Changing the Name and the Game

One day, Chris and I took a crack at revitalizing the game and adding a resource mechanic, reducing setup time, and tweaking the press your luck decisions. As you explore the dungeon, you now had the challenge to collect resources and purchase a sword. You could upgrade your sword via splendor style purchases. There would be multiple tiers of swords available to each player. You would start with a common and dull blade and end with a badass blade. Each blade would include a different set of abilities or dice to be used to fight monsters in the dungeon. We made the dungeon ever expanding so players did not have to suffer through multiple setups, and refocused the push your luck mechanics into the sword and how the sword is used. This is where the name Swordcrafters originated.

When I type it out, that game also sounds compelling to me. But it was a twist on a different vision. I wasn’t particularly passionate about playtesting and didn’t pursue it. Gumption! We had about 2-3 iterations built into it designing the mechanics, playtesting on Tabletop Simulator, creating the placeholder artwork, and prototyping through The Gamecrafter. This was a classic mistake of too much asset creation and not enough playtesting.