Solomon Kane from Mythic Games

[deuce]

Not much news as yet. Patrice Louinet is the consultant/REH advisor. When asked about details, Louinet said this:


"Nothing that I can say yet, but trust me, it's gonna be good. If Conan was 90% faithful, we are talking 100% faithful here."

[Von K]

Thanks for the news Deuce, and I believe this is their website:

us.mythicgames.net/

[Von K]

Here is some more. Frankly it looks like it's gonna be awesome:

www.beastsofwar.com/solomon-kane/mythic-games-new-project-announced/

[deuce]

Feb 21, 2018 14:24:02 GMT -5 Von K said:

Here is some more. Frankly it looks like it's gonna be awesome:

www.beastsofwar.com/solomon-kane/mythic-games-new-project-announced/

Thanks! Some concept art:

[Deleted]

This'll certainly be worth checking out.

[Deleted]

Here's the teaser trailer.

[deuce]

Anyone know French?


www.scifi-universe.com/actualites/16509/tout-sur-le-prochain-mythic-games


I know just enough to kinda puzzle things out.

[niktoo73]

How's this for a quote from Fredrik Malmberg: "We believe that a premium format television series is a better format for the character. This is something we are pursuing currently both for Conan the Cimmerian, El Borak, and Dark Agnes"

[Von K]

Apr 27, 2018 8:41:01 GMT -5 niktoo73 said:

How's this for a quote from Fredrik Malmberg: "We believe that a premium format television series is a better format for the character. This is something we are pursuing currently both for Conan the Cimmerian, El Borak, and Dark Agnes"

Thanks for the update niktoo!

[Von K]

Mar 10, 2018 21:06:08 GMT -5 deuce said:

Anyone know French?


www.scifi-universe.com/actualites/16509/tout-sur-le-prochain-mythic-games


I know just enough to kinda puzzle things out.

Thanks for the linkage Deuce. That's a mega cool image of Kane. The whole art direction for this game is right on target. The interview is relatively long and very interesting so I hope they won't mind if I post it here for the benefit of interested members, run through google translate:

The interview with Leonidas Vesperini

www.scifi-universe.com/actualites/16509/tout-sur-le-prochain-mythic-games

We were at the IFJ Cannes in late February and we had the opportunity to interview Leonidas Vespérini on the future project of Mythic Games! This is an adaptation of the famous character Robert E. Howard Solomon Kane. It interests you ? Here's something to learn a little more ...

SFU: Hello Leonidas, for readers who do not know you, can you introduce yourself in a few words and present Mythic Games?

Leonidas Vespérini: My name is Leonidas Vesperini, I am one of the two partners of Mythic Games and it's been a while since I'm in the middle of the game. I've been a journalist for a very long time in different magazines like Ravage, Lotus Noir, Mana Rouge or Manga Kids. For three years now, I have been an editor with Mythic Games, which publishes board games with miniatures that are launched on Kickstarter. The latest is Joan of Arc. It is a miniature game centered on the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc is obviously the most famous character of this time, but there is no she. There are plenty of stories, myths and legends that people believed at the time which makes for a historic and fantastic mix. We launched this game last year on Kickstarter, he was very successful. And there, just recently, just for this show in Cannes where we are discussing, we announced our next project that will be launched on Kickstarter and we are very eager to reveal more. It's something we've worked a lot on and this game is Solomon Kane.

SFU: Solomon Kane, like the character of Robert E. Howard, Conan's father?

Leonidas Vespérini: Exactly, it is this character who is a kind of archetype that everyone knows without necessarily naming it. He is the archetype of the witch hunter, a black, puritanical character with a rapier, a musket, who faces the creatures of evil and punishes men and criminals. He does good, at least he is convinced, because he is a little crazy. He is extreme, fanatic: a Punisher before the hour but in a Gothic sixteenth century, mysterious. H[is] adventures blend an aspect with the Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow) and much more cape stories and swords. He is an adventurer who travels on all continents, tracking down evil whenever he thinks he has discovered it and wherever he is. He is a wandering character, a vagrant who appears when the evil is there, who punishes and who goes away. It is very interesting, it has been copied many times, it has inspired many people in popular culture or in the game edition. For example the wizard [witchunter] in Warhammer is totally inspired by Solomon Kane. Even in films, when they want to represent this archetype, they often dress the character like him, as in the movie Van Helsing.

Leonidas Vespérini: So, every time we make a new game, we change our concept. The first, Mythic Battle is a game of confrontation and combos in a universe that evokes things to people. They have to have references, they can learn about the world of the game before, so that when the game arrives, people are ready. We want every new game to be different and complete the game's enjoyment of the previous one. We will never redo a game that is a new version of the first or a close game, we want complementary games in the pleasure it provides. The second is Joan of Arc. There, we have changed scale, we have smaller figurines, we are on the legendary scale (16 mm) which allows to have more figurines on a normal table and a real difference when we use monsters and buildings. These buildings are immersive and you can visit them. When we put monsters, there is a real difference of scale. This time, it's our first cooperative and very narrative game. He's really going to tell a story, we're going to get Howard's news and we're going to live them through the players' experience.

SFU: In the game, how is it going?

Leonidas Vespérini: The evil, the darkness are played by an artificial intelligence. The story is divided into chapters, and at the end of each chapter, the story will make sense, a direction according to the choices of the players. The players interpret the four cardinal virtues. These are invisible forces that represent Christian ideology. Solomon Kane is a very believer, a pure and hard WASP and so he hangs on some strength. These four cardinal virtues are very different from each other. They will influence the character one way or the other and it is up to the players to choose what is best done in the situation proposed in the game. These four virtues are courage, prudence, temperance and justice. Players will not always agree with each other. These virtues have special powers and are represented by a figurine that will not be all the time on the game board. They are invisible to the characters, the protagonists of the story do not see them. There are also forces of evil, darkness that will also be on the game and will be controlled by the AI. So the game is a succession of scenes sometimes played with figurines, sometimes discussed between players. Players will try to cooperate as best as possible to advance the story. The game system is made for evil to win. It is up to the players to coordinate well to succeed in triumphing.

SFU: So this is a game that will be difficult. There is a real challenge, a real challenge and at the same time, it is a new form of play, because it is not, according to your description or totally figurines or role-playing game

Leonidas Vespérini: That's exactly it, it's really between the two. We are around a table and we will be immersed in a story and in the end what we will remember is the story that has been told: Solomon Kane has managed to overcome the evil and all the players have won, either Solomon Kane fails at the end and all the players have lost.

SFU: On the kickstarter campaign that is getting ready, we're going to have a number of scenarios that can be unlocked, you've already planned stages? How are you going to handle this?

Leonidas Vespérini: We are going to leave on a minimum number of stories that we prepare and that we are sure to do, and we may add some in the strech goals and others in extensions, more thematic . The big campaigns will therefore be more extensions and short stories may be strech goals. Each story will be divided into a number of acts. The short stories will make an act of ten chapters. It can still change but normally each story is ten chapters containing four or five scenes. Some scenes are represented by a board and figurines, others are represented by narration: a text to read and decisions to make in relation to the text. So in each story in one act, there are several mini scenarios to play. When there are several acts, once we have finished the act, we take the story where we were and we start the next act, then the third ... And then we are really in a game in the countryside.

SFU: Each of the ten stories is a mini campaign in itself?

Leonidas Vespérini: Yes in the basic box, we imagine doing a story in one act, one in two acts and one last story in three acts, or six acts. A 4 or 5 scenarios per act, it is already not bad in the basic box. If we then add the strech goals that will be stories in one act.

SFU: Is there a date for players to start saving?

Leonidas Vespérini: Yes, there is a date: it's June. We do not have the exact day yet, the game will be beautiful!

SFU: I have posters and visuals under the eyes and indeed, it's promising!

Leonidas Vespérini: Only one artist worked on all this project. We will try to have the greatest number of illustrations ever proposed in a board game. Just that and that level!

SFU: An artbook maybe?

Leonidas Vespérini: Not necessarily because the book of adventures will be very illustrated. When we play a story and we arrive in a scene, we can refer to the illustration, which helps the immersion. Even the chapters of a story will be laid in piles of cards and the backs of these cards put together will form a scene. It will be very pretty!

SFU: It may seem like detail for a player but that's what makes the charm of a good game. Today we're on more than 3,500 outings board games just for the Essen festival which is the annual reference. For kickstarters, we know that we are on higher price ranges than average games in store so what makes the charm of these kickstarters is the aesthetic quality: the quality of the material and the gift side of Christmas when we unpack them and the fact that it's beautiful. And there, for what I see for the moment, I am conquered.

Leonidas Vespérini: Thank you very much, that's what we want to do, we want it to be a very very beautiful object and some could buy it even just for the beauty of the figures, fans of the story will be happy to see how Solomon Kane and the other characters of the stories are represented: the wolf, the queen of vampires ... We have some expertise in sculpture and figurines production and each time, we try to go a little further. And on this game, too, we went further because we propose figurines that are practically collectible figurines: they are quite large with 35 mm, they have a textured base, the weapons are in a harder plastic that does not do not twist, they will all multipart and will occupy much space. It's really going to be a beautiful product, very pleasing to the eye, very immersive.

SFU: Regarding the four cardinal virtues, can you tell us what it looks like in figurines?

Leonidas Vespérini: We will resume the representation of the cardinal virtues of that time: in the form of ghostly women with objects that correspond to the cardinal virtue associated. There is the mirror, the balance, all kinds of objects and we will resume the iconography of the time. They will be invisible to Solomon Kane. When they are introduced to the stage, they can help the main character or others and boost it in their specialty: for courage it will be the fight aspect, and for justice it will be more in the interaction and discussions with the people: the scenarios and the mini-scenarios will not only be about fighting, defeating the opponent. There will be action but also from time to time negotiation. Should this situation be resolved by combat or discussion? Players will be able to decide and each player will be responsible for one of the four Solomon Kane counters: one will manage his strength, another the level of danger ...

SFU: For readers who have never read Solomon Kane, was it considered during the negotiation of rights, to reissue the full news? In France, we find them at Bragelonne currently, but the reissue has a few years and I do not know its availability in bookstores.

Leonidas Vespérini: Exactly, I know that last year Bragelonne reissued ten of the most outstanding compilations of fantastic literature including Solomon Kane. I really invite people to read it, it reads very easily and it's a classic that you have to know. It's part of the geeks references.

SFU: For Howard fans, Patrice Louinet is the reference and wrote a biography of the author. Did you contact him?

Leonidas Vespérini: Yes, he participates in the development of the game.

SFU: So the Howard specialist in France works with you, the fans do not have to worry, the character will be respected!

Leonidas Vespérini: Absolutely, it's our consultant and every time we give scenes or drawings to do, we start from what he says. it allows to have descriptions that come back to Howard, to have his precisions about what the character is and what it is not, what are or are not the enemies and the people that Solomon Kane meet . It is Patrice Louinet for example who tells us, it is not said in the news, that the wolf is the evil double of Solomon Kane, his doppleganger, his nemesis, which hurts him and that drives him to being violent. Often this duality is found among the characters in the news. Patrice Louinet offers us a very fair vision.

SFU: The interest of this character Howard is really being both the hero but sometimes the villain by his actions. To play, do you think you surprise people?

Leonidas Vespérini: Yes, this permanent ambiguity makes it interesting. He is not sanitized, nice, he kills. He remains a hero but the end justifies the means.

SFU: Last question for collectors and figurinists, will there be decor?

Leonidas Vespérini: Contrary to what we had done on Joan of Arc where we had indeed a lot of decorations because the scale allowed it, we will especially have elements of decorations sometimes a gallows, an iron virgin, some stuff a little nice to put in the mood or for it to be one of the objectives of the scenario symbolized. We will not have big scenery but many beautiful immersive plateaus on which we will put the figurines.

SFU: Thank you very much Leonidas for this information and the visuals that give us here already very want to play Solomon Kane. Stay tuned to avoid missing this kickstarter!

Leonidas Vespérini: Thank you very much.

[Von K]

I believe that google translate may be missing some of the nuance in translation here, or perhaps maybe I am misunderstanding?

I hope it’s clear that, whilst he inspired some of the iconography of such in games like GW’s Warhammer, Solomon Kane himself is not a witch hunter. I can see Kane having serious issues with the witch hunter’s and inquisitors of his day, and maybe even actually hunting down a few of them. His objections being perhaps part of the reason he

had languished in the dungeons of Spain’s Inquisition. He knew much of the fiendishness of man’s inhumanity,

REH – Wings in the Night

N’Longa uses witchcraft, and whilst it disturbs that which is puritan in Kane’s nature, he views N’Longa as one of his staunchest allies.

[kaziglubey]

A quick perusal didn't reveal to me any mention of this game on this forum, but apologies if I happened to have overlooked something.

Mythic Games has a Kickstarter running now for Solomon Kane. 

Just in case anyone might be interested....

[Von K]

Thanks for the notification kaziglubey. Looks totally awesome with unique gameplay and a solo mode. The artist for this is simply incredible in the accuracy of his portrayal, and according to Patrice at Howard Days 2018 the artist apparently turned down a gig for Disney to work on Solomon Kane for Mythic Games.

It's already massively funded with three weeks still to go:

[themirrorthief]

interesting thread...good to see Kane will rise again in all likely hood

[deepermagic]

Jun 14, 2018 12:11:33 GMT -5 Von K said:

Thanks for the notification kaziglubey. Looks totally awesome with unique gameplay and a solo mode. The artist for this is simply incredible in the accuracy of his portrayal, and according to Patrice at Howard Days 2018 the artist apparently turned down a gig for Disney to work on Solomon Kane for Mythic Games.

It's already massively funded with three weeks still to go:

Wow. Good on them for their roaring early success.

Looks like an interesting game, and it does include a lot. Still, $110 is pretty steep for a board game. I'd probably consider it more if I had a regular group to play with.

Got me thinking though, is there a Solomon Kane RPG that anyone knows of/recommends?