Fate of the Elder Gods - the boardgame of Lovecraftian cults

Perilous Progress
about 7 years ago – Mon, Feb 06, 2017 at 11:56:26 PM

Greetings Lovecraft lovers!

We’re back with our usual first-Tuesday-of-the-month update and this one sees us just on the edge of Chinese New Year. As far as production is concerned, that means that Panda Game Manufacturing has been on hiatus for about three weeks, so we have been preparing all files and proofing like mad to make sure everything is set for when the factory returns to full production next week!

Since the factory production team has been on vacation for much of the time between updates we don’t have a ton to share, but we can tell you that all the print files are finished and are deep in final edits. If you’d like a sneak peek at the Fate rulebook, here’s a link. Just please bear in mind that this is being looked at by several editors, both in-house and out, so some of the text, vocabulary, etc. will be changed and tweaked before we actually send it to press next week sometime. 

One other thing we’d like to note is that we asked Nolan Nasser to take a pass at Nyarlathotep since that seemed to be the one God that you all - and we - weren’t totally happy with. Here is his final rendition, and we think it’s totally awesome, and a take many haven’t really seen before. Nolan really dug into source material research for this one and he recounted the base of his sketches on the following: “I was reading about Nyarlathotep’s different forms and in one of his Egyptian forms he's described as a faceless sphinx with wings. I really liked that imagery, it's a pretty unique representation for Nyarlathotep”. We couldn’t agree more, and we’re stoked at how it turned out.

Obviously we’ll be filling you all in on the production process in the next update as we will be knee-deep in the good stuff with Panda. Until then, thanks for the support, and happy gaming!

Holiday Happenings in Horror
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jan 03, 2017 at 11:36:58 PM

Greetings Lovecraft lovers,

Welcome to 2017! It’s the first Tuesday of the month - and the year - so we wanted to share what’s been happening to wrap up a whole lot of production by the end of December. It’s been a busy month!

First off, in the last update we shared some of the new art coming in from Lucas Durham. We asked Lucas to work on some details in a few of the pieces, as well as revise Dagon, in the interim. We thought you would like to see all of the illustrations from Jorge, Nolan, and Lucas in the proper context on the Lodge boards, as they would appear in the game. Please bear in mind that some of the edge details on the pages are still a work in progress - but this should let you see everything all together.

Next up, minis. Chad was able to wrap up the Dark Young and Shoggoth models, and you can see those below. We’ll be asking Chad to add a bit more heft to the Shoggoth, and possibly repositioning the protoplasmic tendrils for more of an “action pose”.

As for the colors of the minis, Panda created some plastic test samples so we could evaluate the hues. The yellow seems a bit too much in just about any light, so we’re going to go with a slightly more mellow and rich yellow. As an aside, we’re discussing the possibility of adding an ink wash to the miniatures, which will give them added depth right out of the box. Some of you may wish to ultimately paint your miniatures, and the ink wash won’t prevent that. But for those who just want to pull everything out and play unpainted, the wash will make everything look even nicer. We’ll keep you updated if it’s economically feasible.

That’s it for this update, but we’ll be back next time with some more art previews for the art book, and further production progress updates. Until then, we’d like to wish everyone a happy 2017!

More Ancient & Terrible Things
over 7 years ago – Tue, Dec 06, 2016 at 07:24:58 PM

Greetings Lovecraft lovers,

It’s the first Tuesday of the month, and that means it’s time for a production update!

As we mentioned in the last update, we drafted Lucas Durham to create some new art pieces for us, and he’s delivered brilliantly. Below you’ll find the finished pieces for Atlach-Nacha, Dagon, Ghatanothoa, and Hastur (or at least his herald - you’d go mad if we showed you his true visage).

Other than that, the artifacts from Nolan are complete, and so is everything else except the illustration for Bokrug and the custom illustrations for the art book. As for graphic production, we’re working this month on finishing up the main rulebook, and compiling the art book.

In other news, Darrell was able to get Fate of the Elder Gods in front of several players at BGGCon in Dallas a couple of weeks ago. It was a great success! Everyone really enjoyed the game, and we were able to see how well this final build of the game held up.

That’s all for now, but we’ll be back with more on production, including a look into the miniatures process. Until then, Happy Holidays and Happy Gaming!

BackerKit PS
over 7 years ago – Wed, Nov 02, 2016 at 07:48:20 PM

Hey, everyone!

I have a little addendum to yesterday's update. We know there have been some issues with the BackerKit setup. If you've not filled it out for whatever reason yet, I think I have manage to fix most of your issues. This is especially notable for backers who have added extra copies to their pledge. Copies added through the Additional Cultist Level will include all stretch goals and also should not add extra shipping. Whew! Here's the link again, in case you need it!

If you still have issues, please contact Craig directly at [email protected]. He can manually adjust things as needed. Thank you for your patience through this process, everyone.

Monster Sculpts and Sketches!
over 7 years ago – Wed, Nov 02, 2016 at 12:30:12 AM

Greetings Lovecraft lovers,

It’s first Tuesday, so time for an update!

First off, Chad has started up on the monster sculpts, wrapping up the Goat Spawn and Hound of Tindalos. We think they’re totally awesome!

Next, Lucas has been sending us some preliminary sketches of the Gods, and they’re looking pretty sweet. Here’s a glimpse at the first pass sketches for Ghatanothoa and Hastur!

Speaking of Gods, Nolan has been busy, too! In addition to wrapping up the Artifacts (which we’ll save for another teaser update), here’s a look at the bone-chilling Ithaqua.

We’ll be sharing much more as art production continues. In the meantime, we’ve been double- and triple-checking Spells, Artifacts, Dark Gifts, Monsters, and Curses to make sure everything’s just right. November is rule book month, so we’re dedicating that time to finishing up the rule book and getting it out for editing. We’ll also be putting together the assets for the Forbidden Lore book - more on that soon! Until next time, happy gaming!