Black Rose Wars: Rebirth

The Wind from the North
about 3 years ago – Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 09:39:10 AM

Update Contents

• North Winds box preview
• Production update

Hello, Magisters!

After last month's rich update, which showed you Apocalypse and made your mouth water for the fantastic Tournament mode, let's start a series of updates to get to know the 6 expansions that make up the huge Rotas Box, starting with the wild North Winds!

The main protagonist of this expansion is definitely Odin, an Avatar in search of his new champion and with very original mechanics. When included in a game as an Avatar, the Lodge will also feature his nemesis Vitnir, the monstrous wolf destined to kill the lord of Valhalla. Odin will test you and you must prove yourself worthy of becoming his Champion by facing both him and Vitnir. You will thus have two great threats roaming the Lodge, and you must make the most of your Grimoires to get the better of both!

To gain Odin's favor, you must collect Champion tokens, which can be obtained in a variety of ways, the most effective (but also the most dangerous) being defeating the Wolf Vitnir, who, however, will become stronger and stronger each time it is defeated... after all, becoming a god's champion is a dangerous job!

Both Odin and Vitnir can also be summoned to the Lodge thanks to two new Forgotten Spells, in matches where Odin is not used as an Avatar.

The other star of the expansion is the new mage, The Druid Kormak, who brings along the Druidic School of Magic.

The Druidic School is designed for Magisters who enjoy close contact. It introduces two new Evocations, the powerful Ursa and the very useful Crocodilus. It also introduces the Transformation mechanics in BRW:R.

As compared to BRW, Transformations have undergone a substantial change. A Transformation Spell now has no light or dark side but, once revealed, is flipped to provide all the rules of Transformation: either Bjorn (the bear) or Loki (the crocodile). During the next Clean-up phase, a Transformed mage may decide not to discard the Transformation spell and move it by keeping it revealed in the third slot. This is to indicate that they will remain transformed even in the next turn, in which they can only play 3 spells instead of the usual 4. A Mage remains transformed until they are defeated or until they discard the Transformation Spell.

While Transformed, a Mage cannot use Equipments, so be careful when mixing the Druidic school with schools that make extensive use of them, such as War or Forge!

Another thing you'll have to be careful about is the availability of miniatures, since Transformations use the same miniatures as the Ursa and Crocodilus Evocations, and you won't be able to Transform if these are all already in play. This is a limitation that serves to balance the considerable power of Transformations, which allow a Mage to become truly powerful physically while being able to continue casting their Spells.

In addition, North Winds adds a new Room, the Abyss of Hel, which you can use in any game by substituting it for the Abyss, or in the Legendary Scenario dedicated to it.

In conclusion, like all the Rotas Box Expansions, North Winds truly adds a lot of material to make your BRW:R games unique.

As always, let us know what you think!

Before we say goodbye, here's a quick status report. We are currently nearing the end of work on all the ENG and ITA files of all the printed material and expect to start sending the files to the factory within a few days. FR, GER, and ESP translations are still underway, but we have decided to start printing the material in ITA and ENG in advance of the other languages, in order to reduce downtime and optimize production of the other languages as well, by the time the files are ready. According to our plans, this should be done by the end of March.

Summer is approaching, and so is the arrival of Rebirth on your tables! 

In March we will share all the rulebooks in ENG and ITA. With the Apocalypse rulebook you will be able to try the tournament format right away, and, for those of you coming to Modena Play 2023 in May, the chance to participate in the first official tournament!

See you in the next Update!

Fireball!

Into the Apocalypse!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 03:26:01 AM

Update Contents:

• Apocalypse expansion deep preview
• Project advancement

Hello, Magisters!

Welcome to the first update of 2023!

Let's kick off the new year with an update dedicated entirely to the expansion that will most significantly shake up the way you play BRW/Rebirth: Apocalypse!

We've previously dedicated a lot of space to this expansion, but now that we've completed all of the work on it, we can show you the final material.

As you all know, this expansion adds four New Mages, in the form of the Four Horsemen, and each of them adds their own School of Magic, dedicated to their "sphere of interest."

Bellum will bring the School of War, a mix of destruction and Artifacts that will make you turn anything that dares face you into dust. With the new keyword "Restore," many of the War spells will regenerate your Physical Action Tokens, allowing you to do many more Physical Actions during an Action Phase! This is a School as direct as it is effective.

Mors, with her School of Death, will add the Destiny Tokens mechanic. These new tokens will interact with many of the Spells of this School and, in some instances, will allow you to gain Trophies easily or eliminate as you please a Mage who has earned at least 3 Destiny tokens.

Pestilentia will bring the...well the School of Pestilence. Pestis (the rats!), a new special Evocation unique to this School, will roam the Lodge, disseminating Infectio Tokens. These tokens progressively consume the Mages who possess them. Moreover, the Spells of this School inflict other purulent effects! In a nutshell, this is a school for those who don't have a weak stomach!

Finally, Fames, with his School of Famine, will experiment with the new Starve and Feed mechanics. Through Starve, you will deprive your opponents of their valuable cubes from their pool, slowing (and sometimes even blocking!) their strategy. Feed will return the cubes to their owners, but it will also significantly improve your Spells!

Each Horseman has their own double-sided Mage Card. On one side, you will find the "standard Mage" version to play in a normal BRW/Rebirth game. On the other side, you will instead find the version of them to play in Apocalypse Mode. In this mode, each player will control a Horseman and use a "pre-made" deck consisting of all the cards from their school plus their Personal Spell.

Apocalypse mode will serve as an introduction to the real novelty of this expansion: the Tournament Mode! In this mode, you will be able to create the Mage of your dreams and their own personal Grimoire!

By spending 10 Creation Points, you can decide on characteristic values and give them special feats, creating your preferred build. Feats will give you new Physical Action or allow you to ignore some of the restrictions on building your Grimoire.

That's right because, in addition to your Mage, you can also create your own Grimoire, inserting the Spells you like, creating unprecedented combinations and game dynamics.

Finally, we have included a whole series of Options to create your favorite Tournament Format. The tournament organizer can decide which of these options to include, creating ever-changing tournament formats! Of course, many of these options are also perfectly usable in a regular BRW/Rebirth game. This mode will change the way you play Rebirth, and it's one of the features that make this Expansion a must-have for all BRW and Rebirth fans!

The Apocalypse material is being proofread, and we will make it available for download in the next update so that you may give us feedback and... why not? Try out the new mechanics already with your copy of BRW.

Concerning production, we confirm that we are meeting the timeline we shared with you last September. The game design of all the game material is finished! The massive Rotas Box has also been completed, and the ENG and ITA files are currently being finalized before being submitted to the various language translators. We will be able to let you appreciate all of its contents, box by box, as soon as the next update.

As of now, we can confirm the time range we gave you in our previous timeline, and we believe that next summer will be extremely hot in the Lodge!

As always, we look forward to your feedback on Apocalypse and its amazing content!

That's all for today, see you next month with the first update on the Rotas box!!

Fireball!

A Special Christmas Present!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 09:11:32 PM

Hello, Magisters!

Did you know that Christmas is celebrated also in the Lodge? That's why we created a little surprise for you!

By following this link you will have access to a new Print & Play DLC for Black Rose Wars, which gives you all the materials you need to play a new, crazy School of Magic: the Christmas School!

This new school, with all its Spells and Evocations, created by none other than Jukas (in his Viking version from Runar!), will allow you to give a strong Christmas flavor to your games, making you laugh a lot with your friends!

Don't waste time and go immediately to download the ENGLISH or ITALIAN version of this new crazy School of Magic!

Let us know if you like this type of material and if you would like to see more in the future, eventually having fun together working on it!

Mid-January we will give you more details about the last developments, in particular going into the details of the new mechanics introduced with Apocalypse, Gaea Reborn, and Dreadforge.

In the meantime, we just have to thank you as always for your support and love and wish you a Happy Holidays and a fantastic 2023!!

#ChristmasFireball!

Rulebooks... tons of Rulebooks!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 07, 2022 at 10:50:19 PM

Update Contents:

• Rebirth Rulebooks
• Hel expansion in Runar - Clarification
   

Hello, Magisters!

A special update to share with you an important milestone for the Rebirth project.

By following this link you will be able to access all the English language rulebooks, which we have finished and which are currently being translated into the languages announced during the Kickstarter.

In the linked folder you will find the rulebooks for the following boxes:

• Core Box
• Dreadforge
• Gaea Reborn
• Deadly Mask
• Jukas
• Irene
• Seal of Fire
   

Don't waste time and go immediately to read what awaits you with Rebirth! If you wish, you can also leave comments, feedback, and suggestions on the texts and images of the rulebooks. We still have some time before the printing starts, so we will be able to make good use of the suggestions we deem useful for last-minute adjustments. We also uploaded all the rulebooks on our WEB APP (but you can't add comments on those).

As indicated in the previous update, we are finalizing Apocalypse and the Rotas Box, as soon as ready we will share these too with you! 

Enjoy the reading!

HEL expansion in Runar - Clarification

In the last update, we shared with you that we were thinking about creating Print & Play material to allow the models contained in HEL, the RUNAR expansion (currently live on KS), to be played in Rebirth. Set in the ancient and mythical Lodge of the North, it stars 3 Viking Magisters, and of course lots of Undead!

We have received many enthusiastic messages from BRW and Rebirth fans, where we have also been asked to open a pledge dedicated to BRW, to allow you to take only the HEL expansion, with the printed material, in order to be also played in BRW or Rebirth.

We've thought about this possibility, but have come to the conclusion that doing something like this now wouldn't be the right choice. It probably would have been an easy way to get some extra cash, but right now we think the right thing is to stay focused on completing work on the BRW: R material and delivering it as soon as possible.

Having said that, we make no mystery that we love the idea of having the 3 Viking Magisters in Rebirth, with all their undead! So we thought it would be a lot of fun if these rules were created with the help of all of you: during 2023 we will organize a series of initiatives to gather your ideas and create the HEL crossover for Rebirth together!

Let us know what you think of this idea and if you would like to collaborate with us!

In the meantime we are pleased to remind you that the last 48 of the RUNAR KS campaign are about to shoot, if you want to get on our Drakkar, this is the right moment!

That's all for now, see you soon for the Christmas update!

Fireballs!

The Traveler is Back!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Dec 03, 2022 at 02:24:57 AM

Update Contents:

• Production Report
• Jukas Avatar spotlight

Hello, Magisters!

Welcome to the November update! Let's start right away by taking a look at the status of the work.

We are going full steam ahead with the completion of Rebirth; just a few days ago, we granted the manufacturer the go-ahead to commence mass production, which will begin with miniature printing!

On the game design front, we anticipate meeting the timetable we agreed upon with you and completing work on Apocalypse and the Rotas Box by January 2023. Going into greater detail: Apocalypse is nearing completion, with the last checks on the tournament rulebook. For what concerns the Rotas Box, we are working on the final tuning of the Avatars. We're working on the Avatars so that each one has its own unique gameplay that, when used in a game, adds a lot of value. Each Avatar will deliver a unique gameplay experience, presenting you with fresh challenges in ever-changing games!

All other expansions and the Core Box are being translated into different languages.

Speaking of Avatars, after the Possessed's Print & Play (which many have already tried), which will serve as an entry-level to grasp their basic mechanics, it's time to take a look at the others!

We could only begin with the most iconic character in our world: the traveler, the one who is in all times and all places, the Bane of Chronos: Jukas the Traveler! 

He paints his mysterious plans on the canvas of time, no matter how many centuries it takes to complete his work, time for Jukas is only a relative concept...

Veterans of our games are now familiar with this character (#savejukas), and he will return triumphantly in Rebirth, this time as an Avatar, and thus as your very dangerous enemy.

The awakening of the Black Rose also drew the enigmatic traveler to the Lodge ruins. Not to have him fight for the lodge throne, but to put the new generation of Magisters to the test. Jukas will put the candidates' abilities to the test by utilizing the powers bestowed upon him by the Black Rose. What the Black Rose did not anticipate was Jukas' plans: Jukas is looking for followers, and what better way to find new disciples than to use a Black Rose War? Only those who demonstrate true power will be worthy of becoming his pupils and learning the secrets of Space and Time.

Playing a game with Jukas as your Avatar will allow you to unleash the powers of Forgotten Spells like never before, thanks to the power of Jukas' Tool: the Vortex.

During the game, Jukas will scatter several Vortex Tokens in the rooms of the Lodge. If a Mage casts a Spell in a room with a Vortex token, they collect it. During The Clean-up Phase, if a Mage has Vortex tokens, they must discard them, but if they discard two or more they can immediately draw a Forgotten Spell!...woooah!

The Vortices that remain in the rooms, on the other hand, must be kept an eye on. In fact, if Jukas triggers his Avatar Effect, all Rooms with Instability and a Vortex Token will immediately rebuild. If you don't want your plans to be ruined for good, don't underestimate this Effect!

Furthermore, Jukas will take advantage of any opportunity to attack Magisters, thanks to his incredible mobility provided by the Teleportation ability and his unique Evocation: the Arcane Nigredo. This Nigredo, strengthened by Jukas' powers, delivers extra damage for each Vortex token carried by its target.

The Vortex tokens will therefore give immense power to the Magisters but will have to be "handled" with care so as not to cause serious trouble and not to raise the Avatar's Power Points too high.

If you have always dreamed of playing a game of BRW using a barrage of Forgotten Spells, playing with Jukas will give you an outlet for your lust for power, unleashing an embarrassing amount of Forgotten Spells in the Lodge. This will obviously force you to try new strategies and combinations to try and prevail over Jukas and all the other Magisters!

What do you think of this new version of Jukas? Are you excited to try it out? Well, not long to go, in the meantime, you can read the Jukas rulebook by following this link and giving us your feedback!

Meanwhile, however... Jukas did it again! Under the name Alfarinn, Jukas is currently on a mysterious quest in a new time interval.

Jukas has arrived at the mythical time of the Vikings, in RUNAR, our new competitive game, currently live on KS!

Intimated by Alfarinn (aka Jukas), bands of Vikings confront each other and fight dangerous Giants in an attempt to recover mysterious runic gems. In these frozen moors, you will also learn about the birth of one of the first Black Rose Lodges, the Lodge of the North, where 3 powerful Magisters unleashed HEL's Necromantic powers.

While working on the development of the HEL expansion, our playtesters told us that would be amazing to have the chance to play these characters also as mages in BRW and Rebirth.

Check them out... We were thinking about creating some Print & Play materials in the future to use Alfarinn and the 3 magisters in BRW and Rebirth...What do you think about it?

That's all for today! See you in December for the Christmas Update!

FIREBALL!