Live from GenCon: Gothica stakes its claim

Human Head had their new d20 supplement, The Redhurst Academy of Magic, prominently on display. The “widescreen” format of the book looks good, though it’s hard not to notice that the cover text is designed to be equally readable when seen vertically or horizontally (wouldn’t want to get the retailers all riled up like that oddly-shaped Nobilis now, would we?). But the booth’s demo tables are occupied by the company’s upcoming board game release, Gothica: Dracula’s Revenge, set to reach stores in October. Like a cross between The Hills Rise Wild and Space Hulk, Dracula’s Revenge pits the infamous Count and three of his cohorts against Van Helsing and nine of his fellow vampire slayers. Gameplay is fast and simple, allowing strategy to reign rather than rules confusion. Once the interchangable board pieces are ready (the demo had a static board), we’ll be seeing missions, new victory conditions, and possibly even campaign rules, I’d imagine. Human Head plans a line of Gothica releases themed around mummies, werewolves, Frankenstein’s monster, and so on. All this from a game Matt Forbeck thought up 12 years ago for Grenadier which never saw print.