Divine Right Kickstarting

[Baron]

Is anyone as excited by this as I am? I never owned or played this, but was intrigued by the articles about it that would appear now and then. Recently I'd been haunting eBay looking for a deal, when I learned that a new edition is being kick-started! Yay! No used copy for me!

 

[Voros]

Here's rhe link:

 

[Doctor Wombat]

Is anyone as excited by this as I am? I never owned or played this, but was intrigued by the articles about it that would appear now and then. Recently I'd been haunting eBay looking for a deal, when I learned that a new edition is being kick-started! Yay! No used copy for me!

I bought a copy of the game as a birthday present for a friend back in 1979 (for a whopping $12, if I recall correctly), and we played the hell out of it. I always regretted never picking up a copy for myself. I do have a copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition, but the rules for that were kind of a mess (three pages of errata) and it somehow seemed to lack the charm of the original, which was a simple but very playable game. Also, I kind of hated the recolored board.

Needless to say, I jumped on this campaign. Looks like it's doing well enough that we might eventually get the long-promised sequel game / expansion Scarlet Empire, which apparently never made it past the playtest copy stage.

I also ran a D&D 1E campaign back in 1985 set in Minaria, the world of the Divine Right board game.

 

[saskganesh]

Played the hell out of first edition, disliked the 25th anniversary edition, which had changes for the sake of changes, sloppy editing, dumb map, inferior chits and advanced game rules only on cd and not paper. The fleets on rivers rules were pita. A cynical rush job.

I wish them well.

 

[saskganesh]

BUT! I checked the link and the production values seem very nice, including a return to original map colours (or close to it).

Yet I suspect the 300 page pdf bonus rules are under-playtested chaff.

 

[Doctor Wombat]

BUT! I checked the link and the production values seem very nice, including a return to original map colours (or close to it).

Yet I suspect the 300 page pdf bonus rules are under-playtested chaff.

Could be, although I think the author's been playtesting them since 2020, based on his posts on Board Game Geek. Of course, there's no guarantee that will translate into a usable rulebook.

That said, I'm not sure I'd even want a 300-page version of Divine Right. A big part of the charm of the original TSR game for me was that it wasn't overly complicated. If I still wanted to play a game with that level of complexity, I wouldn't have sold my ASL collection last year!

 

[Simlasa]

Also, I kind of hated the recolored board.

The original board/map is a major part of the draw for me... if this new one was significantly different I'd immediately lose interest.
I wonder if this new edition will include any of the setting lore that was printed in Dragon magazine?

 

[Baron]

I wonder if this new edition will include any of the setting lore that was printed in Dragon magazine?

He's collected and expanded that lore and it's a 535-page paperback book you can get on Amazon right now. In fact, my copy just arrived yesterday! It's called The Minarian Legends.

 

[Simlasa]

I decided to back it. Looks like they've done a good job of keeping the 'feel' of the original and it's a good bit cheaper than chasing an original copy off auction sites.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

I kinda still want the original (several rules changes like taking out player elimination which I'm less keen on with the new) and I hope this knocks the price down.

 

[Korgoth]

The original board/map is a major part of the draw for me... if this new one was significantly different I'd immediately lose interest.
I wonder if this new edition will include any of the setting lore that was printed in Dragon magazine?

I 'feel' like I've read somewhere on the internets that the one of the goals of this reproduction is to remain very faithful to the original art style, be that as it originally was on the map, the chits and the cards. Clean-ups here and there if needed based on imperfections/mistakes with the original art.

He's collected and expanded that lore and it's a 535-page paperback book you can get on Amazon right now. In fact, my copy just arrived yesterday! It's called The Minarian Legends.

Have you read the book yet? 'Minarian Legends' that is.

I'm tempted to buy it myself but I also worry it will end up being Fantasy Place name word salad and tripe though I've nothing to base that on other than my cynicism that most modern (granted this originated in the late 70's so probably is more to my liking) published fantasy writing is crap.

P.S.
I also backed the Kickstarter as it's a Wargame I missed out on the first time around back in the day and have always been interested in it since seeing it in Dragon Magazine ads.


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[Baron]

Have you read the book yet? 'Minarian Legends' that is.

I'm tempted to buy it myself but I also worry it will end up being Fantasy Place name word salad and tripe though I've nothing to base that on other than my cynicism that most modern (granted this originated in the late 70's so probably is more to my liking) published fantasy writing is crap.

No sorry, haven't read it yet. My only goal is to try and find some time to read it before the kickstarter fulfills.

 

[saskganesh]

The old Dragon's Minarian lore articles were pretty solid. They were better reads I think than the Gardner Fox "Niall" stories Dragon also used to run, AND TSR stuff that came later (FR, Dragonlance)

Probably one of the better examples of fantasy world building out there. Just rich.

 

[sharps54]

I kinda still want the original (several rules changes like taking out player elimination which I'm less keen on with the new) and I hope this knocks the price down.

Are the cards and chits different? If there are only some rule changes I would think you can probably find the original rules somewhere online to print out

 

[The Mad Hatter]

The original rules are available as downloads on Board Game Geek's page for the game.

Divine Right on Board Game Geek