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AU$ 50,451
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If you missed the Kickstarter, but would like to own a copy of Dreary Hamlet, click on this link and subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when the game is released for general sale.
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Dreary Hamlet is now over 160% funded! Thank you all so much for coming on this wild journey with us; it's been crazy!
Check out all of the amazing things we managed to unlock together in the Stretch Goals section below!
Who doesn't love extras?!
All unlocked physical stretch goals will be applied to every Kickstarter exclusive copy of Dreary Hamlet.
Read more about this deluxe box in update 16!
Read more about this awesome double-sided token in Update 18!
60 Coins for $15 AUD - No Extra Shipping!
You asked for it, and we've listened! As well as those already included in the game, any backer at the Adventurer level or higher can now pledge an extra $15 AUD (approx: $10.70 USD, £7, €9.65) for each additional set of 60 metal coins they'd like to purchase, with no extra cost for shipping.
That's 20 bronze coins, 20 silver coins, and 20 gold coins for $15; it's as simple as that!
To add an extra set (or three) of coins to your pledge click on the "Manage Your Pledge" button. On the new page change the green number in the "Pledge Amount" box (add $15 per coin set -- that's in Australian Dollars), click "Continue to next step", and then click "Confirm". That's it!
Hamlet is a miserable place; quiet and sullen in its obscurity. But within it lives a tale; it slithers between the houses, its eddies and swells bathing the crumbling walls in its silence. It is a poised creature, expectant; as if it awaits the day when it is to be captured between the lips and teeth of one brave enough to speak it, and spat out, screeching, into the world.
It is in that moment that our tale begins...
The aim of the game is simple; be the player with the most loot once every player is dead. The journey there is not such a simple one though.
Each round of gameplay consists of a day and night phase. Creatures are drawn from a deck and placed in a grid at the centre of the table, where during the day players will choose which to face. Many things will affect the outcome of this combat, such as ammunition type equipped, creature health, defence, and number of attacks, and player health and items. Combat is resolved through dice rolls, and if the player survives they may receive a loot reward. These rewards can be sold for gold, crafted into better items that will be worth more in the future, or eaten to stave off death.
While players have control during the day, once the sun sets and night settles across the land, the creatures in play will follow them back to camp, setting upon the doomed adventurers. No loot can be won during the chaos of night, leaving survival the only reward to a successful defence.
At the same time, all players are competing to become the richest hero, so back-stabbing, betrayal, theft, and murder will be in abundance. The most important thing to remember is that death is inevitable, so take joy in your friend's suffering, and race to meet them on the other side!
Want to learn more about how to play the game? Check out Update 4 for a summary of the rulebook, as well as some of the strategies behind different styles of play.
Here's a quick video demonstrating some of the main elements of the game.
Four Player Gameplay Video:
Two Player Gameplay Video:
Before we get too bogged down in words, let's take a brief break to look at some of the artwork for Dreary Hamlet.
The Basilisk
The Djinn
The Dryad
There are many more illustrations we'd love to show you, but for the sake of keeping the page clean we'll save them for future updates!
Every copy of Dreary Hamlet will contain all of the following:
We hope to massively improve upon this formula with stretch goals in the future, so keep an eye on this section for updates!
Detailed list of all current components:
- 4 Player Cards
- 66 Creature Cards
- 138 Loot Cards
- 32 Death Cards
- 8 Silver Coins
- 20 Bronze Coins
- 22 Gold Coins
- 4 Acrylic Domes
- 6 10-Sided Dice
- 25 Small Clear Acrylic Gems
- 25 Large Red Acrylic Gems
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: Deluxe Book-Shaped Box
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: Ziplock Bags
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: 6 10-Sided Dice
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: 1 11.5gm Starting Player Token
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: Competitive Co-op Rules
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: Black Drawstring Coin Bag
There are 240 cards in total in Dreary Hamlet, which are separated into three decks:
The Creature Deck
The Creature Deck houses the various beasts that litter the countryside of Hamlet. From pesky Piskies to monstrous Manticores, they're all here, waiting to hit the table and take a bite out of our beleaguered adventurers.
The Loot Deck
Treasures both small and large are hidden within the towering stack of the Loot Deck. Bones, insects, spells, flesh, and even gold await those who find themselves fortunate enough to still own the fingers required to pick through the remains.
The Death Deck
For all, death awaits. But for the lucky few, death is not the end of the tale. This dark deck holds the most malicious of cards, and the most benevolent. Be merciful, or be cruel, but only the dead may decide how to play the game of the living.
Every copy of Dreary Hamlet will ship with a total of 50 metal coins in three different colours; bronze, silver, and gold. There are a lot of great things about these coins, but the most important ones to note are:
- The coins are made with a zinc alloy that is free of toxic heavy metals.
- Thanks to their design the coins are light-weight.
- These coins cannot be bent easily by hand.
- No stamped values or brand markings means that they can easily be used as replacement components for other tabletop games.
We have many exciting digital rewards planned for Dreary Hamlet, and we hope to add even more with future stretch goals. For now digital rewards include:
- Extensive video diary of the Kickstarter campaign.
- Extensive video diary of the development and design of the game.
- Exclusive interviews with the designer and artist.
- Access to high res images for use as wallpapers or profile pictures.
- Concept art, sketches, and planning documents.
- STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED: Bestiary and Item Compendium
We have chosen to send Dreary Hamlet directly from China to our backers, as this method promises a drastically shorter wait time between completion of manufacturing, and receipt of the game. This method has also allowed us to charge a flat rate of $10 AUD (approx $7.20 USD, €6.55, £4.70) outside of Europe.
In order to save our European backers from expensive processing fees and VAT upon receipt of their game, we will be sending all copies destined for the EU from within the EU, and will be absorbing the larger part of these fees on our end.
Due to the absorption of these fees we have passed on a slight increase in shipping cost for EU backer, making their total shipping cost $15 AUD (approx €9.70, £7). We apologise for this increase in cost, but hope that our European backers can feel safe in the knowledge that they will not face further fees down the line.
Double Adventurer & Creator:
The Double Adventurer and Creator pledge levels are covered by the same $10 AUD ($15 AUD in the EU) shipping as mentioned above.
Quintuple Adventurer & Decuple Adventurer:
Unfortunately all of the many cards, dice, acrylic gems, and metal coins make Dreary Hamlet a fairly weighty game, and as such we have not been able to completely eliminate additional shipping costs for backers at these pledge levels.
Because of this backers at the Quintuple Adventurer level will pay shipping for 4 out of 5 of their games, and backers at the Decuple Adventurer level will pay shipping for 8 out of 10 of their games.
If you'd like to support Dreary Hamlet on Kickstarter or other media platforms, please feel free to post about the campaign, or replace your profile display picture with one of the images below.
Risks and challenges
Fulfilment is always going to be a daunting task for a first time creator, however we are confident in the measures that we have put into place, and the research we have done on this process, and trust that the companies we are working with will help us to provide backers with the products they pledge for.
The Chinese New Year is of note for this project, as production will likely cease during this time, which can often cause delays to manufacturing and shipping. We have accounted for this time in our estimated delivery date, and will use it fully to work on any stretch goals that we reach. Thanks to this we do not expect the holiday period to cause any issues heading forward with the campaign.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterSupport
Funding period
- (30 days)