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Tag: Dranda Games

Kickstart Monday: Metrorunner and Explorers of Navoria

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On January 15, 2024

In Kickstart Mondays

Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.

There are certainly some exciting projects out in crowdfunding land. Let’s take a look at a couple of games that we think you should check out.

Metrorunner

Our first game this week is the upcoming Kickstarter for Metrorunner, a new game from publisher, Thunderworks Games.

Metrorunner is a cyberpunk themed game for 1 to 5 players where players take on the role of “runners” in the futuristic dystopian Mirror City. Runners are freelance hackers looking to take on jobs of any kind to gain notoriety to make a name for themselves on the streets and gain credits to fill their wallet. Runners aren’t picky about how they earn their money. Taking on shady and illegal jobs is just part of the life of a runner in Mirror City.

Runners traverse the city on the Ring Metro, a rondel on the main board that allows moving from district to district in the city. Runners will need to travel to different districts to get resources they need to get to the right district to complete their job contracts. As you complete jobs you will gain credits and notoriety as well as upgrades to your character making you a more formidable runner and giving you an edge against the competition.

Metro runner features a unique hacking mini game played with a 3 by 3 grid of tiles in the center of the game board. You attempt to solve the puzzle on the network card by manipulating the 9 tiles on the game board. You will have a limited number of moves to attempt to manipulate the network node tiles to connect the network path so that nodes are connected to solve the puzzle and be successful in your hack. The hacking puzzles get progressively harder as the game advances and you will need to bring some real skill to solve the more challenging puzzles with a limited number of moves.

Metrorunner looks to be an exciting thematic addition to the Thunderworks catalog of games which until this point have been based in the Roll Player fantasy universe. If you would like a behinds the scenes look into the world, design and mechanics of Metrorunner, WisoDice had the chance to sit down will designer Stephen Kerr in episode #118 of the Wiscodice Tabletop Gaming Podcast.  You can catch the interview on the WiscoDice YouTube channel or download the episode from  your favorite podcast provider.

Metrorunner will be launching on Kickstarter on Tuesday January 16, 2024. For more information on the game and pledge levels hack your way over to the Metrorunner campaign page tomorrow! 

Explorers of Navoria

Next up this week is the Kickstarter for Explorers of Navoria from Dranda Games.

Explorers of Navoria is a tableau building game for 2 to 4 players set in the magical land of Navoria where new continents have suddenly emerged from the sea ripe for exploration. You will play one such explorer using a bag of action tokens to purchase adventure cards that feature cute and colorful characters and items to help you on your adventures. You will build up a tableau of cards building an array of abilities and benefits to build the engine of your tableau and improve your exploration and capabilities. Your workers will travel to the strange new continents of Navoria with the most lucrative rewards being given to the explorer that reaches the continent first!

Explorers of Navoria looks to combine a mix of bag building, tableau building and worker placement mechanics with bright playful art work and a magical theme into a nice package. The base game is available at the Wanderer pledge level of $44 USD. The Explorer pledge level includes the game and the Forgotten Lands expansion which adds a solo mode as well as a fifth player option. Other available add-ons include a neoprene playmat, deluxe resources, and custom card sleeves.

The campaign for Explorers of Navoria ends on February 7, 2024, so make sure you explore the Kickstarter page before then if you are looking to back.

Did we miss your favorite project?

Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.

Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.

Also checkout the latest articles from WiscoDice:

Kickstart Monday: Forges of Ravenshire and Pioneer Rails

By

On May 1, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.

Forges of Ravenshire

Our first project of note this week is Forges of Ravenshire a Kickstarter from  B.A. Games.

In Forges of Ravenshire players are blacksmiths competing for the title of Forgemaster. The player who runs their smithy the most successfully and earns the most money will become the new Forgemaster of the town of Ravenshire.

To be the best smiths players will need to run their smithy efficiently and complete contacts to earn money. Players will use dice workers to gather resources that range from simple leather and wood to more exotic materials like mithril and dragon scales.

Players will improve their game engine by upgrading their forge, hiring guild members and improving their forge’s reputation to gain access to even more lucrative contracts.

Forges of Ravenshire features a number of my favorite mechanics: dice worker placement, engine building and player board upgrades. All of this looks to come together in a nice package, all the artwork and components look to be of high quality. If you are ready fire up your forge and test your mettle, make your way to the Kickstarter page and back Forges of Ravenshire by May 11th. 

Pioneer Rails

Next up we have the Kickstarter for Pioneer Rails from Dranda Games and the designers of The Guild of Merchant Explorers.

Pioneer Rails is a flip and write game set in the Old West. During the game you will be drawing a network of railroads across your personal map sheet triggering scoring and collecting bonuses along the way. Each turn a dealer will reveal 3 poker cards and will choose a poker card to use recording it onto their players sheet to build a poker hand. The other players will choose from one of the two remaining cards. After adding to your hand the suit of the chosen card determines which rail line you will be extending. As you build rail across your map you will trigger a variety of features including Saloons, cattle ranches, mines and towns all of which score points for the end game in different ways.

Pioneer rails looks like is had a neat combination of mechanics which all tie in to the western theme. The map sheets are quite attractive as are the poker cards – note that as an add on you can get a full deck of playing cards including jokers. There are 2 available maps in the base game and a third available with an expansion combined with all of the different ways to score points during the game it  seems there is quite a bit of replayability here. Pioneer Rails also comes in at a very reasonable $24 USD (and only $29 to include the expansion) If you are a fan of the flip and write genre this is one to check out. The kickstarter will run though May 17th.

Did we miss your favorite project?

Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.

Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.

Also checkout the latest articles from WiscoDice:

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