About this project
Deus Ex Machina
$19,647
393
Deus ex Machina is a competitive game for 2 to 4 players with an innovative hero placement mechanism in which each player takes the role of an Olympian god trying to achieve supremacy over the other gods via manipulation of heroes and behind the scenes planning. Their ultimate goal is to accumulate the most Glory Points by having heroes complete quests. The winner of the game is the player who has completed his secret objective.
The ancient Greek world was ruled by the Olympian gods, 12 beings of immense power, but also victims to their own feelings, passions and vices. They vied for supremacy very often even amongst themselves, sometimes through brute force like hurling bolts of lightning, but they also conspired against each other through guile and intricate machinations.
This is the game the gods were playing when they tried to consolidate their power by working in the shadows, manipulating mortals to do their bidding, either showering them with promises of immortality and other divine gifts, or bending them to their will with dreadful threats and curses. The gods would compete against each other in a contest of wits and tactics, having the heroes of ancient Greece face mythical creatures and threats and gain glory in their name.
- Video presentation from Undead Viking
- Video presentation from Let's Boardgame, in English
- Video presentation from Let's Boardgame, in German
Written preview from Rhiannon Lee
Pre-Published version of the Rules
Want more than 1 copy of Deus Ex Machina? You can add more copies of Deus Ex Machina (max. 3 copies) by adding $44 to your pledge. For example, if you would like an additional copy, and your pledge level is Hermes (Early Bird), your total pledge should be $83. Should you choose this option, please let us know with a message (via Kickstarter).
Unfortunately, we cannot do the same with Argonauts and Gothic Invasion copies. There is a limit in the Ares (50), Poseidon (50) and Pantheon (12) pledge levels.
SOCIAL MEDIA
You may find Deus Ex Machina on BGG, on our official website and on Facebook.
WHY KICKSTARTER
Alcyon Creative is a fairly new group of board game designers with 1 successful project under our belt, Argonauts. However, we still don't have access to traditional distribution and lack the funds required to produce the minimum number of copies in a print run (including all relevant expenses like artwork, graphic design etc.) .
Again, as with our previous project, we managed to invest around 3000 EUR (roughly 3400 USD) for artwork, graphic design and other miscellaneous costs for this campaign. Once more, we ask for your help to gather the rest of the required funds and accomplish our goal to finish the job.
When published, the M.S.R.P. for Deus Ex Machina will be 50 USD. However, as a token of our gratitude, our backers will get the game with a discount ranging from 52% and 24 USD to 42% and 29 USD respectively for Early Bird and Regular backers! Our initial price was 27 USD and 32 USD for EB and Regular respectively but the shipping service upgrade came with an additional 3USD cost which we decided that it shouldn't affect the final reward cost.
Please note that all stretch goals achieved during this campaign will be free for all kickstarter backers. These additions however will comprise our mini-expansion for the game, meaning that when the game is published, they will be sold separately.
The overly positive feedback we've received regarding the quality of our components and materials made hiring the same manufacturer of Argonauts a no-brainer choice! We are extremely satisfied with the quality of the materials used and as before, we don't plan on making discounts on quality. Deus Ex Machina will be made 100% in Europe.
RETAILERS
Retailer backers and distributors will receive their rewards before the retail release of Deus Ex Machina.
If you're a retailer, please contact us at info@alcyoncreative.com during the course of this campaign for pricing and shipping information.
SHIPPING AND HANDLING
We will fulfill all the shipping ourselves from within the EU. All backers (European and International alike) don't have to worry about customs.
We have a unified cost for Worldwide shipping of 15 USD. We decided to upgrade our shipping method for a faster and safer delivery. All games will be bubble-wrapped and sealed in a shipping box to avoid any damage to the content. A Tracking number will be provided for every shipment.
Here is a summary table for all the shipping costs:
Shipments to non-EU backers will have 17 EUR declared as the value of the package. That's roughly equivalent to 19 USD / 24 CAD / 24 AUD / 17 CHF / 2264 JPY, and should be under the threshold that triggers customs duties in most countries.
As for the Essen pickup pledge, we would like to inform you that your game will be available for pickup at the booth of our friends from Artipia Games.
OUR OTHER GAMES
Argonauts was published in 2015 via a successful Kickstarter campaign. It's a cooperative game for 1-4 players set in mythological ancient Greece, depicting with great accuracy the myth of the Jason and the Argonauts.
Official website link: http://www.alcyoncreative.com/products/argonauts/
BGG link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171356/argonauts
Gothic Invasion was published in 2014 and it’s a competitive strategy game for 2 to 5 players, where players play either as the Goths or the Romans. The Goths’ goal is to raid and pillage the roman cities in the Balkan area, while the Romans’ goal is to prevent them from doing so.
Official website link: http://www.alcyoncreative.com/products/gothic-invasion/
BGG link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137500/gothic-invasion
ABOUT US
Alcyon Creative is a group of boardgame designers and illustrators, whose goal is to publish boardgames and books based on history, mythology, science fiction and fantasy.
PARTNERSHIP
We are very happy to announce that our friends from KickAss Games have launched a crowdfunding campaign on the spanish crowdfunding platform Verkami, in order to publish the Spanish version of Deus Ex Machina. They have our full support in their endeavor!
We urge people who are interested in acquiring the spanish version of Deus Ex Machina to support KickAss Games' campaign on Verkami!
Risks and challenges
Deus Ex Machina will be printed and shipped from within the EU. We expect excellent quality manufacturing. We are working with a known, respected manufacturer who we've employed in the past for Argonauts and had amazing results!
We are also confident in our ability to deliver the game and any additional content we create for this game. We do not have to wait for any containers from overseas.
The artwork for the base game is complete. The artwork for the stretch goals is prepared to be greenlit for finalization. That said, unforeseen events may affect how quickly fulfillment is conducted, and the final graphics and components that you see presented here are subject to (however improbable) change.
Note that our goal is to ship the game on time, by the dates listed on the pledge levels. Shipping a package is different than delivering a package. We do not deliver your game, the shipping company does. Therefore, delivery times will vary according to your local postal services - once we ship, the shipment is the responsibility of the shipping company.
By backing this project, you indicate that you have read, understood and agreed with the above. If you have any questions, please contact us directly via the Kickstarter messaging system.
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Funding period
- (24 days)