Hey Needy Cat fans!
It’s been an interesting few months, hasn’t it? It looks like things will be staying interesting for a fair while yet, but here’s a nugget of good news if you like our games, or you’re a fan of a few games James has worked on in the past:
We’re teaming up with Blacklist Games to design Myth & Goal, a brand new fantasy sports game!
Details are sparse for now, but Adam and Brady from Blacklist spoke about it their SPIEL Digital video over the weekend (starting at 35:02):
Here’s a rundown of the key facts!
This is a brand new game, built from the ground up. The concept grew through several discussions with the Blacklist guys about what makes a good tabletop sports game, what we like about what’s already out there, and what we think is missing.
Speaking of what’s already out there, it would be weird of us not to acknowledge that James has had significant experience working on tabletop sports games! Having been a lifelong Blood Bowl player, he cut his teeth as a game developer on DreadBall for Mantic Games, then looked after Blood Bowl while he was working at Games Workshop, and designed Blitz Bowl as Needy Cat’s first freelance venture. There’s also Razordisc, which James pitched to Mantic before DreadBall became a thing, and before he really knew what he was doing with game design! (He gave it a thorough going-over on our Patreon, if you’re interested in watching a grown man cringe at his past work.)
Myth & Goal draws on all that experience, but none of us have any interest in making a copy of what’s gone before, or anything that’s too derivative. Anyone who’s worked with James knows that he can’t stand low-effort game design, so you can expect this to be a whole new gameplay experience.
The game will feature cardboard standees for all the teams, and Blacklist Miniatures will conveniently be producing a line of fantasy sports team sets for anyone who prefers miniatures, or who wants to upgrade their game. Those team sets will be compatible with ‘existing fantasy sports games’, so you’ll no doubt find all sorts of uses for them! You’ll also be able to use your existing teams in Myth & Goal. Hooray for cross-compatibility!
The Blacklist guys showed off an early sculpt for a Human Sentinel on their stream.
One of the benefits of using standees in the box is that it frees up space (and budget!) to include other cool stuff, so you can expect more than two teams in the box, full league play / narrative / team progression, and even solo / AI rules (which, as far as we’re aware, is a first in tabletop sports games). We want the core box to be a full, lasting experience, not a stripped-back starter set. Fans of Blacklist’s existing games, and of our own work, will know we both like bringing modularity and replayabilty to our games, and this one will be no different!
The Kickstarter has just gone live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blacklistgames/myth-and-goal
Be sure to follow Blacklist Games on Facebook and Twitter, for updates and sneak peeks!