Designer Diary on BGG
about 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 10:13:37 PM

Another quick midday update for you. I've written a designer diary on Board Game Geek today, talking about how the game went from this...

...to this.

Check it out here, if you're interested.

Cheers,

Adam

Demo Game Video!
about 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 08:50:54 AM

I said in the last update that I'd have this up today, and I am nothing if not a man of my word. Please enjoy this terrible cell phone footage of my friends Josh and Nick playing a demo game with me.

 Also featured: Josh's celebrity arms, Nick's racism assistant, and the promo for our new podcast series on copyright law (not really).

Also, welcome to all our new backers from the Endangered Orphans of Condyle Cove Kickstarter! Certifiable Studios decided they wanted No Honor Among Thieves funded so they could get their hands on it, so we've been getting a steady stream of orphan lovers (does that sound weird? I think that might sound weird) from their comments section all day. Also, their game looks fantastic--check it out if you haven't already. I normally try to not talk about other Kickstarters in the updates that are supposed to be about my game, since I figure that's not what you're subscribed to them for, but damn that's some slick work they've got on that page.

I've been told recently that I talk a lot (too much, perhaps?) in these updates, so that's all for now.

Cheers,

Adam

Keep an eye on your friends, and it'll be all right.

Stretch Goal Survey, Legendary Thieves Preview, Upcoming Events, and Some History
about 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 08:46:05 AM

Hello, my beauties.

I've decided to replace the $32,000 stretch goal on my list, after playtesting a bit more and finding that the player tokens tended to slow things down more than I'd like. I wasn't sure what to replace it with--I've had a lot of ideas for other stretch goals that I hadn't put in the list because I didn't want to clutter it up--so I figured I'd let you decide.

The options I've been thinking of are:

• Necromancer's Crypt, a new promo Objective suggested by a backer early on in the campaign (shout out to Daniel here).
• The Intrigue Pack, a collection of three new Hidden Agendas based around conspiracies and sedition (The Conspirator, The Provocateur, and The Braggart).
• The Exchange Pack, a collection of three new Treasures based around important paperwork (Tavern Deed, Undercity Map, and Blackmail Stash).
• The Outsider Pack, a collection of three new Scheme cards based on the outsider status that the players have in the city (Underdog, Agitator and Gallows Day).

Fill out the survey here, and let me know what you think.

Legendary Thieves

A backer asked me recently for a preview of some of the Legendary Thieves stretch goals. I didn't want to post the full story write-up I have for each of them quite yet, but I think giving a little bit of a preview might not be a bad idea.

At $29,000, a man of the people is added to the game.

• Hard to arrest a man whose generosity has fed your family.

At $31,000 we get a thief who isn't exactly a team player, but who is exceptional at what she does.

• They said it couldn't be done, so she did it alone.

At $33,000, you get to meet the man who knows everything.

• Look in every shadow, peer through every crack, and if your eyes are quick, you will see him looking back.

And at $35,000 the killer joins the game, despite our most fervent prayers.

• They call him the Poisoner, the Dollmaker, the Bloody Eye. No one goes outside when the mist is tinged red.

Related to this subject: there was some discussion in the comments earlier about named Character cards vs the archetypes that I currently have. After talking it over with backers and putting in a lot of thought of my own, I've decided to stick with the archetypes for most Characters, because I think it fits best thematically. The Legendary Thieves, however, will each have their own names.

They are legends, after all.

Upcoming Events

You can skip this section if you're not local to Vermont, where I am. I'm going to be demoing No Honor Among Thieves at a couple local gaming events over the next few days.

The first is tomorrow, Sunday, where I'll be at the Champlain Club Games Parlour in Burlington, Vermont. This is a monthly event where a lot of blind playtesting for No Honor Among Thieves occurred in the past, and I'm happy to be bringing the finished version back to it.

The second is on Tuesday, at Quarterstaff Games, also in Burlington. I'm going to be there from 6PM to 11PM, playing the game with anyone who stops by and wants to try it out.

Some History

This isn't really an important announcement like the rest of this update, but I thought it was cool. Just the other day my mother found one of the games I made back in second grade, when me and my friends were bored on a summer day. She sent me a picture of it, and I thought it was pretty neat to see how far I've come since then.

I remember making and playing this, and I remember that one of my friend's characters seemed really overpowered. I'm pretty sure I'm better at balancing a game nowadays, fortunately.

Cheers,

Adam

Tabletop Simulator Demo Now Available
about 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 08:45:46 AM

Some good news today:

Over the course of the campaign thus far I've received a couple of requests from backers for a print-and-play version of the game, or some other way of demoing it for themselves, but unfortunately I haven't really had time to put anything together. That's not changed, I'm still crazy busy trying to manage all of this, but just the other day one of our lovely backers volunteered to put together a demo of the game on Tabletop Simulator using my prototype printing files. I took him up on the offer, and here we are.

Tabletop Simulator, if you don't know, is a piece of software that you can get on Steam that lets you play virtual versions of various card and board games, either with your friends online or with everyone in front of one computer. It doesn't manage the rules for you, just provides the "physical" objects for you to move around and play with. It's a great little sandbox.

You can find the No Honor Among Thieves demo in Tabletop Simulator here. Note that it contains a lot of temporary art--pretty much on every piece that isn't shown on the Kickstarter page, in fact--but if you want to get an idea of how it plays, this is a great way of doing it. I'm also putting together a video of a sample turn in the game, at the suggestion of someone on Reddit, so between the TS demo and that video you should be able to get a much better idea of how this all actually works.

If you don't have Tabletop Simulator but still want to try the demo, it's currently on sale for $9.99 in the Humble Bundle Store, and will be for the next six days. That's half its usual price, so now's not a bad time to pick it up.

Thanks to Alexander for putting this together.

Cheers,

Adam

Quick Update: Additional Copies
about 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 08:44:22 AM

Quick update tonight to answer a question asked by a backer in a private message.

Q) Can I add additional copies of the game onto my pledge?

A) Yes, you can! The same way you'd add a Guilder onto your pledge. Previously I'd stated this in the FAQ, saying that it was an additional $45, but I've run the numbers and determined that I can ship two together for cheaper, so I've changed it so that each additional copy of the game is $40 after the first. Alternatively, if you get four extra, you can add on $149, and say that you're getting the CREW pledge level in addition to your other pledge level. Whatever works out better for you.

This information may now also be found in the FAQ and the main pledge graphic on the campaign page.

Cheers,

Adam