Mini Manufacturer

Welcome back villains! First up, have you been checking our previous blogs about League of Infamy? If not, shame on you. But look, we’re forgiving folk here, so make sure you read our introductory blog, plus the analysis of a villain card and our quick chat about the role of the Keep Master. Today’s article is a big one because we’re talking Disorder!

As we’ve mentioned before, playing as a group of villains doesn’t
always mean you have to play nice. After all, the assembled rapscallions have a
history of arson, theft, murder, treason and anything else nasty you can think
of. Although they’re working together on behalf of the League, ultimately they’ve
all got their own agendas.

Each Villain is trying to earn ‘infamy’ – basically bragging
rights when they’re down the tavern afterwards and want to show off about what
a total bad ass they are. What’s more, they’re all trying to gather the most
gold or the best equipment. As a result, there’s nothing wrong with being a
little selfish when it comes to completing the mission.

DISORDER CARDS

As part of their drive to prove themselves the greatest, the
Villains will not hesitate to undermine each other. This is represented by the
Disorder deck, which the Villains will draw from at the end of each round.

Each Disorder card grants the Villain the ability to use a
special Action – usually one which lets them act against their so-called
compatriots for their own good. Disorder cards are one-use, and once they have
been played they are discarded to a face-up discard pile next to the deck. If
the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new one.

To sweeten the deal, and encourage some healthy
backstabbing, playing a Disorder card also gives the Villain an amount of
Infamy, shown in the Infamy icon at the bottom of the card. This means you’ll
always be looking for opportunities to stich up your ‘colleagues’ and gain that
all-important infamy. The more you act against the interests of the group, the
more Infamy you will earn.

What’s more, you can also use the Disorder cards to help you
out in sticky situations. About to get attacked by some angry elves? Why not
switch positions with a neighbouring Villain. Urgently need a health potion? Pinch
one from another Villain. Even better, you’ll also earn infamy when you do
this.

ESCALATION

Buried throughout the Disorder deck are a number of
Escalation cards. As soon as one of these is drawn it is placed face-up next to
the Disorder deck, and the player who drew it draws another card to replace it.

Escalation cards either give the Keep Master an extra Alarm
token every round, increase the number of Disorder cards that each Villain
draws to at the end of a round, or both. As Escalation cards are drawn the
Villains have more opportunities to score Infamy for their own personal gain,
but this always comes at their team-mates’ expense. Also, the more Disorder
cards are drawn, the more quickly the remaining Escalation cards will be
revealed. Will the Villains push for personal glory, or resist their evil
impulses for the good of the team? That’s for them to decide.

The post League of Infamy: What are Disorder Cards? appeared first on Mantic Games.

After yesterday’s blog looking through the Villain Card, today we thought we should probably look at the ‘courageous’ Keep Master and their pesky elves *spits in disgust*

A little like Star Saga and Dungeon Saga, League of Infamy pits one player against everyone else. Although unlike those games, this time the antagonist is actually the hero! It’s all about perspective. The Keep Master is in charge of the elf defenders that will try and stop the ‘evil’ villains carrying out their nefarious schemes.

“But wait a minute! I hate being the player that has to beat everyone else and ruin their evening – mainly because I also laugh and point at them. I wish this was entirely co-operative.”

Ah, it’s our old friend imaginary blog reader. Don’t worry! There will also be an AI deck that pits you against an imaginary Keep Master, so you can have four players all on the same side. Hooray!

Although their bastion is being assaulted by a team of highly skilled Villains, the Keep Master has a few tricks up their sleeve – after all, they have the home field advantage. This is represented by the Keep deck, from which they will draw a hand of cards at the start of the game and replenish each round.

The Keep Master’s hand size depends on the number of Villains in the Raid, so the more Villains involved, the more Keep Cards the master will be able to draw from the deck.

There are a number of different sets of Keep cards, each with its own theme designated by an icon. At the start of each raid the Keep Master is instructed to construct the deck for this Raid, usually from the “common” set plus one or more themed sets.

Keep cards each tell you which phase of the game they can be played in.

THE KEEP PHASE

In the Keep phase, the Keep Master rallies the defenders to repel the Villains. The Keep Phase has three steps, which must be completed in order.

STEP 1: STRATEGY

In the Strategy step, the Keep Master is able to play a number of their Keep cards, giving them bonus activations, allowing them to heal their Defenders and so on. These cards clearly state how to resolve their respective rules.

STEP 2: DEFEND

In the Defend step, the Keep Master activates their Defenders. They can always activate a number of Defenders equal to the number of Villain Players and can spend Alarm tokens to activate more.

The first additional activation of a phase costs one Alarm token. The second one costs two Alarm tokens, the third costs three, and so on.

Activating Defenders

When a Defender is activated they can make up to two Actions, and cannot make the same Action twice. Each Defender can only be activated once per Keep phase. If a Defender was activated earlier in the round (because of a special rule, Keep Card etc) they can still be activated in the Keep phase.

STEP 3: REINFORCE

In the Reinforce step, the Keep Master can spend Alarm tokens to summon additional Defenders as reinforcements. They can only summon Defender types that are in one of their Defender Slots, and for each Defender summoned they must spend a number of Alarm tokens as shown by the Alarm Cost / Infamy Reward icon on the Defender’s card.

When a Defender is summoned, the Keep Master places it off the board, next to a Reinforcement point, ready to move onto in the next Keep round.

So, there you have a quick preview of how the Keep Master works. Next week we’ll be having more sneak peeks, including a look at the infamous Disorder cards.

The post League of Infamy: What is the Keep Master? appeared first on Mantic Games.

Hello! And welcome to another sneak peek at our upcoming occasionally co-operative dungeon crawler, League of Infamy. Just in case you missed the announcement, League of Infamy will be launching on Kickstarter on October 28th. Over the next few days, we’ll be going into more details about how the game plays. Today we’re analysing a Villain Card. In the immortal words of John ‘Ray’ Arnold, “hold onto your butts”*

This is the Villain Card for Karzel Runesbane, a greedy Abyssal Dwarf Decimator with a passion for making noise… lots of noise. The Villain Cards will be roughly tarot card sized, so there’s plenty of room for some extra bits and bobs – which we’ll come to a moment.

Here are the main villain stats. The first is how far Karzel can move – in this case Karzel can move three squares. In the middle you’ve got Karzel’s health, so Karzel can take 14 wounds before he’s in a spot of bother. Finally, you’ve got defence – this is the amount of potential damage Karzel can take before he starts taking wounds.

On the left of the card you can find Karzel’s Fight stat. A little like Hellboy, League of Infamy uses a scale of differently coloured dice. White dice are the basic level, orange are slightly better and purple are the best. When fighting, Karzel starts with two white dice, but this can be upgraded with equipment or abilities.

On the right, you’ve got the Shoot stat. This works in exactly the same way as fighting. So, Karzel rolls three white dice as standard when making a ranged attack. Simple!

At the bottom of the card is Karzel’s Skulk stat. Although the Villains may like to go around smashing in doors and noisily shooting elves, sometimes you might want to be a little more cautious. Villains are able to pick locks on unexplored rooms so they can quietly sneak in without alerting the guards. Plus, there may be other events that require you to use your Skulk stats. We’ll leave you to guess how many dice Karzel rolls for skulking.

One of the most important elements of the card is the section listing Karzel’s special abilities, in this case Fusillade and Clanking Sprint. Each of the villains has special abilities that you’ll have to combine in order to successfully complete each mission.

You’ll also see the keyword ‘Deadeye’ above the abilities. During the course of the game you’ll be able to level up your villain with new skills. In the case of Karzel, as well as using Generic cards, he can also learn skills with the Deadeye ability. Stay tuned for more on skills later! What’s more, there may be other elements of the game that use these keywords.

STARTING EQUIPMENT

Now, you may be thinking. “A few puny white dice? I’m never going to be able to mercilessly slaughter elves while laughing maniacally.” Well, don’t fret aspiring elf killer because each villain starts with some special equipment. Huzzah!

One of Karzel’s starting cards is the one above. When using the Twin Pistols weapon, Karzel gets to upgrade one of his white dice to an orange dice. Ignore the little purple die in the corner – that’s placeholder for the moment!

Unfortunately, you’ll also generate an alarm token for the Keep Master (something we’ll come to in a later blog). You’ve got to weigh up the decision to create noise or potentially be more likely to take out your target.

Well, hope you enjoyed that rundown of a Villain Card. Come back tomorrow for more insights into the world of League of Infamy.

*we’ll try and cram obscure Jurassic Park references into as many blogs as possible

The post League of Infamy: What’s a Villain Card? appeared first on Mantic Games.

After yesterday’s blog talking a little bit about the early stages of development for League of Infamy (the occasionally co-operative dungeon crawler*), today we’re explaining a little bit about the background behind the mysterious League.

After the initial decision that the game would be about a group of villains trying to play nicely together, we needed to come up with a good reason about why they were heading off on this little jaunt. After all, a gang of miscreants wouldn’t necessarily choose to work together… without good reason.

Of course, we knew we wanted to set League of Infamy in the same universe of Kings of War (just like we did with Dungeon Saga), so we needed something that would make sense in that context. Initially we tossed around the idea that an Abyssal Warlock had captured the villains and was forcing them to do his bidding… and potentially a bonus mission would be a scenario against the warlock. The characters would each be trying to impress the warlock by performing the most evil deeds possible.

However, that didn’t really feel quite right, and it was back to the drawing board. It was actually during one of our discussions with James and Sophie that the idea of the League came up. They suggested the idea of a mysterious, illuminati-type organisation that would be sending their evil minions across Pannithor to commit all sorts of foul thievery and dastardly doings. Subsequently the League of Infamy was born.

The League is a group of shadowy individuals that only care about one thing: money! Lurking in the murky nation of Ophidia, the League has its influence spread across Pannithor. The League only really has one purpose… and that’s to make sure its members become as wealthy and as powerful as possible. As a result, although they’re happy to use ne’er do wells in their schemes, sometimes they may also be helping the good factions of Pannithor. As long as it helps their bottom line.

With League of Infamy, the League has heard that the elves have started to breed drakons – a smaller type of dragon that can be ridden into battle. The concern is that if the elves have an abundance of these powerful steeds, it could tip the balance of power in their favour and the League could lose its influence. Which would be very bad indeed! So, this is a mission that requires ruthless individuals that aren’t afraid to get their hands a bit bloody. Success will result in great rewards. Failure will result in… a messy end.

We love the idea of the League so much, that this board game won’t be the only time you’ll encounter their devious influence. If you backed the Kings of War RPG, you’ll know the League is mentioned there but you’ll also start to see them appear in Kings of War too. Remember Darvled from the Edge of the Abyss campaign? Well, let’s just say he’s probably got a Coin of Infamy in his back pocket. There’s also a potential civil war brewing in the dwarfen kingdom, which might come in useful for the League if that region becomes destabilised. And who encouraged La’theal Silverheart (now Bleakheart) to unleash the Nightstalkers… and is now funding the Basileans in their quest to stamp them out?

The Pondwarden will ensure any villains have a troublesome time in the Trident Realm.

What’s more, having the League as an organisation with influence across Pannithor, it means we can provide countless adventures for their minions. From the lush fields of the Shires, to the waterways of the Trident Realm… and who knows where else. In tomorrow’s blog, we’ll start delving deep into the rules!

*we are contractually obliged to say this at least once an article

The post Creating League of Infamy: Part Two appeared first on Mantic Games.

Today we’re kicking off a series of blogs giving you a behind the scenes look at the development of League of Infamy, our new board game coming to Kickstarter soon! In this blog, we’re looking back at the early stages of development and how League of Infamy came to be the ‘occasionally co-operative dungeon crawler’.

But first we need to travel way back into the distant mists of time. Remember 2014? Back when we didn’t have flying cars and robot butlers. What a crazy year. Well, Mantic launched a Kickstarter for Dungeon Saga, a classic take on the traditional dungeon crawler, and it went rather well! The campaign launched not only the core game, but a series of expansions and big monsters too.

After the Kickstarter, Dungeon Saga was extremely popular as a retail product. We had to re-print the core game almost 10 times and it was translated into multiple languages. We’ve often talked about creating an updated Dungeon Saga, using some of the revised rules from Star Saga and originally League of Infamy started from that idea.

However, as we were starting to plan the project, we realised that we were all a bit fed up of playing the heroes. The same old mix of dwarf berserker, elf ranger, wizard, barbarian, etc. was a little bit tired. Plus, there are only so many times you can smash your way through an evil sorcerer’s dungeon to uncover some sort of magical artefact.

We discussed how we would much prefer to play the villains. Ronnie joked about freeing the dragon, rather than slaying it, or rescuing an orc that’s been taken prisoner, rather than having to capture it! We also all agreed how much we hate pointy-eared, weedy elves and how much we would absolutely love to ransack an elven sanctuary.

Thus, the seeds of League of Infamy were planted! Next it was time to choose the villains. We wanted these to be a twist on the traditional dungeon crawling tropes. So, instead of a courageous wizard, you’ve got an insane Twilight Kin sorceress. The elf archer is now a greedy, noisy Abyssal Dwarf gunslinger and so on. We really enjoyed having fun with the characters and making them as evil as possible.

The next step was to start creating the game and we knew there was only one place we could turn… Needy Cat Games. We absolutely loved working with Sophie and James on Hellboy: The Board Game, and we knew they would do a fantastic job of bringing our vision of League of Infamy to the tabletop… and that’s exactly what they’ve done. The result is a mix between Dungeon Saga and Hellboy, with a little bit of wicked magic sprinkled throughout the whole thing.

Part of this magic comes from the Disorder Cards. “What are Disorder Cards,” we hear you cry imaginary blog reader. Obviously a group of villains aren’t necessarily going to be team players and are more likely to be looking out for themselves, rather than the rest of their ‘team’. This is represented by the Disorder deck, a set of cards that basically allow you to stitch up your fellow players… or get stitched up. Each time you play a Disorder Card you’re rewarded with ‘Infamy’. This is basically bragging rights, so that when you’re all down the tavern afterwards, everyone will be talking about a total bad ass you are.

As a result, James and Sophie have done a great job of making sure you’re always engaged with the game because you’re either watching out for opportunities to play your Disorder Cards or potentially negotiating with the other players to get you out of a sticky situation. You see, ‘Infamy’ becomes a currency in the game, so you can exchange any Infamy you’ve earned with the other players at any time in the game. For example, if you’ve just been whacked by an elf and need a health potion, you can attempt to weedle it out of another player in exchange for infamy. “I’ll tell everyone how you killed that baby drakon with just one punch, if you give me that potion. OK, ok! I’ll say it was a full size drakon… just give me the bloody potion!”

So, there you’ve got a brief overview of the early stages of development on League of Infamy. In the rest of the blogs, we’ll in greater detail at how the game plays and lift the lid on who/what the League of Infamy is!

The post Creating League of Infamy: Part One appeared first on Mantic Games.