About
With danger comes profit, and where these have reached their peaks, you will find Fell, that land of death and glory.
-Tales of the North
"A unique monster building mechanic that creates an engaging, tense and fun game that has enough going for it to stand out from the crowd." - Christophe Montoya, Geek Syndicate
'Relentless, fast paced combat game that relies on real player cooperation or else you'll get eaten. Or worse!' - Alan Ball
'Really really like the look of this one.' - Mike, Who dares rolls
Fell is a cooperative board game pitting 2-4 players against the Chimeris: gigantic misshapen Beasts that require many men to bring down. The players will hire a group of ruthless mercenaries, equip them carefully and then send them to hunt these gigantic Beasts.
In Fell, you will work together as one of five businessmen (or women) to take advantage of the bounties the king has placed upon the Beasts of the land:
The Merchant
The consummate businessman, the Merchant made their money buying low and selling high and is looking at getting into the hunt. They bring expertise to the group, with an eagle eye for fine wares and an incomparable haggling ability.
The Pitboss
The Pitboss knows how to get things done, although they do sometimes use less than legal means. This is the person who can get you what you need when you need it. Just don't ask how they got it.
The Veteran
The survivor of many wars and a soldier who has seen a thousand men die, the Veteran brings their expertise as a drill sergeant to train the mercenaries and bring them up to scratch so that they can survive for an extra five seconds against the Chimeris.
The Huntsman
The hunt is never big enough for some people. Rabbits, deer and even bears are not exciting enough for this master of the wilderness. The money was the final push they needed to finally offer their knowledge of the land and wildlife to hunt the most dangerous game of all.
The Aristocrat
The high life: wine, tobacco and adventure! Young, impulsive but very well connected, the aristocrat makes up for their naivety with their overflowing bank account!
Four shillings. Nearly a crown. Sem looked at the Beast in the distance, mismatched limbs noticeable even from here, unique in the way only ‘Beasts’ could be. The creature was a great shambling mass, with one gigantic furred arm helping to support its great weight, the four thin spider-like legs unable to hold up its mass as well as the stockier mammoth limb on the other side. Horns the size of spears jutted madly from its face at seemingly random directions, one even obscuring one of its hate filled red eyes. The thing was in the open, it would smell them coming a mile off, but at least it was where they could see it.
‘Reckon he’s thirty six’ Kristoff muttered as he strung his wicked little bow.
‘Forty hands at the least’ Sem snorted, pinching the air in front of his eyes as if to crush the Beast between them.
‘Four shillings worth anyway.’
‘Aye’
Each Beast or 'Chimeris' is randomly composed of several Beast cards depicting monstrous limbs, heads and torsos which come together to make a mismatched shambling horror straight from a madman’s nightmare. These are not the classic monsters you may be used to facing as mighty heroes in other games, but then again you are not commanding the mighty heroes that you will wish you were.
This random generation means that there are thousands of combinations of Chimeris, each acting differently and each wickedly dangerous in their own unique ways.
“Many of yer have been to war before, to foreign lands and the like. Yer came back, and that makes yer tough men. Some of yer stayed, tended the land, toiled through winter cold and summer blist’rin hot, and that makes yer tough men. I ain’t no recruitin’ sergeant promisin’ adventure and golden fields full of young maidens, those of yer that went to war’ll know I’m lyin’, and those of yer that didn’t were too canny to fall fer it the first time.
I’m offerin’ two shillin’s to each and every one of you that’s willin’ to hold a blade against the Beasts in yer own land! That’s cold hard cash that is, and dangerous work to go with - it made me the man I am today an’ no mistake!
If yer sign fer love o’ country, to protect yer lands from the Beasts that grow bigger every day, I salute yer.
If yer sign ter be a hero, like Smiles Knife-Eyes or Bjorn The Bold then I salute yer.
If yer sign ter get away from some troubles behind yer worse’n a Beast then I salute yer.
And if yer sign fer warm beds and free mead then I’ll believe yer as I salute!”
-Gacker
You will be playing as several businessmen who are working together to make some quick money by defeating Beasts and collecting their bounties. To help you with this are five Warrior classes to hire, each with their own unique roles.
The Brute
This mighty warrior wields a great weapon to hack away at the Beast, they deal the most damage and have a sundering attack that chips away the Beast's armour.
The Marksman
Armed with a bow, these warriors can deal damage from afar. They can also utilise an accurate attack that has a chance of freeing their allies from the Beast's grasp.
The Shield Bearer
With weapon and shield held in mighty arms the Shield Bearer can take the most punishment from the Beast as well as bashing their shield to distract the Beast from their allies.
The Sticker
Armed with a polearm, the Sticker's main role is to hinder the Beast's movement using their brace ability. They also attack the Beast from a safer distance.
The Cragsman
Wielding nothing but two long knives, the Cragsman is in his element when climbing the Beast to attack the most vital locations.
We have several rewards beyond a copy of the game for generous backers that will allow them to be added into the world of Fell through the hands of our brilliant artist: Lorinda Tomko (http://www.lorindatomko.com/illustration.html).
We will work with you to create a Sticker, Brute, Marksman, Cragsman or Shield bearer in your likeness, you must own the copyright to any images or names you send us and we reserve the right to refuse any names that are profane or vividly 'against theme' (no sir hacks4l0t or the like I'm afraid).
If you would like to support us further we can offer to work with you to create one of the five businessmen that players will play as in the game. However, the same naming rules will apply as to the Warriors.
1 x Gameboard
25 x Warrior cards
20 x Activation cards
25 x Veterancy cards
25 x Item cards
5 x Player character cards
19 x Beast cards
75 x Beast action cards
4 x Combat reference cards
5 x Polyhedral dice
60 x Event cards
100+ tokens
1 x Rulebook
The rules are 90% finished, with the skirmish rules complete (below) and extensively playtested. The campaign rules are still in early development but the general idea is to string together up to six skirmishes as you lead your band of warriors to riches or ruin. Each hunt will earn you money, which you can spend to buy equipment and upgrading your surviving warriors (or more likely replacing the fallen!).
For a quick summary of the rules and a full gameplay video head over to Grimejack.com
Goal: We make the game and it will be beautiful. Even if we do not meet all of our stretch goals we fully intend to complete the finished game to a polished and professional level.
New identities: We will add a new player identity into the game with unique special rules. This will also allow one more portrait of a generous backer to be added into the game.
New Classes: We will add five new warriors into the game for you to throw at the mighty Beasts. This will also allow five more portraits of generous backers to be added into the game.
Terrain: We really want to add terrain into Fell. To this end, we will design six unique overlays to place onto the battlemap. These will add a whole new layer of tactics into the game including rivers that might slow you down, scrub to hide in and rocks to climb so that you can challenge the Beast face to face!
New Beast body parts: These body parts will add new abilities or different values to the Beasts limbs as well as fantastic new art. Once we hit the total of 36 bodyparts, there will be over 45,000 different possible Beasts!
Our stretch goals are simple. We have devoted a great deal of attention to what we believe is achievable, and as such, this is the complete list of stretch goals.
My name is Jack Caesar and along with Matthew Grimes we are Grimejack Games. We are British board game designers from opposite ends of the country who created Grimejack games smack bang between the two in Leicester.
Both of us come from an engineering background, but our gaming experiences are quite different. I have always enjoyed playing roleplaying games, many of which have been created by me. I have always enjoyed creating intuitive rules that tell a story and it fascinates me when simple systems manage to recreate complicated situations and themes. Matt comes much more from the wargaming scene and has great familiarity with the many ways rules and theme mix to create stories on a grand scale. Wherever we started however, we both have ended up playing a lot of board games and dissecting them to the very core, it was a natural jump from there to game design.
Together we make Grimejack Games, a very new company that has one goal:
To make fantastic games.
That’s it, and it’s a goal born from a love of games, whether its playing them or designing them. Furthermore, we are both perfectionists in the latter, meaning that all of our games will be high quality, unique and fun. We are thoroughly committed to making Fell a truly special first product and we are confident that our efforts and dedication will reflect in your enjoyment.
Risks and challenges
Here's the place for honesty.
We are new to this, we are excited, determined and have clear defined goals but there are a few things we don't have, the most important of which is experience. This is our first commercial game and we realise that we are asking for a lot on trust, trust that we will deliver a quality product on time. We know we can live up to that, but we understand that it can make a few of you think twice.
We have received cost estimates from manufacturers, distribution companies and our lovely artist. We have play tested game after game and we are willing to throw everything we have into this endeavor, we are not here to make a huge profit, we are here to make a fantastic game.
Finally I would like to stress that we have a completely open policy when it comes to mistakes, holdups and other gremlins. So whilst it is impossible to promise nothing will go wrong, we can promise that you will be the first to know!
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Funding period
- (30 days)