[Bob Whitely]

Still learning my way around BGDL. I was hoping for some feedback, but maybe I’m the only one that can create discussions. Dunno. Anyway, any questions on Darkhold? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Note regarding the Art: I’m intentionally going for a dark but not entirely serious mood. Most of the creatures have been sheltered from the harsher realities of the world they live in. They are used to tea parties, pie, hanging out with friends, not struggling to survive. In a Matrix-like scenario where nothing is as it seems (though it’s definitely not “like” the Matrix – they aren’t living in a program) the average joe in Toonaria isn’t aware of most of the bad things that have happened or are about to happen in their realm. It’s all been hidden from them. The environment in Darkhold is a thick blend of nice monsters in very sad situations — the duality makes for some exciting and thought-provoking story. All of our games take place in Toonaria.

As for Darkhold’s art, it isn’t remotely close to final. Some of it hasn’t even been themed yet as far as emotions go. Many of my creatures look happy, but will eventually match the tone and such. That’s because some of the art is from other areas of Toonaria (I have a whole universe, not just a single game.)

Anyway, the game is really shaping up and I should have it ready for playtesting again on TTS within the next couple weeks! I did a massive overhaul to speed up gameplay and streamline the rules and cost factors, reducing the number of components – doing a bunch of stuff to improve the game. I’m well on my way, but some more time will be needed.

[Bob Whitely]

Darkhold Update: I
finished the Encounter deck over the weekend and also a couple Player
Aids and other bits. Tonight, I’ll start working on the non-specialty
tiles – just a few tweaks there. I should be able to have that wrapped
up in a couple days or so. After that, I have to update 2 of the the
rulebook diagrams to get them up to the latest. Lastly, I need to take
another look at TTS and see if I can make some tweaks to get around
their sometimes clunky toolset. So, we’re on the home stretch for this
major revision. Can’t wait to get it back to the virtual table,
hopefully by this weekend!

[Bob Whitely]

The big revisions to Darkhold are all done, finally! Now to get cracking on playtesting again. I’m going to do some solo games before opening it back up to public playtesting, to make sure I didn’t break anything while streamlining and improving mechanics and such. Excited to dive back in. Yay – it’s been weeks!

[Bob Whitely]

My first 2 playtests with the new rules set went well. Both took 48 minutes to play (but I’m an expert.) I won both, but the second one was super close. The Dark One was chasing me and I was only 1 tile ahead, which meant that on the following round if I had not stepped inside the elevator, he’d have caught up to me. That said, I’m considered giving him the “Overconfident” condition so that he isn’t rushing to kill me and so he won’t attack right away when he first encounters you, enjoying watching you squirm. Time will tell if that’s needed. I found a few minor typos and a couple areas something needed to be a tad more clear, so I’ll fix those and playtest again next chance I get. The gameplay is definitely smoother than it has been, after all the streamlining, and I like the updated Event cards, which are better than the ones I had before, with better clarity and effects.