Goose, golden egg, and all that

I'm sure it is a discussion they've had but I'm pretty sure this was planned to be the last expansion if it got that far regardless.   I don't think they will stop selling SotM anytime soon so I'm not concerned about their bottom line yet.   While more and more content could probably be released there will be a point where the expansions become meh or have to introduce crazy mechanics to peak any interest which could hurt the product overall.  

I'm sure they appreciate our concerns but I don't think they are going to vanish overnight because this is the last expansion.  

I agree it seems like an odd (possibly disastrous) choice to stop the most successful thing you've got without having proven you can produce a second one, but the reactions I've seen when I raise this point seem to mostly be emotion-based (it's time, stories should end, I wouldn't want it to continue beyond where it was good, I don't want to have to carry around even more cards, the point of GtG is to tell stories not make money) rather than business/logic based.  I guess we just have to hope that they can produce a new winner so they can keep making money and keep telling their stories, because we all want that.

I highly doubt that they’d stop selling the Sentinels core game, so it will still be making them money. Heck, if they simply re-issued what they have with errata changes and new art bells and whistles, they’d inject themselves right onto store shelves again and lots of current owners would re-buy everything.

From their perspective, they may be looking at how much money Sentinels makes over time, whether expansions are selling progressively more or less than previous ones, and how well the base game does after all this time. They are probably also looking at how to get their audience to grow, not just how to keep the one they have. Put another way: Dominion expansions are still coming out…but are we buying them as much any more? I’m not.

Another thing that doesn’t necessarily go away with the end of Sentinels’ story is the game mechanic. There’s absolutely no reason why they can’t repurpose or modify the mechanic for new games. Get a posse to go fight outlaws in the old west? Go questing through a dungeon? Overthrow a tyrannical space empire? Board and pirate merchantmen on the high seas? All could easily fit into the hero/villain/environment deck structure. And all could easily have as big a pile of lore as Sentinels.

I bet, in the end, Christopher and Adam may just want to try some new things. They may feel like additional Sentinels expansions are going to come out more and more gimmicky in an effort to be distinct from what already exists. They might have some other ideas they want to devote their time to.

I share your apprehension a little, as I haven’t seen >G penetrate into several of my local game stores and I hope they can put out new things as high-caliber as Sentinels. I’m looking forward to Spirit Island, but that will be something entirely new - which comes with its own apprehension. In the end the reason I’m most sad to see the end of the Sentinels story is just that I like it and I’m sorry to see it go. But it’s always going to be here on my game shelf, and those boxes are filled with a LOT of combinations. If it’s going to end, due to whatever business case factors that I can’t see, I’d rather it do so in a planned, graceful way. And I’d much rather a planned ending than a continuation as a tent-pole property that becomes more and more likely to included big misses as it does hits (probably none of which will be as much a hit as the original). Down that road lies Jar-Jar Binks. Let’s not wish the same fate on Thiago!

I'm a firm believer that stories have to end. I mean, look at the repetitive drudgery and contrived bull that is the mainstream comics scene. The stories don't end -- they just get rebooted and retreaded every handful of years. You get invested in a storyline, then COSMIC BULLSHIT and suddenly all your favorite stories are no longer in continuity, characters are changed so you don't recognize them, and stupid things like selling a marriage to satan happen.

I'd much, much rather see any story I like come to a proper conclusion than have it languish on and on.

Ending Sentinels on a high note is ballsy and I support it wholeheartedly.

my opinion is just because the story of this version of Sentinels is done doesn't mean the product isnt. I don't think that the release of new expansions is what is keeping GtG afloat - if that were true, thats a bad business model too, searching for a new cash cow to keep going. 

Some things i see as a possibility

1) New Core set - with updated artwork to Adam's new style/experience, possibly a reworking of a few of the core heroes decks to be more in line with the power levels some of the newer heroes have shown.  - I would totally rebuy the coreset if Adam updated all the artwork to his new levels of awesomeness.

2) Play. Power. Draw and cooperative decks vrs a automated deck mechanics being reused in a new game with a new setting. A new story to tell, that isnt Sentinel Comics but still has Christopher's storytelling behind it.

3) and least likely in my eyes, Sentinels 2.0 - as a new story (after tactics? between Sentinels 1.0 and Tactics?) or in an alternate universe (see Legacy Setback as it's own deck? or the heroes from that one card in La Capitan Villains deck?)

Now I don't have any idea of the finances behind this, but the games are still selling - evidence of the reprints, and that seems to be a viable strategy. Just cause this is the final expansion doesn't mean that no one can buy the game anymore, or that they'll stop reprinting them. Dice Hate Me games may not be as popular here on the forums, but that I view as the 20/80 syndrome of the internet, and DHMG was viable before GtG merged with them. I don't feel like that was a 'we'll save you!' from either side fo the merger, but rather they saw they could reach more together and help support each other.

I also see a lot of oppertunities for new products with just the 3 above options (who knows, Mini expansions could still be a thing! I'd love a villain deck for Heartbreaker or a hero deck for ... well anyone!)  and really don't think that just cause they aren't going to print new material with this specific story doesn't mean that its a financial ending to the product line.  

BUT... i'm a courier, chef, and game player. Not a financial officer.  Take what I say with a grain of salt.

The Multiverse story line is ending -  that's all.

What I mean is that I think that their plan has come to fruition, the story they wanted to tell has come to an end. It does not mean that they will never ever again give us a new expansion - or variation - on SotM. It will just be another story, and it is not (at least officially) planned for now.

I an convinced that it is not the last time we will hear of our beloved game - there are too many mysteries left unsolved ( Why are the Parsons so special ? What about the future Visionary is from ? Why is Haka immortal ? Who is CON?) and I doubt OblivAeon will give an answer to all of them. Knowing Christopher, I would bet it will gives us MORE mysteries

There are too many possible expansions,or even variants, of the game, for them not to be published someday. But not aas part of the main line - and not before they have had enough time to plan a good product, and not a purely commercial "yet another expansion". This not Carcassone

But I would not be surprised if we someday saw a new stand alone box about heroes and villains from the past ( Black Fist and friends !),or maybe the story of sentinels comics after tactics. Or small box sets about FILTER, RevoCorp, the future Visionary is from, etc. Compatible with SotM, maybe - but not part of the main story. At least it is what I hope they plan to do someday

And it is not counting other games set in the same universe. A "Freedom Five" campaign boardgame would make my day.

I'm totally on board with the main message of your post, Trajector, but…

George Lucas always planned for 9 episodes of Star Wars. The plan for Episode 1 just seems to have been fairly ill-conceived. (I haven't actually seen it.)

The fact is that SotM and by extension GtG are more than likely doing reasonably well, they've ran (at least) four overfunded sentinels comics kickstarters, were comfortable enough to run the last two expansions as a pre-order over a kickstarter, and have a lot of new games coming out in the next year, and Chris has always been vocal about how SotM has a beginning, a middle and an end.

And whilst SotM might be moving towards the end of it's cycle, we still have more Sentinels Comics goodies coming from Sentinel Tactics, and as others have said, the SotM engine can be reused in other settings.  Hell, imagine if GtG got their hands on some licensed properties to apply the SotM engine too.

Tactics kind of fell flat for me and my group... and I am actually excited to see how it gets revamped now that it won't be sharing creative juices with the so-far-vastly-superior card game. 

I think that now that they won't have SotM as their default for content outlet the way their see and create their stories will be more organically geared to their other products, namely Tactics... I am holding on to that one because I really want it to be awesome and I think SotM was kind of holding it back. 

I did find it odd that they said they weren't dong further mini-expansions or promos as I feel that would be an easy way to keep the game fresh without having to produce a lot of content or devote a lot of resources... but then again this is comics and nothing does forever...

I hope to see scenarios released through the website, kind of like the weekly one-shots for the video game which move the narrative forward... If they keep doing stuff like that I see the SotM card game fresh and relevant long after its last expansion. 

I agree that from a creative standpoint, the story should end.  I prefer my stories to have beginnings, middles, and ends, just like everyone (and I also agree that there are too many stories out there which never do end).  But from a business standpoint, voluntarily ending updates to your hit product without another to take its place is counter-intuitive to me.

I love the idea of using the core mechanic to tell other stories.  A rebooted GSF "powered by the SotM" engine would have an easy shot at my wallet.

That is my speculation Spiff; a new GSF built more on the SotM mechanics. They did say that they would probably revisit it in the future. 

The thing is, neither you nor I (or any of us posting here) know how well the expansions sell compared to sales of the base game.  While it will generate sale, I would imagine that diminshing returns set in at some point (and might already have done so).  This also isn't a Legacy board game or a campaign video game with a set story - there are multi-millions of combinations based just on the decks we currently have available, not counting the final expansion.  Again, this is not them discontinuing the line or stopping support of it, they are just not doing more expansions.  That's a pretty big difference

I have to agree with Spiff on the GSF with the deck based Play Power Draw (PPD) format. PPD in sentinels drives a game that is complicated enough to keep things interesting, but not so complicated that that my kids cannot play it. I tried GSF with them and the accounting was just too much, too many different phases to keep tract of and having to go from card to card to see what happened on what phase. I think that GTG could do many things with PPD format games that could open up new story lines in the GSF Universe and beyond. I personally would love to see a Grand Warlord Voss GSF cross over.

Nope, it was initially only intended to be a single movie. There's a whole book dedicated to debunking the myth that Lucas had everything planned out from the beginning called The Secret History of Star Wars that you can read. Trajector's metaphor is perfectly valid.

Proof: brother and sister kissed.

Also originally Luke's father and Darth Vader were separate people and "Episode IV" wasn't in the original title crawl, only added after Empire had "Episode V" in it.

They actually wrote a script for a quickie sequel to cash in with something cheap if Star Wars didn't take off.

Counter-argument: Think about how well Settlers of Catan core game sells vs. all of the expansions.  Ending Sentinels just means no more expansions, it does not mean stopping publishing of the game and the existing expansions.  In fact, having it be complete might help them improve their ability to market the core game to new audiences (I think about the breakthrough in sales that Looney Labs got after managing to get Fluxx into Target).

Storytelling stuff aside, I'm curious as to why some people seem to think they know >G's financial position better than the people running things do...

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see a "Complete Set" box become available, with new goodies and feelies (like, say, a copy of the comic book on the website).

I, for one, would love to see a corporate espionage-themed game centered around REVOCorp.

I don't think anyone thinks they do.  It's the fact that we don't have any information about the actual situation that leads to people asking the questions.  If we knew they were flush with money, then ending SotM wouldn't be much of an issue.

That being said, we knew shortly after the Wrath reveal that SotM only had about 3 more expansion left, and they've marketted Villains as the Penultimate expansion for SotM pretty much since the start.  This isn't a spur of the moment decision they've made here, Oblivaeon has been planned to be the final expansion for at least 2 years.

I don't know about "flush", but they''ve definitely been spending money on new hires and acquisitions. I also trust Paul to not over-extend on these matters.

A few thoughts:

1.  This didn't catch them by surprise, this has been part of the plan from the beginning.

2.  They have been setting up for this, and not by scaling back, so I doubt they are going to fold because they don't have new SotM games.

3.  Even if they did, The guys strike me as much more the types to lose the company before they sell out their vision to keep going.

Well, this is all just a thought experiment anyway since it's not our company and we're just talking.  But I'll follow up by saying that based on their history, it's not clear to me that this company has a great track record of making good decisions.  Here's why I say that:

We know that Christopher + Adam threw SotM together relatively quickly and that the finished product is very close to their original vision, which means that it wasn't a bunch of rigorous playtesting that honed SotM into a success, it was a bit of luck combined with a great idea that was well-implemented.   Then came GSF with its too-fiddly gameplay, a space-elf backstory that rubbed a lot of people wrong, and a lack of playtesting that kept it from being considered well-designed.  And then the company exploded into a zillion projects (Tactics, Dice Hate Me, Spirit Island, Deckbuilding for some reason, the RPG, etc.) which is causing a lack of focus which is materially affecting their paying customers - there's no excuse for not including scenarios for the Tactics vinyl mats as promised except that they're too busy to consider it a priority.  And now they're ending expansions for the one thing they've gotten unequivocally right.

I have nothing but warm fuzzies for these guys, but I'm not confident their decisions  are the best.

EDIT: I agree with phantaskippys point #3, completely.

Not really wanting to debate but I will say I am surprised how much people care about the "story" over game play and continued content. I know nothing about the story and have played since the beginning. I only care about new mechanisms, heroes, and villains. I read comics, books, or role play if I want story. I play board games to play mechanisms and compete against the house or other players

OK, since this is all a thought experiment anayway, here's a question:

Let's say that instead of making the big this-is-the-end announcement (which we all pretty much knew this was anyhow), what if they had said something like: We changed our minds. We're going to do a new 2-hero/2-villain/2-4 environment expansion every 12-18 months, and after every 5th expansion, we'll do a Vengeance/Villains-style expansion to bring those heroes into that mechanic. How long would you keep buying expansions?

Related question: How many people do ypu think would pick up the game knowing there were 10 or 15 or 25 expansions to buy?

(To  answer my own questions:
1) As long as the expansions didn't suck. I love this game. I'm really a total fanatic about it.
2) I'm pretty sure the number of people picking up the game would get smaller every time the number of expansions increased. Though I'd love to be wrong on this.)

This, I think, is excellent. I do think I would have gone a little longer than just five expansions (for example, I paid some pretty pennies to get the Cauldron fan-expansion printed and felt it was worth it). But not too much longer. Keeping it manageable like this means I'll buy everything they do for this game, and then be satisfied that I have it all. If they kept going, I'd probably stop buying, and then only buy if I heard that everything in a particular expansion is amazing.

That being said, look at games like Dominion. There is plenty of replayability in the base set(s) alone. But there are lots of people who own EVERY expansion and seem really happy with that and will probably keep buying everying. But, the sheer nunber of them means my wife and I will probably stop getting new ones soon. We have one base set and one expansion, might get one more. That's what would happen with Sentinels for me if they kept going and going. I like feeling like I can complete the set and then spend my money on a different game.

Obliveon is the 7th expansion, not the 5th

Not counting Enhanced and the Room/Relics reprint, obviously, There is Rook, Relics, Timelines, Vengeance, Wrath, Villains, and then ObliVAeon. Plus 8 mini-expansions, and however many they plan on putting out alongside ObliVAeon. That’s 4 normal sized, 2 Mega (this will be the third), and a bunch of mini. All in the span of 5-6 years.

This whole conversation reminds me of the card game Dominion. I like the original game...and the one exansion I ended up purchasing for it. But some of you are right, I specifically did not buy any more because there were just far too many. You end up using a smaller and smaller percentage of what you purchased and it feels like a waste. Already you can only play 1 (normal) villain at a time out of several and only up to 5 Heroes. You dilute the pool TOO much and you aren't getting the most out of your purchases...

Or maybe this conversation reminds me of Marvel Legendary, with new expansions multiple times per year...or maybe this conversation reminds me of Munchkin, with new expansions multiple times per...week?

Look at what happened with the ARG. If members of this community were just interested in gameplay, the ARG would have fallen flat.

For many of us, I think, part of the charm of SotM is that not only had it a planned storyline, but there were clues to future characters and events all over the cards. You look at your cards,while playing and ask yourself : who is this villain they are fighting ? Whose red boot is it on this card ? This flavor text seems to allude to something, but what ?

What will happen next time ? Who will be the new heroes and villains ? Will we learn something new about already known characters ? This is not "story" per se - but the slow reveal of the multiverse and all the clues and foreshadowing in the game itself that kept many of us hooked to the game far more than the gameplay itself could. Like a good TV show, you come back because you want to know what happens next, you want to confirm the theory you built seeing the first few episodes - you want to see the resolution of all these little mysteries. And like a good (or bad!) TV show, we have a full forum of fan theories. And Fan art. And fan fiction.

So, yes, the gameplay is good - but I don't think the game would have had such success - and following - if it did not have this "planned from the start" facet. We humans like to discover that things were not completely random. Give us a basegame where a lot of cards include characters we don't know, and we will impatiently wait for the reveal of who they are and what they are doing here

However, like any good TV show, it can't go on forever. There has to be a complete reveal, and sooner than later, or you lose interest. Mysteries are meant to be solved. The alien conspiracy has to be finally revealed and understood, or the X-Files will close because of lack of viewers. The Winter has to come - and go - or bad, bad things will happen to you.

I think that, if GtG hadn't "planned"* this whole story arc that is now ending, and hadn't sprinkled the base game and each expansion with breadcumbs alluding to what would happen later, the game would not have been as successful. Or, rather, the community would not have been as faithful.

And, you now what ? There are still breadcrumbs that probably won't be solved in OblivAeon…

• : I say "planned" because part of it wasn't. There are heroes and villains that were not planned from the start. Nightmist (and so, Dark Watch…), Kismet, Miss Information… And who knows how many characters/events/stories changed behind the scenes without us ever knowing

While NightMist was not "planned" to be how she is. GtG had a magic character planned, but liked Richard Launius' character so much that they fused the idea of both characters together to create the NightMist we see now. Most likely, that magic character they created would have been part of the Dark Watch. That magic character probably would have had a nemesis as well, though I do not know how many (if any) of its concepts were used for GloomWeaver.

There are some very long and passionate posts here that are interesting to read. It looks we are ending on a high note. I am not sure if it is truly the end. 5 years is a long time to work on a project and they may need a hiatus. I suspect that after a year or two there will be other stories that they want to tell. 

Much like authors writing books. Just because one set of stories ends doesn't. Mean that the author will go away or that they won't visit the same world with new characters either in the past or future. I actually think it would be interesting to visit a number of settings with the play power draw system. A feudal Japan like setting or one with an Arabian nights feel (or as Spiff suggested, space). They could be stand alone products that wouldn't have to be play tested against sentinels. If people used them as combined sets they would just treat it like when people play young Legacy and Finest Legacy. In other words in their own homes people can do what ever they want. 

We have Tactics, we are (almost definitely) getting the RPG. There are other stories already being told in this world, with these (and new) characters.

I do not think SotM will back. And I like the fact that the >G are sticking to their guns with the end of this story/game.

I wouldn't want to sacrifice functionality for story, no. But GTG managed to strike a nice balance of both. My first thoughts when picking up a new hero to play is: who is he/she? What are their powers? What are their strengths/weaknesses? These are all things I look for in a hero, and we've been able to get straight answers in the lore, and not-so-straight answers. And those answers are what leave us thirsting for more. They make each expansion that much more interesting, since we don't know what exactly we're going to get revealed to us. And usually they give us more questions than answers! But leaving the multiverse open-ended thus far has really given us something to engage in, speculate and wonder how much incredible story we haven't found yet.

Personally, I'm not so much for geese.

More of a swan song kind of guy.

HA!

I see what you did there.

That's only because he forgot to bring the smoke bombs for once.

You're helping to make my business-focused point – even if the number of people who buy the expansions dwindled over time, that's better than that number stopping abruptly because there are no more expansions, and the money earned from selling expansions would help fund the company while they search for their next serious replacement for SotM.

I don't disagree with anything any of you have said from a creative point of view.  However, I don't want to see the announcement in a few years that GtG is shutting down because there wasn't enough time for any of their other games to really catch on before their cash flow dried up after they stopped expanding SotM.  As a project manager (which is my day job), the simple solution to mitigate this risk is to not stop expanding SotM yet.

I've made all my points.  I'll stop beating this horse now.

Perhaps after 5 years they have finally run out?

personally it works with marvel legendary. I have been buying up the expansions and what I have enjoyed with so many different decks is the replayability has skyrocketed. It is what attracted me to Sentinels in the first place

I admit, I'm torn. I can see both sides of this "arguement" because I've been gaming so long that I've SEEN both sides happen.

I respect thhem for sticking to their vision, but as a Sentinelsaholic, I would buy expansions as long as they maintained an acceptable level of quality.

I really need Visionary to tell me how this turns out so I know which side I should be on.  

I don't know if I'm alone here, but a game with the sentinels mechanics based in the Marvel universe could be kind of awesome. No?

I would like to see more but will be happy with what I have so far if nothing else comes out.  There 80 some decks and piles of promos.  thats an insane amount of permutations. 

Look at something like monopoly.  The base game still sells like crazy despite no new content ( and being a being a terrible game).  Sentinels could be produced and sold for many years to come.  

I suspect that Monopoly sells so well because people buy it for other people. It's an easy, recognisable gift that doesn't require much thinking and that you can find almost anywhere. It helps that it has a million different versions so it easily fits into a million different niches. Niece likes Star Wars? Buy her Star Wars Monopoly. Old college roomie moves to a new city? A Monopoly of that city would be a good housewarming gift.

Just a thought here, but there is a pretty good community at BGG in the SotM Variants forum that create a lot of decks.  There are companies that you can submit content to and if the original company allows it people can order new, fan-created decks and both the creator and the company get some of the profits.

I know we won't hear anything about this before the game ends officially, but once it does I think there is room for this game to continue with fan content that has GtG blessing and pays them royalites.

I know the creator of The Cauldron fan expansion is hoping to do this, and others would as well.

While some people would only want official products and characters I'm sure there are a lot of people that would be interested in keeping the multiverse expanding after Oblivaeon.

I highly doubt that's going to happen.

https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/faq-i-have-awesome-idea-charactercard-can-i-send-it-you

Totally different thing.  This would involve decks fully completed being sold through a printing company with GtG getting royalties because it is their property.  That's all, totally different then sending them stuff to print, and once the game is done there should be no problem with being accused of stealing someone's stuff because they won't be making any more.

I'd pay good money for a good printing of the Cauldron, and I'd love it to have the >G stamp of approval on it. I bet Tosx could even run a pretty successful Kickstarter with his stuff if >G would allow it.

I as well. I love the style of how Sentinels plays - that's one factor as to how I got into the game.

As for SotM ending, I harken it to my thoughts on Gravity Falls ending: I would rather it end when it is good than be canceled when it is bad. Don't get me wrong, I would love more SotM but this is >G game and it is their decision. Besides, who knows? Maybe in the future there will be another expansion for SotM in the form of a different setting, like fantasy or something.  The future is an endless road of possiblities. Lets not assume things until we get there.

How is that different from the Cauldron decks?

Only the printing companies, if anyone, are making money printing The Cauldron right now.

What phantaskippy's talking about is DriveThruCards (or any other card printing service) selling the decks in a more official manner and splitting royalties on the cost between the deck creator and >G.

I am kind of wondering if anything else is selling well enough to keep the company afloat, but I am going to assume that something probably is and that the people running the company know what's up. We don't know things like how often the various products get reprinted, and thus probably don't have a good idea how long Sentinels itself is likely to continue to sell after Oblivaeon's release. I mean I imagine new people will be coming to the game for at least some period of time.

Paizo worked out a deal with DriveThruRPG to allow customers to create custom cards for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Perhaps something like that?

I don't want to spread rumors or anything, but I remember reading somewhere that tosx (creator of The Cauldron fan made content for SotM) had initiated discussion with GtG about using a third party printing company which would allow people to buy stuff directly. Kind of an official agreement between tosx and GtG... I think it would be extremely awesome as The Cauldron is incredibly well done.

I really, really, really hope this is true. For the sake of my game collection, and for Tosx's sake: he's done some great work, it deserves credit.

I first discovered SotM around the time of the Shattered Timelines release, and really liked playing the game, but I only considered actually buying into it after I learned about the limited number of expansions planned, and the world's closed story arc. This, to me, is essential to the game's appeal.

I like playing MtG, and some of the Fantasy Flight LCG's, but I could never commit to buying any cards for those games because 1) they're goddamn money sinks (especially for an obsessisive completionist like myself), and 2) the constant release of expansions make so many of the cards and mechanics feel ephemeral to me, and the worldbuilding diffuse and bland. There's so much personality and detail in SotM, and a true sense of narrative and character in the game's universe, which is something I haven't found in any other card/board game (that aren't RPG's)—and I don't think this can be achieved without setting an endpoint.

Whether that's the best business decision, I'm not sure. But I personally would never have bought a single card had the plan been to release expansions indefinitely, or for a much longer period of time—and now I'm an obsessive fan.

I think GtG has shown courage and integrity by commiting to this risky plan, focusing on the quality of this game rather than its longevity, and investing in new prospects and assets (and perhaps revisiting some older ones) as the company hopefully grows. 

MrLeRobot wrote:

I expect that this is where you read it. 

Matthew Bishop (tosx) wrote on Board Game Geek:

A heads up for folks considering DTC orders in 2016:

Back in November 2015, DTC contacted GTG and myself about getting decks listed on DTC with formal permission. GTG indicated that it sounded feasible. Since then DTC and I have gotten the files ready for proofing. Still waiting on final approval (GTG stays pretty busy, I suspect).

If things work out, the decks would be listed individually and as sets (base, Experimental, promos), with a small royalty split between GTG and myself. The desire is to make things more convenient for everyone involved with the printing process.

I have no idea how long it will take to get things finalized or if any unforeseen hiccups will prevent this from materializing. I'll let you know when I hear something. I'll be pretty excited if this happens.

Ditto.

Oh, that would be great if tosx and >g are working out a deal!  I've been loading all of the Cauldron decks into a DTC private account to print for myself, but hadn't pulled the trigger on the order yet.  If this is in the works, I'd happily pay a little bit more for Matthew and >G to get a cut of it.

DTC in the above tosx quote meaning drivethrucards?

Yes.

I don't know >G side of that at all, or how it would translate for others, but I would love to see this community keep the game alive by producing fan content, I think the nature of the game and the set ending set up well for it.

There are some people working up decks from the Freedom Force games, and others have produced original content that is very good.  For those that want it to continue there is life after Oblivaeon.

I got something from drivethrurpg about a "community card creator" which is basically a way for fans to sell custom fan-made cards for various games. Sentinels wasn't mentioned but it looks like that was the reason for contacting tosx.

Me and a friend have made a whole set+ but have put it on hold cause we can't find an artist an we can not afford to pay for one. 

That's my one issue: art. I have a villain, environment, and hero, and I was able to find images to use for the villain and environment (although it's not thematically-appropriate comic art), but it's just not possible to find images that make sense for the hero.

Likewise, only multiplied by a lot more heores, villains and environments. Granted some are going to be superfluous with OblivAeon.

Exactly there, yes…!

There is hope, Paul. I really like your custom decks and I've been working on some art for the one Hero that I've played. It's not any near the quality of GtG or Tosx, but (for me at least) it's better than no art at all.  I'll PM you over at BGG when it's ready and I'll let you decide if it is worth posting.

It'd be risky and if I were GtG, I wouldn't allow it.  They'd run the risk of bad fan content being a new person's first exposure to the game and turning them off it entirely.  Safer to make the only stuff consumers can get be official stuff.

It looks like this is going to be a thing for more than just GtG. RTC already sells several fan-made cards for Pathfinder, at least, and probably not just Pathfinder.

I think we can trust fans and gamers more than that. People will know if they are playing the game or a fan expansion. And really, how many people introducing this to others will start with, or at least not state the difference, between the canon and Tosx's decks? I've played plenty of fan expansions of games throughout the years, but it has never been my first go into the game. And anyone stumbling onto the DTC games will still know it's a fan expansion, not the real thing.

Also, in this case, there's nothing to worry about. Tosx's decks are on par with the rest of the game. And thematically, has some of my favorites. It will lead people TO the base games, not away.

I know that if I was in GTG I wouldn't effing do it.