It’s back!

Posted on by Paul Beakley

It’s back!

I’m in of course. August, yay, many months sooner than I was expecting it’d be available. My Seafall folks are chomping at the bit.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1350948450/gloomhaven-second-printing/description

Published by Paul Beakley

I founded the Indie Game Reading Club in 2010. I've written and developed RPGs since the mid-90s, now I mostly talk about playing them.

22 thoughts on “It’s back!”

  1. I have exactly enough leisure cash to buy this and I’m trying to decide if I’d have enough players or it would end up being a decoration in my study.

    I do know you can do solo play but something about that just doesn’t appeal.

  2. It’s huge and heavy and an enormous time investment to extract all the content and experience. But I think it’s also maybe easier to play episodically than Seafall has proven to be. Seafall feels like it takes a lot of concentration, and it’s competitive so it’s high stress. I’d be very happy playing Gloomhaven once or twice a month for a good long time.

  4. So I have a general aversion to Legacy games but all the hype has got me interested and seems like it’s a huge amount of content for $100… Considering I already have Kingdom Death (which I have a group that plays regularly) is this worth picking up?

  5. Dude I dunno. Kingdom Death seems like it’s in a similar space. I dunno that I’d feel the pull to Gloomhaven if I already had KD and played and liked it.

    I have no sense of how the KD setting actually develops over time, other than the fact you can reset it.

    I watched KD played for a bit (over Christian Griffen’s shoulder) last year and it looked boring and grindy to me. The fighting bits, that is. It’s a big empty arena, yeah? At least the white lion scenario was. I didn’t get to see the village part. I’ve heard Gloomhaven compared to Mage Knight in terms of the hand management vibe, and that’s a very strong sales point for me.

  6. There is terrain, and you are only fighting one Monster at a time… the variety comes in that the AI deck for the monster is slightly different every time (plus wounds remove cards from the AI deck making the monster easier to predict as the fight goes on).

    The hand management does seem interesting to me, but I wonder if it’ll appeal to others as much.

  7. I’ve only heard good things about Gloomhaven.

    As for KDM… I think that’s​ a much more involved game, definitely with some ingenious parts, but also such a hodge podge of mechanics and random tables that it’s very inconsistent. I expect Gloomhaven to be more straight forward and coherent, making for a less crazy experience (which can be more or less fun, depending on your taste). My group is planning to get Gloomhaven for sure.

  10. I like it, but I was hoping for a little bit more of the legacy stuff and maybe a little more strategic depth. As it stands, it’s a solid tactical combat game (in the mold of something like Descent). For some reason I had it in my head that there was more to it than just a series of fights. I think the mismatched expectations kind of dampened my excitement. That said – it’s got a much more manageable social footprint than Seafall.

  16. Sheesh. I should never comment on these sorts of threads because I inevitably hear about other awesome looking games that I dump my money into. City of Kings actually looks closer to what I wanted Gloomhaven to be.

  17. Also, having played both KDM and Gloomhaven, I find them to be somewhat similar from a complexity perspective. KDM is definitely more gonzo, both thematically and mechanically. The key distinction for me isn’t necessarily about the time commitment or style of game. They’re pretty similar in that regard (they both live in the house that Warhammer Quest built ages ago).

    It’s more about the miniature gaming hobby. If you’re not into constructing, modeling, and painting your own miniatures, you’re much better off buying Gloomhaven. The miniature hobby is a big part of the satisfaction of KDM.

  21. The simplest way is that KDM feels like not worth it if you’re not playing the big huge campaign. Gloomhaven is a well done Mage Knight Light with some legacy elements and hooks that are pretty optional (you could play with different people each week and not feel it)

  22. I’m loving the sound of both Gloomhaven and City of Kings, and I’m feeling better about not getting on the KDM train.

    I looked closer at Hexplore-It and once you get past the (amazingly well executed and elaborate) campaign, looks pretty conventional. The killer app is dry erase board, which…ehhh.

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