Cephalofair Games

I got to sit down with Isaac Childres during GenCon and discuss Cephalofair Games.

*note Some content was given to me for purposes of review.*

Introduction

From July 31st to August 3rd gamers of all kinds ventured to Indianapolis to take part in GenCon. I was one of them. Amongst the many things I got to do was sit down and talk with a couple of folks around the con. Over the next two weeks I’ll be sharing what we talked about. Today, we’ll start with my first interview, Isaac Children from Cephalofair Games.

Cyclical Influence

We started by discussing where they were from. With the largest bit of this being the challenges of going from Gloomhaven to Frosthaven. How one influenced the other. Which comes full circle in how Frosthaven influenced Gloomhaven second edition.

While originally developing Gloomhaven Isaac had the ideas for building up the town and the calendar. He’d felt it made the game too much. He decided to scale back his plans to make the game more approachable. When it came time to develop Frosthaven he brought the ideas back. This gave us the settlement phase and the timed events on the calendar. It al;so allowed for season to become a part of the game.

When they went back to Gloomhaven to develop 2nd edition they brought some other lessons they’d learned from Frosthaven. Things like the campaign map that helps track the story were brought on because of player requests. It was one of the things that were inspired by the players.

Issac spoke very highly of the fans of the game. How their input, concerns, and suggestions influenced the development of Frosthaven and Gloomhaven 2nd edition. The passion the community has for these cities and this world seems to mean a lot to him. As a member of that community, I’m happy to hear that our voices are heard.

The Present

Second edition is shipping and arriving at various nations with players soon to get their hands on the redo of these adventures. The update has tinkered with multiple bits to make the game more in keeping with how Frosthaven works. This includes the campaign map to help track the story as you play through it, making unlocking the classes tied to story rather than retirement, and changing some of the scenarios to be more player friendly.

For example, they removed the Living bones from the intro scenario. Most people I’ve talked to remember that one to be one of the most difficult scenarios to beat in the game. That one change, along with a couple others I’m not going to talk about here, have made the necessary tip of, ‘play scenario 1 as level 0,” feel unnecessary.

Other scenarios have been tweaked to make them a bit more forgiving, the addition of doors to one particular scenario is world changing. One other addition is the riddle based character from 1st edition will now be included in the box. Meaning you’ll no longer need to send off for the files to print them yourself.

At the convention they released four new mercenary characters. These are compatible with every version of the game but will be more at home with Frosthaven and second edition. They are all based on previous characters known to the players. Hail is an NPC from Gloomhaven, Satha can be found in Frosthaven, Anaphi was the fifth member of Jaws of the lion found in the comic book, and Cassandra will be familiar to anyone who played through the Forgotten Circles expansion for Gloomhaven. Each of these characters was given their own theme and powers. Cassandra was given an overhaul since she was the playable class introduced in Forgotten Circles. They’re on the boats now and will be arriving in retail stores in a few months.

These smaller box characters were developed in an effort to give players more content in a more affordable package. Since the reality of tariffs in our world affects the prices of larger box games like Gloomhaven and Frosthaven, these smaller boxes will not be as hindered by the price hit. This includes things like Buttons and Bugs which also exist in this smaller box set of games.

The Future

Right now they are waiting to see how the mercenaries are accepted before making any final plans. However, they are looking at more mercenaries that could be released later.

They’re also working to get everything on the docket released before looking to work on another large box game. Don’t expect a third haven any time soon. They need to get second edition to the backers and into stores before they can even begin to think of anything like that.

Not to mention the role play game.

The Role Play Game

The roleplay game is coming along. They’ve just shown off the system to use a deck of playing cards as a stand-in for the randomizer decks for each character class. There were several challenges to developing the RPG. They needed to balance the game for players to go through multiple encounters in a single adventure as opposed to one planned map. They also needed to develop the game for more narrative game play over strategic battles. While there is still strategy in the combat system they wanted to give players who favored story over strategy something to hang their hats on.

The playing card system they are developing is to give players the ability to play the game using just the rule book. They shouldn’t need to buy a lot of cards and other peripherals to play. I applaud this as it will make the game more attractive to new players. Character sheets also have all possible powers you’ll have access to, giving you the ability to check the ones you need to play your character.

Future Support

They are currently planning and working on a lot of different things to support the game one it launches. While they are looking at character packs, expansion content, adventures, and source books. They are looking at a Frosthaven update book for the characters and settings. As well as other cities that haven’t been covered in the board games.

I’m most excited by a Starter Set. I love a good RPG starter set and am looking forward to learning more when they have more details. Isaac did tell me the starter set will focus on character options from the base game; and not the Jaws of the Lions characters as I had guessed previously. Starter sets have a special place in my heart as they help give game masters a good way to introduce new players to a game with ease. They help introduce new people to the hobby and I’m in favor of anything that does that.

Digital Adventures

Frosthaven digital went live on Thursday August 31st. It’s still in early access. I played the demo that was released during the Summer Game Festival. I had a ton of fun with it but it was scaled back.

The early access version that went live has the initial six classes along with the first two you’ll encounter as you play into the story. While I was given digital codes for the game, I haven’;t had time to jump in and try the game out myself. I’m hoping to try it this weekend with some friends. I played the digital Gloomhaven for quite a long time and am excited to try this one too.

It’s out now on Steam if you want to look at it.

Conclusions

My meeting with Isaac was nice. We talked about the game I love and its future. I had a lovely time. I look forward to seeing what’s coming next and how it will be implemented.

More articles from GenCon coming soon. If you’re interested in seeing more, check this link for all of our GenCon articles.

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Until next time, stay safe and be well.