Kickstart Your Week! The Gloom of Kilforth


Gloom of Kilforth

 

There is a darkness seeping across the land of Kilforth, a gloom growing stronger day by day. Only a band of heroes can hope to stem this darkness and return some modicum of peace to this troubled land.

I want to recommend this game to you. I want to recommend this game to you despite it breaking nearly all of my rules! It’s a long game, taking 50 minutes per player. It’s a complicated game: there are 9 different actions you can perform on your turn, for goodness sake. There are no reviews on the Kickstarter page! What is this!?

Gloom Of Kilforth Location

And yet, something about this game has drawn me inexorably into it. Perhaps it is the stunning artwork, by artist Ania Kryczkowska, creating a dark broody gothic world that is just utterly compelling. Perhaps it’s the shear scale of the game, featuring some 300 hundred cards and a couple of hundred wooden cubes. But most likely it is because this isn’t just a game, it’s a story telling machine.

The aim is to create an RPG in a box, telling your story of the quest to defeat the great darkness set on destroying Kilforth. It’s not an original story, but it has been implemented in an intriguing way. Those 9 actions I mentioned earlier? They give you options. You don’t have to fight monsters, you can hide to sneak past them, or to set up an ambush. Strangers that you meet could be dealt with peacefully, or perhaps not. But get them on side and perhaps they will tell you of a rumour they heard… sending you off on a side quest to chase the reward.

Gloom Of Kilforth Contents

As you would hope from an RPG, the world is a grand, sprawling map of location cards to journey between. As you complete the elements of your saga, you will grow stronger, letting you perform actions. The number of actions is cleverly linked to your health, so that as you take damage you are also limited in your ability to make progress.

Other games have tried to do RPGs in an evening, but there is some intangible quality to this campaign that makes me want to see it succeed, as though the passion that has gone into it is seeping through the project’s page. And I’m not the only one! Some 600+ people have already supported it to the tune of £30,000. They only need a little bit more. Will you join the quest to help them?

 

The Gloom of Kilforth descends on September 26th.

 

Worth a Look

 

Cogs In A MachineCogs in a Machine – Welcome to the machine. You’re just a small (gnome sized) cog in a big grinding production line, trying to make the best new components to give your engine a little boost. It’s a dice rolling game, with some interesting elements. Like how resources you don’t spend can be used by the next gnome, or how you can ‘supervise’ your opponents, tweaking the dice they roll to something more… appropriate. It’s a light game, so the price point might be a bit high, but well worth checking out. Ends Sept 22nd.

 

Gem Packed CardsGem Packed Cards – Collecting cute gems and trading them in for ever better cards, until you can collect the right sets for some victory points. It’s a very simple game, with a nice little colour blending mechanism to produce secondary coloured gems. The impression it gives me is of Splendor for a younger audience, which is no bad thing. Ends Sept 23rd.

 

 

Shadowrift Eve Of Sickle MoonShadowrift: Eve of the Sickle Moon – Shadowrift is a deck building game of defending your town against the invading monsters. A second edition was recently kickstarted (we said it was worth a look then!) and now we have an expansion featuring werewolves, tree monsters and friendly druids. Ends Sept 24th.

 

 

Legends Of DraxiaLegends of Draxia – One last fantasy card game for the week, Legends of Draxia is a competitive game where players are trying to slay the most monsters, build the best buildings, and generally contribute the most to local society, it seems. Everyone has a secret character that will give them bonuses for pursuing one strategy over another. Ends Sept 25th.

 


 

Credit for images goes to Board Game Geek users ninjadorg, Mikeware and ebaraf, as well as the respective Kickstarter pages.

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