Transylvania: Curses & Traitors, by WIBAI Games: a company created by the husband and wife team Loren & Jamie Cunningham, is a tabletop game encompassing a great deal of folk lore associated with Transylvania.
Basic Information
Players: 3 – 6
Ages: Undecided
Time: 45 – 60 minutes
Estimated Delivery: March 2015
Location: Lenexa, KS
Game overview
Forum: Transylvania: Curses & Traitors
From the Campaign
Players begin the game as an Adventurer. These Adventurers have variable player powers including Movement, Attack, Mind, and Spirit traits. The game is played on a modular board consisting of sixteen unique and beautifully illustrated tiles, each 6″ x 6″ (15.24 x 15.24 cm)
Adventurers begin their Quest on the Church Tile and then explore outward laying new tiles discovering new areas such as the Castle, Observatory, and Graveyard. On many of the board tiles players will encounter Event spaces marked with the “E” icon requiring the player to draw and resolve an Event Card:
Most Event Cards describe a perilous situation that the Adventurer must face and overcome. A poor roll will often result in loss of health, while rewards are given for a successful roll.
Adventurers will also encounter Token Spaces (the gear-shaped icons) on which Quest Tokens are placed when the tile is laid. To win the token, the Adventurer must make a die roll. The number of dice rolled depends on the character’s traits. If the player is successful they exchange the token for a Quest Card
How to Win
- Solve the curse: Collect Knowledge Cards from the Quest Deck and return your pawn to the Church Tile.
- Slay a Monster: Collect Item Cards from the Quest Deck that make you powerful enough to fight and kill one of the Monsters.
- Kill other players: Transform into a Monster with a Transformation card and then attack and kill half of the players.
Campaign Specifics
Goal: $25,000
Pledge Tiers: 17 tiers ranging from $1 to $1,000
End Date: Sun, Jun 1 2014 12:59 AM EDT
Funding Type: Fixed
Chances of success
WIBAI Games has produced a well designed campaign. The artwork is clean and interesting. Details of the game are laid out well, including basic game stats, which are often difficult to find on many campaign pages. There’s a “lite” print and play version as a proof of concept.
Reward Structure
Tiers are set up to bring in both an initial burst of high end pledges and sustained middle of the road pledges. This includes tiers for game characters based on backer’s specifications. There’s a $150 tier event card tier and multiple $300 tiers to have yourself put into the game.
Team
Running a crowd funding campaign is not a one person job. It requires a dedicated team. Loren and Jamie appear to have a strong team behind them and have done a great job networking. They also have a strong following on Facebook. I’ve noticed some campaigns do not even have a Facebook account or use an individual account rather than a business page to promote their campaign. Nebtauy ended up in this situation and that certainly reduced their ability to network through social media.
Attentiveness
Their prompt replies to questions is also greatly appreciated. It’s easy to tell that Loren and Jamie are giving this project he attention it deserves. In too many cases I’ve seen a person create a campaign and then leave it as if it would somehow take care of itself. An update was also pushed to backers within the first 24 hours, which is perfect. An initial update thanking the backers, even if there’s only a few (or quite a few in this case), is important to keep the momentum of the campaign.