Keko Chronicles - Journal
Playing Favorites
This is going to be a big week for Keko Chronicles. Monday, we launched our Kickstarter trying to get the game into more hands and raise a little money to keep going forward with this crazy little dream. Also this week, the game gets into the hands of some key individuals: Game Reviewers...Game Companies. We have begun the very earliest stages of developing cards for our first expansion set (shooting for December). And we will end the week with our first ever 2 on 2 tournament at a Family Reunion event.
To celebrate all that, I wanted to post a journal entry featuring your favorite cards from Keko Chronicles: Origins. I have spoken with just about everyone that already has the game in their hands and comprised a list. It was going to be a “Top Ten” type thing, but so many different cards were mentioned (which is great, by the way), that I have decided to go in a different direction. I’m going to list the top three cards of each card type.
Top 3 Krystals: Sadly, no Krystal made anyone’s list. I was thinking that Releasing Krystal had a chance, or maybe Pure Black Krystal. I was wrong. Krystals, while so very necessary in making this game work, they just didn’t stand out among all of the other cards. Have no fear. We are looking to change all that with our first expansion set. I pretty much guarantee at least one Krystal will make everyone’s Top Ten next time around. That’s what we are shooting for anyway. You heard it hear first. Jo-Jo Krystal. May be the best card in the whole expansion.
Top 3 Action Cards: SURPRISE, WHOOPSI DAISY, SHIBBER MIGRATION. These three were the standouts. Each one is fun. Each one can be a game changer. Everyone seems to like saying “Surprise!” when they play SURPRISE. And “Whoopsi Daisy!” when they play WHOOPSI DAISY. Fun facts: SURPRISE was the first Sudden Action Card ever designed way back when this game was only on little pieces of white cardboard. WHOOPSI DAISY was named after my youngest daughter’s favorite Toby Mac song. And SHIBBER MIGRATION was actually a very late addition to Origins that only made the set because I had to replace a different Action Card that just didn’t work.
Top 3 Creature Cards: There were more votes cast for Creatures than any other card type. Also, more different Creatures got votes than any other card type. Seven in fact. The top three were: CATASTROPHIC DRAGGYN, MAZE THRAXXIS, CHA-OS. And CHA-OS was probably the biggest shocker for me out of every card that received votes. This weird Creature or random happenings seems to appeal to people playing the game. A CATASTROPHIC DRAGGYN and a well-timed MAZE THRAXXIS can strike fear into everyone playing a game of Keko Chronicles. CHA-OS just seems to make people smile. I’m super okay with that. The other creatures receiving votes, by the way? Behemoth Krakkyn, Shibber Queen, Energy Draggyn, and Moo the Hound.
Top 3 Item Cards: DEFFILWYNE’S SNARE, MASK OF UNWANTED SORROWS, SAMANTHA’S BACKPACK. I found it interesting that the top 3 Action Cards are “fun” cards. The top 3 Creature Cards are “fun” cards. The top 3 Item Cards seem to all be about winning a game of Keko Chronicles. DEFFILWYNE’S SNARE can essentially lock down an opponent. SAMANTHA’S BACKPACK can make a game extremely lopsided if not dealt with. And MASK OF UNWANTED SORROWS, if played right, can prevent everyone else from ever taking a turn again. If I were to pick one word to describe these three cards? Brutal.
Top 3 Location Cards: MAZE OF TORLYSS, UNSAFE ZONE, SAFE ZONE. Can I confess something to you? MAZE OF TORLYSS might be my favorite card. Here’s why. It feels like all of the players are in an actual maze as turns bounce this way and that. It doesn’t happen too often that it is obnoxious. Everyone has a super big reaction every time someone rolls doubles. It’s really unlike any other Location in the game. And it wasn’t even going to be in the set! It didn’t even exist until a week or two before we launched. It was an afterthought. It was a card created just because the storyline required a MAZE. Sometimes that’s what happens with this thing...Sometimes we just stumble into something cool. A blind squirrel and all of that. Anyway...weren’t there other Locations I’m supposed to be talking about? Oh yes. SAFE ZONE and UNSAFE ZONE. One slows things down and lets you do ridiculous things with Special Abilities that force you to do damage to yourself. The other speeds things up and makes every card twice as dangerous. Good stuff. But I still like the MAZE.
Top 3 Transportation Cards: MINING CAR, PONQUI’S DOG SLED, STEAM POWERED HOVER BOAT. You guys did really well picking out cards for this list, can I just tell you that? MINING CAR feels like a MINING CAR. And what’s not to love about being guaranteed a Krystal every turn and loading up the discard pile for your Draggyn or your Shibber Migration? The fact that PONQUI’S DOG SLED made this list cracks me up. It originally required 2 Hounds to be in play. And it almost never hit the table. It almost got cut from the set. Then, we tried it with only a 1 Hound requirement. Force to be reckoned with. And STEAM POWERED HOVER BOAT. So cool for more reasons than you know. It can take out a Mask of Unwanted Sorrows or Samantha’s Backpack or Deffilwyne’s Snare. But it also opened the door that there could be a whole series of HOVER BOATS. One for Creatures. One for Krystals. One for any card in play. HOVER BOATS will be around for a long while to come.
So, there it is. Our first official “Top Card List”. Will future players feel the same as more players play the game? Or will we discover that some of these cards are overrated and other cards prove themselves more powerful as new strategies develop? Who knows?
Please check out our Kickstarter. Please consider backing this game. It’s an all or nothing thing. Either we raise all of the money or none of the money. All money will go to helping get this product out there and into the hands of gamers and developing future Keko Chronicles expansions.
Join us next time. We will probably rank the 6 Characters. Until then, spread the word!
Next: Tourney Time!