless of who you sided with, outside of a couple of follow-up scenarios and events.
What is the new Faction Reputation System, and how does it address these concerns?
Instead of one reputation track, Gloomhaven: Second Edition campaigns feature three reputation tracks ranging from -10 to +20, one for each faction vying over control of Gloomhaven: the Military, led by First Shield Harmon, the Merchants, locally led by Jekserah, and the Demons, led by the Prime Demon. Depending on which scenarios you play and your choices in events, you will gain and lose reputation with these factions. Often the factions will be in direct opposition to each other, so it’ll be up to you to decide if you want to side with one faction above all others, or simply try to play all the sides at once.
Note: Graphic Design on this event has not been done yet which is why it’s using a Frosthaven Outpost card back.
Each faction offers the party rewards for their cooperation. Early rewards from supporting a faction's motivations include access to certain items and unlocking faction-specific scenarios. Eventually, you’ll be able to unlock more faction narratives and bonuses, such as an envelope unique to each faction full of additional rewards. Conversely, if you side against a faction, you may run into members of that faction who are not too happy to see you.
Note: Graphic Design on these items is work in progress. Each faction will have a unique faction symbol.
Beyond collecting various goodies, choosing a side in this conflict (or siding with no one) also affects how the scenarios in the final act of the campaign play out and how the narrative evolves through to the very end. Unlike in the first edition, you will feel the impact of your choice for the remainder of the campaign.
In summary, our three primary goals with the faction system were:
- Present the party with more competitive options in resolving events and branching scenario paths in order to reinforce the sandbox nature of the Gloomhaven campaign.
- Make the faction conflict narratively relevant from start to finish.
- Give players meaningful rewards to both help emphasize the importance of their choices and bring each faction’s theme through into gameplay mechanics.
As an added bonus, all of this also serves to make the campaign even more replayable.
It’s tricky to share details without getting too deep into spoiler territory, but we hope this preview gives you a taste of what to look forward to in the Gloomhaven: Second Edition campaign.
And with that, I will head off to this AMA, and I hope you have a great day!
