Good news!

The Story War kickstarter just hit it’s $40k stretch goal, which unlocks a 5 pack of campaigns! What are campaigns? They’re a single sheet of rule variations that you can print out and read from top to bottom as you play the game. Here’s some examples of what a campaign could contain:

Like for example:

• A choose-your-own adventure style storyline, that uses cards from the player’s hands to fill in unknown variables, where the story’s path changes depending on the outcome of the battle!
• A list of 20 numbered alternate victory conditions for battle (“Woo the princess!” “Win an election!” “Defeat the opponent without drawing blood!” “Win a go-kart race!”) that you could use with a 20-sided die!
• A one-time-use storyline that plays out like an elaborate shaggy dog story with a big twist at the end!

The best thing about campaigns? We’ll be releasing some that we make ourselves, but players are free to create their own and share them with other players! We’ll even come up with a convenient way for players to share their campaigns with one another.

How’s that for re-playability?

Keep spreading the word about Story War to help us reach more stretch goals, including our ultimate stretch goal: $100k to build an online multiplayer client!

Story War is now live on Kickstarter!

(Click here to go to the Story War Kickstarter page!)

Man, you guys! We’ve been making this game since last summer and we’re so excited that it’s finally ready to print! All we need now is you, the player, to actually buy the game.

What is Story War?

It’s a storytelling party game for 3 to 8 players. There’s no numbers or stats or complex rules - each card is simply a name, illustration, and description of a Warrior, Battlefield or Item. It’s up to the players to determine what each character does, and how their Warrior would beat their opponent’s Warriors.

Players start each battle by selecting Warriors that they think would have a tactical advantage in a randomly drawn Battlefield, and then  an organic story evolves from the conflict. It’s not about “who would win in a fight” so much as it’s about how they’d win in a fight. Players control their Warriors by describing what they’d do out loud in an open discussion.

One player is always acting as an impartial judge that changes after every battle. If a player claims their character is too powerful (for example, claiming a Wizard could pull the moon out of the sky) their opponent can “challenge” that claim and the judge can decide whether or not to allow it - think about how objections work in the courtroom. Challenges are rarely invoked, but the existence of the rule keeps everybody’s narrative grounded.

Battles generally start with a scrimmage to control the Battlefield, then once someone has the high ground they’ll go in for a direct attack, then usually Item cards are introduced and add more complexity to the battle. In large team games, Warriors are often matched up one by one and each team gradually whittles each other down. The cards are only a starting point - where the battle ends up depends on the story lines the players try to weave.

The best part of Story War is being backed into a corner and having to use ridiculous cartoon logic or a reference to Harry Potter or Pokemon to get yourself out of a jam. “A Blob can’t eat a Skeleton - bones are what amorphous blobs SPIT OUT when they eat something!” “In Harry Potter the Basilisk’s fangs could bite through curses!” “You can’t punch a bird - flying types resist fighting attacks in Pokemon!” As long as the judge accepts your rationale, it’s fair game!

Who is Story War for?

Everybody! We went out of our way to make Story War as inclusive as possible. We playtested it with a diverse mix of ages, genders, and skill level and we’ve yet to see a single person not have fun with the game. It’s a great way for adults and children to connect on a creative level! We’ve also seen it unlock hidden potential in “non-gamers” - suddenly their storytelling powers come to life and they blow everyone else out of the water!

Big games of Story War are played in teams, and we’ve found that the team-based gameplay makes it easier for newcomers. Because you’re never having to battle against a power player alone, you can contribute as much or as little to the game as you want. It’s a game where everybody involved is going to have a good time no matter what!

Everybody who participates in a game of Story War will walk away from it with memorable stories that can just remain a special experience shared between them and their friends, or it can even serve as inspiration for their own creative endeavors.

Whoa cool, how can I get Story War?

If you go to our Kickstarter page you’ll be able to back the project and get a copy of the game. For $10 you can get a print-and-play copy, for $25 we will ship you a physical copy of the Story War cards, and for $40 you can get the game plus the expansion that we’ll be developing with creative input from our backers!

If you back at the $60 tier (or $50 after the fan art/fic discount, see below) you can get the Deluxe edition, which contains: A comic book featuring various interpretations of the characters, blank cards that you can draw on yourself, and limited edition cards based on Grumpy Cat, Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat, Scumbag Hat and Cyberspace:

And if you can pledge anything above $100, we will draw custom artwork based on you, your favorite things, or your original characters and print a one of a kind card just for you! There’s a lot of really cool reward tiers, be sure to check them all out!

Why Kickstarter?

Story War is already finished, our Kickstarter is just to get enough preorders to print the game in bulk, which is about 90% cheaper than doing print-on-demand. Profits will be funneled back into making our first expansion more awesome. Our funding goal to print the game is only $20,000 - but if we reach our $100,000 stretch goal, we’ll be building out a free online multiplayer version of Story War so you can tell cool stories with your e-friends! Check out the Kickstarter page for more details!

What else can I do to help make Story War happen?

Oh wow it’s so sweet of you to ask that! 

A bunch of people have decided to help us out by making fan art and fan fiction, which they’ve put in the #Story War tag! If you post original fan art or fan fiction in the #Story War tag, email your post’s URL to Fan@CantripGames.com and we’ll send you a SECRET CODE that you can use to get $10 off the Deluxe edition of Story War! 

The single most helpful thing you can do is reblog this post to get the word out about the Story War Kickstarter! Lets do this!

Figuring out how to make the Cornucopia item via newly-discovered shared whiteboard software.