Nightlancer is live (Cyberpunk stories)
Nightlancer has launched on Kickstarter, and the campaign will run for 31 days. The game has received a graphic overhaul. You may get either the basic version of the game or a 'deluxe' one with more heroes and standees. If you wish to see yourself in the game, as a hero or a villain, there are pledge levels for that too.
Our preview post below was published on February 24.
Nightlancer is a 1-4 player hand management and dice rolling game set in a dystopian future. It can be played competitively, cooperatively or solo, and the Kickstarter launch is on February 25.
The game is set in an imaginary future Great Britain: the country has survived a nuclear war and its technology is highly evolved but it is also victim to economic crisis, civil unrest, and strict government control. People are changing their bodies with cybernetic implants and use new types of drugs. Some of those who change become violent and cause trouble: they are the Techshocked. You, on the other hand, are a Nightlancer: a lowlife character who hunts down Techshocked for money, but you have to be careful in case you become corrupted and turn into a Techshocked yourself.
At the beginning of the game, you will draw a card from the Event deck and perform a skill check to complete it. Then, you decide on the mission you wish to pursue, and proceed to what is called 'the Streets phase': you may buy equipment from the black market, take a loan or invest. In the next phase, you try to complete your mission. Missions have challenges which you face based on your character's stats. If you fail missions and lose in combat challenges, you may end up in hospital, become demoralized and lose the game. If you succeed, you earn money and possibly skills that you use to upgrade your character.
Maybe they have reworked the design? We'll see. If it doesn't do well this time, they have to reconsider. And reconsider their playtesters too.
This is the third suck at the sav for this game. It had a failed Kickstarter in 2016 (unsuccessful) and another in 2018 (cancelled). I played a demo at Handycon in January 2018.
Clearly it's a labour of love for the designer and I don't want to put down labours of love. But it's long and overcomplicated for the fun you get out out it, even four years on the graphic design is bare even by my standards, and there's just nothing to mark it out from every other cyberpunk game (which already exists).
— RogerBW (Firedrake)