About this project
The Depths of Durangrar: A Dungeon Crawler...in the dark
$81,490
756
You stand before the impenetrable darkness at the mouth of Durangrar.
No one knows what lies within, but if even a fraction of the tales can be believed, it contains wealth beyond imagining -- and fearsome beasts of unknown powers. All that is truly known is how few return once they enter the Depths of Durangrar.
Yet here you are: the finest hope of each of three warring nations: a valorious Knight of Brus K'eva's strongholds, a fearless Scout from the far reaches of Anh Diem, and one of Tir Vasa's daring Demolitionists, famous for melting solid stone.
Each of your nations has been laid low by a three-way war that has raged for centuries, leaving starvation and pestilence in its wake. If you can secure the wealth of Durangrar, you will lift your nation out of desperation and win this interminable war.
But first, you must find the treasure, facing both your rival adventurers and the mysterious beasts, and then survive long enough to return to the mouth of the cave where your countrymen await.
In this deep darkness, you can secure a bright future for your nation -- but will you master the darkness, or succumb to it?
The Depths of Durangrar is a strategic dungeon crawler board game for two to four players, played in near-total darkness.
One player takes the role of the Monster, and up to three play as the treasure-seeking Explorers. Explorers use small LEDs to navigate the darkness of the uncharted maze in search of treasure.
The Monster's player, on the other hand is able to use night vision goggles to survey the entire maze while he seeks to destroy the invaders.
Basic Gameplay:
The game begins after the Monster has constructed a maze and hidden the treasure.
The Explorers enter the dungeon with no knowledge of the maze’s layout. During each turn, players use action points to move along the spaces within the maze, search the darkness, engage in combat with other characters, or to collect or drop gold...and the Monster player watches with his night vision goggles as the Explorers fumble in the dark.
Whatever their role, each player use their unique powers to compete with each other throughout the game.
The Explorers:
The Monsters:
Gameplay Video:
Watch as Jack walks us through some of the game's most important elements and explains how its balance works despite the Monster player's unique night vision advantage:
Review from Just Got Played:
"This is no joke, this game's got probably the funkiest, biggest selection of components...it's got custom dice, it's got these little figurines...it's got a completely variable board...night vision goggles comes with the game. Absolutely incredible!" -Patrick Siebert
"What this brings that's different is the modular board...and that oppressive feeling of not being able to see very far. You do feel like you're exploring." -Bart Brunscheen/The Chief
Review from Tech Raptor: http://techraptor.net/content/the-depths-of-durangrar-preview
"I had a moment of absolute glee as the Monster when one of the Explorers rotated around only to see my Thresher standing right behind them—the matte-painted Monster figurines are practically invisible in the dark. I felt like the terror in the dark in any slasher movie of your choice and it was an absolute riot." -Robert Adams
Interview with Sweet Kicks with Bricks:
http://www.sweetkickswithbricks.com/sweet-kicks-bricks-93-depths-durangrar/
I'm Jack Poon, creator of The Depths of Durangrar.
In addition to being an avid gamer, I'm a professional engineer, and my previous work included designing desktop 3D printers. But more than anything, I have always loved coming up with new ways to play my favorite games. The idea for Depths of Durangrar actually came from playing horror video games - I wanted to find a way to use darkness to create a new kind of board game experience.
The other side of the Depths of Durangrar team is Fire & Bone - a group of amazing 3D designers and illustrators who helped bring the idea to life. Fire & Bone is known for creating ultra-realistic cast miniatures, and their team includes Jason Bakutis, a former makeup FX artist for horror films, and Matt Kroner, who has a background in toy design. They have run several excellent Kickstarter campaigns of their own.
We'll also be partnering with Backerkit to manage pledge levels and ensure you get everything you want and delivered to your door.
Risks and challenges
This is my first Kickstarter creation. I’ve learned a great deal about game design and manufacturing since the start of this project two years ago -- and there have been some setbacks. To minimize the risk, I’ve done a lot of research from reading the incredibly detailed and thorough guides made by Jamey Stegmaier on Kickstarter Lessons, Luke Crane’s advice on Kickstarter campaigns and reaching out to friends and family who have done Kickstarter campaigns to learn from them as well.
Manufacturing and fulfillment are always challenging for first-time creators. But there’s good news: I’ve already chosen a fantastic manufacturing company called Wingo Games that specializes in game production. Wingo Games has worked with many other kickstarter campaigns and has over 20 years of experience manufacturing games. We’ve been in contact for over a year, going back and forth on how to best ensure the game can be manufactured and provide excellent quality to our backers.
Incorporating night vision goggles and lights into the game has been an extraordinary challenge. Color selection and light intensity has been essential to creating the right atmosphere and keeping elements that should be hidden out of sight and elements that come into view to jump out and provide the same experience as a cave spelunker would have when exploring the deep dark depths of the Earth. With a great deal of play testing and experimentation, we’ve established a color scheme that works well to be illuminated by the night vision goggles and explorer LEDs.
With all this knowledge and preparation, I believe that we’ll be able to work with our manufacturers to bring that same experience to you if this campaign is successfully funded.
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Funding period
- (38 days)