Is anyone else excited for the imminent arrival? I have watched so many YT play through, unboxing, etc…I’m so excited. This will be my first Chip Theory game, so I backed predominantly based off Elder Scrolls lore. From the looks ok it, there will be a fair amount of Dungeon delving involved as well! So far, I like the concise nature of the ‘campaign’. Basically 3 ‘chapters’ including a finale, so not an eternal campaign. Each will have a defining end. Anyways, just wanted to talk about it if anyone has any insight!
Cheers
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I’m super hyped for this one. I’m planning on putting in my order on their web page after I get my Christmas shopping done later this month.
The Kickstarter of Arydia should be arriving around that same time. Not sure which one I’ll get to first. Hmmmmmm
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I was late to the Too Many Bones caper – I picked up Unbreakable and an extra Gearlok.
I really like the TMB system and I’m hoping Elder Scrolls scratches that itch in Skyrim. Am all in on this one 
Yeah pretty excited! I went slow on this and just got the core pledge and expansion because I already have so much TMB. Funnily I only tried TMB to see if I’d like the Elder Scrolls system and it became my favorite game 
Like… wow the system is astonishingly good. I have a hard time imagining I’ll like the Elder Scrolls version more, but I’m willing to take that chance. The actual open dungeons instead of a grid are an exciting prospect
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The benefit to chip theory, in my understanding, their crowdfunds don’t have exclusives. Everything available on the crowdfund will be available from their site, albeit at a higher price. I went mostly all-in. I ended up adding most of the trinkets before the campaign ended. I think the only things passed on were the character binders and the blacksmith kit. I couldn’t figure out what the blacksmith kit’s purpose was, but now that I’ve seen some more playthroughs, I’ll probably end up buying from the store.
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If I’m not mistaken, they’re actually on the same boat!
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I do like that. I think all exclusives should be available at some point. I like how they just make it a higher price but you can still get the content if you want.
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Can’t wait! I secured my pre-order of Elder Scrolls off the Chip Theory website a couple weeks ago.
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Did you ever get this to the table? Did it meet your expectations?
Looks like we’re going to put our nearly complete Too Many Bones collection up for auction and go in on the new crowdfunding campaign with the expansion. We like the TMB combat but are hoping that Elder Scrolls has a bit more of an adventure feel to it. Maybe the theme being tied in a bit more strongly? And perhaps moving around on the maps tying it all together in a more evocative package?
TMB just keeps getting passed over when we’re looking for things to play and I think it’s because while it’s a great tactical combat system the other areas feel a bit lacking (exploration/questing/etc).
I’ve not played TMB but I have Elder Scrolls and really enjoy it. My understanding is that the system is quite a bit different. There is a character build sub-game for a start, in contrast to the gearlocks. Dice typically go into a cool-down when used, as well, so they cycle round in fights; I understand they are drained when used in TMB?
Elder Scrolls has only a light narrative. While there are campaign arcs with different structures and goals the encounters are usually random, as are the monsters and treasures. So while it is very evocative of the computer games that includes the idea that the ‘quest’ is only part of the fun and it is the weird and random side quests that add a lot of flavour to the experience.
I really enjoy it, and will be going all-in on the new campaign.
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That’s great to hear. Thank you!
I know the narrative will be pretty light, but my hope is that it’s a wee bit less abstract than TMB felt in the adventuring aspect. Regardless, even if my TMB set goes for under value I’ll still make enough to cover a full gameplay pledge for Elder Scrolls. So I don’t feel like I’ll be out any money. Just converting one game into the other. 
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Oh yeah, that’s already a much stronger environmental feel. Chip Theory nudging things in directions like that is exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks!
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I agree. That map looks like fun to explore. I’ll need to find a chance to play this one.
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On those pics, the top one is one of the pre-defined dungeons, which are quite rare. Only one per region, I think.
The second picture is a map in the process of being randomly generated, which is the default for delves (that’s the game term for this kind of encounter).
There are also clashes, which are battles in a more open / above ground area. That just uses one big hex mat that is a bit longer than it is tall - as it happens, the large greenish tile in the pics above. This isn’t usually used in a delve. And all the scenarios typically include the entry tile which has five hexes to deploy on to.
In each case the map is still bigger than the TMB battle mat.
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Oh, I didn’t realize those maps were just for combat/delves. But I did see there is a map for exploring places like Valenwood… So, I figured I should skip around in some let’s play videos.
Watching people move around on the area maps and interact with the towns is the sort of thing we felt was missing from TMB. Where it was pretty much just flip a card between fights.
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Each region has an overland map with special rules (weather, political factions, towns under siege and more). You move your party around between locations with towns, combat encounters, peaceful encounters or randomised encounters. There are are also hexes with no encounter but ending your day there is basically a wasted opportunity. There are rules for forced marching when you need to, as well.
Towns each have their own short gazetteer which tells you what kind of services are available, and sometime there are other actions or even special delves you can undertake at a town. Clashes general use a minor variation in the same map (though some are very different) while delves are procedurally generated. Dungeons are rare but their map is predefined.
I really like it as an adventure game. It’s thin on narrative and it isn’t even an ‘RPG lite’ game since the encounters will sometimes force a course of action that you wouldn’t normally choose. But it’s a great fun in my experience.
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