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Gloomhaven Grand Festival

Created by Cephalofair

We invite you to join the celebration and check out the latest in the city of Gloomhaven. From Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs, Gloomhaven: The Role Playing Game, Miniatures of Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven: Second Edition and more, there is something for everyone.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Tariffs and physical proofs of Gloomhaven
over 1 year ago – Tue, Dec 03, 2024 at 02:34:33 PM

Good day! We are in between Thanksgiving and PAXU, doing a lot of shuffling around and traveling, but we've still got some exciting updates for you this week. Most notably, we've received some physical proofs of Gloomhaven from the factory to go over. A lot of that review will be happening when we're all together at PAXU, so a full report on the proofs will be coming next, but you can see a few images down below.

Also, I know there has been some concern in the comments over tariffs. For US backers not in the know, our president-elect has promised to raise tariffs on imports, which has the potential of increasing our costs. This is something our industry as a whole is concerned about and getting questions about, and we will have to figure out the best way to move forward as events unfold over the next few months. It has never been our intention to go back to backers asking for additional money, and we'll be doing everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen here either. We can absorb some costs, but there are a lot of unknowns at play here, and a lot of things out of our control, so we can't make a definitive statement at this time. We'll just have to update you as things develop and we get more information.


Gloomhaven

If you didn't notice the graphic, we're officially done with 100% of the art and graphics and have entered the production stage! As said above, this currently involves reviewing physical proofs. Below are some pictures of the components we currently have for review. These just arrived today, so we'll take some time and give you more info on the proofing process in the next update.








Miniatures

We have received and approved 12 new miniatures physical samples and 7 digital modifications since last update. In addition, final production line Gloomhaven mercenary miniatures have also been approved for mass production alongside the rest of the game components.




RPG

From Danielle:

I’ve seen at least one person asking a couple of times about the adventure that’s included in the core book, and playtesters have asked about the structure for adventures in the future. So today, I wanted to talk about the themes of Gloomhaven, how we structured the core adventure, and how we plan to structure adventures in the future.

First, I need to talk about the themes for Gloomhaven and what parts of that we want to emphasize with the RPG. 


Dark Fantasy: Gloomhaven is set in a fantastical world with many uncomfortable and oppressive elements to sometimes evoke horror. Gloomhaven is not a horror game, but the players may sometimes find their mercenaries in terrible situations, forced to do terrible things, or fighting against horrific antagonists. 


Gray Morality: Evil and morality are choices, not a feature of birth or even environment. You portray mercenaries who must work within these gray moral lines, and often face complex moral quandaries which could lead them either way. 


Irreverence: Gloomhaven is a game of consequences. That doesn’t mean the setting is grim, or so dark that there is no light. Gloomhaven strives not to take itself too seriously, and holds an irreverence toward some of the darker fantasy tropes, applying dark humor and outright absurdity.


Reluctant Heroes: Your mercenaries have personal goals, and risking life and limb doesn’t always serve those goals. Mercenaries are also beholden to the factions who fund them. Players must navigate a balance between their mercenaries’ personal goals, their faction’s goals, and successfully finishing the job.


Semi-Cooperative: Your mercenaries are all part of a crew, but that doesn’t mean they are always aligned on every aspect of a mission. They each belong to different factions who may want different things, and sometimes those things are in direct opposition to one another.


The core book campaign hooks the mercenaries into the action with a simple mission request: go clear out a bandit camp, report back to the Shields. Of course, when they get to the bandit camp, there’s more to discover there. I’m not going to reveal the entire storyline and plot, but we’ve built in ways for the story to diverge based on character actions. The adventure is structured in a series of scenes with notes on where to go next depending on how the mercenaries act, what they choose, and how things go.


The Gloomhaven RPG is set a short time after the events of the Gloomhaven board game. We want to draw in players who have played the board game and give them a sense of what the city looks like after intense political struggles, assaults on the city, and some power vacuums that need filling. We have chosen a canonical ending for the board game (even though there are definitely more endings that are each equally valid) just so we have a sense of how to explain the current state of the city. The adventure in our core book explores a power vacuum, and what happens when someone tries to fill it.


We have another adventure planned as part of a starter box that we intend to use as a smaller introductory mission, with fewer branching paths, to lead up to the events of the adventure in the core rulebook. If you don’t ever play through it, you won’t be missing a ton, but it does explore some of the political fallout from the events of the board game between the Merchant’s Guild and the Shields.


In the future, I want to have two adventure structures: introductory and advanced. Introductory style adventures will be similar to what you’ll see in the core rulebook. They lead GMs on a scene-by-scene basis through a story, accounting for various branches and endings depending on mercenary choices. These will have several branching options, but if we give too many, they start to become unwieldy. Advanced adventures will present a bit of a sandbox with a set of events and situations at a tipping point. The adventure will lay out the situation, give advice for how to get the mercenaries engaged with them, ways the events advance with or without mercenary interference, ways they escalate, and how they resolve depending on what the mercenaries do. These adventures will likely include a lot of moving parts, subplots, side characters, and interconnected story threads. They will be written in a way to allow GMs to utilize as much or as little of complex features to tell their own story around these important events.


Also, for those still anticipating art, here are a few new pieces I got in.







                               

If I haven't said it enough yet, we are out at PAXU this weekend, so come say hello if you are also in attendance.



You can sign up for RPG sessions through the PAX app, or just come by room 104A to check it out.



Or stop by booth #2827 where we'll have merch, a new Buttons & Bugs promo scenario (which will also be available on our website after the show), and lots of cool people to talk to.


Catch you next time!

RPG Designer Diary and Gloomhaven proofing
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 19, 2024 at 04:05:55 PM

Good day! There's not a whole lot to report on in this update. Things just keep moving along, so let's get into the details.





Gloomhaven

We have finalized and digitally proofed everything but the rule book and setup guide, which we are putting finishing touches on.

As we turn the final corner on digital proofing, full color samples should be finished and shipped to us by the end of the month for physical review.

We anticipated having eyes on the final GH2E production miniatures this week, but are being told the molds need another week or two so we're expecting to see our first off the line minis around this time too.

Raw materials for the full production run of games and accessories is being placed in preparation for a December scheduled to be full of mass manufacturing!



Minis



Unfortunately there is not much new to report here, as we haven't gotten anything actionable from the factory, but we continue to communicate regularly and should have more to show next time.



RPG

For the RPG, we have another designer diary from Danielle:

Greetings Mercenaries!


I know it’s been a little while since my last update. There hasn’t been too terribly much to report, and I’ve been deep in the process of art direction along with playtesting. I wanted to chat a little bit about the back end processes of game book creation today, as I think these are the murkiest of processes that we don’t hear a lot about when talking about game design and production.


Folks are familiar with the concept of writing, feedback, editing, etc. But the visual design of a book is extremely important as well. Layout isn’t just putting the text into a PDF with a nice background and calling it a day. It’s also designing breakout boxes for special text that are both noticeable and accessible. It’s picking colors that are easy on the eye, and are accessible to folks with color blindness. It’s picking a font that is legible to the least common denominator. It’s also framing paragraphs, headers, bulleted text, and a myriad other things to ensure readability, cohesion, and aesthetic appeal.


Then we have to consider the art. I know the last time I updated, I talked about getting art contracted, but there’s more to it than just contracting an artist and telling them to go. We have to define where the art is going to be in the book. Do we want an image that takes up a whole page, just half a page, a small spot in a corner? And what text is near that image? Is it something we can illustrate to give a visual example of? Is it a person, place, or thing that we want to ensure captures the reader’s eye along with their imagination?


Then, we decide what the art should look like. We can’t just give the artist the accompanying text and expect them to envision exactly what we think would be interesting there. Instead we need to explain how many people, what the action is, what the setting is, maybe even time of day and colors to use. The more direction we can give on large elements, the more creative the artist can get with the details.


Then we go through three rounds of progress checks. First an initial sketch to ensure the basics of the action are what we’re looking for, correct number of characters, general location, no real details. Second, we get a color rough, where the artist has filled in the colors, given options, and filled in some larger details. Last, we get a final detailed image with all the little details filled in. At each of these stages, we go back and forth with the artist to ensure the image is where we want it to be. We ask for corrections on stuff like “quatryls only have 4 fingers on each hand, and vermlings have 5 fingers on each hand” and “inox are completely furred, so make sure their skin doesn’t look smooth.” But we also ask for other things, “this is really cool, but I think it would be even cooler if this character had a black eye and bloody nose!” 


All the while, we’re trying to ensure that each illustration gives a representation of the Gloomhaven world along with what characters in this world look like. In the board game, art is essential to know what you’re looking at. We have so much art to show off every character, monster, and maps. In the RPG, we want to show characters, but more importantly, we want to show where they are, what they are doing, and how they interact with each other. We want to show off cool ceremonies, big fight scenes, dark rituals, and creeping doom. But we also want to show loving comrades, people at play, and the lighter side of Gloomhaven that makes this game dark, but also extremely compelling. So, we pick artists with a variety of styles and we choose to illustrate action and drama over landscapes and cityscapes.


So you’re probably going to see a variety of art for the Gloomhaven RPG that evoke many different emotions. That’s a good thing, I promise!

Speaking of, here’s a sneak peak of a small portion of a 2-page spread we had illustrated which shows off all 19 of our playable factions. This is the Shields, Merchant’s Guild, University, and Way of the Robin.



And here’s a not quite yet final piece of art of our harrower quartermaster forging a new weapon.


Finally, we also needed new symbols for all the factions. So, I hired Rich Thomas, an accomplished artist for Revised Magic the Gathering, VtM, VtR, and many others. And he absolutely delivered. Here’s the Sect, Shields, and Merchant’s Guild symbols:
 

I think that’s enough for now, until next time!

Danielle

                                               

Just a reminder that the team will be out at PAXU. Come by booth 2728 to get your hands on the Buttons & Bugs 2024 convention scenario card! Or if you want all four promo cards that we've released this year, you can now buy them all together in a pack, which will also be available in our webstore shortly after the show.



In addition, you can check out the RPG all day every day in room 104A, either signing up through the PAXU app or stopping by and seeing if there are openings. See you there!

And you can find the latest scenario from the Frosthaven community campaign here. There's just one scenario left after this!

Have a happy Thanksgiving (if you're in the US) and we'll catch you next time!

Art and minis galore
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 05, 2024 at 03:13:04 PM

Good day! Welcome back to your bi-weekly Gloomhaven update, where things keep moving along! We've got progress reports on Gloomhaven, which is so very close to completion, along with the RPG and minis.

There were some concerns about the content of the RPG brought up in last time's comments, which we'll do our best to address down below, so let's get to it!



Gloomhaven

All files have been sent to the printer, except the startup guide (the piece of paper that gets put on top that tells you how to organize the box), which is in progress, and the rule book, which is in the final editing stages. Digital proofing is well underway, and once those final components are in a good place, we'll be moving forward with physical proofing as quickly as possible so that we can still hit the milestones we need to get the game out of the factory before the Lunar New Year.

Here are some images of cool stuff!





Minis



This week we have some exciting photos to share of a selection of approved miniature samples that we finally have in hand! These are all polyurethane (PU) samples that were already approved in the previous red wax phase and are representative of as close to final production detail/quality until mass production begins. It's really exciting to have these in hand, and we're very happy with the detail and character in each. Price took some photos next to the City Guard miniature we've shown off previously for scale.

We have a few other models that passed through digital modifications since last update, and we're continuing to put pressure for more wider sweeping progress with sculpting now entirely behind us! We're also being told the final production Gloomhaven mercenary molds should be completed in the next two weeks, so we'll be sure to share final samples in another update or so once we have them.



RPG

Update from Danielle:

This week we have a few updates. Some good, some not so great, and some just a little neutral.
  • The good: we’ve still got more art coming in, and it’s looking great! I’m excited to share a few pieces with you today. 
  • The not so great: our layout artist, Miguel, came down with a rare version of Dengue Fever that nearly hospitalized him and has left him unable to continue freelancing while trying to catch up on his day job and recover. Thankfully, I know a lot of people in the industry, and I was able to tap a replacement layout artist the same day Miguel informed me that he needed to step away, Adam. So while we’ve lost a little time from Miguel’s illness, we won’t lose any time from this point on. 
  • The neutral: I saw a lot of folks asking about mechanics and play on our last update. I’ve written up a bunch of designer diaries over the past year that delve into mechanical considerations and talk about how the game works. You can find them all here: https://cephalofair.com/blogs/blog. Additionally, we’ve tried to include those in our bi-weekly updates, and I’ve included some mechanics in our updates separately from that. But if you missed those for whatever reason (or just forgot because it’s been a hot minute), I’ve got some basic mechanical stuff from the introduction here to share with you that should get you up to date. 

The Rules 

Gloomhaven: The Roleplaying Game uses a unique rules system based on the board game’s mechanics. Mercenaries use Attributes, Backgrounds, and Skills to interact with the world around them. Attributes measure the character’s innate abilities, Backgrounds represent the character’s upbringing, attitude, and past circumstances, and Skills represent their education, training, and cultural ethos.

Whenever a mercenary wants to interact with the world in a way that carries risk, the player uses their Modifier Deck to determine the outcome. The Modifier Deck starts with 20 cards, which are shuffled together to create a random draw pile. The player draws the top card and adds the number printed on the card to their action’s ability to determine the end result.

Modifier cards have two numbers on them, one (in a hex on the right side of the card) for challenges that use Attributes to determine a success or failure outcome, and another (in a circle in the center of the card) for attacks to determine the amount of damage inflicted. Certain cards might create a critical success (x2) or critical failure (Null) state, and players can add additional bonuses and modifications to their Modifier card draw via Backgrounds, Skills, and a system called Advantage and Disadvantage (draw twice and take the better/worse result).

The game assumes mercenaries are competent individuals who can successfully perform most tasks associated with their profession, such as using their weapons and dealing with the necessities of travel. Therefore, success and failure are not binary pass/fail results. Sometimes failure still achieves the desired outcome but carries consequences for the action. Sometimes success can be so great that it carries additional benefits.

And here’s a modifier card for reference:
Perk cards will similarly carry an Attribute modifier number as characters advance in their class.

As for Skills, all ancestries and classes have Skills (ability cards) that explain their abilities. These are similar, yet different, from what you’re used to in the board game, and they’ve been renamed and given utility for use outside of combat. You can use Skills outside of combat to cast magic, do things normal people just can’t, and get bonuses on mundane actions. Using them this way gives a bonus to the check and Advantage. Then in combat, you still choose two actions from the set of Skills, but you also have two always available Talents that you can use, which never get lost or discarded. All mercenary classes have an effective “hand size” of 6 Skills made up of both class and ancestry Skills, and players must pick carefully which Skills they want to use after each Long Rest.

Finally, here’s that art I promised to share. 

       
                                   

If you live in the US, it is election day! This is just a simple reminder to please vote! Even if your options don't excite you, it is still vitally important to make your voice heard. It's the best way you'll get to see the changes you want, even if they are slow and incremental.

Also, if you're planning a trip to PAXU in month, know that we will be there with a dedicated RPG room! If you're interested in checking it out, we'll be running 4-hour games every day at 10:30 and 3:30 in room 104A. You can sign up with the PAX Nav app the day of, or just walk in and hope to get a seat. More info here!

And that's it. Catch you next time!

Movement on all fronts
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 22, 2024 at 05:19:43 PM

Good day! I hope you are doing well! There has been some interest in bringing back the larger progress graphic for all the different projects, rather than just the miniatures graphic, so you can see that below. I stopped posting it because there wasn't any visible progress on the graphic, and you can see we're still in the same place we were before, though that's obviously not indicative of how much progress has actually been made on this campaign.

We are getting so close to getting the final elements of Gloomhaven off to the printer, at which point we will be able to see progress on the chart, and we are also nearing completion of the RPG. You can read the details of both below, along with an update on miniatures.


Gloomhaven

A vast majority of the game's components have been submitted the manufacturer for production. We've been giving a steady stream of approvals for the digital proofs. The next step for these components will be physical proofs - We'll continue our collaboration with the manufacturer by reviewing them for color and overall quality.

The scenario book is among the files submitted for production review. The solo scenarios are currently in the hands of our playtesters for a final round of review and revision. We're ready to act quickly on their feedback when it arrives!

In terms of the core box, the only outstanding elements are the box itself, the quick start guide, and the rulebook, which are all being worked on as we speak and are nearing completion. As anticipated, these have been the last pieces of the puzzle as they picture other components that are now complete.

In particular, we wanted to highlight the box today! You've all seen Phan Tuấn Đạt's beautiful key art and character art, and making a worthy layout for it is a tall order. We're working on a design that pays homage to the original Gloomhaven while being undeniably "new." Check out the preview below! (This is a work in progress. The final design subject to change.)


Miniatures

This update, we are excited to share we have achieved 100% COMPLETION of all original sculpts! A big thank you to our hardworking sculptors Chris Lewis and Sarah Dahlinger for helping us with this monumental project. We're also pleased to see a greater movement from our manufacturer in the realm of red wax sculpts, seeing 25 submitted to our team for approval last night (all approved and moving forward). Please see below for some of our favorites!




RPG

Danielle here! At the start of October, we took a trip to Spiel Essen to show off more of the RPG. B and I ran 1.5 hour sessions, much like I did at UKGE, and we ended up with some really good play groups, good feedback, and even more information for ensuring the game is top notch.

Our internal playtesters (and we noticed this too) noticed that combat was feeling particularly easy for mercenaries to just slam through. We took a moment to consider why that was, and realized that we had increased all the class’s attack values slightly to accommodate for the smaller number of skills overall. But, we didn’t adjust antagonist stats accordingly, which meant the mercenaries were killing the enemies faster (yes, good, exactly what we wanted), but the enemies weren’t making the combat feel threatening or dangerous (boo, bad, not want we wanted at all). So we adjusted antagonist attack numbers (literally by 1) and tried that at Spiel. Lo and behold, it fixed the problem. Of course, now I have to go through the entire bestiary and make educated decisions for each antagonist so that we don’t end up accidentally overpowering some, especially at higher campaign levels.

On the production front, art is running smoothly. I’ve gotten several finals in, and the whole team is thrilled with what we’re seeing. I love showing the classes represented with different ancestries, and characters just existing in the world of Gloomhaven without a clear tie to a mercenary class.

Layout has hit a minor snag as our layout artist came down sick. We’re 80% of the way done, and I know it won’t be long before I have the final book to proof and make edits to. But it’s slowed down a tiny bit.

Here’s a few pieces of art finals that we’ve gotten in.


 
                                

 
                               

In other news, I (Isaac) will be at Big Bad Con this weekend, running a couple games of the Gloomhaven RPG (all booked up unfortunately) and playing other stuff. I'll also have "office hours" 9-11am on Sunday in room 6052 if you want to come by and talk about anything.

The seventh scenario of the Frosthaven community-driven campaign is up, and you can find it here. Just three scenarios left, and I have no idea how it will end.

That's all the other news I have. Catch you next time!

PS Sorry this was a little late and posted under a different account. I was having some trouble getting it to publish and Backerkit helped me out through their own account.

Gloomhaven and miniatures progress
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 08, 2024 at 01:23:15 PM

Good day! Most of the team is still recovering from a big weekend in Essen, but I've still got progress reports on miniatures and Gloomhaven.

Most notably, we are very close to finishing up the files on Gloomhaven. I know we're behind schedule on our latest estimates, but it still feels good to finally be wrapping this up after a lot of hard work. More details below!

Gloomhaven

We are working diligently to finish up the last of the edits and get the last of the files to the printer, which we're hoping to have done within the next week.

There are not many files left! The two that still need the most work are the rulebook and the setup guide, as we need to wait for all the other components to be finalized before we can drop final graphics into them, but as that day approaches, it should be quick work to get all the graphics in there.

Other than that, we are still finishing up the last round of edits on the scenario book, section book, and event cards. There's a lot of text and a lot to review here, so they're taking longer than other components, but they should be good to go by the end of the week.

And then there are a few small files that need minor work that is still in the queue: card dividers, random scenario cards, and random dungeon cards, but those will also be very short work. Everything else (which is quite a lot) has been sent to the printer, and we are working with them on digital proofs.

Miniatures

We received the flight stands this last week and did some office testing on their fit and usability. We aren't 100% satisfied so have given feedback to our manufacturer and set expectations of what we want to see from the next samples - we'll keep you posted!

This update sees a few more sculpts and digital modifications approved. We're waiting on production samples of the new Gloomhaven miniatures, which should be coming along very shortly now out of molding.

RPG

Nothing new to report on this front as art continues and the first draft of the book layout finishes up. We should have more notable movement on this soon!

                                     

And that's all we have this week. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us at Essen! If you missed the new Buttons & Bugs promo scenario we released there, you can find it and all the others on the official website.

You can also find the latest Frosthaven community campaign scenario here, and I must apologize for not providing the Gloomhaven pre-order link in the last update.

We'll keep working on getting these mammoth projects out the door, and we'll catch you next time!