7th Citadel

7th Citadel is hitting kickstarter tomorrow. It's the sequel to 7th Continent but with no narrative elements shared, just gameplay vibes. There's a whole bunch of diary material on BGG that gives you a very good sense of the continuity with 7th Continent mechanically.

I think the setting looks vastly more interesting than the pseudo indiana jones of the first one, it does have that weirdo French sci-fi thing going on which is very cool. Basically, it's dune/tremors crossed with psycho plants in a pseudo-goth aesthetic. The character art looks like butt, I think the environmental art and weird plant/creature design looks good though. It looks like it's trying to not go into any specific existing sci-fi genre visually, which is welcome.

I think I'm going to pass on it just because 7th Continent didn't take off around here and this preorder is almost certainly going to be a *lot* of money. I'm also thinking of preordering a series X tomorrow so I think spending 500 dollars on frivolous bullshit is more than enough for one morning. If that wasnt happening I'd be tempted.

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2507318/adv...uide-chapter-7-build

This is the gameplay part that is most interesting to me. They're pushing that they're ditching the survival elements of the game from 7th Continent, which I think is the right move. They say they're emphasizing building up your home base, your citadel, and also doing some deck building for your individual characters. They're also making the game more logically bite size in some ways---instead of camping at night, which reset the game slightly, you're always going to return to your citadel. I think these are directions they really needed to go with this system, though I have no idea if it'll work. They're also responding to the frustration of dying by changing those mechanics a bit, see the earlier design diaries that discuss that.

Anyway, thought I'd check the TWBG pulse on this. I think it looks way more creative than 7th Continent which I already found reasonably fun and creative the 2 or 3 times I've played it.

I'd almost certainly feel that way too if I hadn't gotten a generous TWBGers 2nd hand copy of the reprint cards.

I've been enjoying 7th Continent two-player with my son although we just play it like a solo narrative adventure with two characters and drop the bullshit rules that try to split up the group. References to 'leader' or 'characters involved' is whoever we feel is thematically appropriate. It feels like it was designed as a straight-up solo game that then had some unconvincing additional rules tacked on in an attempt give it some reason to exist as a product marketable as a multi-player experience. So it works for us because we get to explore the adventure as father and son time but nobody else I know has gotten past the first curse before bailing on it. I wouldn't be playing it either if it didn't occupy a particular space in our entertainment time. I don't see how this new one is going to be any different an experience.

We are currently on the eighth curse and when we get to the end of all twelve curses I don't think we'll hold onto the game, it's a fun time but I don't see it as something we'll still be wanting to play years from now. At that point I might look around for a copy of The 7th Citadel on the secondary market, but it doesn't particularly interest me because it is adding 'more game' which is exactly what I don't want in a casual narrative-based game that gradually unfolds over several sessions. I also have a dislike for the way Serious Poulp go about their crowdfunding, they run the hype train really hard with all their 'never available ever again' FOMO crap and piles of untested extra content mixed in with genuine paid-for extras that should have been part of the game in the first place. I ignored the previous KickStarters and still managed to get the game when I wanted it at the same kind of price it would have cost me if I had made a pledge, so I'm completely nonplussed with this one.

Yeah, the rules as written aren't very clear, it's worth checking out a watch-it-played video.

I wasn't aware of there being a FAQ so I found it online and gave it a read. Tbh there is nothing in there that isn't covered by common sense, plus a lot of it is re-explaining things that are right there in the rulebook. There are six whole pages devoted just to discussing card sleeves and another six for citations etc, it's complete garbage. The genuinely useful FAQs all seem to be linked to complications caused by the rubbish multi-player game so I suggest just doing what we do and treat it like a solo game where you all move and act together despite individually having different characters.

There were some cards with errata in the very first printing, only two of which will actually cause a problem, these are covered in a few paragraphs but there is also an errata pack out there that will fix it. If you have a later edition of the game then you are covered. In any case, it's the kind of game where it matters not in the slightest if you perform some mechanical process slightly wrong.

WHO made me look at this - JUST as the KS opened ?

Delivery date May 2022, that may put me off enough to forget about it ... but after reading Andi's review on Tainted Grail I may feel forced into thinking I need a replacement

ubarose wrote: Have you played 7th Continent? I think this is a try before you buy system.

No, just watched videos and read a lot of posts - but then I pledged for Tainted Grail because it sounded like a super-charged version of it . I liked the comment that the, often tedious, exploration part of the game is removed to an extent and it is more of a story evolution which is what I have been looking at in KSers in the last year.
I extremely rarely get to 'try before I buy' as we're the only AT group in town that I know of and I do most of the buying. I could wait 2-3 years and get it once I know people have given it the thumbs up and the retail price has dropped (i.e. you can get 7th Continent 2E here for £59 delivered from their website), which isn't a silly idea with the number of new games I have arriving (most delayed) in 2021.

Although I like it, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. Like I mentioned, I enjoy playing it because it’s a thing that my son and I are discovering together, but really it’s a solo game with hunting, crafting and exploration and I wouldn’t ever want to play this with my game group.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/seriouspoul...e-hero/?ref=kicktraq

Incidentally, they did not go as big as I thought they would on this initial KS.