It’s still a solo gig here on the ol’ State of Games, but I continue to get a little help from my friends. This time it’s not just Darrell Louder and TC Petty III – I went all the Delaware to gather a whole slew of game designers, players and publishers for a massive podcast party at Unpub 3!

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Hello, dear readers. As many of you may well know, I attended the third annual Unpublished Games Festival in Magnolia, Delaware (more commonly known as Unpub 3) this past weekend. There were over 40 designers present with more than 60 unpublished games in various states – from the nearly-production ready Compounded to the line-art and paper cutout Brewmasters.

What follows is a brief pictorial wrap-up of what I got a chance to see and play over the two days of the fest. Even though I showed up to try out as many games as possible, I was only able to get to about nine different games. What I will say about the games I played though – all of them were fun and excellent creative endeavors. On with the pictures!

Shortly before Unpub 3 kicked off, Compounded designer Darrell Louder and I learned that Compounded had been fully funded on Kickstarter! Since the first Unpub was the official birthplace of Compounded, it was a very happy anniversary present, indeed.

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Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary review copy of Battle for Souls. I have played 4  2-player games of BfS to provide a foundation for this review.

Battle for Souls is a card game in which players assume the role of Good or Evil, vying for the immortal souls of humans.  You will have to keep up not only with the winning of souls to your side, but also with the use of divine powers to keep your opponent from getting the better of you, and mankind.

The heart of the game is your basic deck of Traits, good or evil.  Each side wages battle with these Traits to win souls.  A set of similar cards as well as a set of unique cards will provide the player an action.  I’ll not go into what each card set begets, but suffice to say that much like poker, a pair is less powerful and 5 card set.  If you are not satisfied with your hand of cards, you can change it through a discard/recard or the addition of a single card to create a set for the following turn.  Though it might seem simple to decide between getting a whole new hand or adding just 1 single card to what you have, it is a decision that will impact every subsequent turn.  When your deck of Traits runs out, you reshuffle and begin again, until all of the souls have been won to a side or banished to Purgatory.

If it were only as simple as deciding how to stock your hand, BfS would be interesting but forgettable.  The set you collect is not just for the manipulation of souls.  Depending on the side you choose, your card set might also be used to acquire Intercessions or Sins, as well as Holy and Unholy Relics.  There are a good number of these cards, and they can have a powerful impact on the game, as well as add points to your final score.  For example, having 2 pair allows you to gain a free Intercession or Sin, and play a second turn.  But if you can manage to get a full house with one more like card, you can acquire a Holy or Unholy relic.  So do you play for now, or will the next card you turn be the one you need?  All the while you have to keep up with your opponent, making sure he is not winning souls to his side while you maximize your hand.  A very difficult decision indeed, and therein the tension lies.

Throughout the game there are 21 souls available for manipulation, available 3 at a time.  Every soul begins in neutral position, and it is up to the player to tip the soul’s balance to their favor.  Once a soul has 4-6 Holy or Unholy points, it can be won with a special Reap card.  However, a player cannot just Reap at any time, and when you Reap you may be giving points to your opponent.  Reaping at the right time can make a big difference to who gets the souls, as all souls are Reaped and replaced at once.  So you might play a Reap card that wins a soul for you, a soul for your opponent, and perhaps banished the third to Purgatory.  Deciding when to play that Reap card really matters.  And holding that Reap card back takes up space in your hand, affecting your ability to get future cards.

The other way to earn souls is to push the Holy/Unholy point value past 6.  If you can do that, the soul is declared wholly Good or Evil, and won to a side without the use of a Reap card.  You begin the game with one Archangel/Demon to help you, but earning a soul this way allows for the revelation of another.  That both affects gameplay and is worth points at game end.  This is a powerful move, but takes valuable time to execute.

BfS ends when all souls have been reaped and taken to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.  Each soul has a 3-point value.  Add to that the points earned through Intercessons/Sins and Holy/Unholy Relics, and the player with the most points wins.

I really liked Battle for Souls.  It perfectly fills the 2-player niche.  It also supports solo and 4-player games, but I have not yet tried either.  The theme in the game is very heavy, both in the language and the art.  The art is all drawn from classical works of a religious nature.  I can see where the theme might be a barrier to some, but that only enhanced my enjoyment.

BfS can be very luck-driven.  I played one game with my son where he kept getting 2 pair hands—a very powerful hand indeed—and I could not get anything to synch.  It seemed as if he truly had the devil’s own luck.  For those who are better at keeping track of cards this might not be a problem, but that is not my style.

Where BfS falls a little short for me is in that each soul is worth the same 3 points.  It would have varied play just a bit if there were souls that were worth more or less.  It would have made me more invested in the decision to Reap at a particular time, and significantly affected how desirable or dismissable any set of souls was to my end game.  That said, this is a minor quibble, and one that could be easily fixed with some additional souls.

Overall I see Battle for Souls as a very enjoyable 2-player game that can be pulled out for a lunchtime game or for part of a night’s entertainment.  If you have not already gone and backed it on Kickstarter, I recommend you do.  As of this posting it has 12 days to go and is 91% funded.  Check it out at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/478379924/battle-for-souls?ref=live.  Battle for Souls is a solid game: unique theme, beautiful art, tight gameplay, and significant, challenging decisions.

Marc Specter is an infrequent game reviewer, as well as founder and Team Leader of the Grand Gaming Academy, a team of game ambassadors who represent publishers at conventions large and small.  He is also half of Team GrandCon, who will bring GrandCon Gaming & Comics Convention to Grand Rapids MI in September 2013.  Check it out at grand-con.com and facebook.com/grandcongca.

Dice Hate Me and Go Forth and Game have joined forces to bring you some of the best gaming interviews on the web! That’s right, from time to time here on Dice Hate Me, Tom Gurganus will contribute one of his comprehensive conversations. In this interview, Tom talks with John Moller, head of Cartrunk Entertainment and founder of Unpub – the Unpublished Games Festival! Enjoy the interview and be sure to let us know if there are other designers, artists or gaming insiders that you would like to know more about!

Tom Gurganus: I am very excited to have John Moller as my guest this time.  John is the founder of Unpub, an organization that assists game designers get their games into a publishable form through playtesting, connecting people, and advice. Unpub.net is a network is game designers, publishers, players, retailers and artists working towards the creation of new and unique table top games that will keep people entertained for generations to come!

Tom: So John, tell us about John Moller.

John Moller: I’m a guy who likes games. I do other things, of course, but they’re not all that relevant. My standard answer is that I do different things for different people. I’m a lighting designer who specializes in theatre and concerts, I’m a voting machine technician for my county, and sometimes I’m a welder. …But none of that is important. For me they’re impediments to getting down to games.

Tom: You have a varied palette of skills.

John: I play as often as I can. When I can’t, I talk about games or I write about games. If I’m not doing one of those three things, I’m probably working. Read More

There is a time and a season for all things – unfortunately, it’s the time on The State of Games for a season of change. This episode marks the first time in 38 episodes where Monkey238 was not seated faithfully in her co-host’s chair. As I announce on the podcast, she is moving onto ballet priorities and time is wickedly short for her. Although the show must go on, we raise our cups and sing a bit of the old refrain: “We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.”

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Welcome to 2013, dear readers! It seems as though December blew through faster than expected, and the Dice Hate Me halls have been rather quiet during the holidays. However, things are back in full swing here at the HQ and just in time to ring in the new year with a look back at the best and brightest of 2012!

The past year was incredible for the boardgaming hobby… and for Dice Hate Me. We travelled to a ton of conventions, meeting so many wonderful and enthusiastic gamers – and, of course, playing games! Last year about this time, I called 2011 the year of the Kickstarter. Well, 2012 absolutely blew that title away. It was an incredible year for independent game companies, and we are very thankful to have added VivaJava: The Coffee Game and The Great Heartland Hauling Co. to the roster.

There are big things in store for 2013, like Unpub 3 and the Kickstarter launch of Compounded on January 18. But first it’s time to honor what I feel was 2012’s best titles. It was a tough choice this year, and many great games couldn’t make the top 3. A couple of my choices might be controversial to some, but I’m sticking by them! Just as a clarification to the process, the Game of the Year Award is open only to those games that were published in 2012. But, just like last year, in order to honor those games that graced our gaming table for the first time this year but were published before 2012, I am continuing to announce the Dice Hate Me Discovery of the Year Award – and that choice was almost as tough as for Game of the Year! So let’s get on with the choices, and happy gaming in 2013!

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I know, I know, I know…  I have no excuses.  Well, actually I have plenty of excuses—work, family, other hobbies/interests.  I had every intention of getting this blog out at least once a month.  Boy has that proved to be tougher than I thought.  My hat is off to those who do this regularly.

At the end of my last entry I committed to telling you all about U-Con and Fanfare.  But before I delve into the experience itself, I want to give a thank you to the staff that put together both events.  Not only were they both excellent shows for their fans, but we had great interactions with the people running both conventions, and their support for GrandCon, their willingness to answer questions, and their offer of future advice and assistance is just heartwarming.  It is a great industry to be part of.

U-Con was a ton of fun.  One of my highlights of any convention for me is teaching games.  The Grand Gaming Academy was there teaching Clever Mojo’s Sunrise City, Stronghold’s Milestones, Thornhenge’s Lyssan, and quite a few others.  There were a good number of vendors, between 5 and 10 by my memory, and we were able to have conversations with all of them to tell them about GrandCon and gauge their interest in taking part.  Personally I got a chance to play a couple games: Mage Wars and Cash’n Guns.  I enjoyed both.

One of the truly funniest interactions was with a vendor, who took a look at our vendor agreement and said that he felt we were charging too much for a 2-day convention.  Now without getting into specifics, I’ll say that our table price is <$100, and for that you get your table with tablecloth, 2 chairs, 2 badges, power, wifi, 2 bottles of water, and we feed you 1 midday meal each day.  (Hey vendors, is there any other convention out there that feeds you?!?)  I’m no expert, but my pricing seems pretty fair to me.  Oh well, you can’t please everybody.

Overall I have nothing but compliments for the U-Con staff.  The people were friendly and well-informed.  They had a beautiful onsite program, a great space, and everything ran very smoothly.  So that was Saturday, and Sunday it was on to Fanfare.

Now I know this is a gaming site, and Detroit Fanfare is a comic book convention, so I’ll not dwell too long.  Our ride over was overshadowed with just a tinge of nervousness since the I-96 shooter had not yet been caught.  Fortunately, neither Brian nor I had to take a bullet in pursuit of our quest to get to Fanfare.  Now I have long since know the difference in behavior between game con attendees and comic con attendees, but walking into Fanfare really hammered that home.

Whereas game con attendees tend to vacillate between a Dealer Room where you walk around and a Gaming Room where you find a place to be and then stay there for a while, comic con attendees are all about moving around.  People don’t sit down to enjoy their comic purchases in the same way they sit down to engage their new game.  (This has been one of the unique challenges in planning a show that brings the two together.)  Instead of a Dealer Room and a Gaming Room, Fanfare is all Dealer Room, and the energy and noise is just crazy.  Table after table of industry professional engaging the fans, it was overwhelming…and it went on and on and on.  Fanfare was very large, and something to which we can hopefully aspire for GrandCon and Grand Rapids.

Brian and I made our rounds, but instead of a few minutes, it took us hours, and we still did not see everyone we had hoped to.  But we made many good contacts and there was a lot of enthusiasm for a GrandCon.  Everyone agreed that it was definitely time to make that happen, and I think a lot of folks were impressed with the plan that Brian and I have to bring it together.

So overall: mission accomplished.  Not only did we have a great time personally, but we made huge strides on behalf of GrandCon, and the concept was received with overwhelming support by everyone.

As I’m typing this we are only 9 days from the New Year.  Brian and I have been hard at work behind the scenes rallying support for GrandCon, and we have a HUGE announcement that we’ll make on New Year’s Day.  To quote myself, this is going to take GrandCon from the “little con that could” to the next level.  So very excited to make this public, but you’ll have to wait just a bit longer for my next entry.

After that I want to take some time to highlight the incredible Prince Conference Center.  I’ve been to a lot of conventions, and this place is top notch.

Talk to you soon.

Marc Specter

Manager, GrandCon

Recorded 23 December 2012