Welcome to the Indie Tabletop Newsletter, hear from independent tabletop games designers about their current and upcoming projects. Take a look at the games we’ve already self-published and our upcoming Kickstarters, maybe even get yourself a free print n play game. Learn more about this newsletter here.
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Dual Deckbuilding: The Last Command is a dual deckbuilding game, meaning that you are managing not one, but 2 decks. One deck represents your starship’s systems, and one, your crew. You control not just the disposition of each deck, but also the speed at which it is played and replenished. All told this is a fairly unique system that really allows you to have a lot of control over your ship and crew, and helps the elements shine on their own merits.
Power Management: Sure, this is fairly common in games, but the way The Last Command approaches it is definitely special. System cards typically only consume power from the system that they are played in, while crew cards provide power when played into a system. This encourages you to be very thoughtful and intentional about where you are sending crew on your ship, and when you draw and play system cards.
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Crew and Ship System Synergies: Crewmembers in the game have 1 of 3 unique expertise traits, and all system cards have bonuses you get at the end of every turn if crew with matching expertise are present in that system. Since each ship has 3 different systems, there’s a lot more to consider than just power management when playing crew! Play your cards right and you’ll find that when the ship and crew work together just about anything is possible!
Over 80 Striking Works of Art!: The artwork for the game is vibrant, colorful and striking. It’s basically always the first thing people say they love about it. How did I, a lowly game designer with a self-employed day job and no artistic talent make this magic happen? Basically, only by having this be a passion project over the years… That, and of course, having an amazing artist (Alex Pushkarev) that has been willing to work with me over this time. It really is something I think we both are very proud of, and we hope it strikes a chord with you as well!
Work continues! I can’t wait for you all to see the finished product. It’s a beautiful game and I really want it to reach the rest of the world…
Until then, keep up the fight everyone! Whatever that may be for you.
Ty
Still, mostly it means it’s time to get back to the playtesting table. I’ve been working on Boarders and Black Flags, a pirate themed miniatures game where the game represents the effect of fighting on the deck of a shifting ship, dealing with the deadly effects of a pitching floor. It’s going really well, I’m extremely happy with the core of the game, now it’s just a matter of testing and balancing, and of course writing and re-writing the rules so that someone else can follow them.
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I’ll hopefully get the penultimate SSO expansion Travellers onto the testing table also in the next month or two (its currently buried underneath the top deck of my gaming table), but I also have to get to running tests on a game I hope to have coming out with a publisher called Playlandia. So, it’s going to be a busy few months of testing on the run-up to Salute in April.
Oh yeah, and I have to get to testing Daring Dungeoneers. Busy busy.
As you can see the place is in some state, well the work gets done and we can tidy the place when we’re ready to ship. What is a manor good for if you can’t leave things laying about.
Oh the layouts? Yeah… after the new year we’ve doubled down on fixing spelling errors, duplicated text and clearing up minor issues in the rules. Rule changes? No there’s none of that just clarifications, better images and proper-er language. For example, we don’t use the word “proper-er” anywhere in the rules! It will be splendid!
There are also things for the printer we’ve been working on, like the black. Apparently, the ink must be completely black so we need to check all the words, yes! All of them! and see that they are proper black. Luckily there is a good scribe that does that for us.
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Oh, and come here! I must show you what arrived in the mail a couple of days ago…Look aren’t these the chunkiest ani-meeples you’ve ever seen? The crocodile meeple turned out great, such a lush green colour and such a fierce yaw. And it still feels quite sturdy. I do hope the backers will be happy about this!
Blast, I hear them calling my name again. Must get back to work, no rest for the wicked and all that. Feel at home, there’s tea on the stove and I believe a couple of biscuits.
We put out two supplements for Relics in 2021 and 2022 but things have been quiet until late last year when we began to catch up on our promises. We’ve added a new adventure and guide to making your own relics (A Brief Guide to Relics) and three new collections of powerful items to use in your series. We began Relics: The Collection with Book 1, Hunt, about relics that remain hidden to mortal and angelic eyes. Book 2 is Heist, about relics that have been found and hidden away behind mortal and supernatural defences.
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We completed the trilogy with our release in January with Part Three: Haunt, focusing on relics already in use, their dark powers corrupting souls, bending bodies and breaking reality. Grab the whole set today!
And look out for even more from Relics this coming year, as we complete the Chains of Ezekiel adventure series!
The Morrison Game Factory pledge manager is live! If you backed The Morrison Game Factory on Kickstarter, you should’ve received an email for instructions on how to fill out the pledge manager. We expect US fulfillment to begin in March, and we’re hoping to complete worldwide fulfillment by the end of April. Didn’t get a chance to pledge? You can pre-order the game at our website.
What better way to celebrate a belated Valentine’s Day than with a puzzle? We posted a bite-sized chocolatey puzzle on our Instagram on Valentine’s Day, and you can still solve it. We’ve also got several new projects in development: follow us on Instagram for some sneak peeks behind-the-scenes!
Atikin Games Shop – I’ve been adding to the shop on this very website, the recent highlight of which is a new mini tin full of teeny TTRPG dice with a choice of text: “My teeny tin of tiny dice” or a custom version: “[Name]’s tin of tiny dice” I really love these sweet little tins, it’s well worth the time it takes to weed out and apply the teeny vinyl labels. There are 40 mini dice sets to choose from and your choice of label colour to match, or clash if you prefer! As with everything I make the importance is on customers receiving exactly what they want, however they want it, I’ll always do my best to accommodate favourite colours, styles, etc.
