Guesses and ideas for the 2nd Expansion

For those of us who don’t have inside knowledge, this is a place to ponder on the possibilities of the new expansion Infernal Relics. If anyone who does know wants to drop a hint we’ll gladly listen.

Thematically we have “ancient deities, extra-planar gods, and dark spirits” according the the BGG description.

From that I’d say that Ra and Fanatic may be seeing their Nemesis at last. Ra himself being an ancient deity and very possibly having made someone mad long long ago and Fanatic is sworn to fight all evil and who would be more perfect than dark spirits or fallen angels to oppose her.

The addition of Richard Launius to the design team has several people on the threads thinking of his fan creations posted on BGG. I wonder if the female hero of the cover with book in hand and mystic ring around her arm may not be built off of his Nightmist character idea. Drawing power from and ancient tome.

No idea on fly boy in the back or the specifics of any villains.

What are your thoughts?

I loved the idea of Richard’s magic hero (you draw cards that have numbers on them to see how powerful a magic spell will be), but I’m not a fan of his art (too R. Crumb-ey for me). I fervently hope that the art for everything in “Infernal Relics” remains consistent with the rest of the game.

It will.

So, the box art for the expansion only shows two villains, which is strange. Unless there are two more villains hiding behind that pyramid, then Greenskullheadman and Earthyroothair seem to be it. That can’t be true though. The other two villains must be hiding.

How do you know that the Pyramid itself isn’t one of the villains?

(Although it being an environment makes more sense).

My GUESS is that’s one of the environments, but who knows

It does seem to have tentacles!

Perhaps they’re villains so horrific they’d drive people insane if the wrong set of eyes glanced upon the box art?

Medusa?

Well it for sure says on the page that there are four villains, so we don’t need to worry about that. It’s still the same as the others. But yeah, I’m thinking Skullface probably has a good shot at being Fanatic’s nemesis, and Sandman might be either Ra’s or Haka’s nemesis. Wow, this expansion showed up pretty fast; my friends and I haven’t even beaten the Matriarch or Chairman! I’m actually falling behind!

I’m really happy to see the entire core game is getting remastered, and I’d love to get it, but I don’t think I have $70 for that pledge right now. I’d love have it though, especially if it can carry all the core cards as well as all the expansion cards. Hauling around three boxes would be tiresome.

But I’m on the side of the pyramid being (at least part of) a new environment. I’m guessing it’d be a part of a “Ruined Desert City” environment, and the other one may be something like “Ancient Catacombs”. Since the Rook City environments are definitely catered towards certain villains, it’ll probably be the same way with this, assuming that like RC, the heroes, villains, and environments are all sticking to one theme, this time being “desert/ruins”. Kinda like how it’s essentially implied that you fight Plague Rat in Pike Ind. Comp., and that you fight Chairman in Rook City. So my guess for this one is Sandman and another villain are meant to be fought in the “Ruined Desert City” or at least somewhere above ground, and Skullface and another villain are meant to be fought in “Ancient Catacombs” or somewhere below ground.

Obviously you can play them on any environment, but as others have pointed out, some combinations of villains and environments are just weird. I’m pretty sure the first one brought up was fighting Spite on WMB. Or maybe fighting Chairman in the Ruins of Atlantas.

environments are all sticking to one theme, this time being “desert/ruins”

I’m not sure that’s a given. The BBG page for the expansion mentions, “Ancient deities, extra-planar elder gods, and dark spirits”. We could be looking at any combination of spooky environments, not necessarily just desert/ruins ones, even if that’s all that’s on the box.

In fact, if Spooky McGreenskullface turns out to be a Fanatic villain, I’d be surprised if we were expected to only fight him at/near/underneath a pyramid.

Well, that’s a good point. Spooky McGreenskullface could still be fought above ground. I’m guessing he’s that “dark spirit” that’s mentioned; he doesn’t seem grand enough to be a deity. Yeah, he’s big and scary, but I imagine a deity would just be bigger and even more scary. Who knows, maybe Fanatic’s nemesis will actually be that ancient deity; it’d be part of her holy quest to stop these evil false gods (which turn out to not be so false). But the box literally has a picture of a desert area on it, so there’s gotta be at least one desert environment, so I’m sticking with my guess of some ruined ancient Egyptian-esque city. The other one though: who knows. Though I still say it can’t be radically far away; it wouldn’t make sense if the box art showed the desert environment, only to have the second one turn out to be some place far away from any deserts. Then again, maybe >G really IS just trying to throw us for a loop.

Cave of Wonders is an environment.
Jafar is a villain. You think it’s a coincidence that the costume of the hero flying in the background of the cover looks like Aladdin’s Prince Ali costume? 8)

I knew it! This is the Disney expansion, isn’t it?

Multiverse of Hearts?

If you’re going where I think you’re going, slow down. We don’t want SotM to become a overly drawn-out series with a really confusing story that everyone just pretends to understand and gets worse with every expansion. Let’s keep SotM in the realm of good. Like it should be.

(We are talking about Kingdom Hearts, right?)

ROXAS!!

Seeing as I have no more information than anyone else right now, i’ll go ahead and make a port here before it is too late.

I do agree with all of you that Fanatic’s nemesis will be in this one, but i’m not so sure about the flaming monster skull guy being him. I’m still holding out hope that the dark winged character will be her first nemesis.

I think the heroes will be the nemesis’ with the villians on the cover, thus leaving Ra and Fanatic’s nemesis completely hidden until they decide to reveal it. Though seen by Rook City, they may release a villian that has no known hero counterpart, but I doubt more than one will be that situation. I also speculate that in expansions the new heroes will always have a nemesis that has already been released. Omnitron and Plague Rat don’t really seem like the type to be a nemesis with the new heroes so still have to wait to see what their heroes will be like.

Thank you for getting us back on track. And I’m with you: Neither one of those heroes could be Omnitron’s nemesis. Maybe Fanatic’s real one is one of the hidden ones. The flying guy in white seems just as likely to be a holy warrior fighting that evil skull man.

Yeah, I can totally seeing the man in white’s nemesis being the flaming monster skull. But trying to get the link between the chicky and the sand monster is a bit odd. But who knows, maybe the sand monster is the environment and the pyramid is actually the true nemesis and the main villian in the expansion.

After all it could the cursed tomb of the evil McEvil pants that spirit has possessed the the pyramid and had it grow tentacles and has heavy Japanese influence so it likes them school girls. The chicky being a former school girl has came back to deal a little revenge to said Pyramid.

That all seems completely reasonable.

I find the flying guy in white with cape and orange hair hero just a bit too similar to Legacy in costume design… anyone?

It is kind of similar to Legacy, but like someone has said before it looks more like Prince Aladin, minus sleeves. Though it is traditional clothing over there in the middle east so it can be forgiven. Maybe with a different colored hair it will take the Legacy look away.

No character reveals every 2k like Rook City? :’(

Ronway> Yup, a different colored hair will make the difference.

The kickstarter hasn’t been up that long, and the page does promise more updates soon, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more probably tomorrow. We’re already 3/4 of the way there, so I’m sure they’ll give us a good amount of reveals or at least names. I’m betting we fund it all the way tomorrow before the 24 hour mark. We’ll be able to say we did it in less than a day!

I’m feeling nice. Here’s a name for you all to ponder: GloomWeaver

A spoiler?! Donate faster!

And I’m just going to mentally assign that name to the skull-head. Seems possible. Though I’ve got a 1 in 4 shot, based on common sense that “GloomWeaver” is a villain’s name.

Donate faster than that! Depending on time zones, we’ve got half a day if we’re gonna go for 24 hours. We don’t have to, but hey, that’d be cool, right?

[quote="“evandan55"”]

And I’m just going to mentally assign that name to the skull-head.[/quote]

I’m assigning it to the Pyramid! I love the idea that the Pyramid is a villain.

It COULD be pretty dark and gloomy inside a pyramid…

Cool sounding name…but I’ll stick with “Spooky McGreenskullface” for now. It just has a ring to it

Alright. I give up. You all win: the pyramid is a villain. And now that we know its name, we need to come up with origins! I say it was constructed out of bricks made of solid evil (very difficult to find, but that makes him more evil)! How do we kill something that isn’t technically alive?!

We’re heroes! We don’t need to kill GloomWeaver, just subdue it.

Maybe they’ll make Spooky McGreenskullface into an alt villain card.

coughOmnitroncough

…I literally have no response. Nothing I say can counter that. That’s… accurate. Okay, we can kill the pyramid. We’ll have to tear him apart, brick by brick! I’ve got this down, though. I’ve played Minecraft: I can take down bricks with ease.

Infernal Relics gameplay does not involve battling against a pyramid.

Well, there’s the end of that. Now I’m sad. Maybe we should hold off on making guesses until we have more names and bios…

You just said pyramid, nothing about a cursed pyramid with tentacles growing out of it that also happens to like school girls.

But to all seriousness there may be a environment that takes place in the desert that has a card that features a pyramid that has some sort of crazy effect. Or maybe an environment that takes place inside.

Yeah, I’m sticking with my theory about at least one environment being a ruined desert city, or some dark catacombs. Maybe not both, but at least one.

I just like dropping little hints that SOUND conclusive in their phrasing, but actually create more questions than they do answers.

Because I care.

;D

You mean like LOST?

You should totally be nice Christopher, the kickstarter hasn’t even been up for twenty-four hours and it is only 1.5 thousand away from the goal. So at least give us something else besides GloomWeaver. Even if it is something as simple as if all four villians have a nemesis that is within the core game, Rook City, and Infernal Relics.

Deal. I’ll give you something. Something awesome!

Infernal Relics features 2 heroes and 4 villains. And 2 environments, of course.

Two of the villains are the nemeses of the two Infernal Relics heroes. The other two are nemeses of core Sentinels of the Multiverse heroes.

Specifically Ra and Fanatic.

Enjoy!

Awesome! Thank you a lot. So the speculation wass correct. Now to figure out which heroes go with which villian.

Still thinking that the new heroes’ nemesis’ are the other two featured on the cover. I am also going on a limb and say the tentacles are a creature in a environment deck.

Wait, aren’t those tentacles coming from the monster rising out of the ground? That’s what it looks like. Just wrapping around the pyramid though.

Ra and Fanatic? Awesome! I just saw the update on Kickstarter. I’m with Ronway; their nemeses are probably the two hidden villains. And I’m super happy $30 will get me the two promo cards. I want those so bad. They’re going to be great, I’m sure of it. I wonder if they’ll be older versions of the heroes like Wraith’s was. Or… wait! Since Ra’s bio says that there have been many different people who have taken up Ra’s title throughout time, what if the promo Ra is actually another person?!

Oh man, I don’t have any insider information on this, so I can’t confirm or deny it, but that sounds like an awesome idea and a good guess, too…

I was thinking that the tentacles were part of the monster too, but everyone else was refering to it as something else and the tentacles are different then what is on his head. So I just ended up going with everyone else with it.

Didn’t even think about the past Ra’s. Now that is even better, hope it does turn out like that.

Fanatic’s nemesis just has to be the dark winged guy though, I just know it. Though it will be equally as cool if he is Fanatic’s promo card.

His bio on the main site says Dr. Washington discovered the title of Ra had been passed from warrior to warrior when each one died (or as the bio says, “defeated”), so maybe in the Sentinels main story at this point, Washington dies, and another Ra takes over. Possible, right? Kinda? Or he retires? I mean, he could die. A while ago, Chris said that there’s another timeline where Young Legacy dies, so is it crazy to think other heroes could die too?

And I’m positive the tentacles are from the sand monster. Just look at it.

I don’t know about the black-winged guy though. We used to be pretty positive about Tachyon’s nemesis, but look how that turned out. We’ll just see.

Considering characters dying in comics is a hugely popular trope, I wouldn’t discount that possibility. Uncle Ben is basically the only character ever who has stayed dead after dying.

Exactly! You’re actually battling the tentacles, not the pyramid. (And even if that isn’t the case in this set, a Japanese inspired expansion would be incredible. You could fight a super-sized lizard-beast, tentacle monsters, etc - and heroes could include a magical girl, the pilot of a giant mecha, etc.)

Hrmm…since Ra apparently has a number of villains in his Nemesis deck, I’m-a thinking there’s a slim possibility that the OTHER Ra’s of the past may have been defeated by their own power, and we have to quell the uprising of crazed, Ra-obsessed, loonies that think of nothing but destroying those that inherited what power they used to embody.

I’d dig that.

I don’t have my set here with me, but isn’t there a picture of a potentially adversarial-looking dog-headed chap on one of Ra’s cards? If so, we may be able to interpret that as Set or Anubis or some Egyptian diety that opposed Ra in some story or another.

I’m not an expert on Egyptian mythology by any means, but Wikipedia has the story of the Eye of Ra. Ra’s symbol could be this Eye of Ra, which was supposed to be a part of Ra that could act independently of him, and dissented from him in some way.

One or both of these factors may be reflected in some aspect of either Ra’s new nemesis or the new Ra card.

I would fully dig having Ra fight Set.

But battling in a pyramid… 8)

Thematically, that sounds awesome.

Wondering what effect that might have on the Ra costume I’m working on… ???

I’d say it’s a good chance of being one of the other Ras, maybe the next one in line. Just about $445 left until we’ll have his promo card in the bag! Can’t wait. We play with Ra all the time.

I wonder if there will be a spatial component to battling within a pyramid. Like maybe only the active heroes immediately adjacent to the villain (i.e. 1st and last hero in hero playing order) can “see” the villain and hence deal damage vice versa. ;D

I’m listening to the podcast on Giant Fire Breathing Robot, and Chris did mention that Akash Bhuta, villain in the bottom right, has an attack that involves a forest, so maybe my whole desert theory has less credibility than I thought. If there’s a nearby forest this lady can use to attack, then we’re probably going to see a more diverse environment(s). There’s a ton of more insights in this podcast; he’s talking about the two heroes’ mechanics and one of the villain’s mechanics. This is sounding like an amazing expansion. I’m gonna keep listening for more clues.

The Pyramid is a hero?! That’s even more awesome!

Environment wise it may still be desert themed. Since Akash Bhuta can be taken on anywhere it would make sense to go ahead had a forest and such. Fight her on the Mars base and wonder how there are trees. She is after all nature or something, I forget the exact words used.

Nightmist… From Arkham and using Elder Tome.

I’ve always heard from GtG that they had all of the stories and characters mapped out very early on. Yet clearly this Nightmist character is a derivative of the character posted by Launius on the SotM bgg page. So, my question is, how much of the character was from the original GtG design? And how much was new material?

I think Nightmist is almost entirely Lanius’ creation. During the interview with GFBR, Christopher mentions that Lanius brought them a Hero, Villian, and Environment. Of course the >G folks probably tweaked some stuff to help fit it into the multiverse and helped out with balancing of powers. Just because they have a lot of characters planned doesn’t mean they won’t come up with ideas and implement them before others.

Also, Nightmist’s background story is excellent. Really excited to see how she plays as well and totally pumped to see how tough her nemesis GloomWeaver.

Yeah, Chris definitely said Launius had brought them a couple of things, and I don’t really mind if Nightmist is all his idea. That’s fine; it’s a brilliant idea, and based on Chris’s description of her mechanics, she sounds like she’ll be quite fun. Though I wonder if her curse will come into play. Maybe there will be instances where she has a card that automatically makes her go into mist form, so she can’t do anything. If she’s got a spellcasting mechanic, I wonder what GloomWeaver’s reflection of this will be, since all of the nemesis pairings have the heroes’ and villains’ decks being similar in style.

And the “magic musician” will have to have something similar to Akash Bhuta’s thing of having extentions as weapons. Maybe he controls nature too? That’s what Chris seemed to imply.

I’m a little scared of Ra’s nemesis, since Ra is such a massive damage dealer. So is nemeses (all NINE of them, according to the podcast), will probably be just wrecking the heroes. Was it Ra’s nemeses that Chris said had a cult worshiping them? Maybe the cult leaders will be the other nemeses. Kinda like Operative is to Chairman, except they won’t be nearly as hard since there’s more than one of them.

As for Fanatic’s black-winged nemesis, he may have his own special type of damage (like how Fanatic has radiant), and probably some cards that wipe the field. Maybe he has his own special weapon too. I’m pretty sure Chris said he was another villain who focused on doing direct damage himself.

We’ll probably finally see Infernal Damage which is listed in the rule book but I’ve never seen it on a card.

Lanius actually posted a version of Nightmist he created on the BGG entry for SOTM:

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1084017/sentinels-of-the-multiverse

This was posted in September. He’s had Nightmist in the works for a while now. ;D

Spite deals Infernal damage.

I’ve seen that way back when as well. But there were probably lots of edits between the two versions. One major difference is the gender change. Who knows who made what changes and who actually had the final say in it.

The character was changed from an old man to a young woman for balance issues. Also I made this up. I do wonder if the concept of spells being modified by numbers on cards will carry over… that seemed interesting, and unpredictable.

Based on what was said in the podcast, it sounds like the mechanic stayed intact as well.

NightMist’s grandfather was Joe Diamond? SotM takes place in the same universe as Arkham Horror?!

Also, between NightMist and GloomWeaver, what’s with people having portmanteau names while still capitalizing both words?

They must be programmers. Camel-casing.

Yeah, I have to admit, the whole double capitalized, but no space or dash thing bugs me. I wasn’t aware of the word “portmanteau” until now, but it describes it well. Seeing as the font they use for the cards is all caps, it won’t look weird there, but it looks weird as hell everywhere else.

Kinda makes me twitch every time I see it.

Are there other heroes or villains in comics who do that? Spider-man has a hyphen. Batman doesn’t capitalize the “man”. I can’t think of anyone from comicdom who does that.

Nah, camel-case is a fairly new thing for mainstream audiences. Of course, it’s been in computers for quite a while, even outside of code. Almost every product I deal with at work has it - SharePoint, anyone?

It pops out at the reader, which is why I think it’s been used more recently by marketing folks. Can’t say I like it myself, but it’s not my decision. :-X

Rabit

Don’t forget the good ol’ PayPal as another example.

I’m really interesting in the arcane music user dude’s back story. His mechanic sounds really interesting and can’t wait to see how he plays out.

Le gasp! Maybe they’ve been doing this all along. Have we been constantly misspelling FanAttic’s name?

Whoa, I know nothing about Arkham Horror, and of course there’s no denying it’s a nod to Launius’ other work, but the very implication that those two worlds are connected just sounds like a recipe for confusion.

Well, keep in mind that there are multiple realities, each with its own version of individuals. Maybe there’s version of reality in the Multiverse that is the Arkham Horror world, with no super-powered heroes. Maybe the world of the Sentinels isn’t as threatened by the Ancient Ones - especially when there are super-powered heroes to fight them off…

Lots of possibilities. It’s a big multiverse… 8)

Rabit

Kind of like when there are parallel universes with all the same people and the only difference is everyone wears cowboy hats all the time. It’s a thing, I hear.

If NightMist reveals (and discards?) card(s) every time she casts a spell, won’t her deck run out faster than Tachyon? Tachyon is no longer the fastest to blaze through her deck?!

Side note, Bunker with Ammo Drop against Matriarch blasts through his deck rather fast too.

I hope the Arkham Horror ties end up being more thematic than direct… I grew up reading a lot of Lovecraft and while I love anything that has the “feel” I dont want to punch Cthulhu in the face, it cheapens the atmosphere of the stories a little everytime somebody uses him or another mythos creature for a “boss fight”. That said Lovecraft is not impossible to imitate (see his legion of contributors) so it should not be hard to come up with other ancient, warped and madness inducing villains.

Agreed there. Whenever I play Arkham Horror, if we fail to win before the Ancient One awakens, I call that a loss. Sure, we ‘fight’ the damned thing, but it would never actually end in our victory should it awaken. That’s just silly!

I think it will only by theme wise. Not to mention NightMist’s background story will probably be the only thing that even mentions anything about it.

Yeah, I’m fairly sure they’ll keep these things separate. The whole Joe Diamond thing is just a nod to Launius. I highly doubt it’ll come back into play.

Yeah, that is why I LOVE Azathoth, there is no “well I better stockpile weapons” moment… he breaks through and that is that. All my friends are big fans, so I texted everyone about the Launius news.

Haven’t seen this mentioned yet, but while we’re considering inanimate or apparently-inanimate villains, couldn’t that suspiciously thick cloud of dust between the pyramid and the sand monster be a villain? Some sort of sentient dust storm?

Yes, indeed. The Epic Battle cards (whatever they’re called) from…Kingsport? at least made the battles more interesting, but it was still cheating death, then dying anyway when the Ancient One comes right back two hours later and consumes the earth.

Azathoth also has the benefit of being totally awesome, so his instant-win condition is just shiny icing on the cake a la Azatoth. Hmm…I should bake an Azatoth cake sometime.

It’s not entirely out of the question to defeat an Ancient One. It’s just exceedingly rare. Granted, it was the offspring of an Ancient One, but in “The Dunwich Horror”, they’re actually able to defeat the thing.

At times, I feel I’m the only one who remembers that in his only actual appearance in a Lovecraft-written story, Cthulhu wakes up, takes a boat to the face, and then goes back to sleep. Clearly, it’s possible to beat the Big Bads into submission.

That’s what he gets for being one of the few with a reasonably pronounceable name

“Beaten into submission” and “going back into slumber” are two entirely different things, they might both constitute a victory but one is short lived… (though in comics even death is no guarantee of permanent defeat)

What’s that? Cthlulu will make an appearance in Sentinels of the Multiverse? And his Nemesis will be a boat? Oh, you guys are talking about Arkham Horror and not what the 2nd Expansion may or may not be about. (Just teasing guys)

I haven’t really played much of Arkham Horror, I think maybe two games so I don’t know the gameplay too well. I do remember however is the constant anger at nearly dieing half the time.

Would be really sweet if one of the Environments featured a Cthlulu or a similar type monster.

From the hints given about 5 different villain cards in a deck I’m guessing at a Nyarlathotep and his masks type villain character

Where are the new hints coming from? I can’t find them.

I believe it was in the Giant Fire Breathing Robot podcast… unless I’m flat out misremembering things (which is possible)
Linkage

Thanks!

Any new podcasts since then?

Nothing that’s been put online yet, but I have it on good authority that other interviews have been done and are in the works to happen very soon.

I thought Chris said Ra’s nemesis has NINE villains? Maybe it cycles through different evil Egyptian gods?

If all nine villain character cards are out at the same time, I imagine upkeep hell…

Maybe there are nine possible sub-villains, but you only choose five (say) to make up the “villain” for any given fight, like a council raid fight in WoW. That would sure increase the replay-ability.

The Chairman and Operatrive can be pretty painful just keeping up with everything that is going on. Maybe eigth of his nemesis will be on a stretch of four cards, each having their own side and will flip/switch whenever the one before will be defeated then the final one will be double sided and be something to fear. Would make things easier to keep track of and possibly be a hard battle. Doing it like this each one may have twenty to thirty HP and the final have forty?

Yeah, Chris just said he’d have nine nemeses; he didn’t say how many cards that would be. I can see them being in pairs and being flips of each other. It kinda makes sense for Ra to have so many nemeses, since he does so much damage. He’ll be wiping them out (relatively) quickly.

I wonder if they would ever put a Nemesis symbol on a villian card? It may be possible that there is only one villian character card and the rest may be drawn during the game. I like my other theory bette though.

Council fight it is! Very stoked.

The Ennead! Quite awesome, each holds a relic.

So how does this work, then? One card with the lot of them, or a card for each? Perhaps Atum is the main villain, and the other members of the Ennead act as Operative-types? I assume each relic will be its own card that will be drawn through the course of the game, or will start out.

I’m thinking they’re all in play to start. Team vs. team battle!

Based on my limited knowledge of Egyptian mythology (with an assist from Wikipedia) I’m going to guess from the picture just released on Kickstarter that the green guy with the ankh on his chest is Atum, snake head is Geb, air spirit is Nut (or maybe Shu), aardvark/jackal head is Set, goatee guy is Osiris, woman in blue is Isis, lion woman is Tefnut, the mummy is Nephthys, and the winged-woman is Shu (or Nut).

Can’t wait to see how the mechanic is going to work for fighting all nine of them.

On second thought, beating them one by one to get to Atum would also be awesome.

You’re very VERY close. Let me give you a hint: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris

What color is his skin?

So close! Green skin must be Osiris and goatee guy is Atum.

Nicely done! I had to use my insider knowledge to figure out who was who! (haven’t seen many of the art assets yet)

Wow, they all look so awesome. Really am excited to see how they will work with one and another.

So with a pyramid on the cover and the details of the story of the Ennead…I’m guessing the “Temple of the Ennead”/“Heliopolis”/“Temple of Heliopolis” somehow being one of the environments. But will it be all within the lost temple, or will it include the dangers of the desert above the temple and the temple below?

I’m a bit torn. Inside and outside seem like appropriate battlegrounds, and assuming outside and inside won’t be both of the environments (I’m changing my previous guess), it might be possible that it’s a bit of both. Though if I for sure had to pick one, I’d wager that it’d be inside the pyramid.

Do you think the other environment might tie back to what Richard Launius brought to the table. Its said he brought a hero a villain and an environment. Could it be NightMist, GloomWeaver, and some sort of Arkham (as in Lovecraft not Batman) City…a haunted surreal connection between a regular city and a monster filled other realm?

Or perhaps fighting in an entirely other realm. Fighting in some sort of astral plan where these demon/monster whatevers live?

Given the pattern so far, it’ll be NightMist, GloomWeaver, and SomeNewEnvironmentWithTheWordsInTheNameAllMushedTogether.

(seriously, the camel case is irritating)

I think you mean PascalCasing, not camelCasing.

In either case, I feel right at home.

I hadn’t thought of that. It’s possible. I just keep thinking of what kind of environment would make sense with Akash Bhuta’s whole mechanic of controlling nature. It’ll have to be a pretty general place, I’m assuming.

I mean CamelCase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CamelCase). I use it in programming all the time. But for superhero names, if it’s not good enough for BatMan, NightWing, SuperMan, or WonderWoman, then it’s not good enough for me.

I as well use it in programming all the time. Though, after reading your article, camel casing can either start off capital or not. I’d always seen camel case means first letter is not capital, whereas pascal case has first letter capital.

Hahaha, even though I use it all the time in my job, too, this discussion of Camel/Pascal Casing reminded me of this: NERDS!

Should anyone actually be bothered by this, I should probably point out that moments ago I was just discussing the history of Rush with a co-worker and explaining the vast difference between the band with John Rutsey versus with Neil Peart.

Sounds awesome!

Wait, that was asked somewhere and they answered? Hopefully it isn’t all nine at once… I don’t even dare want to think how hard it will be keeping track of everything.

It was asked in the Ennead update on the Kickstarter page

Paul is nice, he answers questions (most of the time).
Adam is also nice, he answers other questions (a lot of the time).
Chris is !@#$%^ (he answers questions that lead to even more questions!) >:(

Just a joke. ;D

Oh, I tend to not read many comments on the kickstarter, guess I probably should.

I do prefer Chris’ answers though, because speculating can be fun.

So true! Speculation is the fruit of humanity…and board games.

As for the Ennead being out and about from the start, I ponder if they each have their own conditions for everything, or if there is just one overwhelming Villain Card that has everyone’s fate written upon it. I also assume that the hint I heard a while back about a villain having just 24 HP (less than Visionary) is with one of these pups.

The thought of all 9 getting their own reference card with attacks and flip conditions scares me. O_o

I’m expecting something like the main villain with a flip condition and shuffling the other 8 each turn so that it’s the main villain and 1 constantly changing ‘operative lite’ with a group HP… but I would be amazed if >G haven’t thought up something far more sophisticated (and fun!)

From the quote that was taken from the kickstarter comments, it says multiple villian cards in play with individual HPs. Not to mention what Chris said in the podcast that Ra has a possibility of nine nemesis (or something along those lines) meaning you can either have all of them out at once or pick and choose which ones you want to do battle with.

BUT … is Paul always Paul?

Promo Ra revealed! And boy does he look bloody awesome. I sure can’t wait to see what his innate power will be, but whatever it is it will surely be something more… then what we can guess.

Okay, so, this Ra promo card – is it still Dr. Washington? Reading the info on it made it seem like he had been beaten and went back into the desert to give up the title of Ra. His bio on the site says the title is passed when they are “defeated”, not necessarily dead. A while ago I had guessed that the promo Ra would be the next in line… Is that the case? Or is this just older Dr. Washington? It doesn’t really say, just that “Ra is different.”

I’m thinking older Dr. Washinton. To me I think he went and discovered more secrets about Ra’s power or something and spent years doing so, causing the severe hair growth. Not to mention he does seem like he had taken a pretty big beating and is ready for a little bit of revenge and they say revenge is a dish best served Ra!

First of all, that pun, I must say, was brilliant, and I would high-five you if I could.

Oh well, I’ve been wrong before; no big deal. It still looks awesome, and I can’t wait to play as him. Maybe he’ll be even stronger now. And we’re gonna need strength for the Ennead.

I’ve been wrong as well, so who knows? I kind of had my fingers crossed that when they revealed the promo cards that they would also show the powers, guess we aren’t that lucky. It has to be something other than a single target damage, since it will make is core card obsolete, so it’ll have to do something pretty wacky to make him use his deck in a entirely new way and I currently have no guesses as to what they could do to him.

I think it’s Dr. Washington after going through rigorous trials and training in the desert. The long beard is a result of him not being able to shave for a while.

I know from personal experience that it is notoriously difficult to shave while living in primitive dwellings in the desert.

but he does have access to fire. If he really wanted to shave all he would have to do is burn it all off.

Maybe he likes his beard! Some people are very happy with their beards, I’ll have you know.

That’s kind of what I was refering to when I said “if he really wanted” so I take it that he may have grown attached to it. Personally if I could grow a full beard I would to. From the looks of things I won’t be able to until late twenties.

I want to see an inspirational movie about this.

No, it grew attached to … oh, never mind.

… I won’t be able to until late twenties.

[Insert comment about being old here]

Oh, come now! I’ve seen you! You couldn’t be a day older than 35!

Alrighty, I’m feeling super generous, so here you go. I’ll probably put this up on the Kickstarter in the next week or two, but I figured I’d put it here first for your viewing pleasure.

Now, don’t say I’ve never given you anything.

It was only up for two seconds or something, wasn’t it? That or the picture just doesn’t want to show on my computer.

Hooray! A reward! I can see that power being useful. It’d help him get his attack cards faster and disregard duplicates.

So my computer is being a jerk then… What exactly is the power?

He can draw three cards, then discards two. Called “Sunrise”.

Oh very nice. He’ll be moving through his deck faster than Tachyon at that rate. Makes me even more excited to get a hold of the card. (I could always just play Ra using that power instead but it won’t be the same)

Wow, a Ra that doesn’t deal damage out of the gate… craziness. I was actually hoping for that power on alt Fanatic, but it’s awesome regardless. I’d say odds of getting the Flesh/Imbue/Solar Flare combo just went way up

Is the image not showing up for some people?

Who can see this nifty new Ra? Does Shift+F5 help?

I see it fine continues drooling

His power looks great. I’m looking forward to hording Summon Staff and get my combo out in 1 turn.

Oh, btw, looks like Ra-Horus lost 1 HP due to a bloodied nipple.

We love generous Chris! ;D

“Generous Chris”. I picture that infamous pic of good guy greg, but with Chris’ face

It appears I am the only one who can’t see it, and shift+F5 didn’t help at all. But eh, maybe something on my computer never updated like it should of which is linked to the problem. I know what the power is and the artwork is on Kickstarter, so I am all good here.

Try a different browser?

I wonder why I didn’t think of that. Now to wonder about his incapacitated side… I think it has him with both his nipples missing.

Not if he has his Flesh Of The Sun God, making him, and presumably his beard, immune to fire damage.

Can… Can I just play Tachyon’s deck with this hero card? No? Aww.

That Ra card is awesome.

man, i dont know what to say. That’s pretty good, you could make your Ra concentrate on doing his damage with 1-shots rather than powers. With a power like that he’s sure to have plenty of Fire blasts available. Would also be great if you’re searching for Ra’s setup of DOOOOOOOM.

Otoh, Pyre is exceptionally useful early game, and even into the midgame. Obviously its pretty much replaced once Blazing Tornado comes out. Tough choice. That’s the way I like it.

Oooooooooo, new Ra.
Now if only the incapacitated side was called SunSet (Double pun!)

Not sure if that’s meant to be sarcasm or not. For the record, I’ll be the answer to life the universe and everything this year.

I meant that as absurd flattery, but hey, you’re at least 9 years younger than either of my parents.

Oh goodness, I feel sorry for you being what you get when you multiply six by nine. (obscure Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe reference?)

I see that in his olde age Ra lost an HP and became more about utility. Golly! Being able to cycle through his deck without waiting for Staff Summons…I can smell the singed flesh of my enemies. It is a delight beyond recognition!

Uhm… wouldn’t that be 6 x 7?

JayMann, have you read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? 42 is known to be the ANSWER to Life the Universe and Everything, but nobody knows the QUESTION. It has been speculated that the question is, in fact, what is six times nine, even though that doesn’t make any sense. You’d have to read the book, but it wouldn’t really make things any clearer.

I remember a high school teacher I respected telling me how even though she and her husband were in her 40s some of their best friends were in their 20s. Seemed strange at the time …

Or listen to the radio series, which was my introduction to the franchise.

Or realize that six times nine equals fifty-four and six times seven equals fourty-two…

I guess you need to read the book or listen to the radio series, too.

Only in boring base10

The story I heard was that “six times nine” was a mistake that didn’t get caught until it was too late. When someone asked if he was making an obscure base-13 joke, he replied, “I may be a sorry case, but I don’t write jokes in base 13.”

Hey, I’m a year away from 20, buddy.

Also, anyone who didn’t get the Hitchhiker’s reference should go read a hilarious book. I mean that one.

I’m quite the opposite, I’m hopibg that Sunrise will cycle through my deck more quickly so tgat I get more Summon Staffs.

Well, we’ve got an update on what the (presumably) final stretch rewards are. The Infinitely Awesome comic for the Freedom Four, and after that, a brand new villain.

Interestingly enough, this villain is said to be a nemesis of one of the core Sentinels characters. One issue some people had with Unity (at the possibility of her being Omnitron’s nemesis) was that players that didn’t get the chance to pick her up would feel as if they had an incomplete set, as one villain would remain nemesis-less. Should we anticipate another promo hero deck in a future installment? Or is this promo villain a potential second nemesis to one of our heroes?

If he is a new nemesis for someone currently lacking, than I believe Bunker, Absolute Zero, Visionary, and Haka are all that remain, and from them, Haka fits the theme of the expansion the best. He was killed by one of his tribesmen, but came back in dandy shape to reclaim what was his, only to be turned away, being dead and all. He had to have seen something in the limbo-world that could stand alongside a group of ancient deities, what may or may not be a fallen angel, the very chaos of nature itself, and…a flaming skull-face.

Hmm…hum, hum-hum, indeed.

I believe they’ve said that once the kickstarter is over (and the cards get printed), Unity should be available via a normal order from the >G website. I would assume the villain will be the same, so no one should have to be concerned about “missing” someone and having an incomplete set.

So if we don’t make it to $75K, the villain will still be available as a purchase from the store? It’ll basically be “DLC” for SotM? I’m okay with that. I’m already set to get Unity like everyone else in the kickstarter, but if we can’t make it that high, I’m glad we’ll still get the villain.

I don’t know about that. From what I recall, Unity will be in the store until they run out. They still need to raise the money to be able to print the new villain, which means it wouldn’t be doable unless we meet the stretch goal.

The Alternate Baron Blade card was originally a stretch goal of the Rook City Kickstarter. Since it became a stretch goal for Infernal Relics, I bet that this new villain would be a stretch goal for another Kickstarter later.

I agree. If we don’t make it to $75k, the new villain probably never gets printed.

I like ideas way out in left field. I got imaginary money on the $75K villain being a nemesis of the Wraith. :3

PS: Lemme explain my crazy “logic.” Unity is, obviously, the promo hero. Looking at her card art and style, I just don’t think it matches the red symbol on Omnitron’s card. I don’t think she’s Omnitron’s nemesis. Which kinda makes sense; she was always a promo hero and was most likely never going to be added to an upcoming expansion. So going with that, I think the promos are kind of… outside the regular pattern of the game. I think Absolute Zero, Bunker, and the rest will be getting nemeses, but in actual box-expansions.

So what about this new villain, who is confirmed to be a nemesis of someone from the core set? Well, still rolling with the idea that promos break the rules, why not have it be for someone who might already have a nemesis? The Wraith is a perfect choice, being very similar to Batman who, while the Joker is probably his primary nemesis, he still has a buttload of other people who would also consider the Bat their nemesis.

That, and it’d be funny.

Well, real quick, Chris already said she’s not Omnitron’s nemesis, so you’re right.

And that makes sense that the new villain won’t be printed. I don’t know what I was thinking.

However, I think you guys are right about it probably being another Wraith nemesis, since on the incap’d side of her promo card, she’s surrounded by Spite and a team, and really, there aren’t very many heroes who we’ve seen to have a team of villains against them (not counting Ra). So that villain probably is one of them, though it could be any of them. And I hope Axe is right about that villain showing up in the next kickstarter.

The promo villain is the nemesis of a hero from the core SotM set of heroes. Additionally, he is the nemesis of a hero who currently does not have a published nemesis.

I’m here to help! grin

Wild speculation time!

After hearing so much clamor for him, the guys at >G have decided to make the promo villain Haka’s nemesis: Hippo Man! ;D

YES! That!

Oh, okay, so no Wraith nemeses? That’s cool. At first I was a little confused by that, but after listening to part of the Basement Dwellers podcast and hearing that there are still FOUR expansions to go (seriously? That’s insane, but amazing), I guess the math will work itself out in the end. But if that means someone in the core game has a nemesis that may or may not go with a certain expansion’s theme, who’s the odd hero out? I say Absolute Zero. Since we’ve been pairing most of the core heroes with themes that may be future expansions, we grouped Bunker and AZ together, but I say that Unity is supposed to go with Bunker. AZ is the odd one out.

Am I the only one to get a creepy FBI-like vibe from that?

Hrm… What about Cowcatcher Head from Bunker’s Flak Cannon card as well as the new art for Wagner’s Maintenance Level? He’s no Hippoman, but he’s someone that comes to mind.

Personally, I don’t see any reason why a hero can’t have multiple nemesis. Just because they aren’t doing it with the promo characters doesn’t mean they won’t do it… somewhere else.

Or that they won’t completely change our concept of what a nemesis can be.

:-X

Alrighty, so the only options are Bunker, Absolute Zero, Haka, and Visionary. My speculation is that’ll it’ll be Absolute Zero’s nemesis as well, but I choose Haka as my second guess. I eleminated Visionary fairly easily because I figure she’ll be the “star” of a future expansion much like Wraith for Rook City and Ra for Infernal Relics. Out of the three remaining characters I also see Bunker being more likely being a “star” of a expansion due to his government ties. (i’m still going with the idea of an expansion that’ll be based on that or similar) Which leaves both Absolute Zero and Haka, now I am not sure which but I am just hoping for a Absolute Zero nemesis, have been since the game came out.

Perhaps it’ll be a strange one-shot villain. I’m thinking it’ll be a Visionary nemesis called “The Deadly Aneurysm.” The heroes get shrunk and go inside her head to try to fix the damage to her brain. I’m reaching too far, you say? You need to read more comics, I say.

If I had to bet, I’d bet on Hippoman (or, Hippopotoman, as he’s known more formally) since there’s been so much fan reaction to that one picture. If I had a vote, however, I’d vote against it being him. Two reasons why it would make no sense for Hippoman to be Haka’s nemesis – (a) he’s pretty doofy to qualify as a nemesis. It would be as if Calendar Man or Kite Man were considered Batman’s nemesis, and (b) last I checked, there aren’t a lot of hippos in New Zealand, so it’s not like the bond between them could go all that far back, no?

Alright, if you’ve got some secret insider knowledge that the rest of us don’t, stop right there, criminal scum. Chris already teases us enough; you’re supposed to be on our side!

But in all seriousness, I’m not saying a hero can’t have more than one nemesis. Hey: Mr. Fixer has two nemeses (same deck, but I’m counting it). I’d love to see one hero have multiple nemesis decks they’ve got to face off against.

In response to Ronway, I was actually thinking Haka as my second guess too. I’m right with you on the whole Visionary thing: the fact that she comes from a future where she knows who the heroes become and what happens and (according to the latest podcast) who dies. Visionary is definitely gonna be the star of an expansion, and I’m guessing it’ll be Time & Space, what with all that time travel. Though I can’t guess whether or not her nemesis will have anything to do with that “evil side” of her in her mind that was a result of the time travel. I’m guessing that’s what’s on her incap’d side.

Someone remind me: Unity doesn’t have a nemesis yet, right?

I’ve always thought Haka’s nemesis would be some super-warrior from another tribe, or maybe a pagan god, but as time goes on, I’m less sure.

Unity has no known nemesis as this point.

Er… points at Ra and his 9.

I’m thinking Haka, too. I can’t quite see him fitting with an expansion…although Time & Space…time goes backwards, too.
Anyway, I suspect Haka nemesis is Ruru, his former friend, who replaced him as chief. I like the idea of two immortal souls locked in an endless confrontation. Maybe Ruru tricked the tribe? And Haka? A former friend and trusted ally turned usurper is a viable nemesis.

One of Visionary’s cards (Suggestion, I think) has someone with a similar appearance to Haka on it… but the card only targets Villain Character cards, so it could very well be Ruru.

That was my initial thought, too, but the Kickstarter update that introduced this stretch reward specifically says it’s the nemesis of one of the core set’s heroes.

Wait! I need to get my little logic puzzle grid out and mark it with X’s and dots and such!

YES!

Well, We’ve got a one in four shot about the mystery villain. Though it’s still pretty far away – we haven’t even gotten to $60K yet. I know we will, but with 15 days left, making it to $75K is gonna be tough. Still, I’m up for speculation. I can’t remember any pictures of Ruru, but it would make sense. I imagine he’d reflect Haka’s deck by having a lot of cards and mechanics where he charges up his attack/defense/etc.

I think 75k is closer than you think.

There are 15 days 17 hours left. Call it 16 days (round up).
In order to make the goal, we needed to average $1157 per day Our average for the last 7 days has been $2284. The lowest ever day had $1461 in pledges.

We have already raised $1640 today, with a good chunk of the day left to go.

After the extra raised today, we will need to average less than 1125 per day on average.

I really believe we will make it. The numbers are actually on our side now!

In any case, it blows the previous funding out of the water.

That’s true. Technically the kickstarter is only halfway done. I’d love to eat my own words this time.

The problem, as always, is getting the news out there to new players. Whoever on this forum has probably pledged what they could.

A bunch of blogs have done reviews of the base game and/or Rook City. I’ve been trying to find those and add a comment and link to kickstarter.

I noticed there are ads running on BGG. It falls to those of us on the forum to spread the word in whatever way we can.

My FLGS has a couple copies of Sentinels, so I’m gonna make some kind of flyer and see if they will let me put it up.

It’s just gotta make it to the promo villian. Especially if it is Absolute Zero’s nemesis. His mechanic has to be pretty wacky aswell, thus making him a fun villian to go against.

I didn’t think we’d make it to $75k but I have to agree with cgrater - the odds look in our favor.

The problem with ads is… Well, I use Firefox… And Adblock. And I think many others do too.

Just noticed… Is Unity going to have ‘minions’? Since she can create golems and such.

I hope so. I’ve been so looking forward to a minion-master hero.

Alright, so I’m guessing this Ambuscade guy gets his drugs from the same place Spite got his. Even their masks look similar. Where did they get the drugs again? Was it from Pike? Seriously, Chairman, stop injecting people with drugs and turning them into villains! It’s not cool! But hey, I’m happy our guesses were right about it being Haka’s nemesis. I’m guessing AZ’s will be in that “technology” expansion we’re thinking about. But does this mean Haka isn’t a primary hero to TIme & Space? We know Visionary will be the star, but will it be her, Chrono Ranger, and just one other hero as the main heroes for Time & Space?

I’ll merely clarify that Ambuscade’s powers are not as a result of drugs.

But the kickstarter said… He got genetic modifications… And they we’re from drugs? Weird. Then what did they do? Shoot him with radiation? No, that would just give him radiation poisoning or something… Who knows anything about biology? Someone explain how genetics can be changed without drugs. I’m no good with biology.

Retrovirus.

Is that like a virus only for hipsters?

I’m sorry it wasn’t clear: I’m no good at biology. So I have no idea what that is…

Retroviruses, like HIV, rewrite the DNA of cells they infect.

Okay, sorry for my lack of knowledge. I can understand that. So that seems like a possibility. So if he’s Haka’s nemesis, he’s probably going to have a fair number of cards where he charges up his attacks and such. Maybe a couple of weapons here and there. And he probably will be basically the only target in his deck, unless he’s got some gear that has HP, like a hunting jeep or something.

Maybe he has some animals he’s hunted locked up and unleashes them on the heroes?

I can also picture him with a card similar to Haka’s “Punish the Weak”. As a hunter he’d be able to take down the weakest prey more easily. Or alternatively, since he goes after the biggest game he can find, maybe it’s the opposite and he does more damage to the toughest hero…

Good point – I can see him having a lot of “do damage to the hero with the highest HP” cards, among other various attacks.

Or since he’s a hunter, maybe he’ll choose a specific target to focus his attacks on? Designate the player with the highest starting HP as his main target and mostly attack them.

A retrovirus works by injecting its DNA into the cells of its host. Each time the host cell replicates, the DNA of the virus is replicated as well.

Retroviral gene therapy works by taking a retrovirus and removing its DNA and replacing it with the DNA you want added to the host cells. The retrovirus then gets it into most or all of the host cells, and the change is permanent (in theory) since the host cells copy the genes each time they divide. A retrovirus is not the only way to introduce new DNA to a host body, but it is one of the more versatile, efficient, and cheap ways to introduce a wide variety genes (other treatments often require much more customization).

In the real world, retroviral gene therapy is being researched as a way to cure many genetic conditions. Inherited diseases such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many immune system disorders and even hereditary vision problems like color blindness are excellent candidates for gene therapy treatment. It may even be possible in the future for specialized genes to be used to treat non-hereditary diseases. For example: sharks have a series of genes that effectively prevent most forms of tumor. This gene could be modified and inserted into humans (actually, we have tumor suppression genes of our own, they would just have to be made more effective), to make humans immune to cancer. This is still a long way away, if it is ever possible at all, but the theory is sound. In one experiment in 2007/2008 in Germany, a man was successfully cured of HIV by killing of his bone marrow and replacing it with genetically modified bone marrow that produced cells to suppress and kill the HIV virus.

The problem with real-world gene therapy lies in its impermanence. It is virtually impossible to guarantee that the virus successfully injects the new DNA into every cell (your immune system will kill some virus off, etc.), and so the “modified” cells often become depleted and die off, making it necessary to have another round of gene therapy. Current gene therapy treatments for SCID (a genetic immune system disorder often called “bubble boy disease” because it requires the patient be completely isolated) last about 4 years before new treatments are needed.

I can totally see this guy with poisons in his deck, sort of like Plague Rat but not as critical. Maybe a variety of poisons and toxins, like one that deals damage, one that makes the hero do less damage and a third that makes the hero take more damage.

Awesome. Now I get it. I appreciate the detailed answer. I promise I read every word.

I wonder about his flip mechanic. Maybe it has to deal with hero hit points like, “he flips when a hero is at half hit points.” Or if he targets only hero, maybe he flips after defeating the first hero?

I actually like Axe’s idea: maybe he’ll play where he picks one target, and just focuses all damage on that one hero, and when they die, he moves onto the next one. Then his flip mechanic might be something like “flip when a hero dies”. But I doubt both of those are likely. He’ll probably still have lots of attacks that do various things. It’d be weird for a villain to literally focus on one hero, basically ensuring that every game, someone will die. I mean, it could work, and would be cool, but I can’t see it actually happening.

Doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be ways to redirect who his target is. Maybe a condition on his description card or one of his other cards. Something like “If the heroes deal X damage then they can choose his new target”. Or he flips when a hero gets below a certain threshold of their HP or something like that.

Good point. If that is the case, I can see a lot of arguments going down about who has to be the target. But hey, that would just make him more scary, because he’d be turning the players against each other in real life. Devious!

But my other guess would be that he’d do a good amount of damage to just a couple of heroes. Something like doing the two heroes with the highest HPs H minus one damage. That’d just be one card though.

Alternatively, he could just have some cards that… target his target. Like “Deal the hero with the lowest HP H-2 damage. Deal the chosen target H damage”.

Frankly, I’m expecting something more along the lines of a stealth attack. Perhaps, through some as-yet-unrevealed mechanic, the players won’t know who he’s attacking until it happens. This seems in line with the stalking hunter idea he seems to have.

As far as focusing on a particular character goes, all he would have to do is target the hero with the lowest hit points. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fought Voss on Atlantis where Tempest became the punching bag for Krakens, Ion-Lancers, Voss’s personal attack, or what have you.

It’s comics science! When faced with something implausible, the answer is always “Because Comics”!