Ça me titille d’upgrader mon pledge, je dois avouer… Il y a un certain nombre de choses que je n’aime pas dans ce qu’ils font, et la phase de hunt est très moyenne, mais l’histoire est très bien écrite. Par contre, autant kdm on peut y jouer en solo, autant celui-là, ça me semble difficile…
1 « J'aime »
Y’avait pas un mode où en vrai solo tu avais des sortes de serviteurs, des PNJ que tu pouvais utiliser lors des quêtes/combat, mais sans arc narratif ?
Les squires oui, ils permettent le true solo.
1 « J'aime »
La même, je me pose la question, mais je pense que Ato, oathsworn et primal vont prendre déjà assez de temps à mon groupe xD.
Si, mais ça ne m’a pas convaincu
Nouvelle update. Bon, ils ont l’air de vouloir ameliorer leur jeu. Diminuer le down time dû aux histoires, c’est cool.
Le fait que dans les delves, les cartes soient pre definies, je ne pense pas que ça resoudra le fait que cette phase était super chiante et inintéressante…
Augmentation du prix prevue. Comme pour ATO, grosse augmentation prevue à partir de debut janvier.
Encore une update monstrueuse ! Comme attendu, il y a aussi l’upgrade sur le design et artworks des cartes… Pour l’augmentation, faut prévenir @Kptaingrostas de se dépêcher cette fois-ci 
Update #52 - BFU: Big Fall Update
Hey guys!
This time it’s real – Big F Update is here. We have… we have everything. New art, new sculpts, new mechanics, new UI, new TTS Demo, new Maps, new Delve, new Loot System, new Clash Previews, new Gear… this Update delivers on all fronts!
Aeon Trespass: Odyssey triumph!
In other news, ATO is taking December by storm: all but the last group of orders have been processed, and we are expecting the last shipments to go out this week. People have been getting the game for almost 3 weeks now, and the reception is universally positive! On BGG, ATO currently has a 9.0 rating, and is quickly climbing up the ranking system!
The Only Way Is Forward! Aeon Trespass: Odyssey delivers!
If you have ATO, rate it, it will help us immensely! If you’re still waiting for your copy, hold tight, it’s coming soon! If you don’t have ATO, but wish you took the plunge, we will reopen the Pledge Manager in the latter part of December and offer the remaining copies of the Core Game, Luxury Tiles, Dice Sets and the Battle Board Mat. Supplies range from very limited to extremely limited. If you want to be informed as soon as the PM opens, please send us an email to contact[at]itustudio.com, and we will add you to the List!
Creating the basics for the re-vamp the old-fashioned way: by hand. Illustrated: Talented Graphic Designer at wok!
All the UI
Now, to the matters and hand, and to what BFU is all about! Improvements! As you know, we use Kickstarter as a springboard for our games: we’re not selling preorders, but rather presenting you with a prototype and a vision. The game we showed you earlier this year was just that: a prototype. And just like ATO before it, once we move into full production – thanks to your generous backing – things start to get exciting.
This is the most noticeable, eye-catching part of the Update, so let’s start with it! A revamped UI/UX experience, the realization of the ideas we presented to you in February. A coherent, intuitive design that’s both modern and stylized. I’ll pass the baton to our extremely talented artists and UI designers.
If you want to see a higher res version of a display, just click on it!
Upgrading the Delve, the new Maps, and the Deep Fog
Salivating yet? BFU is not all about the UI. That UI was informed by design decisions, and the feedback you have provided back during the campaign, and after it, based on TTS playthroughs. You almost universally liked the Clashes, but had some understandable gripes with the Delves. One of the most common notes you gave us (besides the UI :P), was that the random map generation created unmemorable delves, you felt them more pedestrian and uninteresting.
We did not want to change our clue system, because it leads to meaningful dungeon delving and decision-making, and we did not want to get rid of the variety of the Map card sizes. So, instead of remaking it, we thought of ways to enhance it and revamp it, without losing what we had.
The first major change is monumental: the main Kingdom maps are ‘pre-constructed’. It doesn’t mean they are revealed from the start, nor that you always start from the same place, nor that they do not change. It simply makes them more memorable, with recognizable landmarks, bottlenecks, and districts. They will feel like real, lived in (or rather, ‘died in’) cities, bogs, undergrounds. The clues are still there, the threat is there. The curses are there! But the gameplay is transformed!
With each Delve you will explore more, learning to better navigate the treacherous landscape. There will be a real sense of discovery and experience here. Knowing where each district lies in relation to one another allows us to create unique regional encounters and much more: mobs can now spawn more freely on the Map itself. If your final Boss monster is not fixed by the story or quest, a few of them (still chosen by you!) will roam the Kingdom at a time, and it will be your final positioning that determines who, exactly, you will be going against!
This does not mean things are always in place. The Deep Fog eats away at everything it touches, both physically and spiritually. The Deep Fog can replace or reconfigure the Kingdom, seemingly on a whim. Most times a seasoned delver can sense these things coming and prepare, but sometimes… sometimes the fog creeps up on you, and you have to scramble!
But there is another side to this coin. Your quests will take you hither and yon across the Kingdom, and the hour may grow late indeed (that’s about the Time Track!). Sometimes it may seem impossible to cross the vast expanse in a measly 2-3 hours. Sometimes it may seem impossible to find the correct clues to finish your quest. Not impossible, if you are willing to brave the Deep Fog.
The Deep Fog now surrounds the Kingdom and is always available to travel from the outermost regions of the Map. It is a potent tool, a shortcut, but is dangerous and rarely predictable, once inside it. The longer you stay inside, the farther you can go, but the danger is also rising exponentially. Still, it may hold the answers you seek…
Besides the new mechanic, the Deep Fog brings new deadly encounters and new possibilities for gaining information, treasure and loot.
Majesty.
New Loot System and Upgrading Gear
Ah, the loot system, so much can be said about the loot system! We wanted to do something, move away from sole crafting in lieu of looting more reminiscent of dungeon crawlers, both pen & paper, and digital.
But of course, we wanted to do it our way. You see, true randomness is rarely a friend. In a board game, loot that can be either a stone on a stick or the vorpal blade, creates unbalanced games and a sense of frustration. Video games, the smart ones, do it better – behind the curtain, there’s a shadowy AI Man pulling the strings, mitigating luck, so the draw is random, but not quite random, not that random that it derails your whole game or enjoyment.
But a board game is a board game, there is no AI Man… seemingly. In Kingdoms Forlorn, that AI Man is you and your friends. With each delve you will construct the Loot deck (or decks), with a set of random items native to the Kingdom, and related to the monsters you choose, based on your Rank (see Progression below!). So far, so random. But wait, there’s more!
Throughout the Delve, using your Knight abilities, Map abilities, through story events and random encounters, through fights on the Kingdom Map, and through your choices, you will deck-build this deck. You will look through some of these cards, discard them to thin the pool, add specific items or items of a higher order, you will stack the deck, divide it or combine it, all towards creating the perfect loot pool you’d like to get after the final Clash!
This new system will provide the thrill of looting merged with tactical gameplay. Gear will be divided by Kingdom, monster and Rank, although there will still be ultra rare items available only by critting the monster or doing some other activity.
That’s not all. Inside the Loot decks, you’ll also find ‘Qualities’, cards that you will use to upgrade your Gear to suit your personal needs. You like that Mace, but it’s so imprecise? Add a ‘Precision Quality’. Love that Axe, but it doesn’t leave enough tokens for your companions? Add an ‘Opening Quality’.
Most Gear cards will allow you to add one Quality to it, but some may offer two or even more slots, for total customization!
Palefur Coat
Bog Sling
Lictor Mancatcher
Shoulder Shield
Revamped Progression: Ranks, Investigations, Roams
Speaking of customization! We’ve revamped the Knight Progression system along with its narrative aspects. One of the gripes you had with the prototype was the overwhelming amount of story and quest events. These are great, but when every Knight had them, you would stop the delve constantly to resolve this or that event, which mainly concerned one of the Knights.
No more. We thought long and hard how to streamline our systems without losing their depth, and I think we’ve arrived at a revolutionary solution.
Throughout their Main Story, each Knight will go through 20 ‘levels’ – 20 quests, 20 delves if you will. Of course, you will be able to continue your career well beyond that, in post-game, taking on more dangerous challenges and quarries, but that’s for another time.
Those 20 quests will be divided into 5 ranks of growing difficulty. Some monsters will appear only in 1 or 2 ranks, while others will have variants spanning all five, from the lowly skeleton to the mighty dragon.
Now, in each rank, each Knight will have a climactic quest, a main mission. This will be a highly narrative endeavor, with custom encounters and events. When one Knight goes on a climactic quest, the others accompany him, although their stakes are slightly lower, as they are on investigations. This means that during every delve, on a rotating basis, every Knight will be the main character, the lead of the story! Every spotlight will be on them. This will both speed up the delve, and also make each Knight have their unique moments.
This is an eggcellent update!
So what are those Investigations? Glad you asked! Investigations are also quests, and important ones at that. At the end of your climactic quest, based on its resolution and your choices, you will gain a number of leads you can investigate. Each investigation will show you the reward you’ll get for completing it: a Knight ability, a Peril arc, a Heroic arc and so on. This means that, although some of your ability progression will be forced on you by your own choices during the story (like the climactic mission), the Investigations will allow you to pivot and craft your Knight to your liking, choosing investigations that yield you the desired upgrade.
Of course, successful investigations will also shed some light on the mysteries of your story, often opening new avenues of inquiry or unlocking new paths in the main quest. You will be allowed to go on 3 Investigations in a Rank.
All of this means that players will be rotating between climactic quests and investigations on a 1:4 basis, with everyone having their time in the spotlight, while also not losing their own personal goals from sight.
Finally, there are Roams. You can go on as many Roams in a Rank as you like. Roams are almost like monster hunts: there is not that much at stake (unless you have a side mission or a contract, but that’s for another time), you can focus on fighting monsters and learning their behavioral patterns, gaining tactical experience, some gold and some loot!
In essence, you will go on a climactic quest to make progress with your personal story, on investigations to gain experience, build your Knight and learn his secrets, and on Roams to train, and gain gold and loot.
Miniature Progress
You can’t have an Update without new miniatures to show, right? Right?
Haunts of Utrebant
First Men
White Ape Troll
Holy Dragon!
Group photo
Various Clash Progress
We have made significant progress with various Clashes/monsters. This Update is already the largest we’ve done across both Kingdoms Forlorn and Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, so I’ll simply give you a taster, an introduction if you will, and I’ll leave the meat for another Update… with one exception
Panzergeists
Panzergeists are weird bunch. They’re an early game Mob with higher Rank variants. As the first ethereal (well, semi-ethereal) enemy, they’re also quite tricky to deal with.
Panzergeists attack in groups, overwhelming Knights, as one moving ghost can trigger a chain reaction, a ‘wave’ of other mobs following them. Their attacks use a signature keyword called Ether Rust X, which lowers the Knight’s maximum Vigor. This is deadly by itself, as it is both killing you and negating healing, but it also powers up the swarm of ghosts, allowing them to summon more mobs onto the battlefield.
Of course, as denizens of the Principality of Stone, they also use the Kingdom’s signature Conditions, as well as make use of Armor tokens. Panzergeists can also hide in Obstacles, making them much harder to wound!
Ghostly.
Bog Witch
The Bog Witch comes in the Ten Thousand Succulent Fears expansion, and oh boy, is it a unique monster. It’s main characteristics are that it uses range attacks, hides and escapes by manipulating terrain.
The Bog Witch uses a unique way of moving, the Bog Move, which can cause her to switch places with a Terrain tile, spawn Mud Wisps, force the Knights to move or even disappear from the board entirely!
It attacks with Hexes, unique AI effects that linger on affected Knights, almost like Conditions (there’s even a deadlier variant, the dreaded ‘Party Hex’). It uses normal Conditions too, mainly Poison (you know what it does) and Slimed – this one slows you down until you can’t move and drown in the Bog.
Oh, and there’s also the ever expanding swamp, courtesy of Swamp Terrain tiles and the mysteriously named Stray keyword…
Queen of the Bog
Puppet King
Oh, the Puppet King, how long will it take to balance you out! The Puppet King is a crazy mid game clash in the throne room. You’re trying to reach the king while he sends Shockwaves that push you back. You need to hide behind strategically placed columns to even stand chance of gaining this ‘audience’… but then the king invades your mind with his Words of Command. You may obey and do what the King tells you, or rebel and face the ever-growing wrath of a scorned monarch!
And that’s not even the half of it. The King has a habit of dropping down petrified Fallen Knights on you – what do they even hang from… - and uses them as mobile shields and curse carriers. And when you finally reach the throne, you can climb it! That’s the first revealed Vantage Point of Kingdoms Forlorn right there!
Still, there is much more to reveal about this clash, like the eldritch Six-fingered Hand…
It’s called a ‹ knighting ›.
First Men
The First Men are an early game Mob from the Sunken Kingdom. Though they may look like beasts, they’re quite intelligent, and they model their tactics on their adoptive Empire. Unlike other monsters, they rely heavily on their revealed abilities, which on lower level BPs are global, while the higher level ones tend to target individuals.
They use a variety of keywords, some you know, like Gangup and Swarm, and the new Poison, others you don’t. The Herd keyword helps the First Men bunch the Knights together, while Splinter deals damage to the Target and adjacent Knights. You know where this is going…
Each First Men hunting party uses different tactics (drawn at the start of a Clash), which influences their end of Round movements. The Augur can summon the Swamp and drown your Knights in it, while the dreaded Venator can summon a White Ape Troll as reinforcements!
Is… is that a Scissor?
WTF.
White Ape Troll
Speaking of the big, burly apeman! The White Ape Troll is an early game Vassal from the Sunken Kingdom of Utrebant who can get out of control really fast!
Primarily, the White Ape Troll attacks individual Knights, throwing them off balance and inflicting Expose (they’re easier to hit), and then capitalizes on that with huge and punishing Zone attacks that scatter their Targets around the board – full of mangrove and swamp tiles. One false step and you’ll end up at the bottom of a bog!
His BP responses are very aggressive and favor mobility… and he regenerates Wounds!
And in a ‘and one more thing’ fashion, I need to mention that the White Ape Troll does not roll solo. His entourage consists of First Men Guardians, who both protect him and attack the Knights, also inflicting Expose. Guardians adjacent to the White Ape Troll block parts of the Knight Pool, but killing them will only bring more vicious mobs to the battlefield! Decisions, decisions…
Hunting wabbits.
Ape Mad!
TTS Update
I know everyone would like to see what the new UI looks like. How a new monster plays. And I’m happy to oblige! A new update to our TTS demo is available (or will become available tomorrow, depending on our digital team, they’re stretched pretty thin with the imminent launch of the ATO Companion App!).
What’s in it? The White Ape Troll Clash! New monster, new mechanics, new battlefield, new Gear! And of course, a showcase of the new UI in action! Rejoice! What’s not in the Update: a retro-upgrade of the UI for the previous clashes and no new Delve; these would simply take too much time away from actually working on the game, and we don’t want our side projects to delay development!
PSA: If the link shows you an error, it means the Mod is still being uploaded, try in an hour or two
Transforming the Core Game: Miscellaneous Developments!
Along with everything we’re working on, we’re taking some time to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Thinking about materials, storage solutions, ease of use, ease of transportation – and the future of the Kingdoms Forlorn world!
There are two exciting developments I’d like to share with you. First, Terrain tiles. From the start, we wanted the battlefield to play a huge role in our games. We’ve done it with ATO, we’re doing it with KF… but we want more. And we will have more! We’ve found a way to do these in a more efficient way that will allow us to incorporate even more varied Terrain tiles into the game, like the ever expanding swamp of the Bog Witch Clash!
Secondly, and this should interest the storage solution enthusiasts, we’ve pretty much decided on splitting the game box into two. This will both allow you to store the game more easily, transport it more easily and organize content more easily. For us, it will be much easier to ship securely. One box will be dedicated to the Core Game and Principality of Stone, the other to the Sunken Kingdom. This way they will also look more uniform with the other Expansions from the series.
Pledge Manager Update and Grace Period ending
Whew. We’re almost done! Almost. As you might have expected, with ATO’s release, we have kept our promise and the Grace Period will finally come to an end. This does not mean the PM will close, we always try to keep it open as long as possible, however: this overlaps with our end-of-the-year price revisions. As you know, we offer our games at pretty discounted prices – just look at any ATO unboxing to experience what you’d have gotten for $129… With the constantly expanding scope of the game, rising costs of production, inflation and a weak Euro, all the prices in the PM will see some increase. Most of the items will get a marginal price hike, with the largest one, unsurprisingly, happening to the Core Game. The final hike will be decided by the end of the year, based on next year’s projections, but it could go as high as €199, so consider yourselves warned
There may also be some changes to shipping costs, based on the current prices, but I think we’ve covered our bases on this one, so this will be negligible to none.
The Grace Period will end, and the new prices will take effect by the end of the year (probably on January 2nd, because January 1stis always a blur). So, if you want to complete or modify your pledge, now’s the time – you have three and a half weeks to do it! If you want to visit the PM, click here!
What’s next?
What indeed? More monsters, more clashes, more stories, more gear, more of everything, of course! And the end of the year Update, hosted on the sister campaign of ATO, because we don’t want to double post
Have a wonderful December and Happy Holidays!
Oui ils tentent de mettre un peu la pression comme sur ATO (et profiter de la bonne réput en plein milieu de la réception) en montant les prix.
Franchement j’hésite. Mais ce serait con de le reprendre alors que j’ai annulé mon pledge le dernier jour xD. Et puis j’ai toujours pas les joueurs qui auront la foi de se taper les bouquins d’anglais en solo .
Et je me dis que ato devrait suffire normalement.
Ça fait vraiment envie.
C’est quand la deadline ? 
Au niveau du port c’est indiqué « advance for shipping »? Y aura une nouvelle demande plus tard ?
Pis tu dois économiser pour ne pas prendre Sankokushin 
3 « J'aime »
Clair 
Je pense que Sanko apportera bcp plus que KF, ceci dit. Surtout si tu as KDM ET ATO.
2 « J'aime »
@irishwizz
Je t’embête un peu parce que si je saute le pas, c’est pour du solo.
Pour toi (et ceux ayant pu y jouer via TTS), c’est viable et intéressant, ou pas ?
Alors après une partie, je me dis que c’est quand même pas mal compliqué pour du solo. C’est faisable je pense, mais pas évident. L’histoire est vraiment super chouette et bien écrite. Les combats contre les mobs sont vraiment cools.
Mais ça me semble difficile à jouer en Solo. Je ne me souviens plus des règles du solo, mais je me souviens juste que quand ils les ont annoncées (elles n’etaient pas dans la démo tts), j’avais des gros doutes.
Je sais, ça ne t’aide pas vraiment
Essaye la demo tts avec un pote, je te conseille. Franchement, soit le jeu te plaît et alors tu ne perds pas ton temps à le tester, soit il ne te plaît pas et tu ne perds pas ton argent
Un gros jeu comme ça, surtout quand il y a une demo tts, il faut tester je pense.
Moi, j’hésite, mais je sais que je n’y jouerai pas en solo (trop gros pour moi), et je doute avoir les potes pour y jouer. Kdm, ça passerait, mais KF, je ne pense pas. Du coup je ne prendrai probablement pas.
1 « J'aime »
En fait, je me demande depuis un bail pourquoi je ne prends pas TTS. Je suis un peu con quand même.
1 « J'aime »
Moui bah je vais vraiment zapper ce projet.
J’ai ATO et pour l’instant je suis vraiment dedans mais celui-ci là DA je n’accroche pas du tout.
Pourquoi le Dragon a un vieux casque qui fait qu’on dirait un Gnoll ?
Pourquoi les tuiles sont faites en pixel art ?
Et pareil les figs X10 sans poses alternatives, je ne suis pas fan et les sculpture je les trouve bof.
Ca fera des économies.
Perso la proposition solo ne m’a pas convaincu, le delve déjà pas fou devient presque nul, et ça a été l’un des gros points de blocage en plus du prix et de trop de figs. Je continue à suivre, des fois que j’aie rien compris et qu’en fait je le veuille au dernier moment, je zone autour de ce sujet un peu comme un zombie minecraft autour d’un village 
2 « J'aime »
Je ne te le fais pas dire
1 « J'aime »