Jump to content

The Semester Has Begun! MU board game Kickstarter


MOB

Recommended Posts

And our Miskatonic University Kickstarter is funded—within 16 hours of launch! Many thanks MU scholars, it's great to be back making Lovecraftian board games again!

And now to the first Stretch Goal at $30K: "Diploma Mill"

5ad720b3d738f_DiplomaMillStretchGoal.png.e8590403595c57b28590bc058de8131a.png

As my friend and colleague Jeff Richard says, from here on it is all gravy. Eldritch, tentacle-ridden gravy that drives you insane with forbidden lore😜

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Games Vs Play interviews Susan, our board games line editor, to get some early insights about our new game, her experiences working with design legends Reiner Knizia and Greg Stafford, and what's in store in the MU Kickstarter...

http://gamesvsplay.com/sneak-preview-of-miskatonic-university-the-restricted-collection-chaosiums-new-lovecraftian-boardgame

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our MU board game now heading towards its third stretch goal. In our first Stretch Goal, "Diploma Mill" everyone who backs gets granted a Bachelors degree in Medieval Metaphysics (even the $1 backers - we're running a diploma mill here, after all). And in our second, the printed game will now include the rules in German.

  • $30K (funded!)—Diploma Mill: We will award all backers with a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval Metaphysics degree from Miskatonic University.
  • $35K (funded!)—Rules in German: The printed rulebook will include the full rules of the game in German.
  • $40K—Stationery Upgrade: we will upgrade the specifications of the game cards.
  • $45K—Rules in French: The printed rulebook will include the full rules of the game in French.
  • $50K—Diploma Mill II: Masters degrees for all backers at $25 and above!

We've got more exciting (and fun!) stretch goals to strive for - please help spread the word!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We reached the "Diploma Mill" Stretch Goal in our Miskatonic University board game kickstarter, so now *every backer* gets a Bachelors Degree in Medieval Metaphysics. Even the "Student" level backers at $1 - we are running a diploma mill after all...
Screen+Shot+2018-04-21+at+12.35.19+am.pn

n.b. the degree certificates are non-personalised, so you can add your own name in. Impress your friends with your academic attainment!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two more stretch goals reached:
$40K FUNDED! - Stationery Upgrade: cards now 320 gsm with linen finish
$45K FUNDED! - Rulebook will now include French 
Now on to... 
$50K - DIPLOMA MILL II: we start handing out Masters degrees!

5adab3e08acd8_ScreenShot2018-04-21at1_20_03pm.png.eaafa1bf796b3e64422bd2e032235618.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A new stretch goal announced:

$55K - Rules in Italian

MU announces new academic department in the School of Languages - the Accademia di lingua italiana.

The printed rulebook will include the full rules of the game in Italian.

New Pledge Level (at $55K):
Associate Dean - Accademia di lingua italiana (1 backer only)

MU is also recruiting a scholar to lead this new division: the Associate Dean - Accademia di lingua italiana.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Less than $200 to our $50K "Diploma Mill II" stretch goal! Then we start handing out Miskatonic University Masters Degrees. All backers of the base game ($25) and above get one. OK, so we might be running a diploma mill, but how's that for cheap tuition?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

New Stretch Goal announced:

$58K - A Miskatonic University Short Story

Chaosium's fiction line editor James Lowder will commission a piece of short fiction set in Miskatonic University by British Fantasy and Wonderland Book Award-nominated author Molly Tanzer. All backers at Professor level ($25) and above will receive the story in multiple electronic formats (PDF, EPUB, MOBI, PRC).

Our game is set in a library after all...

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

New Stretch Goals announced:

As we approach the mid-point of the semester, here's what's coming up in the syllabus as we head towards Graduation:

$58K - A Miskatonic University Short Story

We'll commission a piece of short fiction set in Miskatonic University by British Fantasy and Wonderland Book Award-nominated author Molly Tanzer.

$61K - Stationery Upgrade II - Player Mats 

We'll upgrade the card stock of the Player Mats to 1.2 mm board with glossy dispersion varnish.

$64K - Rules in Spanish 

MU announce will announce a new academic department in the School of Languages: the Department of Spanish and Hispanic Studies.

The printed rulebook will include the full rules of the game in Spanish.

$67K - Cover Art for Molly Tanzer's MU Story 

Our board game artist, the talented Victor Leza, will be commissioned to create a color cover illustration for Molly Tanzer's short fiction set in Miskatonic University (see $58K Stretch Goal). This art will be included in the short story reward for all backers at Professor ($25) and above.

$70K - Stationery Upgrade III: the Box! 

A sturdy box is without doubt a benefit, keeping your game looking good throughout the ages. We'll include double thickness card, white lining, with a bevelled edge.

          v
          v
          v
More Stretch Goals to be announced here!
          v
          v
          v

$100K - Terminal Degree! 

We'll award all backers at Professor ($25) and above the highly prestigious and coveted Doctorate of Medieval Metaphysics from Miskatonic University.

c1fe923f96eb93702e1e24252d419acf_origina

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

EIGHT DAYS TO GO in our MU Kickstarter and we've passed 2000 backers and these recent stretch goals:
 
$58K - A Miskatonic University Short Story 
$61K - Stationery Upgrade II - Player Mats 
$64K - Rules in Spanish - 
¡estupendo! $64K Spanish Stretch Goal has fallen! The printed rulebook will now include the full rules of the game in SPANISH (and English, French, German and Italian!)
 
Stretch Goals coming up...
 
$67K - Cover Art for Molly Tanzer's MU Story 
$70K - Stationery Upgrade III: the Box! 
 
Added a new Stretch Goal:
 
$72K - New Optional Library Card: The Teaching Assistant
 
Anyone who has attended college or university knows that Teaching Assistants (TAs) are the under-appreciated academic workhorses of the institution. They teach, deal with tedious administrivia, and perform various other sorts of scholarly grunt work on behalf of their tenured colleagues, the professors.
In recognition of their often thankless service to learned pursuits, we've added TAs to our MU game as a Stretch Goal.

4a8d6197626d7f597d75e1d74d7e1c67_origina

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another Stretch Goal passed, a new Stretch Goal added! This one is direct from Reiner Knizia's home base and design studio in Germany: a new eighth Defense Card for the game. We already have a "Flee" card in our MU game; this one enables you to "Hide" from the Mythos Horrors in the library, at least temporarily... both handy skills for prudent Call of Cthulhu investigators, and equally handy here.

The 'Hide' card enables you skip your turn. This safely keeps you in the game until it is your turn again. In the meantime, calamity may befall your academic opponents.

08113289f1ae1c79dc4be1169ccda50e_origina

This is the second card expansion for Miskatonic University; we also have the New Library Card Teaching Assistant Stretch Goal at $72K. We're currently nearing $68K, so both of these are drawing close and we still have six days to go!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FROM THE MU FACULTY HANDBOOK: "It is a long-standing practice that professors and instructors at Miskatonic University are given a Staff Activity Number, or SAN rating. This number is not intended to rank or rate their relative expertise or caliber as a teacher, but only to serve as an extra guide to students choosing advisors."

All MU Kickstarter backers whose pledge levels includes their name appearing in the Rule Book (Deans, Associate Deans, Professorial Chairs, Valedictorians etc) will also be invited to nominate their Staff Activity Number (SAN).

723692415_SANRatingMUProfessorsExcerpt.png.e9793f880422f995983a0cf350c30824.png

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448333182/miskatonic-university-the-restricted-collection-bo/posts/2179841

MU was made an official "Project We Love" by Kickstarter a few days ago, which is cool - they clearly want everyone to pass with flying colors!

$58K - A Miskatonic University Short Story
$61K - Stationery Upgrade II - Player Mats  
$64K - Rules in Spanish 
$67K - Cover Art for Molly Tanzer's MU Story 
$70K - Stationery Upgrade III: the Box! 
$72K - New Optional Library Card: The Teaching Assistant

$74K - New Optional Defense Card: Hide

$76K - New MU Crest & Seal

Miskatonic University's motto is Ex Ignorantia Ad Sapientiam; Ex Luce Ad Tenebras, which means "Out Of Ignorance Into Wisdom; Out Of Light Into Darkness"? Because the university crest has a lighted candle on it, uninformed people say the motto translates as "Better to light the candle of knowledge than curse in the darkness".

Wags reply, "Is it though?"

New Stretch Goals:

$78K - Stationery Upgrade IV: Box interior

$81K - Graduate Student Forms

The Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection Kickstarter concludes on May 8th.

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Graduate Students are expected to sacrifice years of study (and at MU, maybe more) to learn from their esteemed academic mentors, the Professors. Fortunately, at Miskatonic University they're an endlessly renewal resource...

Next Stretch Goal: $81K - GRAD STUDENT ADMISSIONS FORMS
Full-size PDFs of the MU Admission Form (used on the Graduate Student cards in the game), and BLANK versions you can print and fill out yourself! 

1417683238_MUStudentsFemaleMale.thumb.png.db1ccd54f3d1fa9c1f3ab36740bf2655.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are at the tail-end of the semester (just over 40 hours to go!), but still in pursuit of academic excellence! 

Here is the next Stretch Goal:

$90K—Stationery Upgrade V: Super-Deluxe Player Mats

We will further increase the thickness of the Player Mats to a solid 1.5mm board with glossy dispersion varnish.

a06405226444c8a56402bb956a53d3b9_origina

(We're also going to a announce a special backer reward if/when we reach 3000 backers - 65 to go!)

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's my idea for merging the games: The grad students start as characters in a MU-set CoC game and the Investigators get to know them.  Craft a story around the basic premise of the board game.  At an apropos point of the RPG session, bust out the card game and have players play it in order to obtain vital clues or artifacts.  In some way, make grad student discards in the final round actual character deaths in the RPG, so that players have to decide whom to keep around.  Of course, you'd have to set them up so they aren't just disposable Kleenex grad students.  You might say that that is against the spirit of MU grad students.  😜

Edited by klecser
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last Day of the Semester and Final Stretch Goals announced in our MU Kickstarter!
"We give credit for life experience"

Our final "Diploma Mill" stretch goal is the highly prestigious and coveted Doctorate of Medieval Metaphysics. We originally set this at $100K (that's now for a fancier box). But we moved the doctorate forward to $95K because at MU "we give credit for life experience". (Besides, we don't want our backers to end up in the accursed academic limbo that is ABD - "all but dissertation"...)

 

Edited by MOB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We made to 100K, if we make to 4000 backers we'll up the "Field Trip" discount to 15%

We passed $100K earlier today, so all 20 Stretch Goals have been achieved - top marks!

With just over five hours remaining, can we get to 4000 backers? If we do, we'll make the Field Trip Reward treat even better: instead of 10%, it will be a 15% discount for all backers on your next visit to Chaosium.com!

Tell your friends it's still not too late to enrol at MU and graduate with honors - but they have to hurry: the Kickstarter ends at 2.05PM Eastern US time TODAY!

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our Miskatonic University: the Restricted Collection Kickstarter has come to a successful end: 

3697 backers, USD$106,994 raised (of a $25K goal), and 20/20 Stretch Goals achieved. 

All our backers have graduated Summa Cum Laude—with the highest praise!

Now we must put our efforts into the next phase of this Kickstarter - delivering all of the rewards as quickly and efficiently as we can. In the most recent update, we've outlined to our backers what those steps are. 

We will stay in regular communication with our backers. We delivered our previous board game Kickstarter on time and intend to do the same here.

The Chaosium team would like to thank our backers for their support over the past 21 days. We're delighted to be back making Lovecraftian board games again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...