Ignacy would like to share some thoughts about designing combat rules for Alien Artifacts: I’ve been here Back then in 2011, I wrote an article about the struggle with direct interaction and combat mechanism in 51st State. For long months I had no clue how to approach the problem –

As we are preparing for Essen, this is a good time for some piece of advice straight from the heart and mind of Ignacy… Essen is close. Publishers get a few submissions every day. The show is the perfect opportunity for young designers – they come for 4 days and

Ignacy would like to sum up his works on Aftermath expansion for Cry Havoc, as the Cry Havoc celebration month has just ended. I could talk about expansions for hours. I have a quite a few under my belt and I learned a lot each time I designed one. Each

I remember it as if it is yesterday. It was a game event in a city near by. The event was small, and pretty much nobody came. I was bored to death. We were sitting at the table chatting. Suddenly, without any warning, he asked me to play his prototype.

Working on Robinson Crusoe scenarios was easy. I just looked at my book shelf, picked one of the many great XIX century stories and the scenario was ready. Once it was cannibals, other times crazy cultists, or volcano. That was a crazy ride of picking all great themes from the

I guarantee you That at some point Everything is gonna south on you You gonna say: This is it This is how I end. Now, you can either accept that Or you get to work As for today, The Martian trailer has 14 535 572 views. I alone might be

I have this provocative statement that designer should never listen to playtesters and that playtesters have no idea what they are talkin’ about. Every designer panel I run, I always say: ‘Ignore them. Just don’t listen. They have no clue.’ It’s provocation statement of course, but there is a seed

I planned to write about First Martians being a living board game later this year, when we are closer to the actual release of the game, closer to the street date. Well, I had to change my plans. We’ll talk about living board game today. What happened? This Tuesday Rodney

I shouldn’t have done this, but well, I was tired and bored after a 10-hour-long flight from The Dice Tower con, stuck at the airport and waiting for connection flight to Poland. I opened my phone and took a look at a Facebook group about board games. In most cases

‘I play-tested it more than 100 times’. No, you probably didn’t. You played it 100 times, but playing is not play-testing. Shall we begin? *** I receive many emails from young designers and see the same phrase everywhere. ‘I play-tested it more than 100 times.’ This is a sentence I

Another Portal Games Informant is here! This week we present few cool moments from the office including receiving First Martians sample from China, intense testing of Alien Artifacts (surprise! 😉 and a ton of random stuff! Have a great watch!

The plague which cast Detroit into flames transforms humans into mindless monstrosities which lust for killing; hideous slaughtering machines which make the mutes from the Death zone look like docile pets. The disease entirely burns off the brain, leaving just enough cunning to trace one’s victims. The memories are lost,

There were no zombies in the Neuroshima Role Playing Games. To be precise, there were no zombies, no mechs, and no dead children. We put into this game literally everything; it was 500 pages book that looked like witch’s cauldron. We put every single idea we had, and man, we

From day one after the release of Imperial Settlers I was openly saying that we have a 3-year support plan for the game – and by saying that I meant that we had three more factions already planned and would release them. And then we would see what happens. Today,

(article was previously posted at Board Games That Tell Stories in 2011) A long time ago in a far away galaxy, My Wife didn’t play board games. Then I showed her Cash & Guns and Citadels and she began to play games. My mates were jealous. My Wife played board