One Month Out

Published: Fri, 08/07/15

Hey !

Well, GenCon has come and gone and the whole thing actually went much better than expected, I think.

In the weeks and days leading up to the convention, I was sure I was going to drop dead from exhaustion before it even began. There were so many files to prepare and print off, plus the miniatures arrived just in time, and cutting out of all the cards. God, there were so many cards.

I ended up not sleeping at all Tuesday night and still managed to pick up my friend at the airport an hour and a half late. Not really off to a great start there, but after a quick nap at the hotel Wednesday morning, I was off to the convention hall in full force, showing Gloomhaven to anyone and everyone who would listen. Despite the reservations I talked about in the last letter, I think it went pretty well.

You can read my general overview of the convention here if you want more detail on that sort of stuff. Some highlights, though:

Drive Through Review posted a great video that was shot pretty much as soon as I arrived. I was still kind of out of it and not used to pitching the game yet, but I think it went pretty well all things considered. You can watch the videos here.

Bower's Game Corner also shot some video of the game Saturday afternoon. I think I was a little more in the groove at that point, so maybe I did better explaining things? I can't really tell with these things. You can watch the video here.

I also demoed the game for the Board With Life crew Thursday morning, and we'll be doing some advertisements on their fantastic podcast during the Kickstarter, so look forward to them talking about which character looks the most like Jeff Goldbloom (that'll make more sense if you listen to the podcast).

And I secured some review videos, so that's something else to look forward to during the campaign.

Not to mention that I ran about 15 different demo sessions throughout the convention and everyone who played it really seemed to enjoy the game. Yay!

So let's talk about this Kickstarter then.

September 2 - about a month away. I was probably more nervous heading into the Kickstarter for Forge War, but the difference is pretty minimal. And it's almost like I'm nervous in a different way. I mean, look - Forge War is my baby. I will always love it and care for it, and I am happy that it has gone out and found its place in the world.

Gloomhaven is my new baby, though. It has required far more nurturing and investment - not just monetary investment but also emotional investment. It's like, I'm happy for Forge War's success, but I want Gloomhaven to grow up and be PRESIDENT, you know? That's the potential I see in this new baby.

I don't know if that makes any sense...

Speaking of Forge War, though, a second printing is currently in the works. As we speak, more little overseer meeples are being produced and put into shiny boxes. The plan is to finish production in time to ship a couple pallets over to Europe for Essen. We didn't have a whole lot of post-Kickstarter distribution of Forge War in the EU, so I'm hoping to get more copies of the game into people's hands over there.

Yes, I am definitely going to Essen. Are you going to Essen? We should hang out.

All right, I think that's about all the news there is. If you've missed it, I've been posting lots of cool artwork for Gloomhaven over the last couple months on the BGG page, and now I'm doing weekly "lessons" leading up to the Kickstarter launch to help people get a better handle of the game, so you should check those out too.

Next time you hear from me will be when the Kickstarter goes live! Are you nervous? I'm nervous.

Until next time!