Though Frosthaven is still arriving on doors after its record-setting Kickstarter campaign, that hasn’t stopped legendary designer Isaac Childres from getting his creative gears turning to come up with what’s next.
“My past two games have woven epic tales that have been set in beautiful fantasy worlds, and have included amounts of plastic and paper that the EPA have dubbed ‘enough to make a seal cry’.”
Even though these games have been massive hits, Childres believes that he’s ready to take his work into a new direction.
“We’ve had all these terrifying creatures that you defeat using well-crafted weapons and powerful spells. But I want players to have an experience in my next game that mimics real life.”
So today, Cephalofair has announced New Haven, the next title in their lineup that will cause UPS workers everywhere to go “Ahh, my back!”
In this game, players will be transported to the third largest city in Connecticut. They will no longer play the parts of archers, mages, and warriors trying to traverse dungeons and destroy monsters. Instead, they’ll be hospital workers, restaurant chefs, and college professors, just living life in the Cultural Capital of Connecticut.
The game will be filled with dozens of locations, including the Long Wharf Theatre, Toad’s Place (a music venue), and the Connecticut Children’s Museum.
“Basically, if I could find it while I was skimming New Haven’s Wikipedia page, it’s in there!”
There will also be a specific part of the campaign dedicated to exploring the campus of Yale University. While Childres won’t reveal much about his ideas for that section of the game, we did notice several defaced Yale pennants in the background while speaking to him via Zoom. Many of them had the word “sucks” written along the bottom in fading permanent marker. One poster also seemed to have the Yale bulldog mascot with a fart cloud drawn coming out of the back of it. However, when we brought this to Childres’ attention, his camera quickly cut off and he said that he seemed to be having technical issues.
One aspect of the game that’s in for a huge change is how players take their turns. Instead of a well-crafted deck-building game, all of the movement and actions will be determined by dice. You want to move spaces? Dice. You want to attack? Dice. Defend? Dice. How many people get to play? Dice.
“I want this game to reflect the rock and roll, devil may care attitude that I’ve always associated with New Haven. And what shows that better than dice on dice on dice?”
We have our hesitations about New Haven, but Childres promises that the game will deliver an experience that’s even more groundbreaking than his previous titles. He’s also promised to include lots and lots of cards, even though they won’t be used in the game.
“I actually have an incredibly large baseball card collection from when I was a kid, and I think that I’ll just throw in some stuff from that. It’s like a nice little surprise for everyone. You don’t know what you’ll get! I may even try to remove some of the gum that’s stuck to a few of the cards.”
Even with these surprises, we know that it’s not the pieces in the box that make a game great, it’s the experience around the table. (At least, that’s what we tell ourselves when we realize we can’t afford anything from the latest CMON campaign.) And with Childres’ track record, you know he’ll deliver on story in spades.
“I think that the people are ready for something a little more real. Something more relatable. Something more… New England.”
