The Dead Keep Dev Diary #4: Goblin Chaos

Greeting Adventurers,

Today, we have an update from one of the game designers of The Dead Keep, Nicolas Raoult, that delves deeper into the contents of the Goblin Chaos expansion!

Goblin Chaos: Unlimited fun!

For those who accept that unpredictability is a part of life, chaos is a source of unlimited fun. Let’s talk about Goblins, for example. A single Goblin can easily succumb to fate, yet they survive as a species despite anything the universe throws at them. In their point of view, there is no gloomy fate or radiant destiny. It’s all about navigating the endless flow of possibilities and grabbing the best opportunities at any given moment.

Goblin Chaos is an expansion for The Dead Keep, focusing on new Adventurers and Enemies, but also on new game mechanics that add near-infinite replayability through modularity. Let’s dive in and take a look!

Endless Quests

This expansion comes with brand new decks that introduce custom Quest creation, both for one-shot stories and entire campaigns. These custom Quests can be played with any Adventurers from The Dead Keep and/or Goblin Chaos.

Creating a Quest

The process of creating custom quests, or even randomizing a campaign, is simple with the inclusion of dedicated card decks in the box.

First, players draw a Quest Selection card (numbered from 1 to 10), directing them to the corresponding Quest in the rulebook. There, they will find the setup and game objectives of the day.

In a campaign setting, each Quest Selection card is played only once. After the Quest has been played once, its card is set aside until the next campaign.

Then, players draw a Difficulty Selection card (also numbered from 1 to 10) indicating the quest’s boss, starting number of Doom tokens, and the starting campaign level. The higher the card number, the more difficult the quest is!

However, in a campaign setting, Difficulty Selection cards are played in order, from 1 to 10, preventing Adventurers from taking on a quest that is too difficult before they have had time to gear up.

Enhanced Possibilities

If the Quest and Difficulty Selection cards weren’t enough, randomness and replayability are further enhanced during the game with Objective cards, and Treasure cards. These cards are designed to be played with Goblin Chaos’ modular quests. However, they can also easily be used with any custom quest you could create with The Dead Keep’s contents!

Players draw a Red Objective card when a Red Objective Token is taken. These cards represent random events, good or bad, but always funny. With 38 cards to draw from, results are unpredictable and can affect the ongoing Quest greatly.

As the name suggests, Colored Objective cards are drawn whenever an adventurer picks a Colored Objective. These 20 cards introduce additional quest objectives. These Objectives are optional, yet provide great rewards in the form of gold, skills, mana gains or beneficial game effects for the next Quest’s duration.

Don’t bother sticking to your original plan, trying to pick one of these cards is bound to derail it. Everybody knows the call of “risk VS reward” is irresistible!

The Treasure deck is used whenever an adventurer picks a Treasure Token. The token’s value is then replaced with a random reward, including Health Potions and Necromantic Artifacts. The Treasure deck is created during the game setup. It is composed of as much random cards as needed among the 15 available, and always includes 2 rare treasures.

Used in conjunction with Goblin Chaos’ modular quests, these decks offer you endless combinations and gaming opportunities. Your adventurer party will never play the same quest twice!

Goblins!

Thriving in chaos requires either nerves of steel, an agile mind, or ideally, both – just like a Goblin! In Goblin Chaos you’ll encounter 21 of these mischievous creatures, split amongst Adventurers and Enemies.

How am I still alive?

Seven of these fellows are on the ‘good’ side. Or at least, the friendly side. These Goblins share the same traits as other Adventurers, including Classes and Class Abilities. They also share the same Actions, Equipment, and Rules. With a couple exceptions!

First, Goblins are fun-sized, meaning they can only endure up to 7 Wounds (instead of the usual 10). But they are cute, in their own unique fashion.

Second, Goblins can evade the nastiest blows in incredible ways, so incredible they don’t even know the trick themselves. Call it survival instinct, luck, or divine intervention, but game-wise, this is called Boing! The player may roll a die every time a Goblin endures Wounds from enemy attacks, and after any armor roll. On a 4 or more, these Wounds are cancelled, and the Goblin moves 1 Zone away, for free, ignoring all enemies. Their miniatures are laid down, and ignored by enemies until the ensuing End Phase (or their next action, whichever comes first). Boing! has saved Goblins countless times, enabling them to dodge devastating blows that would have sent them flying into next week, and to also escape from enemy mobs.

The Boing! effect also has opened up new possibilities for skills reserved for Goblins Adventurers. Sigebert, for example, is a crusher performing Boing! on 3+ (instead of 4+), motivating the player to take even more risks facing the most dangerous of enemies.

On the other hand, Bathilde, the magician, can get the “Boing! 5 Wounds” skill at Orange Danger Level. After every successful Boing! she can distribute up to 5 Wounds among enemies in the zone she just left, as a sweet parting gift!

Strength in Numbers

Sooner or later, a Goblin may push their luck too far, and perish in a blaze of glory. They also lose most of their charm, it’s true, as they come back as bad guys: Undead!

Goblin Chaos features 21 Enemy miniatures: 20 Goblin Minions, and 1 Goblin Lord, a new Notable Undead, riding a black wolf.

Enemy Goblins don’t spawn through Spawn Zones, only along their Notable, the Goblin lord. Moreover, they do not count among the strongest enemies, as they only deal 1 Wound per 2 Attack, rounded down.

Despite these weaknesses, don’t underestimate the threat: a single Goblin Minion may not be strong enough to deal Wounds, but they never come alone. In fact, it’s quite the opposite! Moving 2 Zones per Activation thanks to his wolf mount, the Goblin Lord spawns an alarming amount of Goblin Minions. Left unchecked, the Notable may bring a whole Goblin mob upon the Adventurers, swarming and locking them down for bigger foes to finish.

With brand new Goblin Adventurers, Enemies, and custom quest mechanics, Goblin Chaos brings new gameplay opportunities, and a immense replayability to The Dead Keep! Don’t forget, if you pre-order now, you’ll also receive a copy of the Troll Rider.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this update on the contents of the Goblin Chaos! For more content on The Dead Keep, be sure to follow this campaign and CMON’s other social media channels linked below!

See you soon with another update about the pre-order exclusive content: The Secret Alcove!

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