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Spirit Island

Created by GreaterThanGames

The cooperative settler-destruction strategy game!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

We are Kickstarting a New Co-Op: The Legends of Sleepy Hollow!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Oct 17, 2017 at 10:44:24 PM

Greetings backers!

We don't often post in previous projects about our new Kickstarter campaigns, but given the nature of the project we just launched, we thought that a lot of you might want to know about it!

The Legends of Sleepy Hollow
The Legends of Sleepy Hollow

 

We are making a new, highly-thematic co-op called The Legends of Sleepy Hollow. It is an adventure game with "legacy" elements, which means that the game and characters change as you play through them. The game is designed by Ben Pinchback & Matt Riddle (designers of Fleet and Wasteland Express Delivery Service), and has been in development with Chris Kirkman and the Dice Hate Me Games crew for many years.

We think that some of you will be very interested in checking the game out! For the rest of you, this is the last you'll hear from us for a while. Probably until we announce an expansion for Spirit Island, in fact...

 

Everything is Complete! Thanks Everyone!!!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 09:33:30 PM

The extra Fear and Energy punchboard tokens have been sent out to Champions of the Dahan backers, and with that, this campaign has reached 100% completion!

Thank you so much to all of you who backed this project and waited patiently through all of the art and production delays. I hope that the final project was worth the wait!

If any of you are so motivated, please take a moment to go give Spirit Island a rating on BoardGameGeek.

Finally, if you have any questions or comments about the game, definitely feel free to send them our way, either via email ([email protected]), or on our web forum!

All Games Have Shipped!
over 6 years ago – Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 05:20:59 PM

Greetings Backers!

All of the Kickstarter copies of Spirit Island have left our warehouse! That means that even if you live somewhere with very slow shipping, your game should arrive in the next week or two.

As you get the game and start playing it, please feel free to join our online forum community! There are a bunch of people there who are excited about the game and are great at answering rules questions. Game designer Eric Reuss even posts answers periodically!

Shipping Progress!
over 6 years ago – Thu, Jul 06, 2017 at 08:50:02 PM

Greetings wonderful backers! I wanted to pop in here and give you a quick shipping progress update!

All of the non-US orders are going to be leaving our warehouse on Friday (due to how we ship internationally, they all have to leave at once). You *shouldn't* get any customs or import charges on the shipments if you live in the EU. However, if you do, scan or photograph your receipt and send it to me in an email to [email protected] and I'll refund you via PayPal. We've occasionally had that issue in the past, and I can use the receipt to get to the bottom of what is going on and help fix it for the future.

Some of the US orders will also go out this week. If everything goes perfectly with the packing, the remainder will go out next week. If not, they'll definitely all be out the week after.

Finally, for Champions of the Dahan backers:

We had an issue with the extra Fear and Energy tokens needed for 5 & 6 player games. That means we are going to be shipping the bulk of your rewards now (the game and expansion (both signed!), the playmat, the poster map, and the extra wood and plastic bits), and then send the extra cardboard bits separately in about 3 weeks as soon as they are available.

Final Lore Update. Oh, and shipping!
over 6 years ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2017 at 12:40:49 AM

I know this update is a little early, but we were too excited to hold it back. Not to mention that Tuesday is a holiday, so we won't be in the office.

Spirit Island is finally shipping! I could not be more excited about that! Look at the excitement on Eric's face as he signed games here at Greater Than Games HQ yesterday, too.

So, here's the full situation. We're packing and labelling boxes as we speak. The actual packages will start leaving our warehouse next week. We're starting with backers outside of the US first, then we'll move to US backers. Now, if you're a backer on some of our other projects, you might notice a trend. Exoplanets, Lazer Ryderz, and Spirit Island are all shipping at the same time. This means a couple things. First of all, it might mean you get more than one game at once! Secondly, it does mean that this is going to be a longer shipping process than usual, since we're juggling a lot of different things. Still, everything should be out of our warehouse by July 21st, as we're estimating things currently.

We have one last lore update from Eric for you, as well.

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There are many different sorts of dreams. Humans are inclined to categorize them by what they contain: "nightmares" for fearful dreams, "prophecies" for those which echo some truth of the waking world, and so forth. Spirits more often speak of their effects: "dreams by which you awaken changed", "dreams by which you recognize yourself", "dreams which bring you closer to oblivion", and so forth. (There are states we might call "dream" which don't involve them being asleep, however; their minds are not as ours.)

Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares draws a distinction only between dreams it carries to slumbering minds and those which arise independent of its touch. It may bear visions of wonder or terror, of prophecy or muddled echoes of past experience; they may illuminate or deceive or simply confuse. It has existed since long before the Dahan arrived, bearing dreams to those few Spirits which receive them from without, but there is little question that its nature changed - and enlarged - once humanity began living on Spirit Island. Some speculate that it is related to those which prey upon the not-yet-departed souls of the dead, though others counter that it does not seem to feed off dreams, merely carry them.

Even amongst other Spirits, it communicates almost entirely through the touch of dreams, either by manifesting in some form suitable to the dreamscape, or by taking a few moments of its mind-to-mind contact for more direct - if often no less cryptic - communication. Spirits are generally better able than humans to retain these fleeting memories, though humans sometimes help interpret a vexing conversation for some Spirit poorly suited to nuanced interpretation.

Let's take a look:

  •  Let's start off with the ability which most shapes how this Spirit plays: the Special Rule "To Dream a Thousand Deaths". Any Damage or destruction it would do is instead turned into terrifying dreams. Eg: if it acquires and uses the Power Card "Tsunami", instead of creating an actual tsunami, it creates vivid, recurring, disturbingly detailed and true-to-life nightmares of that devastating tidal wave. In game terms, instead of damaging or removing Invader pieces, it deals Fear and/or convinces people to leave the site where they nightly see themselves dying. This ability is Bringer's greatest strength and its greatest weakness: it can generate phenomenal amounts of Fear, but it can't directly hurt the Invaders - only frighten them and hope they flee of their own volition. (It can, however, Defend lands so that Dahan survive to counterattack.)
  • Growth: Not high-powered, but good versatility. It can put down Presence nearly every turn, it has a "Reclaim One" option which can let it put off a Reclaim All, and it can gain Power Cards even when not Reclaiming. It can also reach an extremely long way to place Presence anyplace that humans live, leaping across the board.
  • Presence Tracks: Both its Energy and Card Plays start good, but ramp up slowly. This Spirit leans heavily towards Major Powers over lots of Minor Powers: it has good Energy gain from the get-go, a cap of 3 Card Plays/turn, and two +Any elements that can be used to hit a wide variety of Elemental Thresholds later on. (The ramping here is also a little deceptive, because Fear Cards grow more potent as the game goes on, so generating lots of Fear automatically scales up over time.)
  • Innate Power - Spirits May Yet Dream: The first half of this does something no other effect in the game does: reveals how the Invaders will react when frightened, allowing the players to factor it into their plans. The second half lets a Spirit draw on their own nature more powerfully, giving an echo of Bringer's "+Any"s to another spirit - or further amping up its own ability to hit elemental thresholds for Major and Innate Powers.
  • Innate Power - Night Terrors: Does Fear. Pretty straightforward. It's Fast, which seems of only modest import, but it's highly relevant for Dread Apparitions, one of its Unique Power Cards.

Speaking of which:

  •  Average cost is a bit over 1 - neither cheap nor expensive. This lines up well with getting Major Powers at some point: Bringer is likely to be able to build up surplus Energy.
  • They're pretty complex. This isn't a Spirit for beginning players. (Which would actually be true even if the Power Cards were simple, because To Dream a Thousand Deaths changes so much.)
  • In total, they grant 4 Moon, 2 Air, 2 Animal, 1 Fire. Triggering Bringer's innates is going to be limited mostly by # of Card Plays and by the presence of Air/Animal.

Specific powers:

  • Call on Midnight's Dreams gives a choice, either calling on the Invaders' dreams (generate 2 Fear at Fast) or the Dahan's (gain a Major Power). If you choose the latter option and Forget Call on Midnight's Dreams as payment for keeping the Major Power, you gain 1 Energy per Dahan and may play your shiny new Major Power immediately by paying its cost. We've already seen that Bringer of Dreams is geared to use Major Powers well; this card both lets it get hold of them more easily (by playing a Power Card instead of using Growth) and gives the option of getting them into play instantly.
  • Dread Apparitions - most of the time, Fear being generated in one land vs. another isn't relevant - the timescale of the game is such that the Invaders' morale is considered as a single pool. This Power changes that: every Fear generated in this land also grants Defend 1 there. Of course, granting Defend is only useful before the Invaders act; this is why it's relevant that Night Terrors (Innate Power) and Call on Midnight's Dreams (Power Card) generate Fear at Fast speed: they can combo with Dread Apparitions to grant Defend, giving some respite from the Invaders' onslaught.
  • Dreams of the Dahan is another Dahan/Invader split choice. It can either be dreams the Dahan are having (calling them to a particular place) or nightmares the Invaders are having about the local Dahan (in which case it does Fear based on the # of Dahan present). This is another Fast Fear-generating Power, so can also combo with Dread Apparitions - if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares is able to use all of its Fast Fear on a single land, it can do 9 Fear + Defend 9! And like Call on Midnight's Dreams, it's cheap.
  • Predatory Nightmares tells up to 2 Dahan to skedaddle, but it's the other half of the card that's interesting. It says "2 Damage", but has a reminder for To Dream a Thousand Deaths: this card isn't going to actually destroy anything. If used against two Explorers, it effectively becomes "Push 2 Explorers" - which for 2 Energy is pricey, though perhaps tactically necessary. If used against a Town, its net effect is "2 Fear and Push a Town" - somewhat better. If used against two already-damaged Towns, it'll do 4 Fear and Push 2 towns. If used a healthy City, it does nothing - they are unintimidated by these nightmares - but against two badly beleaguered Cities (2 damage on each), it's phenomenally effective, doing 10 Fear for 2 Energy.

In smaller games, the primary challenge of Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares is "don't lose": it's so good at scaring the pants off the Invaders that it can readily blow through to a Fear Victory before the Invader Deck runs out, even against high-level Adversaries. However, it also has fewer teammates to help it with defense, so may be overrun before it can ever reach that victory. In larger games, there are more Spirits to help keep Bringer's starting board from turning into a pit of Blight, but the impact of its Fear is diluted by the larger Fear Pool. "Diluted" does not, however, mean "eliminated": any game with Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares will involve more Fear Cards and reach Terror Levels 2 and 3 faster, helping the situation all over the island.

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There you have it! I am seriously so excited about this. I know it's been a long road, and here we are, rapidly approaching the end. Thanks for your patience through all of this, folks. I can't wait for you to get your games!