Swords: Cut the Deck

A 4240kg Update
6 days ago – Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 04:05:56 PM

Dear swordmasters,

Manufacturing is currently in full swing!

The bad news up front: we're not going to get copies out to you in time for Christmas.  We tried our best.

4240kg of product. 24,000 dice. That's over 2000 great swords worth of gaming. It's going to take a while longer to get from the factory to the distributor and then to you.

If you preordered via BackerKit instead of Kickstarter and haven't been charged for it yet, we are going to charge you over the next few days - this won't include shipping which will come up later on, but it's going to help us keep things running smoothly.

In the meantime, here are some of the things going on:

There is a small manufacturing faux pas with the Hiltshire Edition, which is that the box doesn't close flush because of the folded token bag inside (which wasn't accounted for in the box dimensions). Shipping the bag separately will cause other unnecessary delays. It's the final sprint and we're making tough choices.

Each copy will be shrink wrapped and will close correctly once you put your tokens in the bag, but we apologize for the fiddliness.

There have been quite a lot of changes since we ran the campaign over a year ago, so here is a list of patch notes:

Notably, we removed the Crowdfunder card and the Location cards that we added during the campaign as stretch goals - they weren't that fun and kind of weighed the game down with extra steps, as we've discussed before.  We've added a new downloadable .PDF that includes Locations with some flavour text and extra rules. We think this makes them a bit more optional for galaxy-brained players who want battles with extra quirks, without upsetting the flow of a regular match by having someone play a disruptive, complicated card.  It also opens the concept of Locations up to homebrewing in the community and we'd love to keep expanding on that idea with future official .PDF updates.

We cut down the number of Move cards in the bigger editions of the game to make room for more Sword and Hero cards.  You have enough Move cards in the Hiltshire Edition for 4 players, and 6 in the Kargob edition (which is quite fitting if you're down with the lore).

We've also supplied a Foil and a Non-Foil version of every Guest Artist card, to deal with concerns about Foil cards (potentially?) bending over time.  For the people worried about that sort of thing, you can keep your foil cards pristine and play with the non-foils, and for everyone else you just have more Heroes to play with!
You also get a Foil duplicate of each panDEMONium backers Mystery Sword card in the Kargob/God of Darkness Edition, because those people deserve their card to be shiny.

Other changes:

Dice from the new manufacturer are in more canonical colours now, and have the Swords font for numbers.  We're using white instead of gold now.

You might see some pictures of me playing with a playmat that has the zones labelled on it - we've removed those from the artwork so you can just enjoy using it as a mousepad like Thane currently does.
In the original campaign it was going to be single sided, but it is now double-sided with Quest Sprout and friends on the back.

It took some trial and error on our part, but tokens are now sword shaped and armor tokens are shield shaped!  They're a lot more fun now. Just don't get distracted having tiny sword battles instead of playing the actual game...

And there are still some unrevealed secrets in the box!

Finally, since we've got a bit more time, I'll be working hard on more PDF modules over the holidays to prepare for a solid launch.

I've finished work on a small expansion for the game that won't be part of this campaign. We will wait until the core game has shipped and we've gotten feedback before doing anything else - but just know that we're ready and willing to expand your deck, with plenty of lessons learned and a much shorter turnaround time.

As always, if you're just learning about the game now, you can preorder the card game or the dice set on its own through our BackerKit page.

If you are based in Wellington, New Zealand, Caffeinated Dragon are opening their new store today on Manners Street - let me know if a playtest of Cut the Deck in the near future would interest you and I'll see if I can get something set up!

In unrelated news, Patreon now allows you to gift memberships to people, so the first 100 people to click this link will get 1 month of free access to the swordscomic Patreon - just a small way to show my gratitude that you've all been so patient with us.

Thanks! We'll talk again soon!

Matthew
Six Eyed Barbarian

Thane
Eight Eyed Librarian

Wow! It's a Time Crunch!
about 2 months ago – Tue, Oct 01, 2024 at 06:08:28 PM

Hi everyone!

OUR CARDS ARRIVED!

...And we FOUND A MISTAKE!

This is exactly the kind of thing we needed to see for ourselves before pulling the lever.

Card art issues are an easy fix that won't stall progress, but we'll be spending the next 48 hours checking every card thoroughly to make sure they're the best they can be.  We only get to launch once!

The factory is ready to get to work, so we'll confirm a release date quickly after that.

And the foil cards look amazing, by the way!  Photos don't really do them justice!

PS. You can preorder on BackerKit if you're just tuning in

See you soon!
Thanks!

Matthew
Quality Assurance Expert

Thane
Fine-tooth Comb Technician
 

Still Waiting
2 months ago – Mon, Sep 09, 2024 at 06:04:37 PM

It's been some time since our last update. We've been delaying this post because the factory has promised to send us our pre-production copy of the game "soon" for about a month now, and we wanted to share the good news and photos of that copy. It still hasn't arrived, but we really can't keep you all waiting for an update any longer.

Our manufacturer is a large, reputable company and we've already paid them, so we're not in any danger of cancelling the project - but we also cannot give a firm estimate of the final production schedule until we've seen the final pre-production copy. We're in regular contact with the factory, so it's not like they've ghosted us.

We're frustrated, and I know you're frustrated too. Please hang in there, we expect to have good news and pictures soon!
 

There are 115 God of Darkness Editions of the game available on BackerKit if you're just tuning in and want to help us have a smooth launch with no leftover stock to find homes for.

Thanks!

Matthew
King of Redrawing Cards That Weren't Bad To Start With

Thane
Earl of Sending Follow Up Emails

4th of July Update
5 months ago – Thu, Jul 04, 2024 at 05:55:18 PM

Happy 4th of July!

We are... almost there!

Some updates:

- All of the materials on our side are done! Some last-minute feedback is still coming in from our panDEMONium backers and I will keep tweaking things for as long as I am able to for them, but that window is closing fast

- We are currently waiting for an updated timeline from our manufacturer - there's been a lot of moving parts but we're clear of any issues (that we currently know of)

- You will have an opportunity to update your address again

- We have two new guest artists: TheSketchGoblinand TheImmortalThinkTank! Two great New Zealand artists who I'm excited to have on board!  Baltad, God of Fire is exclusive to the Kargob Edition of the game, while everyone will be receiving Saber Snake.

- This brings the total exclusive foil cards in the Kargob Edition up to four:
- Kargob, God of Darkness
- Kargob's Fang
- Baltad, God of Fire (by TheSketchGoblin)
- The Birthday Blade (which you can only use on your birthday)
These are all heavy hitting cards that cost more to use than any of the Heroes or Swords in the base game. The Kargob edition also includes a handful of extra Mystery Swords

- We have had lots of requests to make the extra Mystery Swords available separately, but if we do, it will be in a future expansion - I'm also not ready to commit to a new expansion until we've done right by everyone and gotten them the base game, collected feedback and improved the formula. We've been learning a lot, and we have a good relationship with this manufacturer now, so making an expansion will also have a much faster turnaround

- Foil masks are currently being checked over by the manufacturer

Move cards:

I've had some requests to talk more about the game mechanics, so today I'm going to talk about Move cards:

During the course of the game, players pick 3 move cards, which they then reveal in sequence.  Each card interacts with its opponents move card to create an outcome, and those outcomes can be modified by the effects of a players Hero or Sword.  Damage is done to Hero cards, effects are resolved, and then the next round begins until somebody has no Heroes left.

Predict your opponent's strategy, bluff your way to victory and gain the upper hand by executing sick combos!

You have 12 move cards in total - 6 Basic Moves (3*2) and 6 unique Special Moves:

Basic moves have a silver band across the centre, indicating that you have two of them at your disposal.

Attack! - Does damage to the opponent equal to the value shown on your Sword card; unless they Block! it

Block! - Stops an incoming Attack!

Buff! - Leaves you vulnerable to an Attack! but adds a Buff token to your Hero, which you can use later to do extra damage

Special Moves have a golden band, indicating that you have one in your arsenal and can only play one of these per bout.

Parry! - Blocks the opponents Attack! and then acts as an Attack! if that block was successful

Power Gambit! - Adds 3 Buff tokens to your Hero, but if you are attacked you get nothing AND you take double damage!! A high-risk play!!

End Them Rightly! - Does exactly 1 damage and only works on an opponent with exactly 1 health remaining. A final, dramatic blow mostly for gloating rights! It can slip past a Block! though...

Cleave! - Cleave negates an opponent's Block! and then applies any Buff tokens you have as bonus damage. If they weren't blocking, they take Sword damage too! A powerful blow to shatter defences.

Remedy! - Heals damage or removes status tokens but leaves you wide open for an offensive!

Swap! - Swaps out your current Hero or Sword for one in your Waiting Zone. Turn the tide by bringing out a fresh fighter! They'll be vulnerable to an attack, though...

The Stabastian card has the special ability to let you play two Special Moves in the same bout! There are other cards that modify these moves to have lower requirements or do more damage. You might be able to come up with some strange new strategies we haven't thought of...

 - We may have shown off a Disarm move card in the past - we decided it wasn't working quite how we wanted, so it's going back in the forge for a future expansion maybe

If you are just tuning in, preorders for the game and for dice packs are still up on BackerKit.

In other news...
Pest Sprout is returning to Makeship in 3 days for the Time Warp 2.0 event! If you missed out the first time, this might be your last chance to get one(?) Some of our guest artists have returning plushies too!
 

Thank you again for your kindness, patience and eagerness to jump in!

Matthew
Lord of the Sword Fjord

Thane
Baron of Blades

Wow! It's a Time Dice!
6 months ago – Mon, May 20, 2024 at 08:28:38 PM

Hi!

Our dice proofs finally arrived! We're not happy with all of them, so there's a little more tweaking to do... but we're close!

A small update:

• Our sword-shaped tokens had some manufacturing issues which we believe we've worked through, but we're still waiting on the final proofs
• There are a couple of panDEMONium backers who haven't replied for final sign-offs, so feel free to join us in the Swords Discord or you can email me at [email protected] so we can work together and make sure your beautiful card is ready to join the deck.

If you're just tuning in, you can preorder the game here or you still have 3 days to grab the Kargob plushie by Makeship here.

Thanks for your patience