Qt3 Boardgames Podcast: Ethnos; Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea; Gloom of Kilforth

Day 4 of the Kilforth video series is amazing. A real must-see. Also, since the game isn’t on Amazon I’m not sure if this even a real game or just a trick being pulled on the audience.

I did notice alternate card art for sale on EBay for this game, supposedly they’re “adult” versions of the cards, which I imagine means elf boobs.

I would pick this up if they would sell it to me.

I wouldn’t mind hearing about them, fun and replayable single-player table top games seem hard to come by.

It just shipped a second printing Kickstarter campaign. I didn’t realize it wasn’t readily available, though.

I thought I’d mentioned that on the podcast, but it might been us talking after we recorded. But, yeah, the second printing tried to make itself less risque, when, really, it’s not half as risque as it thinks it is. The Kickstarter campaign included a stretch goal for cards with art from the first edition you could swap in for the “less offensive” second edition revisions. It’s absurd, though. It’s just a matter of cropping out cleavage or covering it with a clothing texture.

But there was nothing in the first edition that would have been considered “adult” or “R rated”. It was just the typical fantasy/comic book thing of sexualizing the female characters.

Oh, you will be! As I mentioned, this was a testbed for doing more playthrough videos.

-Tom

Yeah, from what I saw on the sequel Kickstarter, it sold out pretty much immediately upon copies reaching retail. Like I said upthread, they’ve talked about doing another reprint and making it available in the pledge manager for that campaign though. I’m hoping they do.

You did. I hadn’t twigged to it being a difference in the reprint, which makes it particularly funny that they did the same thing with Shadows of Kilforth, which will be printed with the tamer art to start with.

I’m an idiot. I accidentally bought two copies of it. Don’t ask. But that’s only the first reason I’m an idiot. The second reason I’m an idiot is that I sold the extra one I accidentally bought for probably way less than I could have gotten. I listed it on Boardgame Geek and was pleasantly surprised that someone immediately bought it. Now I know why.

For what it’s worth, the entire Gloom of Kilforth playthough is now posted:

-Tom

The Game Steward still has a few copies for a not-too-bad price:

Is it wrong I beamed with pride when I read this?

Just consider it payback for the 1000s of dollars you have costed me with your reviews over the years!

As much as I’m enjoying the boardgames podcast, my favorite part of this post is the last sentence. I’ve missed your more regular coverage of videogames, @tomchick!

Just listened to this. I’m really enjoying this bi-weekly thing, guys. Got me to pick up Res Arcana this week. (But feeling guilty I didn’t get it from Mike. Sorry, Mike! When’s that store opening up north?)

Re: The stealthable volcano: Seems possible that at one point the stats were called Strength, Dexterity, Charisma, etc, and then they changed them to something more flavorful, but also specific. So that dodging lava used to be a dexterity challenge and now it’s a stealth challenge, because whoops!

BTW, Tom, I believe the correct title for your video is actually Here comes my elf. (A phrase I still repeat periodically even though no one I say it to even remotely knows why it’s funny.)

No worries! Starting to scout locations up by you… so hopefully this summer!

I always pronounced it C’mon, like in Come on.

Digging the playthrough video, but if there’s some way you could possibly adjust the camera a little so that I don’t feel like I’m about to tip over forward on my face. It’s actually making me a little dizzy to watch a still image, which is an achievement.

I’m actually not sure there is. :( I’ve got the camera at the head of the table as high up as it will go, shooting upside down. Then I just flip the angle when I edit. The other option is for me to play the games upside down from where I have the camera positioned, but I’ve tried that and it makes it more difficult for me to tell what’s going on.

Let me see if there’s any way I can situate the camera over my shoulder. The problem then is that there’s no room for me to sit in from of the table. How do other folks do it? Some sort of special table or tripod?

-Tom

What you really want is a mount above you like a dolly attached to the walls. They make them.

I find the Tip O’Neill view fine but others may differ.

I don’t have a large set of data, but I think a few of the people I watch use something sort of like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Rotatable-Aluminum-Adjustable-Photography/dp/B01CHQ8Z7Y/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=tripod+boom&qid=1556311996&s=gateway&sr=8-13

Basically a tripod with a boom that’s counter-weighted so the camera can sit right over the table.

This is what Rahdo claims to use now (relevant text in bold):

On Gloom, I’ve been so very tempted to pick Gloom of Kilforth (or the sequel) up when they’ve shown up on Kickstarter. I watched a playthrough of it that One Stop Co-op Shop did on Youtube two years ago, and it looked really great. I’m a sucker for really well done art, and GoK fits the bill for me. And then I saw that you resolve tests with dice, with successes on 5s and 6s, similar to Eldritch Horror, and I had to pass.

I love EH, but I’ve had so many games end in frustration because of a bad run of luck on the dice (and don’t get me started on being cursed). Same thing with the Arkham Horror LCG. Although different mechanically (bag draw instead of roll), it’s the same basic concept. There comes a point where it feels like the game simply cannot be won because of bad rolls, no matter what you did. Yes, there’s mitigation, but yes, it can also be ineffective at times in those games.

So how does Gloom feel to you in relation to those games? I’m up to about day 12 of Tom’s playthrough, and it seems like he’s making less checks that other roll to resolves, but there’s also been a few encounters that he spent a good bit of time trying to get past (or avoided them outright).

I will say that at least one thing Gloom seems to get right is letting you keep successes between rolls on the same day, and there seems to be at least two mechanics that let you get a guaranteed success (fate? and discarding from hand?).

The Shadows of Kilforth pledge manager has hit, and you can indeed get Gloom of Kilforth stuff on it. They want the equivalent of $75 for it, and the Game Steward, while supplies last, has it for $65 plus shipping (which even after that shipping is still cheaper). So I won’t be adding the main game there after all. That said, they’re also offering the expansion, alternate art cards, and cosmetic upgrades, which Game Steward does not have. So while I think I am gonna skip the latter two (they are pretty pricey for what you get), I am probably gonna be a sucker and add on the extra gameplay.

Boy, Gloom of Killmurderdeath sounds like a game specifically designed for me to hate it. If I never have to play another fantasy-adventure game where you draw a card to see what happens to you, It’ll be too soon. Didn’t we learn anything from Talisman??

That beer is good!

No kidding. Unfortunately the game + expansion looks like $110, which effectively prices it out of what I’m willing to spend. Even at $65 + shipping, it’s a hard sell for me. I’m sure all the unique art jacks up the price.

I’ve been a bit confused about Shadows of Kilforth. It looks like the same basic game as Gloom with some additional keywords. So is it essentially a stand-alone expansion? Would there be any reason to pick up Gloom before Shadows (which is a few bucks cheaper, $92 with expansion)?

It is a standalone expansion in a different part of the setting. From a gameplay perspective I think it’s supposed to be pretty similar.