It started with an expansion for an explosion.
Home-Brew
We love Exploding Kittens by the Oatmeal. Three years ago, we would play it almost every night. Then one night there was an idea: what if there was a different way to win the game besides being the last one standing?
We talked through five cards that we wanted to add to the game. The goal was to get all four neutered kittens into your hand and reveal them to your opponents. At that point, you would win the game.
This was only the beginning.
We created an expansion set centered on the new win condition, an expansion set for being able to attack and defend better, and finally a set of rule cards that would alter the way you played.
The last straw came at the suggestion of adding a shop mechanic to the home-brew collection. The words that would forever change us were uttered aloud, "Well, why don't we just make our own board game?"
So we set out to do just that.
R.U.R.T.
We began work on a game we called Rats Under the Round Table or RURT for short. In it you helped aspiring rodents earn enough honor to ascend to the round table and be granted entrance into Chandelot.
Every character had a unique main quest to complete, but there was much to do in the kingdom. Duel your opponents and bet on the results if you were on the sidelines. Collect resources that you could use to craft. Complete side-quests from the town message board. Collect and assemble the Holy Chandelier Pieces. Buy curses and traps to hurt your opponents, or buy armor, weapons, and trinkets to improve your position. Choose a path by which you could gain honor. Hire a squire to assist you on your journey.
In the second version we added Royal Decrees that changed conditions for the round and at the end of the week there would be a kingdom wide event. This could be a fragment of a story told to you by a traveling bard, a competition of strength, an attack of the beasts from the Under-Dark, or simply a day of rest.
Our first game was complete. It was exhilarating to have a group of friends come over, give them the game and the rule book, and then leave them to figure the rest out.
Prototypes
The first prototype of RURT we made consisted of handwritten cards on the backs of index cards and envelopes. For tokens, we used bottle caps. After a year we met again and digitally designed cards that we then printed.
Our most recent prototype for Miasmatic Mayhem had custom-designed models that we 3D printed and cards printed at Staples that we cut out and sleeved by hand.
We now have artists that are working on our team to help us realize our concepts and breathe life into the worlds we are imagining.
We are continually improving our quality, and with your help, we can create something that can sit beside the other board game superstars.
Our Core Beliefs
Story
When we create anything our first focus is on the story. Is what we are trying to say clear? Are our players finding a character or situation that they can relate to? Are they wanting to see more than the limited spotlight we are shining on this moment?
Intuitive Gameplay
We want our game mechanics to feel justified in the world we have built. Do our actions complement the abilities of our characters? Is the way the game plays aligning with the feeling of the story?
Inspiration
We want players to feel inspired to change the rules and explore their own version of our games. Is there something you found that helps create a unique narrative? Does our game inspire you to create a world of your own and a personal adventure?
Community
We want our experiences to bring board game and tabletop players together. Is our game something we would share with our friends and family? What other games exist that we can credit and point our fans to? What other projects can we support?
Meet the Team
Worlds Apart,
Worlds Together
We want to see your talents! Did a character in our game inspire you to draw one of your own? Did you come up with a house rule that makes our game better? Did you stay up until 3 AM designing an interactive Minecraft map from an idea you got that somehow loosely connects to Funcertainty?
Share it with us! We would love to see what you've created. We are also constantly looking for new board game recommendations, so shoot us a message and let's nerd out!
