Playtest update + WorldbreakersDB
about 2 years ago – Sat, Mar 19, 2022 at 07:04:27 AM

Happy Friday, let's enter the weekend with a bang with these two exciting updates:

New playtest version

I plan to playtest and tweak all of the Worldbreakers cards until the last possible minute. This campaign has been a huge boost to our playtesting effort, and I'm proud to announce that a new version is up on Tabletop Simulator. Click here to see all the changes. Here are the highlights:

• All of the cards have their final ART and NAMES. No more "Earth Guild Executor" or placeholder art. The illustrations are all in.
• Around 25 cards had balance changes (that's almost a quarter of the card pool). Most just had a number tweaked by ±1, a few had bigger changes.
• The solo campaign has been significantly tweaked. The old version was overly difficult, with even seasoned players requiring 5-10 tries to defeat a single chapter. The updated solo campaign should be more accessible.

I am committed to make Worldbreakers the best gaming experience possible and playtesting is a central part of that development process. Thank you to all of the players on the Worldbreakers Discord channel for playing and providing feedback. Furthermore, it's not too late to make an impact -- come join us!

Cunning Reclaimer, by João Phillipe, is the last illustration to be added to Worldbreakers. It's also one of the last-named card, it was named a bland "Void Worshipper" placeholder beforehand.

WorldbreakersDB

I am delighted to announce the launch of WorldbreakersDB, a new online database for all things Worldbreakers, or WBDB for short. WBDB has ALL of the Worldbreakers cards, a deck construction tool, plus the option to share, publish, and discuss deck lists. If you want to browse through all of the cards or create your first deck, WBDB is your first stop. In addition, it has an "Export to Tabletop Simulator" feature, which allows you to bring your deck straight to the Worldbreakers module.

Many, many thanks to tessaluniki for all of the hard work in making WBDB a reality.

What better way to spend the upcoming weekend than building your deck using WBDB and playing the latest version of Worldbreakers ;-)

-- Elli (He/They) and the Worldbreakers Team

Social media milestones + upcoming streams
about 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 04:36:51 PM

We have officially crossed the halfway mark for the campaign. I have a smaller update today as we are gearing up to the end of March.

First, I would like to celebrate a few social media milestones. Worldbreakers recently reached ...

• 200 subscribers on our YouTube channel
• 200 players in our Discord channel
• 100 followers on our Twitter
• And we are super-close on Facebook, with 98 followers :)

I am awed and grateful to all of you who show your support of Worldbreakers through these different virtual hangouts -- most of these did not even exist three months ago! I post regularly on all of the above, so if you want to learn more about the game, the theme, and the design, you're welcome to join.

Suave Sycophant, by Diletta de Santis. Why am I placing this illustration here, right after talking about social media? Pure coincidence.

Next, I will be joining two streams in the next couple of days:

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 16:00 GMT / noon ET / 9am PT, Sven Zedlitz and I are going to talk about Worldbreakers, designing a card game as an indie, and ... spreadsheets 😻 in particular their role in development and playtesting. You can join us on Twitch at this link.

Then, on Friday, at 12:30 GMT / 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT, I will be joining TheNerdySteve to play a couple of games of Worldbreakers and talk about the game's origins. Steve is an expert Magic: the Gathering player and I'm excited about the opportunity to introduce Worldbreakers to a new audience. Join us on Twitch.

I hope to see you in one (or both!) of these streams ;) Thank you for reading and have a wonderful rest-of-week.

-- Elli (He/They) and the Worldbreakers Team

TWO playtesting prototypes left + beginner resources + YouTube #shorts
about 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 12:16:33 AM

Welcome to a new week! In today's update:

• There are only TWO playtesting prototypes left!
• Resources for Worldbreakers beginners who would like to improve their gameplay
• A collection of Worldbreakers YouTube #shorts

Only TWO playtesting prototypes left!

I have been getting a lot questions about the contents and terms of the playtesting prototypes. First and foremost, here is an unboxing video which I recorded before the campaign ...

The prototype is a print-on-demand (POD for short) from The Game Crafter. It is 100% playable. In fact, almost all of the reviews and previews that you see online are using the prototype:

In my opinion, there are three great reasons to get the prototype tier:

• Play ahead of everyone else. I will ship the prototype as soon as Kickstarter wires your pledge and I confirm your address. If everything goes according to plan, you should get your prototype in early May.
• Own a piece of Worldbreakers history. These prototypes were used for developing and playtesting Worldbreakers. They are an exclusive artifact of the design process -- priceless for collectors!
• Help bring the future of Worldbreakers. I have spoken at length about my plans for the future of the game (see this blog post for an example). Your pledge will go directly into expansion design and the development of the first organized play kit.

If you are considering the playtesting prototype and still have questions, feel free to ask them in the "Comments" section, message me through Kickstarter, or email me directly.

Beginner resources

This past week, I was really excited to see how three Worldbreakers Discord members each developed a guide for new players. If you feel in need for some advice, these are the resources for you.

Matthew (Mattroid) wrote a mulligan for each of the four preconstructed decks which is interspersed with helpful advice about the playstyle of each Worldbreaker and how the game's economy is structured. Pete ($lip$tream) and MasterPai discussed their impressions of Worldbreakers after a few plays, and went into some in-depth conversations about mechanics and timing. Finally, Pete wrote The Khan's Shining Pride: A Beginner Document on Khutulun, which is technically about the preconstructed deck but in my opinion serves as a primer for the Earth guild and for playing aggro in general.

Why do some players refer to Auspicious Smuggler as "Sam Elliot"?

Keeping it #short

Looking to binge on some YouTube #shorts? You have come to the right place! I posted several 1-minute videos about the art and theme of Worldbreakers. Start with a discussion on the illustration of Ruknuddin Khurshah, the Void Worldbreaker. Continue with my shocking confession that Worldbreakers and "The Big Lebowski" almost shared a cinematic universe. Next, there is a two-part series about camels, one of my favorite animals: part 1 and the much-expected part 2. The latest entry is about the awesome art of Agustín Castro, and how the sketches for one character ended up on three different cards.

As always, thank you for reading and for your support! Now ... go play ;)

-- Elli (He/They) and the Worldbreakers team

More playmat designs
about 2 years ago – Sat, Mar 12, 2022 at 06:36:17 AM

Another week has passed and it's time for the Friday update:

• Two new playmat designs are now available
• Mongolian "Call to Arms" reveal
• Corrected game box image (oops!)

I'm trying to keep these updates short by focusing on campaign-specific news. There is a lot more going on in the Worldbreakers universe, including new art, design diaries, gameplay videos, and more. Follow up on your platform of choice to stay in touch:

BoardGameGeek • Twitter • Facebook • YouTube • Reddit • Discord

New playmat designs

As I mentioned in update #2, the Worldbreakers Kickstarter draft included two playmats that were replaced before the final campaign was launched. Several players asked for them, and now these designs are available in all of their glory!

You can get these now as an add-on, or, even better, upgrade to the Deluxe tier ;) Where you will have the option to pick two playmats out of the available SIX designs.

Promo "Ancient Languages" Call to Arms

Worldbreakers will come with TWELVE exclusive promos. Three of these will be in an ancient language. I already revealed the Greek "The Agora of Athens". Here is the next card, the Mongolian "Call to Arms":

The art is inspired by the Chinggis Khan Equestrian Statue, the world's tallest equestrian statue, which is located around 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

Corrected game box design

Several backers were curious about the discrepancy between the game box I presented in update #4 and the one that appears on the Worldbreakers BoardGameGeek page. I am embarrassed to admit that I included an outdated box design throughout the campaign. THAT design was used for the prototypes and review copies. The CORRECT design includes a splendid, full-sized version of Chinzorg Batochir's amazing illustration, The Ten Thousand Ride:

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday.

-- Elli (He/They) and the rest of the Worldbreakers team

Print-and-Play now available
about 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 10, 2022 at 06:28:22 AM

Kickstarter is going on scheduled maintenance in 25 minutes, so I'll keep it brief! The Worldbreakers: Advent of the Khanate Print-and-Play is now available.

Click here to download the Print-and-Play PDF

I would like to thank FixB and Parasol from the Worldbreakers Discord for their help and advice. We now have a dedicated print-and-play channel, so join for more information and assembly advice.

Print-and-Play setup from Parasol.

And another one from tessaluniki.

More updates coming this Friday! Until then ... go play ;)

-- Elli (He/They) and the Worldbreakers Team