The One Box (and Update) to Rule them All! - with GameTrayz Inside
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 02:22:30 AM
Welcome to Dwellings of Eldervale!
If you are just joining us, THIS update is for you, as it summarizes key information. For everyone who has already entered the portal, we will be getting new Dwellers settled first with a bullet point list, then going over social goals unlocked, and discussing how Gametrayz has our box all figured out!
Congrats on 4000 backers and growing! This community is great, and we are thankful for all of you here. Here's an image of the recently unlocked Sky Vault adventure card - illustration by Sergio Chaves!
Reminder - current stretch goals are:
Coming up - FROST GIANT miniature and Bifröst tile (Legendary Tier), as well as 16 new Adventure cards and the Mother of Dragons mini/standee (All Tiers) - with Trove tokens and Ruins tile!
A NEW BACKER's Guide to Eldervale
There's a lot to take in at once, we know! The game has 25+ stretch goals unlocked, now 16 factions to play, and limited exclusive content, so now is the best time to pledge for a copy of Dwellings of Eldervale. We're here (and our great backer community is here) to help answer any questions. Here are some key links/info:
DON'T MISS:
- Chance to win 5 dice trays - comment on THIS UPDATE (#8) custom Dogmight dice trays, in elemental colors.
- Chance to win a Breaking Games or Luke Laurie game, comment on 2v2 match stream (stream hosted by Unfiltered Gamer)
- Game mat Survey - these high end custom mats from Game Toppers ship to US, Canada and EU. Survey is to add countries or an alt size with enough interest (announced in pledge manager).
- The Minotaur- an exclusive mini/standee that you get FREE for solving the puzzles/riddles on the Dwellings website. (also available as an add-on in pledge manager). You want to solve the Water, Air, Order and Light puzzles for the final clue. Stuck? Tons of backers will help you! (See links to help in the FAQ)
KEY PLAYTHROUGHS
GROUP PLEDGES
- Save $ Check this BGG thread to post or reply to a group pledge, can save money on shipping with 2-3 copies, and discount on game 6+ copies.
DESIGNER INTERVIEWS
Social Goals Unlocked!
For all new backers coming in Eldervale, the social goals are DONE, and you all get more stuff! We posted 8 elemental social goals with fun surprises, and the backer community crushed these goals, working together and unlocked it all!
Here then is more details about our social goals - all 8!
LIGHT GOAL - Spot UV on the box UNLOCKED! All pledge levels. This box will look amazing, with shiny parts! We will find epic ways to highlight the box graphics to make this pop on your shelf.
DARKNESS GOAL - BONUS Mercenary - mini and standee UNLOCKED! EXCLUSIVE! All pledge levels. A mystery "hidden in the box". It will still be a surprise gift when you open the box! Mercenaries are units you can hire with an orb in game. Just like the Minotaur - this is limited - for Kickstarter, Breaking Games store, BGG store, conventions and retailers that pledge now.
ORDER GOAL - New gameplay option, Tactics Tokens UNLOCKED! fun alternate play, especially for those strategists that are adverse dice luck factoring into a great regroup turn.
We'll include 5 tokens in the box, 1 for each player, and you can flip this token over (use it) during the game to prevent your units from leaving a Realm when they would otherwise go to the Underworld from a combat loss. To reactivate the token in game, you can (as a free action any time), pay 3 swords to flip the token back to unused.
CHAOS GOAL - A Random Reward - UNLOCKED! Yes, completely random - who knows! We're going to roll a d6 die, live at the Breaking Games studio on Weds, July 23! We'll assign a random result to numbers 1-6. Some fun options include adding costs to all shipping (just kidding!). We will make these fun and chaotic - chime in on the comments if you have ideas before the reveal.
EARTH GOAL - Thicker Cardboard! We will bling out all the die cut punchboards in the game, hexes, treasure tokens, resources and standees all get a durability boost in manufacturing!
AIR GOAL - Custom Dwellings - Meeple rooftop upgrades UNLOCKED! Early on in development, Luke Laurie thought it would be fun to add a "roof" piece to a meeple, and the Dwelling concept was born! We originally worked with local laser cutter Bob Schrempp to cut all these rooftops for our prototypes. The KS video shows a generic rooftop, originally planned for mass production. However, with this social goal unlocked, we are excited to customize the dwellings piece for placing atop your meeples! This image shows temp WIP concepts for a refined rooftop:
WATER GOAL - wash effect on miniatures - UNLOCKED! What is better than minis in color (yeah, forget that standard grey) - but now your mini will include a wash effect for shadowing, making it cool for right-out-of-the-box awesome gameplay! (Don't forget to tag us with all your epic game photos).
FIRE GOAL - Silk Screened Player Meeples- UNLOCKED! Your Dragons, Wizards, Warriors and your Watcher Meeple units will all get a distinct design on them, matching the icons used on the cards in game. The silk screening will be on one side, to help you line up the side of these units that faces top in your gameTrayz! Check these patterns out!
And now, the Box! (That fits it all!)
GameTrayz is a phenomenal partner for a game. Why? Noah and his team care so much about making the game the absolute best experience. I've seen this before when playing games with GameTrayz - the gameplay is smoother, the setup is shorter - it's all carefully thought out. Now, in OUR game - experiencing first hand how much thought goes into the final product is absolutely amazing!
So, without further ado - let's talk about the Box. Leading up to the final moments of Kickstarter, we were not sure we could get all the minis in the game box. There's lots of factors here - shipping, keeping the minis packed safely and being able to offer 3 tiers - some which don't have certain trayz. So we launched with 3 boxes. A downside for game night perhaps, but tons of big box Kickstarters have multiple boxes. However, we kept at it (We're the same team that got the Rise of Tribes Deluxe Upgrade in the box too, after all). Now, due to the magic of Eldervale, plus the magic of GameTrayz, we have a way to get it all together.
ONE BOX!
Here is a very temporary look at the box inside structure, (showing the Legendary contents, each tier will vary). Just like an airline warning, contents may shift during flight - we're still actively working on this for the best final game. Trust us, trust GameTrayz - it will be epic!
This does change everything - graphics all over the campaign, side graphics on boxes may change as we get a bit taller overall. The 2 box designs will still be offered. Shipping costs will need a recalculation (slight increase for standard, slight decrease for deluxe and legendary) - but all the shipping remains in the same range of prices on the page. Group pledge tiers may have some new shippings costs, determined in pledge manager. Thanks for your support as we correct all info.
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Ok, enough update! Let's get the last stretch goals and have a fun time! Thanks for backing Dwellings of Eldervale!
-Peter and the Breaking Games Dwellings of Eldervale Team!
The one about the FROST GIANT.
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 02:15:22 AM
Hello Dwellers of Eldervale!
Apologies for the second update here today, but we're unlocking EPIC things! Let's get right to it - we just found this Frost Giant, guarding the Bifröst Bridge!
The following miniature and hex tile are now included in the Legendary Tier.
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Thanks for joining us on this journey to Eldervale. Before you know it, you'll be teleporting over the bifröst bridge just to get the resources on the other side, and rolling to see if your wizard survives! We can't wait to share the this with you.
Now, let's unlock more stuff!
-Peter
The one about the 15th and 16th Playable Factions - Trolls and Wardens!
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 04:23:39 PM
Hello Dwellers!
As we look across the lands of Eldervale, we are in awe at all the wonderous things achieved - all 16 factions unlocked, 7 of 8 social goals completed, 400,000 in funding (500%!) and close to 4000 backers! ... AND we're not done - 3 days to go!
We're going to divide and conquer these updates! First, right now let's get all the info on the 2 new factions and an updated stretch goal map! Later today we'll cover the social stretch goals achieved, get an update on the box and welcome all the newcomers to Eldervale!
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UNLOCKED - MOSSWOOD TROLLS!
Well, Earth was due. And the forests have doubled in power! This means that when you choose the Earth starter card, you can flip your player mat to either the Elves of Briardell side or now to the Mosswood Trolls side. The trolls have a special dragon and a special warrior which makes them unique. This faction is on the easier side, just fight your way through it.
Designer tip! Your Dragon is vicious, and your Warrior regenerates. You won't fear battle while you look for good places to Dwell.
UNLOCKED - WARDENS OF EVENMARCH
Balance is achieved with the unlocking of this 16th and final faction - the player boards are complete! Thanks to our BGG community with help naming our Centaurs. Christopher Thomas suggested "Wardens", Ben Scott gave us the "March" historical reference and as we thought about "Even" as a perfectly good name for Order, we see that Dmeepo got there at the same time! Thanks to you all!
Now that Order is doubled, when you select the Order starter card you may flip your player mat to either the Stonehelm Dwarves side or the Wardens side. The Wardens of Evenmarch have a special wizard and a special warrior which makes them unique. This faction is moderately challenging, good for when you understand the ground you're treading on in Eldervale.
Designer tip! Use your Charging Champion and Diplomat to enforce Order in Eldervale. Control when battles occur to your advantage.
A Frost Giant and more!
Our next goal is a legendary guardian, standing at the Bifröst bridge. We've revealed the funding goal for this epic mini, and we'll get a better look at the monster and bridge tile soon!
Whether you are in for Legendary or not, you can see we've also got a batch of 16 exciting Adventure cards on the horizon for all - more replayablity with Wonders and Walls - four resource cost cards (blending 2 resources each) that open up a lot of interesting play. And then, we've got the Mother of Dragons. All about her coming up as well!
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Reminder: Chance to WIN a LEGENDARY PRIZE (deadline tonight!)
TONIGHT - Monday at 11pm PST is the close of the Board Game Revolution contest to win a Legendary copy of the game. Click the link for more details on how to play!
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Luke writes a thankful note:
"I’ll be completely honest here Dwellers: achieving $400,000 was my personal goal. So, everything from here is above and beyond for me. I also put my heart into the design of the Frost Giant and the Bifrost Realm tile, as well as the Mother of all Monsters. So I really want everyone to get those glorious things too. Thank you everyone. This is truly incredible, and I’m looking forward to the exciting final days of the Dwellings of Eldervale Kickstarter."
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Thanks you from everyone at Breaking Games and the Dwellings of Eldervale Team. We have much still to do - as of now we've unlocked 25 stretch/social goals! (and the game was already deluxe from the start with 13 trays, custom meeples, etc).
Friends don't let friends miss out on all this goodness! Share to all!
Cheers,
Peter and the Dwellings team
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Journal from a Troll Warrior
I likes this Eldervale. There’s lots o’ treasure here, and lots o’ new things to eat. I ate some Ratlings the other day – not much meat on ‘em, but their tails was right tasty. I even found me some dwarves to roast. Ay, that was a good day. I love me a good bit o’ roast dwarf on a chilly night. Several days ago, a Shadow Demon set upon me. I killed him right easy, but the flesh was sour and made me tummy bubble.
Then the next day, a demon dragon landed aside me, and brought the very same Shadow Demon I ate the night before back from the Underworld with him. I don’t much like it when my food come back. One little demon is easy to kill, but that dragon, he done me what for! Bit me arm clean off, he did, while the little demon crowed about his revenge.
Guess they don’t know trolls regenerate. I crawled away until me arm grew back. Found me a nice bit ‘o potion while I waited, I did.
But the demon and his dragon are stubborn and attacked again. No matter, let them attack. Regrowing me limbs itches something fierce, but one o’ these times I’ll get a lucky shot at that dragon. Pretty sure demon dragons don’t regenerate.
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Tale of a Warden Wizard
This land of Eldervale has vast potential. Potential that can only be realized if we civilize the more lawless factions. Today, as I explored the Mage Tower and learned prophesies of great portent, I encountered one such primitive creature, an ogre.
“AARH, PEOPLE-HORSE! THIS REALM BELONG TO EMBERCRUSH OGRES! PREPARE TO BURN!”
I was unperturbed by the aggressive stance of the newcomer. The first step to building an alliance is to establish a dialogue. It is much harder to kill someone when you know their name. “Greetings, large sir, allow me to correct you. I am not a people-horse, but a Centaur. I am Finesse, the diplomat wizard of the Wardens of Eastmarch.”
“CENT-TAR?
“You may call me Finesse. What is your name?”
“I AM GRIM, MIGHTY OGRE, EATER OF BONES!”
“Hello, Grim. May I ask why you assume we must fight?”
“YOU CENT… CENT… YOU FINESSE. ME OGRE. SO, WE FIGHT.”
“I cannot dispute the accuracy of your facts, yet I must question your conclusion. Fighting is not inevitable simply because we come from different factions.”
“BUT ME LIKE TO FIGHT! SMASH, DESTROY, SLAY!!!”
“I see. Well, you are obviously a mighty warrior. But before you smash, destroy, and slay me, may I ask, what is your goal here?”
“GRIM SEEK MAGIC SPELLS. ME FIND THEM, TOO! ME FIND SPELL OF FLOOD, AND ME FIND SPELL OF HEALING.”
“Congratulations! So, you have achieved your goal. As have I. This is what we call a win-win result.”
“ME WIN?”
“Yes. Therefore, there is no need to fight.”
“HA! I WIN, I WIN, I WIN! ME DEFEAT CENTAR.”
The ogre then did some sort of victory dance. I feared he would shake apart the Mage Tower, so I left. It will be very difficult to civilize these creatures. But perhaps not so difficult to defeat them.
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The one about the Bear. And Unlocked Vaults!
almost 5 years ago
– Sat, Jul 20, 2019 at 01:27:28 AM
Hello Dwellers of Eldervale,
We've reached more than 3500 backers and 500 comments on the MCGuiRE review! and thus 2 social goal votes will happen right here on this update! AND - since all the vaults in Eldervale are now unlocked (woot 360k!), we will now tell you all the secrets of Eldervale!
The main secret is... this is the best game of 2020, and you're backing it. :)
The other secrets? The shadow on the stretch map? The name of the Centaurs? Monday's update will tell all. AND, we have a ton of people about to visit Eldervale. Let's welcome them all! On Monday, the update will recap all the key info for new backers.
In this update:
- VOTE for two elemental tracks!
- Add-ons (mats to EU!, meeple source clarify)
- Unlocked Vault cards
- Social Goals - amazing progress!
- Group Pledge and Shipping to NZ, Translations
VOTE ON THIS UPDATE!
To celebrate the McGuire video unlock and 3500 backers (and even more now!), please help us vote ON THIS UPDATE via comments, on which two Elemental tracks you would like to advance. If you want a double push on the same track, please specify in your vote. Final vote tally end of Sunday and before we do the update Monday. Here's a taste of the Earth adventure art in the game - illustration by Leesha Hannigan
Click here if you want to watch the most commented McGuire Review of ALL TIME !! Good luck to all the commenters on winning a Legendary pledge!
ALL ABOUT THE ADD-ONS
We've had some questions about the mats, dice trays and painted resources.
First, key note - the painted resources are the only purchase that is off site. This adds 100 additional wood resources, separately delivered. You need to place this order via Meeple Source - here. Meeple Source is the premiere site for custom meeples on the internet, and here's what that will do to your deluxe pieces! These are a limited quantity item - orders open only for 1-2 months, matching our pledge manager window.
GAME MATS - EU unlocked!
WHOA - The Game Toppers team made a sample Dwellings mat. AND we'll have it at Gen Con to play on! Thank you Game Toppers and congrats on 400K funded on KS - here's to the final days!
Keep in mind this still an in progress mat design and is subject to change.
SURVEY - adding Europe! Thank you for everyone who has filled out our survey! We got over 250 replies, which is phenomenal! With the number of "probably will order" and "definitely will orders" we see, we are opening up EU orders!
EU mat shipping - this mat weighs as much as a game so please plan on $15-$25 shipping, least amount for UK, Germany, Netherlands according to rates we have. Can vary by country, so please reach out if you want to check further.
Size of mat, hex detail - we are locking in the subtle hex pattern, as it was the dominant preference in the survey. At this time, we are still offering just one size at this time, the 36x48in (The Adler).
For other worldwide regions or other sizes, we would need more votes of confidence in an order. We'll keep the Game mat survey open through the pledge manager.
VAULTS UNLOCKED - 8 New Adventure Cards!
Vaults are an exciting development for Dwellings.
These cards provide a distinct variety from engine building. That contrast is part of the reason Luke really likes them, and it allows savvy players to get a few critical bonus points along the way. Luke points out that they are key parts of action efficiency - "gaining tokens is achieved through normal gameplay, and placing those on a Vault is a free action."
This goal brings at least one vault to every element in the game!
Social Goals - Almost at the Orbs!
More content is about to be unlocked by this community! Great involvement on the monster battle voting! Great pictures and photos out there... Notables include a Simon and Garfunkel album cover for Darkness, and a Rise of Tribes board showing suns for light! (Go Rise of Tribes fans!) Love the game shelves for order and the kids rooms for Chaos. Nice work! You are still welcome to share images all the way to the end of the campaign on every social media platform! :)
Almost there!
The balance that we see on the elemental tracks reminds me a lot of the game - there's a lot to do, so do you focus on an orb, or spread out on a few tracks? And it's usually a balancing act, just like this. Seeing everyone group together and crush these goals is inspiring!
You are all worthy of entering Eldervale now. The Bringer of Justice will probably still destroy you, but we'll have killer cocktails in the Underworld...
GROUP PLEDGES, SHIPPING TO NZ, TRANSLATIONS
Group Pledge Questions? If you are pledging for a group pledge over 3 copies - please email me - peter AT breakinggames DOT com. For anyone confused, we have a FAQ on this. One person still should place the entire order on their account, while the rest of your group pledge $1. Cheers, and thank you!
Shipping to NZ - I have reached out to Aetherworks, and provided all is well there, we should see a rate reduction on both Australia (now looking like $15-$20), and New Zealand ($25-$35). Cannot confirm officially yet, but look to see this finalized as soon as we can.
Translations PDFs - A helpful backer mentioned that Middara has a google doc being translated "as a group". This is clever and may help us as full translations are beyond the scope of this campaign - but a group think might get the magic cards as a starter as something that people can download when playing with non English speakers. If you are interested in this, we can start something after all cards are locked in English. Stay tuned!
If you've read all the way this far - one more teaser. We may have a solution for "one box" to fit it all. :) Until next update...
Cheers,
Peter and the Breaking Games Dwelling of Eldervale Team!
WHAT ELEMENTS ARE YOU VOTING ON?
Name your team(s) below!
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Song of the Haunting Phantom
When darkness falls, and all the stars shine bright,
in Eldervale remain only the brave.
For in these ruins each and every night,
The Haunting Phantom rises from its grave.
It reaches out with grasping spectral hands
to drag unwary souls down to their doom.
As howling cries reverb throughout the lands,
it turns these rotting ruins to a tomb.
When it arrives, new plans you must devise,
for previously harmless lands now kill.
To elemental lands your dragon flies.
Forbidden are the fortress and the mill.
This will go on until the monster's death.
Prepare to fight or take your final breath.
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Journal from an Ogre:
ELDERVALE FUN. LOTS TO CRUSH, LOTS TO BURN, LOTS TO KILL. TODAY FLYING SNAKE COME. WHAT KIND OF SNAKE HAS WINGS? SNAKE SAY IT DIVINE. WHAT DIVINE MEAN?
SNAKE TALK LOTS – SAY IT HAVE SECRETS OF ELDERVALE, CAN TEACH ME MASTER MAGIC, MAKE ME BETTER SELF. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. WHO NEED SILLY SNAKE? OGRES ALREADY GREATEST IN ELDERVALE.
SNAKE GLOW WITH LIGHT. LIGHT MAKE OGRE FEEL HAPPY AND PEACEFUL. OGRE HATE FEELING PEACEFUL. ME LIKE CRUSH AND KILL.
ME CRUSH AND KILL SNAKE. NO MORE TALK. NO MORE PEACE.
IT GOOD DAY.
The one with the Vampires! And the Blood Rage!
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Jul 18, 2019 at 12:08:48 AM
Hey Dwellers of Eldervale!
Someone pinch us, this is not a dream. We're at $350,000 in funding with 3,400 backers and counting! EPIC Goals are in sight! Welcome everyone new to Eldervale! Plenty of days left to share and grow! Thanks for all the help!
New Unlocked Darkness Faction!
First of all, did someone say Vampires? Yes, there are vampires in this game! 14 factions to play now!
The power of Darkness grows! When you choose your faction (or are dealt the darkness starter card), you can now flip your player mat to either the Shadow Demons side or to the Cult of the NightQueen side. The cult has a special wizard and special workers. They are subjectively a little harder to play, just because you'll have to really focus on summoning to get your whole team out fast.
Designer tip! Sacrifice your workers early to summon your Vampiress, your Dragon, and your Warrior. Then unleash the true powers of Darkness.
Thank you to all who helped us with name suggestions for this faction! Reminder: We're still naming the 16th faction on BGG!
UNLOCKED - Resource Quests
We did it! 6 More Magic unlocked! We have a robust deck of magic cards now, with these latest 6 Quest cards filling us out to 60 cards total. 32 spells, 14 prophecies and 14 quests now mix together for a great blend of fun. During playtesting, Luke found a great way of making these resource quests useable at all times in the game!
Also, to follow up on a previous update where we showed some of the fantastic spells in the deck, here's a recap on spells, with info on prerequisites and more about the cool level 2 magic! Yes, there's a card called Blood Rage. (Eldervale scribes love nods to other games - there's also a prophecy card called "Dominion" and a few others sprinkled in.)
More Social Goals Progress achieved!
We're crushing the social goals! In general milestones - 500 BGG subscriptions first, then Discord joins achieved, then Facebook members are now over 1000! This is building a great community for this game. We can add a new goal to hit for BGG, FB or Discord - let us know in the comments which one you'd like to see get a new number!
The big general milestones left are:
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more backers! 3500 is less than 100 backers away now. Share this everywhere. Use the game art and crush 2 social goals at once!
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comments on the MCGuiRE review. I'm pretty excited by this one because a) we are trying to break the MCGuiRE review comment RECORD here and b) Etherfields has a video here and we can beat out the giant game at something! (with all due love and respect Awaken Realms). Note if you comment AND subscribe, you can also WIN a Legendary Pledge!
Speaking of legendary pledge prizes, don't forget the Board Game Revolution Contest to WIN a Legendary Pledge!
More to come - we're working on NZ shipping. We're working on box storage/solutions. We're working on more info about our add-ons (results from the mat survey, more on the meeple source pieces). And we will be taking over the Gen Con Instagram account on July 23 all day - cool things coming up!
Dwellings of Eldervale! Fight the beasts, Dwell the Land, Claim the Magic!
Thanks for reading!
- Peter and the Breaking Games Dwellings of Eldervale team
