I've been sailing on The Bone Butterfly for just under a year now and I've enjoyed every moment. It's well suited for gradual contemplative play with some intense moments that make it constantly refreshing and surprising.
The art direction is charming too and all the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
I'd definitely recommend this experience and I'm getting a crew ready to set off on the Bone Moth very soon.
Also -- "There are more rules to how this final showdown works" -- here's the analysis. I'm actually really pleased with the way it worked out, because it created exactly one of those dilemmas I've tried to balance the game to generate ...
Eryn drew 3 of Hearts, 10 of Diamonds, 6 of Spades.
1) Eryn has SPIRIT plenty to cover Hearts.
2) Arguably losing Nikolai counts as reducing a challenge by 2 - so by burning TECH 4 the Spades aspect is completed too.
3) So there's just the big GUILE shortfall of 6 ...
The Semee Minnow could knock another 2 or 3 points off by taking some more damage. I can't remember how badly beat up the boat was by the end ... if it was totally undamaged it could knock off a full 5 points. But that still means at least one crew member (more likely two) would have to be sacrificed for a full win.
Sacrificing a crew member reduces the challenge by 2 and it can mean many different things in story terms. Often it may mean a crew member gets killed, but it doesn't *have* to mean that.
Instead Eryn judiciously chose to wrap it up with a mixed success / failure, rather than lose crew members. Completely valid, library in flames but not totally engulfed, Abe and Justine totally making out, etc. Great ending!
Hi - good question. It's mostly the wording of the storytelling prompts, e.g. the group play voyages say things like, "Go around in a circle, with each player making one suggestion." There's also a slight assumption that the solo voyage might be played more gradually over a longer period of time. But it's not a rigid distinction, and you could definitely play any voyage either as solo or group with a little interpretation.
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Any chance of community copies dropping soon?
Done!
This game is an incredible sprawling epic!
I've been sailing on The Bone Butterfly for just under a year now and I've enjoyed every moment. It's well suited for gradual contemplative play with some intense moments that make it constantly refreshing and surprising.
The art direction is charming too and all the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
I'd definitely recommend this experience and I'm getting a crew ready to set off on the Bone Moth very soon.
Thank you for making this game!
Aaaaaaaa thanks so much that's so great to hear!!
Join the amazing Eryn Levine playing The Shrike on Game Play Radio: https://radiofreebrooklyn.com/show/game-play-radio/?episode=RADIO3671779805
If you want to speedrun a little like Eryn does, how about this?
* When you skip to Chapter Two, treat yourself to +1 resource for every two SPADES cards you discard.
* When you skip to Chapter Three, treat yourself to +1 resource for every four HEARTS AND DIAMONDS cards you discard.
* When you skip to Chapter Four, don't adjust any resources.
Also -- "There are more rules to how this final showdown works" -- here's the analysis. I'm actually really pleased with the way it worked out, because it created exactly one of those dilemmas I've tried to balance the game to generate ...
Eryn drew 3 of Hearts, 10 of Diamonds, 6 of Spades.
1) Eryn has SPIRIT plenty to cover Hearts.
2) Arguably losing Nikolai counts as reducing a challenge by 2 - so by burning TECH 4 the Spades aspect is completed too.
3) So there's just the big GUILE shortfall of 6 ...
The Semee Minnow could knock another 2 or 3 points off by taking some more damage. I can't remember how badly beat up the boat was by the end ... if it was totally undamaged it could knock off a full 5 points. But that still means at least one crew member (more likely two) would have to be sacrificed for a full win.
Sacrificing a crew member reduces the challenge by 2 and it can mean many different things in story terms. Often it may mean a crew member gets killed, but it doesn't *have* to mean that.
Instead Eryn judiciously chose to wrap it up with a mixed success / failure, rather than lose crew members. Completely valid, library in flames but not totally engulfed, Abe and Justine totally making out, etc. Great ending!
This looks really interesting! What makes some voyages designed for solo play and some designed for group play?
Hi - good question. It's mostly the wording of the storytelling prompts, e.g. the group play voyages say things like, "Go around in a circle, with each player making one suggestion." There's also a slight assumption that the solo voyage might be played more gradually over a longer period of time. But it's not a rigid distinction, and you could definitely play any voyage either as solo or group with a little interpretation.
This looks incredible. Can’t wait to dive into it!