Guild of Thieves Update #3

Well, the first thing you'll notice is the name has changed for the game I'm designing. Den of Thieves is already taken and though I don't think I'd have any court order after me if I used it, I want my game to be unique and so I held a contest on boardgamegeek.com for people to name the game. After all the entries I chose Guild of Thieves, as it fits the theme, is similar to Den of Thieves, and I like it!

Here is where we're at on the game. In addition to the dozens of play tests that I've done myself and participated in, I've had 3 different groups of people "blind" play test it. Which means I've given them the prototype, the rules, and let them read them and play without me there. The first group played the game basically right, the second group didn't play it quite the way it should be, and the third group (with the help of the edits from the first two groups) played correctly. I really appreciate these people for playing the game! It has helped tremendously with clarifying the rules and learning what they like and don't like.

As for the rules, I'm still on the edge of whether I'll include the Jewels in the base game or not. I've also been tempted to mess around with a card called Mirror and another one called Sceptor, but I think I could do that endlessly, so I'm going to stick with what I have. I have decided that I'll sell two versions of the game. The regular game, with simple pawns and no box art for somewhere between $12-15 (at least that is the goal right now). Then there will be a deluxe addition, which will have box art, wooden meeples, and maybe a bonus card. I'm guessing it'll be around $20.

I'll leave you with a couple sketches from the artist Jeremy Montz. The first one is potentially part of the box art and the second one is for the Camel card (I know, I'm being obvious, but sometimes Camels sneak in all places). Finally, my BIL (that's Brother In Law for those not in the speak) texted me this picture as "the Guild Master". I thought it was hilarious, so I'm sharing it too.