Those of you whose interest in this upcoming game were piqued by my recent article on their previous Kickstarter may be interested in the following backround for the game in which the world is set, some information on the game mechanics and a picture or two courtesy of the game designers themselves...
...over to them then...
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In the distant land of Tauber, the kingdoms of men and goblin have had a long standing, but uneasy alliance. For generations their people traded in rare stones, minerals, produce, and livestock. But then the moonstones came. Sprouting from the ground in the light of a bright moon, these rocks appeared almost at random, and would last only as long as it took for the first rays of the dawn light to touch them before disintegrating like so much dust in the wind.
No one knew why the moonstones began to grow and sprout as they did, all they knew was that the Wizard Tower opened it’s heavy doors for the first time in decades, and offered a hearty bounty for anyone who could bring them these stones still intact.
Across Tauber, all manner of creatures began to stir from their hovels and homes to try and cash in on this offer of wondrous reward. Soon the ties between man and goblin would be stretched thin as the promise of untold wealth drove even greater wedges into already strained political differences.
It is here that I would like to welcome you to the world of Tauber, its fairy-tale inhabitants, and the whimsical game of Moonstone.
Hi, I'm Richi from Goblin King Games, and I’d love to talk to you about our upcoming game on Kickstarter, Moonstone.
Some of you may already be familiar with the name following our previous Kickstarter earlier this year for the truly characterful Firespitter and Baron Von Fancyhat. Well thanks to the feedback received, we are back, only this time for the full game!
If you hadn't already guessed, Moonstone isn't your typical wargame.
No, Moonstone is a fantasy skirmish game that has more in common with the tales from European Folklore, than Tolkien.
As players you lead a troupe of 3-6 models in search of a precious commodity known as the titular moonstone. Your troupe belongs to one of two factions, the Commonwealth and the Dominion.
The Commonwealth
This faction is made up of a number of races including Humans, Gnomes, and Giants
The Dominion
Made up of Goblins, Faeries, and Trolls, the Dominion are the rivals to the Commonwealth. While not necessarily at war, their differences in lifestyle is more often than not a cause of conflict, especially when Moonstone's are involved.
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The game of Moonstone is played out on a 3 foot by 3 foot table utilising a combination of unique dice and card mechanics.
You might find yourself wondering exactly why the game’s mechanics are unique? For starters the dice are used as an in-game resource.
At the start of the game, a handful of seven four-sided-dice are dropped onto the centre of the table. Where these dice land is where the moonstones have sprouted, and the number on the dice represents how difficult they are to dig up from the grounds deep, entangling roots.
Outside of these mechanics, all other in-game interaction is done using one of two sets of shared card decks. The first is the Arcane Deck which is used to cast spells and make ranged attacks, and utilises a combination of poker and bluffing based mechanics to encourage players to try and trick the opposition into submission. Melee combat however is resolved using the Combat Deck, unlike the Arcane Deck, the Combat Deck uses zero-sum techniques similar to the schoolyard game of rock-paper-scissors, where as players you are required to anticipate the opponents move in order to damage, parry, block, and repost with dangerous and lethal consequences.
All the while, Moonstone plays out using alternating activations, meaning it is never long until your next go.
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It is with great hope that you have enjoyed this introduction to the world of Moonstone, and will be checking out our Kickstarter for the full game when it goes live, but in the meantime, we are pleased to reveal to you exclusive concept art for one of our Goblin characters by the name of Grub:
Grub is a Goblin Gardener, who after stumbling across an ancient tome of magic long lost within the gardens he tended with both love and devotion, he picked up the time and began to practice the incantations therein in the vein hope of finding a spell to hide his aged and sun-beaten skin and become the most beautiful Goblin in all of Tauber.
As you can see, Grub’s attempts to use magic had a variety of results, some with more success than others, and now he joins the ranks of the Dominion as a fast attack character able to strike from the shadows before tunnelling away as quickly as his mutated hands will allow him.
To this day Grub longs to find the one spell that will grant him his wishes of beauty and youth, but who knows what magic will bring in the whimsical, mystical world of Moonstone.
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