Greetings Mercenaries!
The Road to Gloomhaven begins as we kicked off our Launch Party Live Stream yesterday. We are glad to have the announcement for Gloomhaven: Second Edition out in the wild. Today, the design team played through an early scenario and shared a first look at some of the gameplay changes, including previews of new cards, monsters, and more.
We know everyone will have a lot of questions about the world of Gloomhaven and all the products that are going to be included in the upcoming Crowdfunding campaign, so we thought we’d take some time to answer some of the most burning questions.
Will there be an upgrade pack?
We are listening to the outpour of feedback about an upgrade pack and want to do right by this wonderful community. The first thing to make clear is that the overwhelming majority of the game has been reworked with new content and graphics. Only a small handful of components from the original box would even carry over to this new edition, so an “upgrade pack” would essentially be the full game. Internally, this is where the conversation stopped until yesterday - an upgrade pack simply doesn’t make sense. However, after listening to the community yesterday, it became clear that there may be enough interest in just the character boxes to support the printing of those as a separate upgrade product.
So in the end, we are happy to give the community what they want, and we will introduce a Mercenary Upgrade Pack to the upcoming BackerKit campaign.
This will be an add-on for backers, which will be able to be added to any pledge level, including the $1 level.
The Mercenary Upgrade Pack will include the following for all 18 characters:
- Ability cards
- Attack modifier cards
- Character mats
- Punchboard sheet(s)
Additionally, it will include one punchboard sheet with new condition tokens.
It will not include the miniatures, but those are already planned as an add-on in the Miniatures of Gloomhaven line.
We do not have a price point for this product yet, and it will only be made if enough people pledge for it. We would also like to emphasize that, much like how the Frosthaven characters can be played across all games but were designed around Frosthaven, these new versions of the Gloomhaven characters are cross-compatible, but they were designed around the new version of the game, and you may run into select mechanisms that don’t work as well in other games. With that said, if you’re not interested in purchasing an entirely new game, but still want to enjoy the new characters, we feel this is the best way to do that.
What is new in Gloomhaven: Second Edition?
In our live stream yesterday, we touched on some of the new updates to the Gloomhaven: Second Edition board game. The design team of Isaac, Drew, and Dennis can’t wait to share more, and we will have plenty of time to deep dive on all the updates. In case you want to take a closer look, you can already see the starting cards for the Mindthief and Tinkerer on the GloomhavenReddit. Here is a full list of updates to the next edition of Gloomhaven:
- Rebalanced and redesigned characters (18 characters, including the one that wasn’t in the Gloomhaven Box)
- Updated map and overlay tile art
- New card design/layout/artwork
- New monster/character artwork
- New, redesigned, and rebalanced items
- New and rebalanced monsters
- New scenario and section books, with new, redesigned, and rebalanced scenarios
- New campaign tracker
- New world map
- New miniatures (same as Mercenaries of Gloomhaven Box Set)
- Revised story and entirely new events (written by Satire)
- New faction reputation system that will lead to difficult decisions and unique rewards
- New puzzle book and town records story
- New optional difficulty mechanic
- New faction envelopes
- New conditions
- New and rebalanced random dungeon cards
- Solo Scenarios (sold separately)
- Removable Sticker Set (sold separately)
What is all included in the Gloomhaven BackerKit Campaign?
This crowdfunding campaign is going to be the most ambitious project that Cephalofair Games has done to date. There will be options to pledge for Gloomhaven: The Role Playing Game, Miniatures of Gloomhaven, and Gloomhaven: Second Edition. We will also have add-ons for the second printing of Frosthaven and Frosthaven accessories, game inserts, and even more that we haven’t announced yet!
This is unlike any campaign we have done before, and we are looking forward to you joining us for this celebration of Gloomhaven. Hopefully there will be something for everyone, whether you are a long-time Gloomhaven fan, finished your first few adventures, or just joining in for the first time. Thank you for your support.
What about Forgotten Circles or Jaws of the Lion?
At this time, we do not have plans to make second editions of any other products, and nothing from those products will be a part of Gloomhaven: Second Edition.
How can you stay updated on the latest previews and announcements?
There will be multiple channels and places to find out about the upcoming announcements, videos, and previews for the world of Gloomhaven. Drew and Dennis are already answering questions on the GloomhavenReddit, and you can find Isaac and team on the Gloomhaven: Second EditionBoardGameGeek page.
We have an upcoming Live Stream on Gen Con TV on June 7th, 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm EDT where our art/creative director BJ Hensley and cosplay team member Monica Paprocki will be joining host Richard Ankey to paint preview miniatures from the Miniatures of Gloomhaven line.
For those who really want to dive in, there will be a Reddit AMA on r/boardgames on Monday, June 12th at 9am PST with Isaac, Drew, and Dennis.
We have some exciting actual plays lined up for Gloomhaven: The Role Playing Game that we can’t wait to share too.
Thank you for all your excitement and support as we head into this Gloomhaven Grand Festival!
