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All of us here at Imp House feel a lot of love for the FLGSs (Friendly Local Game Stores) out there! These stores help connect gamers from all walks of life and give them a safe place to gather and discover new games together. One of our all-time favorites is Guardian Games in Portland, OR. This was the first store to place an order with us, back in 2013 when we were living and creating in Portland. Since 2005, Angel May, the store’s owner, has made it her mission to create a space 100% dedicated to gaming of all varieties. GG is not your typical comic / game store hybrid; it is over 10,000 square feet of pure gaming space complete with The Critical Sip, a 21-and-up gaming bar and lounge. Continue reading below for more information from Angel about her journey, and you can find out more on the Guardian Games website. This place definitely deserves a visit if you are ever in the Portland area!

Imp House: You’ve created a wondrous temple to board gaming in the heart of Portland, OR. When did your idea take hold, and how did you accomplish it so well?

Guardian Games: I was ready to start gaming again. And there were no stores that fit my needs (clean bathrooms, primarily).

The fall harvest is over, and we have celebrated with a few fine days of sloth and gluttony. Now it’s time to get back to business and discuss the next possible Fantos Action: War.

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of a battle there is one important thing to know: during regular play, War is always directed toward the Citadel on your LEFT. So, it may be a good idea to don your diplomat monocle and make friends with the Citadel on your right. That way, when you’re out Harvesting or decide to go to battle, leaving your home undefended, maybe they’ll leave you alone…

It’s time to raise your banners, sharpen your blades, and kiss your loved ones goodbye…because War is coming. This Fantos Action works similarly to Harvesting, just with little extra math involved. Like Harvesting, when a Citadel goes to War, it Tasks one, some, or all of its Legacies to the battle. War then occurs in 5 steps:

1. Gather Your Army: The attacking Citadel can task any number of their currently un-tasked Legacies to go to war. Then, the defending Citadel can task any number of their un-tasked Legacies to defend but is not required to do so.

Important notes about DEFENDING against War:

• Legacies that were previously tasked prior to the start of War are not able to defend their Citadel.
• If the defending Citadel chooses not to task any Legacies to the War, then they may defend by rolling 1 Shard Die one time. The result is its final War Score.

2. Create Your War Score: The attacking and defending Citadels individually add up all of the war stats for each of their Legacies tasked to the war, creating a War Stat Sum for each Citadel. Then, they roll 1 Shard Die for each of their warring Legacies, and add the War Stat Sum to the die rolls results to create their War Scores. Legacies may now choose to hire Laborers to boost their War Scores if they hold any Labor Cards that would do so.

3. Compare War Score and Establish a Damage Score: The attacking and defending Citadels compare their War Scores; the higher score is the winner. Subtract the losing score from the winning score to create the Damage Score. Once a Damage Score is established, Legacies may no longer hire Laborers to assist.

4. Allocation of Damage: The losing Citadel must now remove the corresponding number of shards from its Legacies. A player may disperse the damage across any or all of its Legacies that were tasked to the War. If a Legacy’s shards are depleted during war, they are placed in the Legacy discard pile. If all of the losing Citadel’s Legacy shards are depleted but damage still remains, it will be paid from the Citadel (see #5: Spoils of War Awarded). All damage taken by a Legacy in battle is awarded to the winning player’s Citadel.


5. Spoils of War Awarded: If the losing Citadel’s Legacy shards are depleted during War, any excess damage is taken from the Citadel itself. The winning player is rewarded a shard from the damaged Citadel for each point of excess damage dealt. The Spoils of War are added to the winning player’s Citadel.

Here’s an example:

The attacking Citadel tasks their Knight and Executioner to war.

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The defending Citadel chooses to task their Arbalester, Reeve, and Shirazad to defend.

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The attacking Citadel’s Knight has a War Stat of 3, and the Executioner a 2, giving a War Stat Sum of 5.

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The defending Citadel’s Arbalester has a War Stat of 2, the Reeve a 1, and the Shirazad a 3, giving a War Stat Sum of 6.

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Each Citadel rolls the Shard Die once for each Legacy tasked to War. The attacking Citadel rolls a 1 and a 1, giving them a War Score of 7.

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The defending Citadel rolls a 1, a 1, and a 2, giving them a War Score of 10.

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The defending Citadel is the winner and is owed 3 shards from the attacking Legacies.

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The attacking Citadel decides to award 1 shard from the Executioner and 2 shards from the Knight to the defending Citadel.

The Legacies from both Citadels remain tasked until the start of the players’ next turns.

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It’s now time to let the dust settle and tend to our wounds. In our next Design Log, we’ll review the Tribute Fantos Action. (We promise to leave Katniss out of it; she’s been through enough.)

Until next time…keep playing games and making mischief.

-Travis Watkins, Leader of The Imps

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Savage Planet: The Fate of Fantos is now in the playtesting phase. If you would like to join our growing group of playtesters, please contact us on Facebook or send us an Email with answers to the following questions.

1. Your experience as a playtester.
2. The average size of your gaming group on any given game night.
3. What types of games you typically tend to enjoy the most.
4. Your physical location.
5. The days with blocks of time that you are usually free to play.

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We’ve all seen those Cthulhu-tentacled ski masks and basic tentacle-printed dresses (and leggings) linked everywhere. So, we felt that it was high time for a more unique list of insanity-inducing gifts for Lovecraftian horror fans. Read on for our top choices, and believe us when we say that we were in no way compensated by any of the makers on this list (although, we wouldn’t say no to an extra copy of the “From Beyond” soundtrack….).

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To start, here’s our very own offering to the gods of horror gifts, the Chaos of Cthulhu Dice Game. Perfect for monster-lovers, this game marks Imp House’s very first entry into the Lovecraftian annals. A lot of time was spent working closely with illustrator Daryl Toh to make the art visually provoking, in the style of Mike Mignola. It’s a dice game like no one has every seen before; part strategy, part luck…all madness! Gift-givers located in the United States can buy it at Amazon.com, and everyone else can purchase direct at ImpHouse.com.

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Next, you really can’t go wrong with anything from the always insane H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society Store, and we’re especially fond of A Very Scary Solstice CD and Sing-Along Songbook. Who wouldn’t want to lead their family in a eggnog-fueled rendition of “Do You Fear What I Fear” or “I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth”? If you are feeling especially generous, your Lovecraft-loving loved one will never forget your gift of The Cyclopean Holiday Combo, complete with tentacle stocking and enough unspeakable (unsingable?) holiday tunes to drive anyone to the deepest depths of delirium.

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Another place to find a selection of fantastic gifts celebrating all things monstrous and Lovecraftian is Studio WonderCabinet and The Art of Heather Hudson. We are really looking forward to getting our hands on her King in Yellow Christmas Cards, which were successfully Kickstarted on November 15th. Be sure to sign up for her newsletter and/or follow her on social media to find out when these paragons of evil holiday cheer will be released.

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The artisans over at Middle of Beyond have some truly dreadful Lovecraft-themed ugly Christmas sweaters up for sale this year. We’re especially fond of that button-down version, which brings to mind an alternate-reality Mr. Rogers. They’ve also got a big selection of creepy ornaments that are sure to provide the perfect level of dread to your typically basic holiday decorations.

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Every child in your life (regardless of age) must be bestowed with the gift of a Pikathulhu Plush. What better way to introduce them to the horrors of Lovecraft than with the adorable-yet-disturbing aggregate of Cthulhu and Pikachu? It’s a match made in Pokémon nightmares. (If you cannot find a pre-made plush, you can make one yourself by purchasing this pattern.)

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For the audiophiles out there, Light in the Attic Records offers some high-quality collectible LP releases of some of Lovecraft’s most horrific fiction. Our favorite is the From Beyond Soundtrack printed on Pink Slime vinyl. It really sets the mood for holiday insanity. If your loved one is a fan of spoken word, the very first vinyl recording of The Lurking Fear is available in limited quantities, and Pickman’s Model is up for pre-order now and should ship just in time for the holiday season.

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No horror gift guide would be complete without a mention of artist Jack Eggers over at Small Magic Bindery. We especially love his Necronomicon-themed prayer flags and candles. You can also take your favorite HPL story with you everywhere you go with his Lovecraft Mini-Books, which are featured in the HPLHS store. They are truly mind-altering in their handcrafted madness.

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And finally, to wrap this up (ba-dum-ch)…you’re gonna need some fittingly demented paper to complete the gift-giving insanity. This Cthulhu Wrapping Paper does the trick with Elder Signs, Cthulhu Idols, and a holiday-appropriate color palette. It’s a great way to add your own unique touch to the usual hum-drum holiday vomit under the tree.

In previous Design Logs we established that every Citadel craves Iridium, and they use their hired Legacies to bring more shards in by Tasking them. However, we have yet to expand on the actions a to which a Legacy can be tasked in order to collect those valuable shards. So over the next few Design Logs I’m going to be explaining the different Fantos Actions that are available to Citadels during the Fantos Action Phase.

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The Fantos Action Phase takes place at the beginning of each Citadel’s turn, after the player has drawn up to the maximum hand size from the Labor Deck (we’ll get into the Labor cards in another blog) and Un-Tasked all of the Citadel’s Legacies. During this phase a Citadel has the chance to perform ONE of 3 different Fantos Actions: Harvest, War, or Tribute. Today we’ll go over what it means to Harvest.

When a Citadel harvests, it Tasks one, some, or all of its Legacies to mine the Iridium fields for precious shards. This occurs in 4 steps:

1. The Citadel gathers its work force. It does this by Tasking as many of its currently Un-Tasked Legacies as as it wants to send to the iridium fields. (Remember: once a Legacy is Tasked, it remains so until the beginning of the next turn, so be careful with Tasking. You may not want to leave your Citadel undefended.)
2. The Citadel tallies its Base Harvest Score. This is done by adding up the sum of the Harvesting Stats on each of its Legacies tasked to the Harvest. The Harvesting Stat is the number on all Legacy Cards next to the Harvest Icon, which is identified as a mountain with 3 shards hovering above it.
3. The Citadel performs one roll of the Shard Die for each of the Legacies tasked to the Harvest. (It’s also important to note here that Legacies may hire Laborers from the Citadel’s hand to boost their Harvest score any time before they establish their final Harvest Score.) The rolled total is added to the Legacies’ base Harvest Score to create the Final Harvest Score.
4. Once the Final Harvest Score is tallied, the Legacies then Harvest the shards to bring back to the Citadel. The Final Harvest Score translates to the number of shards gained from The Trove. Shards are added to the Citadel’s stockpile.

Here’s an example:

A Citadel tasks its Bowman and Cook to Harvest.

The Bowman has a Harvesting Stat of 2 and the Cook a 2, giving a total of 4 for the Base Harvest Score.

The Citadel then rolls the Shard Die once for the Bowman, and once for the Cook, resulting in a rolls of 1 and 2. These two numbers are added to the Base Harvest Score of 4, giving the Citadel a Total Harvest Score of 7.

The Citadel takes 7 Shards from The Trove and adds them to its stockpile.

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Who knew mining could be so simple, right? In our next log, we’ll review everyone’s favorite pastime, War.

Until then, keep playing games and making mischief.

-Travis Watkins, Leader of The Imps

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Savage Planet: The Fate of Fantos is now in the playtesting phase. If you would like to join our growing group of playtesters, please contact us on Facebook or send us an Email with answers to the following questions.

1. Your experience as a playtester.
2. The average size of your gaming group on any given game night.
3. What types of games you typically tend to enjoy the most.
4. Your physical location.
5. The days with blocks of time that you are usually free to play.

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I’m now Un-Tasked and free to be Tasked to something new…like writing this entry about Tasking and Un-Tasking Legacy cards.

Experienced gamers may already understand this game mechanic, but here is a detailed explanation for those new to the tabletop world. What do these two terms—Tasking and Un-Tasking—mean while playing The Fate of Fantos card game? Think of it like being at work and your boss asks you to deliver something to a client. Delivering a package is what you have been Tasked to do. You leave the office to deliver the package, and you are no longer at the office for your boss to assign you a different task. When you return to the office, you are now Un-Tasked and can be given something new to do.

So, how does this apply to the game? All actions in Savage Planet: The Fates of Fantos are performed by a Citadel’s hired Legacy characters. When a Legacy executes an action it is considered Tasked. Some taskable actions include: going to Harvest, declaring War, defending your Citadel, being nominated as Tribute, using some Legacy abilities, and playing certain Labor cards from your hand. When a Legacy is Tasked, it can not execute, or participate in other actions until it becomes Un-Tasked.

Now, you might be wondering: how can I tell when a Legacy is Tasked or Un-Tasked? It’s easy: the Legacy card simply gets turned 90-degrees sideways.  Then, all of a Citadel’s previously Tasked Legacies are Un-Tasked at the beginning of the next turn. To Un-Task a Legacy, simply return the card to its upright position.

And…that’s about it for Tasking and Un-Tasking—pretty straightforward, right? Next time, I’ll start explaining the different types of actions a Legacy can be Tasked to perform.

Until then, be sure to play some games and make some mischief.

-Travis Watkins, Leader of The Imps

_____________________________________

Savage Planet: The Fate of Fantos is now in the playtesting phase. If you would like to join our growing group of playtesters, please contact us on Facebook or send us an Email with answers to the following questions.

1. Your experience as a playtester.
2. The average size of your gaming group on any given game night.
3. What types of games you typically tend to enjoy the most.
4. Your physical location.
5. The days with blocks of time that you are usually free to play.

Save