Adventuring with Class
about 3 years ago – Sat, Nov 20, 2021 at 02:30:51 AM

Hail, good heroes! Today we’re celebrating another stretch goal, looking forward to the next big one, and sharing some insights on Class cards.

Head of the Class

From the moment we started thinking about Epic Origins, we knew that Classes should be a part of the game. We considered making them a type of Trait, but that didn’t feel like it had a big enough impact on the experience. So pretty early in the process, we arrived at the idea of having them as a new type of Act II Character card.

We still love Motivations, so we knew Classes needed to be fully compatible in a game where some people have Classes and other have Motivations. That meant keeping them at the same power level, which inspired the idea that Class cards would “level up.” As the game begins, a Class card is less powerful than a Motivation. But as you spend experience tokens, you gain permanent upgrades. Here’s a look at some Class cards we haven’t highlighted yet:

Every Class card is tied to two ability runes. Getting "+1 to attempt [X] paths" means you add a success to attempt a path that would add one of those runes to your story. Each time you spend two experience tokens, you unlock another power. (Note that a couple of Class cards also provide a story icon, but their third power is slightly less powerful.)

You’ll find 12 Class cards in Epic Origins: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. We think they’re a ton of fun, and they’ve proven to be very well-balanced in playtesting.

In a Class of Their Own

Today started off with an exciting achievement: the addition of a fifth Adversary! You’ll now be able to face The Elder Dragon. In Act II she’s disguised as the Dragon Queen, but in Act III she’s revealed as the progenitor goddess of dragons! This also adds a fifth Campaign pack to the game, including the new Halfwyrm Heritage.

After yesterday’s update, people are understandably excited about Adversaries. A lot of people have made comments asking, “Is there any way to bring the original Adversaries into the Epic Origins style?” We discussed this, and while it’s a big stretch goal – it would add five double-sided cards to the game – it’s too cool not to do.

So this is our $300,000 stretch goal: an “alternate Adversaries” pack featuring artwork from the original Call to Adventure. Serendipitously, the OG Adversaries work well as themed pairings: The Tyrant & Dark Rider, The Demon & Warlock, The Warlord & Crime Lord, The High Priest & Mad Cultist, and The Sorceress & Wolf. This pack would be included in every pledge level (Adventurer and above).

Class Dismissed

We hope you’re excited about this stretch goal, and keep sharing your thoughts one what else you’d like to see. We have some other fun ideas ahead, including new cards that we commissioned as soon as we started seeing the results on day one.

We can’t wait to see what we’re able to unlock next. Have a great night, and stay classy!

A New Adventure Takes Flight
about 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 07:53:54 PM

Welcome, Heroes! So far, it’s been an amazing first day for Epic Origins. We’ve never had a campaign get off to such a strong start. From funding in 30 minutes to being selected as a “Project We Love” by Kickstarter, everything has exceeded our highest hopes. Thank you for joining the party and making that possible!

The Origin of Epic Origins

The original Call To Adventure was inspired by two things: our love of character-driven fantasy novels and our misspent youth creating intricate backstories for D&D characters (most of which never made it to the table). While the original game has elements of both, we leaned toward the “fantasy novel” side of things, in large part thanks to our partnerships with The Name of the Wind and The Stormlight Archive.

During the past three years, players’ #1 request has been for a universal fantasy expansion, not tied to any book or movie. We loved that idea because it was a chance to emphasize our other big source of inspiration: tabletop RPGs. We set out to pack the set with high fantasy tropes, from monsters and dungeons to fantasy races and heroic classes.

After spending the past year on design, development, and art direction, we couldn’t be more excited to share Epic Origins with the world!

Stretching Our Wings

After such a successful first day, the obvious question is, “where are the stretch goals?” We’re about to share our first one, but we also want to give you a sense of what to expect in the days to come.

Epic Origins is already a complete experience. If we’d taken it straight to retail, the current art budget is already pushing the limits of what we can afford. Anything unlocked in this campaign is a true stretch goal that wasn’t part of our budget before. All the essentials are already in the game, so think of these stretch goals as the icing on the cake, made possible by the magic of crowdfunding.

As we're writing this, we've just unlocked our first stretch goal: a new Heritage card! The game already includes the classic RPG races: Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc, Gnome, and Halfling. We’ve even added some more exotic Heritage cards like Fiendling and Celestial (our versions of tieflings and aasimar). But how about a character that can fly?

Here’s a closer look at the card, along with the art process from Antti Hakosaari. Antti is one of the most talented and prolific artists working on this set, and we are in love with this illustration. This man truly knows how to draw an owl.

What’s Next

We plan on sending update emails just about every day of this campaign. Most of those days, we’ll hope to share new stretch goals that push us to a meaningful next level of funding. We’ll be listening to your feedback every step of the way!

Thanks again for an awesome first 10 hours. We’re really grateful to all of you who joined on day one, and can’t wait to see where we can take this campaign in the days ahead!

Let the Campaign Begin
about 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 07:50:47 PM

Well met, adventurers! After a first day that was the biggest in Brotherwise history, we’ve also enjoyed a very strong second day. Thanks to all of you who have been spreading the word and sharing this campaign on social media… there’s no better way to help it grow.

Speaking of campaigns, today we’d like to share one of the coolest features of Epic Origins: Campaign mode! When we set out to design a new Call To Adventure, one of our top priorities was improving our Solo & Co-Op experience. That fits the high fantasy theme – a party of heroes taking on the big bad – and allows us to build on the improvements we introduced in The Stormlight Archive®.

Building a Better Adversary

As you might have seen on our campaign page, Adversaries are now double-sided. If you’re playing Solo or Co-Op, you choose one Adversary at the beginning of the game. They have ongoing abilities that affect the entire game, making them feel more integrated into every turn as they gain and lose experience based on your choices. Most importantly, now you face them twice!

You’ll confront the first Adversary, like the Fallen Angel shown above, at the end of Act II. Success earns you a Hero card and the chance to remove some of the Adversary’s experience. As you begin Act III, you’ll flip over the card to reveal the Final Adversary. Every hero must face the Final Adversary at the end of the game, and the difficulty of that challenge will depend on all your decisions up to that point.

Embarking on Your Campaign

The Adversary cards won’t just be loose in the box. Each will be sealed in an envelope, to be opened when you’re ready to take them on. In addition to the Adversary and Final Adversary, each envelope contains two Character cards. For example, the first envelope contains the Dark Lord’s Consort, The Dark Lord, the Villager Origin card, and a Destiny card. (We’ll let you discover that one when you play for the first time!)

We’re currently just $10,000 away from a stretch goal that would add an entirely new Adversary to the game: the Elder Dragon!

This stretch goal is actually three in one: we’ll add The Dragon Queen Adversary, The Elder Dragon Final Adversary, and a new Heritage called Halfwyrm. In the game box, those will be packed into an envelope with the thematically appropriate Dragonlord Destiny. We’ll keep the final Elder Dragon card a surprise for now, and we’ve just started working on the art for the Halfwyrm card.

A Token of Our Appreciation

One of the things we love about Kickstarter is that it’s a chance to connect directly with the people who play our games. In every Kickstarter campaign we’ve run, we’ve kept stretch goals flexible so we could respond to backer feedback. In the comments for this campaign, we saw that one of the top requests was for plastic experience tokens as an upgrade or add-on. So we said, “why not?”

Now every Deluxe Edition copy of the game will come with plastic experience tokens. That includes The Hero, Epic Hero, Chosen One, and Retailer pledge levels. It also includes any copies of the Epic Origins Deluxe Edition that you add in BackerKit. If you’re getting a base game or older set and still want the plastic experience tokens, you’ll be able to purchase them as an Add-On in the pledge manager.

So keep the good ideas coming! We’ve already working behind the scenes to execute some of the most popular ideas we’re seeing in the comments. We won't be able to fulfill every request – cost and time are both constraints – but it’s our goal to make this game the best it can be.

Thanks so much for your support! We’re loving this campaign and can’t wait to see where it goes next.