What's the deal with Kingdom Death?

The miniatures are some of the best I've ever seen, but they only make super limited editions of them. You like that knight? Well get fucked only 500 in the world.
The game itself seems really cool, but it's really expensive and it seems rash to spend 130 dollarydoos for a single box of a game that you have never played before.
What I can see is that they sell a lot of miniatures that surpass by far "suggestiveness" and are blatant fanservice.
Why? Is this a good game? Not shitposting, I'm genuinely interested in how they manage to keep themselves in the market.

The models are gorgeous, that's enough for most people that would be interested to buy them.

And go look at coolmini, a lot of minis have erotic elements

I guess they're content to go after the high end luxury market.

>Foundation for the victims of viral marketing

As a kickstarter campaign they didn't need to keep themselves in the market but garner interest. They got this interest with the figures and artwork. The limited figures are not part of the game and are just limited because they aren't games workshop and you can't expect them to produce and ship out unlimited supply.

mmmmm she looks delicious.

I agree that it's unfair to those who hear about it later, long after limited run models are gone. But it's the creators decision and cuts down on stock while increasing awareness. They all sell out, so from a business perspective it works.

The board game is fun and entertaining, if high lethality. Most people bought it for the minis, though.

>They all sell out, so from a business perspective it works.

That's poor logic. He would still probably sell it if his runs were twice as large given that the limited runs sell on eBay for $125 and the entire batch sells out in under 6 hours.

There's no reason he shouldn't make twice as much profit by selling twice as many. It's an arbitrary number he's chosen to do his limited runs for. Maybe related to his manufacturing process or maybe completely random.

I'll explain once I bump the thread.

>The miniatures are some of the best I've ever seen, but they only make super limited editions of them. You like that knight? Well get fucked only 500 in the world.

Incorrect, as it turns out. The Limited edition runs pertain only to the numbered production number card. Nearly all models eventually get either small-batch "Encore" runs, where they are reprinted and come with the box and art pieces, or a general release where many copies are made, and are put up now and then on the store via rotation. Stock is resupplied in small batches to try and prevent winding up with unsold minis that you may never be able to move should interest dry up.

>The game itself seems really cool, but it's really expensive and it seems rash to spend 130 dollarydoos for a single box of a game that you have never played before.

I can't fault you on that. Though for reference, the core game is now $400. $100 was the price Kickstarter backers were able to secure before it ballooned to the 18lb monstrosity that it is now.

>What I can see is that they sell a lot of miniatures that surpass by far "suggestiveness" and are blatant fanservice.

Yes. Pretty much anything with the word "Pinup" in its item name is a fanservice piece. These do not have a role in the actual game (unless you specifically want to swap them in for something else), and are purely for collectors, and are a way to help build up money to keep shipping costs down.

I'd also like to point out it's 400USD.

So if your use of dollarydoos was legit and you're in Australia you're looking at potentially up to 700 dollarydoos after conversion and shipping.

Super sad I missed the kick starter. My friend owns it and it's pretty fun.

>Why? Is this a good game? Not shitposting, I'm genuinely interested in how they manage to keep themselves in the market.

The game is broken up into three stages, all of which function differently, which helps keep things interesting (if not nerve-wracking). The AI system lets the fights run on their own, so everyone can play, and not have to worry about who gets to run the show while everyone else gets to dick around and play. It blends elements of Civ, Monster Hunter, and Souls series games, and puts it in a campaign style setting.

You have character progression, settlement progression (with a branching invention system, crafting stations, as well as both set and random story events), so both a personal sense of advancement, as well as being part of a group endeavor.

Some folks like the fights, others enjoy the hunts where you go through a series of random events that may bring either great fortune or outright disaster. Others, still, enjoy taking the resources gathered from a hunt and planning how they will advance their settlement and what gear they will craft to improve future hunting expeditions.

It's a pretty damn beefy game, with a lot of gameplay styles blended together in a way that works surprisingly well.

What the fuck is going on in the picture?

I'm actually curious, all of the extra models that aren't a part of the actual game box, are they useful for anything in the game or just used as showpieces? For instance, the Mage, the Thief, all of the pinup and non-pinup varients.

Also like I'm super bummed I didn't back it when it was first being developed. It looked super cool but I simply didn't have the money.

>I'm actually curious, all of the extra models that aren't a part of the actual game box, are they useful for anything in the game or just used as showpieces? For instance, the Mage, the Thief, all of the pinup and non-pinup variants.

Mage, thief, other class-based models are both an artistic exploration of classic RPG classes, and early concepts for a class-based (far, far off) second game, Kingdom Death: Heroes. Pinups are standalone, sexy minis, mostly based on various armors or characters from the product line.

Essentially, everything not in the main game is standalone content, and is just for collecting and admiring. Some of them DO make it into the game (flower knight, dung beetle knight, etc.), but they get a plastic kit made of them, and are included as part of an expansion, along with a rulebook, and the necessary cards to incorporate it into the core game.

Big white lady telling a story how life sucks and then you die

A White Speaker is visiting a settlement, who are making a show of their faith, or submission, or endurance by ritualized bloodletting.

>What I can see is that they sell a lot of miniatures that surpass by far "suggestiveness" and are blatant fanservice.
Why?

Those are promotional minis that were created as, you said it, fanservice for backers who helped the game through the kickstarter. They are NOT included in the basic game and most of them are sexed up parodies of more "normal" (by KD standards) minis that come in the box.

>I'm genuinely interested in how they manage to keep themselves in the market.
It was funded purely through kickstarter and the creator was able to make the game just the way he wanted it, which is why it's so distinct looking.

Also it's all really good.

>It blends elements of Civ, Monster Hunter, and Souls series games, and puts it in a campaign style setting.

That's like half of my fetishes right there.

>What I can see is that they sell a lot of miniatures that surpass by far "suggestiveness" and are blatant fanservice.
That's only for the limtied pin up models though. The actual game models are more in like with say, greek statues or the like.
Unless you imply that nudity or rather the natural human form in itself is some kind of halfassed porn attempt.

the creator probably does tiny quantities of each figure at a time because he can't afford to sit on unsold stock. i'd imagine he lives in a constant state of "I can't believe the internet has paid this much for my nerdy dream project" and is years of consistent success away from being able to take his success for granted.

the price tag is fuck-huge because it surpassed a billion stretchgoals on kickstarter and the size of the game expanded radically, even before taking into account standalone expansions. The current terrifying price tag is what's needed to make the regular releases something sustainable.

I can't speak to its quality because I haven't given in to the temptation yet and bought it myself.


Random q for people who own it: How much total playtime does one campaign take if you live all the way to the end? just the base game, I mean, though if you happen to know how expansions affect that I'd love to hear that too. It's a long-ass game that gets split over many play sessions, yeah?

Playtime can vary. When I play solo it takes about 4 hours per session/year. That's including set up and takedown. When I played with my gf, it took half that time.

A campaign is 25 lantern years, plus or minus a few. So, alone, it would take me about 100hrs, and maybe 50 for a 2-player campaign.

Then again, my campaigns haven't gotten terribly far, so the fights may get longer as the monster levels increase

oh damn. i knew it'd be long but that's even more than i expected. surprised two people made that big a difference. thanks.

My group would meet once a week, each Friday, during which we would usually get through 2-3 lantern years in about 5 hours (depending on how tired our sleepier members would get, how detailed two of our players would get about planning what to build and innovate, and a food break halfway through).

With two weeks off for other stuff, it probably took us 2 months of these weekly meetings to get to the final boss and get absolutely annihilated.

It's a fairly big time investment, both per session, and total campaign.

So you can play it with a range of different players? I was thinking about getting a copy for my boyfriend and I at some point but I was worried if it was just the two of us if we'd be able to play without another two.

I tried to buy the core game the other day, and it wasnt even listed in their websites shop. Not 'unavailable' or 'sold out' - just not there at all.

I get that they are going for a boutique, high-end approach. You should still maintain basic accessibility to your product line though. To be quite honest I'm a little turned off by the attitude. Do they want to sell their products or not?

It's playable from 1-6, but works best at -4. 2 players is totally doable, and gives you playtime insurance if your survivor dies. You still have a backup.

To be fair couldn't it just be that they don't have any stock at alll?

Glad to hear, I'll probably look into it when I have the money.

It's not really attitude. More a garage project by one guy having problems keeping up with demand.

Additionally he's working on an updated version of the game, which will lead to some slowdown.

From the recent newsletter:

>Monster is Nearly Sold Out
>KD:M is nearly sold out. We have a small number of units reserved for our GENCON booth this year and a dwindling amount left here in NYC and in the Australian warehouse. I expected our units beyond the kickstarter, to last us all of 2016 and then some. And here we are, not even halfway through the year and we are nearly finished!

>This is both extremely exciting and very unexpected. Kingdom Death very much feels like my life’s work and I guess I sort of thought the units would also… last a lifetime?

>As the seemingly never-ending mountain that was the kickstarter topples, I am forced to seriously ponder the future of Kingdom Death. We poured our souls into a game that people seem to really love and I have to consider things beyond... "just finishing it" or "just getting it into peoples hands".

>Kingdom Death is not a normal brand and Monster is not a normal product. While I ponder what to do next, I am reminded of the struggles and gambles it took to get us to this point. I don't want to take the easy way out (an aggressively priced stripped-down version of the experience for the mass market) as it undermines the very essence of what the Monster experience has come to be. The baroque nature of the game seems essential to our vision and experience of the rich chaotic world.

>Creation without compromise, excellence in design, and an unparalleled gaming experience.

>I plan on holding those standards, while I figure out what our next move is. Either way, hopefully it will come to you all as a surprise!

Poots is just as surprised as you, it seems.

So if you dont have KD:M yet, you probably never will. Thats too bad.

Give it a year or two

He doesn't know if he's going to do another run. But he'll probably expand the universe a bit.


I just got my expansions today. Holy shit the dragon hype is REAL that thing is gigantic almost 8 inches tall. Seriously imposing, takes up a whole shelf of my display case on its own.

I'm guessing Poots will be closely weighing the risks and rewards of a reprint. Based on the number of people backing the project, he probably had a fairly modest estimate of people that would buy the finished product outside of the KS.

So when every last copy of his $400 (plus a few hundred more if you're not in the US, for shipping and customs), 18lb game flies off shelves in just under 6 months, he was probably caught with his pants down. Given the number of people balking at the cost, I can absolutely see how he may not have been expecting it to sell quite so quickly.

The questions now are how many MORE people might there be that want to buy it at the set price, how many copies does he have to request be make the reprint viable, and how close are those numbers to ensure he doesn't lose money by having to make more copies than there are people willing to buy them?

Have faith, user.

Is that from before the most recent Gencon? Just curious if I'll be able to pick up a copy at any point if I actually go somewhere they end up or if I'm fucked and have to wait for another possible round of printing.

This is from the email newsletter, sent out April 18th. So if you get to Gencon, make a beeline to the Kingdom Death booth if you want a copy. Given how large and heavy the boxes are (image with reference objects, to give you something to compare it against), I can't imagine they will have all that many copies sitting around.

I'm sure there will be assholes that try and buy them up for resale on ebay at exorbitant prices, as they already do with the standalone minis. So godspeed to you anons out there that actually want to play the game.