Top 10 Upcoming Campaigns on Gamefound

10. Catch /Wrestling

Catch, as it seems to be mainly called, is a pro wrestling game where you’ll stop at nothing to win. I enjoy the storytelling, athletic feats and entertainment of pro wrestling. And I hope that sometime there will be a very good game on the theme. Catch looks like it could be interesting to me.

This is a tactical game where you can play with unique wrestlers with unique abilities. And it is card based so as compared to others that I’ve played, it’s not just checking dice or as much luck to it with card play. But it is a wrestling game, so do I know enough people who would play it with me? I think that I might as I have a group who watches wrestling together that I joined.

Follow Catch / Wrestling here on Gamefound.

9. Hell: Legends

This game should be higher on the list. It’s a dungeon crawler game with a lot going on in it. And it’s inspired by games like Diablo when creating the experience for it. So it’s going to be a pretty serious game.

There are a few things that I like a lot about it. Firstly it looks like it’s a relatively involved system. So it isn’t just going to be just dice chucking . And the dungeon that you go through is 3D. I’m not sure how much that plays into the game, but it gives it a nice table presence. And I like that it is a standee game. Yes, there are some minis it looks, but if you want a standee version is available at a much more reasonable price, I hope.

Follow the campaign on Gamefound here.

8. Ascension 15th Anniverary

One of the two purest deck building games out there, along with Dominion. I much prefer Ascension. I prefer it because it is a game with a changing market. And I like it when a deck building game is more reactive and less about figuring out the puzzle at the start of the game. I feel like Dominion offers too much of that for me, and Ascensions theming, fantasy, is more interesting.

But if you like the game and you want to get everything, this is going to be a way to do that. Now, I say everything, and I think from the Dice Tower Mega Announcement a few weeks ago it is everything. And a lot of the cards in foil as well.

I like the system because of what I mentioned above. But I also like it because it is mix and match. If I want to throw in an expansion and mix that all together, I can. If I just want to play the base game, I can. Or if I just want to play the expansion, yup, that is standalone too. It makes Ascension a very flexible system to dive into.

Follow the Ascension 15th Anniversary campaign on Gamefound here.

7. Spell Rift Legends

Spell Rift Legends is another campaign game and I don’t think that should be a surprise that sort of games dominates the list or is the most consistent on the list. When you look at a preview for a game often times those games stand out the most with some epic artwork. And this one definitely gives you the fantasy vibe. Even the style of the logo almost gives me that app or video game fantasy look.

One cool element of the game is that while it is obviously fantasy, you play as characters who are a bit more familiar. If you want to play as King Arthur or a Valkyrie, you play as that. But this one is really limited as to more information. But it hints are some things that I like. A countdown timer in terms of how many rounds the game can last. And immersive elements to the story, which I hope means narration and/or music to play in the background.

Follow the campaign for Spell Rift Legends on Gamefound here.

6. Legacy: Heroes of Asco’lah

Legacy: Heroes of Asco’lah is another one of those adventure, cooperative, campaign, dungeon crawler style of games. This one is above Hell on the list because Legacy (bad name without the subtitle) seems like a more unique setting to play in.

The game boasts a bunch of different ways to create unique characters. One the page it is called jobs and each job has skills. So I suspect that you can get a job and you probably don’t gain all the skills. That is going to let you tackle the same job multiple times. Or maybe as you progress you can combine jobs, not 100% sure from looking at the page.

My one nit-pick about it is that I wish the artwork was a bit better. There are some very nice elements to it. But overall, the job cards, for example, don’t look that great. The example they show of the Pyrotechnician looks dated and not nearly as sharp as it could.

Follow the campaign for Legacy: Heroes of Asco’lah on Gamefound here.

5. Falcon’s Formula Racing

I like a good racing game. I own a lot so it’s lower on the list as I don’t know that I need to own more. But looking at this one it looks like a bit more “serious” of a racing game. By that I mean there is going to be more going on with it that you need to keep track of, at least that is what I hope. I like a good light racing game, but that’s a limited space on my shelf for things like that.

It is also important to me that it has a solo mode. I find that sometimes a racing game doesn’t come with one and because it’s either more complex or fiddly, it is harder to get tot he table. Falcon’s Formula Racing is one that I want to know more about for sure, especially to know if it would fill a spot in my racing games that I don’t already have filled. And the team racing element might just be that.

Follow the campaign for Falcon’s Formula Racing on Gamefound here.

4. Restless

Yes, I am spacing out my adventure campaign games on the list. Restless gets me more than the other two because of the artwork for the game. Just the box cover stands out as gorgeous. This also doesn’t seem to be as much of a dungeon crawler as some. They refer a boss battler element, which enjoy as well. But not being a dungeon crawler does seem like it has created a more focused game and one that takes up less table space.

This is one that doesn’t have that much out on it though. So last thing to say is follow Restless on Gamefound here.

3. Echoes of Extinction

We’re breaking the pattern of when we put in campaign games. Echoes of Extinction is another campaign style game and one that is fairly limited on the information. But there are elements to it that I certainly look for in a campaign game. In particular the idea that the story if “flexible” which I assume means that it branches in ways that makes decisions feel like they matter.

I am also interested by this idea of a dynamic, uncertain turn system. Sounds like you won’t know when you are coming up in turn versus the enemies or more, as it teases. Which I assume that more is possible interactions from the gods of the world, which are probably not to your benefit. This is one that I’m quite interested in seeing more artwork and components for it and to learn more about the systems.

Follow Echoes of Extinction here on Gamefound.

2. Storm Weavers: Stronghold

Another campaign style game with cooperative and solo play. Storm Weavers is a bit different though in that it is a mix of a gamebook and board game. Now a game book can kind of be a self directed RPG as well if you want. And that is the element that stands out to me around the system and intrigues me about it.

You never appear to have a massive map and board in the game. So I suspect that it is going to be a game that really relies upon that narrative element of the gamebook. And I like the sound of that. It also doesn’t appear to be component heavy which a lot of campaign games can be. Standees instead of minis and just using some basic dice.

My knock on it is that elements of the graphic design, I think, need to be cleaned up. And I feel like as someone who has played a ton of games as well as worked on websites creating content but also building out websites for a lot of clients, I understand some graphic design and layout things.

Follow the campaign for Storm Weavers Stronghold on Gamefound here.

1. Veilward

This one is kind of a cheat to put on the list. I know that I like The Isofarian Guard already. It’s one of those games that I’d love to get back to and play some more. But life happens. Isofarian Guard is a multi-story solo and two player game. The main mechanism is around drawing chips out of bags to see what events happen and for combat. As well as then story elements where you go through a pretty big adventure that is split over multiple groups of characters.

Veilward is going to add more to that. This is set after the events of The Isofarian Guard. And while some of the mechanisms remain the same, others are being tweaked slightly. Now there are different interactions beyond the chips, depending on where cards are placed to activate them.

Follow the campaign on Gamefound here. It launches in just a few days.

Final Thoughts

Obviously for my lists of games, I put a lot of focus on games that are campaign games. I know that is what I like and while I can’t always get to them as quickly as I’d hope, I still want to get them played and I want to add them to my collection. And they tend to be more expensive when you find them on the secondary market, assuming they are a good game.

But there are a ton of other games that you can checkout as well. Gamefound has a really nice to navigate section to just scroll and look at games. So head over to Gamefound and see what game looks the best for you. And let me know that down in the comment section below.

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Now, Player versus Player (PvP) is something that might never come up in your game of Dungeons and Dragons. There can be moments that make it worth it for the story to have some PvP, but that’s not that norm.

So, let’s start out with some reasons that you might have some PvP in your game?

A lot of the reasons that you might have PvP aren’t good reasons. The players out of game (or in game) might not like each other, so they might fight. This happens when you have an unbalanced party, when you have a chaotic evil wizard and a lawful good paladin, you might end up having PvP in the game. You can also run into it when you have a rogue or greedy character who is stealing from the players or is hording the good loot because, even though they can’t use it, they want to keep it because it’s pretty.

You might also get PvP, and this is a good reason, when there is a tournament. Maybe there is some sort of challenge that all the players enter into and in the end they have to face off against each other. This is something that works best when you have players who really want to show off their characters mechanical abilities for a session or two.

Finally, it might be a turn, to borrow a wrestling term. When someone turns, it means that they are going from being the good guy and helpful part of the party to possibly becoming the BBEG or some level of villain. This one is neither good or bad because it could be a really cool moment for the players if it’s done correctly and planned out. If it just comes out of nowhere and there’s no reason for it other than the player got bored, then that’s considerably less ideal.

How do you then deal with it these are some of the reasons.

If it is for a “bad” reason, I think you have to deal with it differently than you do with a “good” reason. With the some of the “bad” reasons, I’d start with an above table discussion. Take it out of the game and figure out how you can avoid conflict against two opposing characters for whatever reason that might. Odds are in those situations, one person is going to end up feeling like their character is being picked on in the game by the other character, and that can lead to issues outside of the game. But it is always possible that these players have been intentionally playing their characters in a way to build to that moment. If you don’t know as a DM, you should take that conversation out of the game for a moment before you sit back and watch them go at it.

If it is one of the “good” reasons, try and make it feel unique. If it’s a tournament, make it some reward that all the characters would want to win or need to win for their party so that they can continue going forward with their quest and the story. Or if it’s a turn, make that moment as rewarding as possible. Build to it slowly, pass a note to let the player know when it’s the right time, and then spring it on the other players. Hopefully it’ll be a shock and a good shock, and then let that combat happen. However, if you are doing this and you want that character to end up as the BBEG, give specific instructions when to run and get out of the combat, because up against a single character, the party is probably going to make quick work for them. Or give them something that will allow them to put up a better fight that the players don’t know about. I would also recommend, after that first encounter, you take over the BBEG, former player character, in any of the combats, and let the player roll up a new character.

For both of the good reasons for PvP, I would use them sparingly as if it draws out too much, you are likely going to lose the focus of some of your players at the table. When you are doing PvP with a group of people at the table larger than two, that means that you are going to have some players just sitting around and watching, and unless it’s compelling for the reason for it, or if it’s the whole party against the one character who has turned on them, So keep things moving, keep it interesting, and create some sort of countdown for the players so that it doesn’t end up being a long and drawn out slug fast, though, I doubt it will be. Also, try and avoid fatalities, unless it’s supposed to be a a situation where, going to the example of the character who turned, that they are not the BBEG, but have just been giving information to the BBEG. Then see how many of the party members they can take out before they are taken out.

Overall, I think that PvP in D&D is something that can work sparingly. And I think that’s something that needs to be done carefully. There are plenty of ways for it to go bad, particularly above table that you don’t want to create resentment at the table. You are going to have to get the buy-in from the players to make it really work. Like I’ve already said in the article, keep it moving as well, don’t let it drag out too long, because you might not have the whole party involved in it, and you don’t want them to be bored at the table.

Have you run into a situation where there was PvP at a table that you were a player at or that you were running the game? How did that work for you?

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Deranged – This game from HobbyWorld out of Russia is still in demo/beta phase, but the quality of the production seems like it’s very close to done. And it was one of the games on my radar from before the con. I liked this idea that you were having to get rid of curses to escape this town. But you also had another secret objective. But there’s a chance that you’re going to end up becoming “deranged”. Basically, there’s a chance that you’re going to turn into the monsters that you’re trying to avoid in the town, and the only way to save yourself is to kill a human. The game play was a lot of fun, and the game plays quite quickly. It was one of the highlight demos from the con.

Homebrewers – I brew my own beer, or I have in the past, and I have never been that interested in the theme of brewing beer in a board game before. But I saw this one on the table, and it looked simpler than some of the other ones, so I decided to demo it. It was a lot of fun. The game is basically an engine builder, where you try and balance brewing four different types of beers, but you can make them better by adding ingredients to the beer that will gain you more money or cause your beers to score better at the summer beer festival and Oktoberfest. So you’re trying to build up this engine that is going to make your brewing as efficient as possible. The game also plays really fast, which was something that I was worried about with a lot of engine building games.

Bottom of the 9th – Not a new game, but an interesting little baseball game. Instead of having to play 9 innings, this game basically just puts you in the pressure situation of dealing with pushing a run or two across to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning. The game plays fast, and offers some luck, but also some decision. I’m not sure that the game is for me, simply because I don’t have someone whom I’d play it with all that often. But the concept of the game was interesting, and it seemed to work well for what it was supposed to do.

God of War – One of the bigger games at the con, this was one that we actually tested out fairly late and we waited in time to get demoed. God of War is based on the video game(s) and you take on different characters as they fight against the hive of dark elves. The game offers some interesting choices for deck building, and has something I like, which is that you add cards you get to the top of your deck, so you aren’t waiting for them to randomly show up. The demo game, was, unfortunately a bit easy, which was intentional, but that meant that while you got a feel for the game, it was hard to tell how challenging the actual game would be. I liked the theme, and I liked how it played, but I’ll be curious to see as reviews come out, how hard the game actually is.

Final Hour – If games of Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror are too long, Final Hour focuses down on that last battle with the cultists as all you’re trying to do is figure out what the ritual is, before time runs out. This game is supposed to play in two hours, and I can see it playing in even less than that once you know what you’re doing. It’s really a puzzle game as you try and figure out what two symbols are missing from the board, but with a couple of interesting mechanics in it. You get a random, I believe, action that you’re going to take, and you have two different parts, move/attack or move/search, but you don’t know which one you’ll take for sure. Because the first two people in “initiative” get to move/attack and last two move/search. But you might not have the low number card you want to go faster and attack, so you’re move/search hurts the team. The game seemed like it would have some nice pressure to it. Not sure if there’s room in my Lovecraft collection for the game, though.

Dreams of Tomorrow – Not all demos are good, unfortunately. This one is hard to know what I actually think about it. There were two factors that made it hard to really demo this game. The first was that the person who got us into the demo was way to aggressive about it. We almost felt trapped into doing it, and then the person who was running the demo was clearly done running demos of the game. The concept was interesting, you’re trying to create a series of dreams to give you points but really to send back in time to stop the world from being destroyed. But while the rondel mechanic (taking actions in a circle so that you can’t get to some actions right when you want to) was interesting, the game itself was more of an abstract puzzle with a few little twists to it. I don’t think, even with a good demo I would have loved this game, but the demo definitely made it worse.

Letter Jam – So, this is a game that I was excited for going into the convention. And because of that, we actually ended up demoing it twice. The reason for that is that the first person we demoed with was clearly done with running demos, either for the day, but it seemed like for the con, on day one, and one of the people was not that interested in actually playing it. Letter Jam is a cooperative game, and the person who I was there with, didn’t realize that until half way through. But the concept for the game, a Hanabi/Mastermind style word game, is interesting, so we decided to try it again a couple of days later. We actually avoided getting into the first demo to get into because it was the same person doing the demo as the first time, but the group we had for the second time and the person running the game, which isn’t something that’s needed for the game, did a great job, and it was so much more fun. At that point it was sold out though, otherwise I would have probably come home with it.

Zona – Another game that I really wanted to see on the table. This game is very interesting as you fight monsters and search for secrets to be the first to get into the vault around Chernobyl. So it’s an alternate world with monsters and magic, but a ton of fun. You have dice that you rolled for combat, but there are ways to mitigate them. The game was also interesting, because the people demoing it were only taught the rules, since the rule book was still in Polish and cards had just gotten translated into English. The aesthetic and game play, though, were a lot of fun, from what we got for it, and I want to see a more finished version of the game, but if it plays like it did, I think it’s a game that I’d want to get.

Now, I know that there are so many more games that we demoed at the convention. There was a wrestling game, Just One (for the fun of it), Iron Forest to see the prototype, and more. Like I said, we could have just done demos the whole time and it would have been a blast.

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