Nova Aetas: Renaissance

A Prayer for every occasion
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 01:13:30 AM

Update Contents:

• Hero Spotlight: Vincenzo the Novice
• 2 new booklets in the Core Box

Hello Guys!

A new update and a new Hero to discover! Today is the turn of the wise and erudite Vincenzo!

This enterprising Novice has one of the most important roles within your Free Company: "Support".

The design of this Hero was certainly the most difficult. In many fantasy boardgames the Support Heroes are often relegated to a role of Healer, fundamental for the group but minority in terms of fun, usually forced to stay focused on maintaining powers and energies only to heal their allies, while the rest of the group enjoys killing tons of enemies. Vincenzo was instead created with the idea of ​​making him a multifaceted character, who always has many different options and things to do.

His supporting role is characterized by the use of Prayers, skills that normally have a low cost in Action Points and that become more powerful based on the successes obtained from a Mind Test.

The Prayers will be of great help to Vincenzo and his companions, providing positive statuses, healing and eliminating negative statuses. Vincenzo is a decent fighter, even if he won't be able to inflict damage like Sofia or Rebecca, he will be able to be effective in combat. 

Vincenzo also has many ways to increase his Threat Value (healing always increases your TV) and can help Valerio keep enemies at bay.

When the time comes to choose his Advanced Class, you can choose between two very different paths:

The Hospitaller will enhance his support and healing skills even more, at the expense of his offensive abilities. This class (one of the most tactical of all) bases its strength on managing your resources to use the right Prayers at the right time, healing and casting powerful buffs that will prove very useful, especially in the last Missions of the Campaign.

The Preacher, on the other hand, is a sort of Priest-Warrior, he will give Vincenzo a more aggressive build. The Preacher is an excellent fighter, able to support Valerio in the front line (especially if Valerio has decided to become a Mercenary). In addition to powerful support Prayers, this Class also features offensive prayers that inflict heavy debuffs on Enemies.

Vincenzo will offer many possibilities during the missions! We are confident that we have created a truly intriguing character to play, which will give you great fun in all its possible variations!

Let us know what you think of Vincenzo and what you think of the support heroes in general! Do you like playing them? In which games did you find Support Heroes that are really fun to play?

The pre-production phase of Wave 1 is proceeding in the times we have announced in this update, a lot of the material is in the finalization phase. Today we are also able to give you a spoiler on the configuration of the core box manuals: in addition to the already announced Rulebook and Plotbook, we have decided to add two additional booklets! 

The first is the Handbook, a handy booklet that will contain all the rules of the skills, legend of all tokens, list of traits and other valuable information. We used an early version of this handbook to facilitate our playtests, all players have found it very useful to be able to access these information quickly and conveniently. We have therefore decided to provide this valuable tool to all players.

The second is the "Start Here" book, which will guide you step by step in the Prologue Mission! This booklet will allow you to play your first game without reading the Rulebook, giving you the opportunity to learn how to play NAR in a simple and fun way!

We are confident that these additions will improve the gaming experience with NAR even more, as always we are eager to receive your feedback!

That's all for today! See you mid July with a new update!

You have my Sword!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2022 at 10:33:59 PM

Hello all!

We continue our journey to discover the Heroes of Nova Aetas Renaissance and today is the time of the most daring, reckless, and rude Squire in our history: Valerio!

Our proud Valerio was born and raised in Rome with his sister Sofia. Despite being very close, they immediately took very different paths. Always fascinated by the stories of knights and damsels in distress, Valerio has made his dream come true and began his journey as a squire of a Roman nobleman. Unfortunately, the noble was accused of treason by the Vatican state and was executed before finishing the training of his squire. Valerio, with his sister and two other friends, decided to start a small Free Company, taking advantage of the stormy political situation in Italy. Valerio never abandoned his dream of becoming a Knight, but he understood that even the Mercenary's way could give him the glory he was seeking ... as well as a bag full of Fiorini!

Valerio starts the NAR campaign as a Squire to take the role of the Group Tank. His abilities, and his Physical value of 4, will allow him to take hits, but also to attack with great effectiveness.

The Squire's skills perfectly embody Valerio's bold spirit. For example "Witness me!" gives him a reroll token (called Fortune Token) if, at the beginning of his activation, he is within 3 squares from any other Hero. With "Insult" he increases his Perilium by 1 point, attracting Enemies to himself more easily, to protect the weakest Heroes.

Valerio has a strong link with his Equipment. Those armors which provide additional Healt points, are really important to Valerio.

when a Hero suffers Wounds, if he has one of those Armor, he can place one wound on an Equipment for each "heart" symbol on the item card. This gives another advantage against attacks that also inflict Negative Statuses (Poison, Burn, etc): to suffer these statuses, the Hero must suffer at least one Wound on their Hero Sheet.

When Valerio has acquired at least 3 Squire skills, he can choose whether to take one of the two Advanced Classes: Knight or Mercenary.

The Knight will improve the Tank role, giving him additional Defensive skills at the expense of those of Movement and Attack. With this class Valerio will become a real bastion, able to withstand numerous attacks and attract many enemies to himself.

On the contrary, the Mercenary sacrifices defensive skills to become more offensive and agile. This class is a real challenge to master, because Valerio will inflict a lot of damage, often increasing his Perilium, but he will need to be very careful to survive the attacks of all the enemies he will attract attention to!

What do you think about Valerio? Will you be ready to play one of the most fundamental characters of the group? And how do you plan to play with him? Will you sacrifice yourself to protect the other heroes, or will you unleash your aggressive spirit and join the fray?

Tell us what you think!

See you in two weeks with a new hero of the first wave and updates on the production of wave 1!

Each Magister was an Apprentice
about 4 years ago – Sun, May 29, 2022 at 05:39:18 AM

Hello all

We have arrived at the second update of May, and we continue to increase our knowledge of the Heroes of Wave 1.

Today is the turn for the most attractive Magister who has ever walked the magical corridors of the Black Rose Lodge: Rebecca!

Well, in the period when NAR is set, Rebecca is still a young Apprentice, unaware of the dark fate that awaits her.

To finish the last phase of her training, her Venerable Master has ordered her to travel the world to hone her arts, trying to survive in a land that harbors no love for those who frequently use the power of Magic.

After greeting her twin, Arianna, Rebecca embarked on her own journey that led her to reunite with 3 childhood friends. They formed a small Free Company. The rest, as they say, is history.

On the battlefield, Rebecca will be able to use her magical abilities to unleash the most diverse effects. Her role in the group could be defined as "Control & Destroy".

Spells in NAR are not skills, but rather, are more like Equipment (scrolls to be precise) and will occupy the Encumbrance slots dedicated to Trinkets. So, Rebecca will be able to equip herself for a Mission with a maximum of 3 Spells.

In the NAR Core Box, you will find 3 unique Spells for each of the 3 Schools of Magic: Omnia, Necromancy, and Chronomancy. At the beginning of the Campaign, Rebecca will only be able to use the Omnia school. But when she chooses whether she will become a Necromancer or a Chronomant, she will also be able to draw from the Spells of the chosen respective School.

Before a Mission, Rebecca will be able to choose which Spells to take with her. This will give her many options. But remember that Spells, like all Equipment in NAR, will first need to be crafted. This will test the management skills of the group of players because they will need to measure the expenditure of Reagents collected during the missions and allocate them efficiently.

As an Apprentice, Rebecca will be able to learn useful skills that will allow her to prepare for the advanced class she will eventually take. Her abilities will obviously focus on the use of magic and will help her better manage her abilities. But some of them, such as "Know your enemy", will also support the other Heroes.

If you choose the advanced Necromancer class (as many will know this is definitely the "canonical" choice) her role will turn more towards the damage dealer and debuffer, with the excellent possibility of summoning an Undead minion when an Enemy Troop rank is eliminated.

If, on the other hand, you want to write your own story for Rebecca, you can choose the advanced Chronomant class. With this class, you will increase your game control skills, which will also extend to the manipulation of the Horologium … a Skill that can be very handy to have.

And you? How will you decide to play Rebecca? Will you follow our canon, or will you rewrite her story to suit your needs? The choice is in your hands!

Before saying goodbye, we want to share with you a small report from the Modena Play fair which took place last weekend.

NAR was present at one of our demo tables, where it was possible to play the entire Prologue mission of the campaign.

During the three days of the convention, we let dozens of people try NAR and we were pleasantly surprised to find on social networks, in the various groups of Italian tabletop players, phrases like "NAR is the new Gloomheaven-Killer" (LOL) or "NAR is a work of art ".

We are obviously very happy to have received so much positive feedback and we are proud to share with you the enthusiasm that is rising around our/your beloved game.

On our part, there is even more desire to finish the work on NAR and get it to your tables as soon as possible!

As always, thank you for all your support!

See you in two weeks!

Meet the Mediceo!
about 4 years ago – Sun, May 15, 2022 at 11:51:29 PM

Hello guys!

After the important update two weeks ago, let's start to let you take a closer look at the material that will be shipped with Wave 1. After the 3 Enemy factions from the Core Box (Fauns, Venice Republic, Rome), it is now the turn of the Heroes, to show you their skills, their strategies, and how their rules have evolved in these months of Design and Playtest.

Obviously, we start with the most badass Mercenary of the Italian Renaissance: The Mediceo!

Let's have a look at his Hero Sheet!

As you can see this game element has changed a bit from those shown during the Kickstarter; from the feedback received during playtests, we changed some ergonomic aspects, game elements, and rules.

Now the Heroic Points have their own Track (bottom left), an acrylic cube will allow you to keep track of these points. Each Hero collects Heroic Points in different ways and you will need them to activate their Heroic Skill, a "super-ability" that can be used only once per Mission, but using it wisely can turn the tide of a battle!

The Mediceo gains Heroic Points every time he deals damage using his Rifle and every time the Kid inspires him. When he has accumulated 4 Heroic Points he can activate his Heroic Skill "Defensive Exploit", which cures him of all negative statuses and provide him a series of very powerful positive statuses.

Stats management also changed from the first version. Now 2 Stats can be upgraded once when your Hero moves to one of the 2 Advanced Classes.

This change improves balance with the Heroes' growth and keep the focus on Skills upgrades. Playtest sessions with external players were really valuable and allowed us to make the Heroes' growth system more interesting and rewarding.

The Mediceo begins the campaign with the Hunter class; thanks to its skills and equipment he can be considered as a sort of Ranged-Tank, capable of inflicting serious damage from a distance, attracting the attention of the Enemies, and resisting their attacks. His rules are based on two unique mechanics: Kid's Inspiration and Da Vinci Equipment.

Inspiration focuses on the Kid's latent magical abilities. The baby Faun that the Mediceo protects is actually a powerful psionic. The Kid did not receive a proper training yet, so he can't control well his abilities, they can only be triggered by certain events.

The Da Vinci Equipment represents all the extraordinary inventions of the famous Renaissance genius. The Mediceo will be able to improve his basic equipment by inserting in his armor and weapons a series of ingenious gadgets, such as flamethrowers, telescopic sights, and much more!! And yes, you will be able to equip even a rudimental "Jet Pack"... we already know you were going to ask for it!

The 2 Advanced Classes focus on one of these mechanics.

The Guardian focuses on Da Vinci's Equipment, making the Mediceo a true war machine, with the right gadget for every occasion.

The Awakened relies more on the Kid's magical powers to overcome his opponents. When the Kid wakes up the Mediceo can unleash a series of effects that will leave you speechless!

All Heroes have mechanics that make them unique and fun to play; learning to master them will make the gaming experience very rewarding and always different, even if you decide to play the campaign for a second time using the same Hero! And that goes for all 11 Heroes at your disposal! We're confident NAR will keep you busy for a long time, rest assured!

Let us know what you think about the Mediceo, is he going to become your favorite Hero?

Before concluding this update, since many have asked us this question, we want to clarify that we're working to deliver Wave 1 in all languages available for NAR at the same time (not only the English version). 

That's all for today! See you in a couple of weeks with a new Hero and development update!

Very Important Update
about 4 years ago – Sun, May 01, 2022 at 02:42:29 AM

Hello everyone,

We have prepared an update with lots of information and important news.

First of all, we want to tell you about the state of the work and the development of the game.

Project Status

We finally managed to complete the core box, it was a long and complex job that took much longer than expected due to several factors, which we will discuss below.

The positive side is that this additional development time has  several improvements to the game originally proposed on KS, let's go through them in detail.

The Enemies: in the original project, the intent of the alternative poses unlocked with the stretch goals was a purely aesthetic impact, without touching the gameplay. Already during the KS, taken by the enthusiasm of the effect of the new poses, we decided that with 2 additional cards per enemy we could make better use of these new models. So now each enemy has a unique profile and peculiar abilities, adding considerable variability at matches.

The cons are that most of the missions ready at the time of the KS had to undergo a new phase of playtesting, to make sure that the inclusion of these new enemies was giving good fun and diversity while maintaining the balance of the game. The different types of enemies inside the base box were originally a total of 12, now they have grown to a whopping 18.

Crafting objects (Formulae): in the original project we had approx 30 objects, we have now reached over 50!! We have added new hero class specific objects and new generic items, we have also added a new category of items called "Oils", with effects that can last for the entire mission, unlike potions which are instant single effects. All of these items have been tested and the enemy reward system has been re-balanced. Obviously, all these additional objects needed to be conceptualized and illustrated, we hope you like them!

Achievements: this category of cards includes both the Achievements, obtainable through different actions during the missions, and they usually do not affect the tactical part of the game but only the options and the odds of the players, and the Rewards, which are real nice objects usable during the various missions. In the original project we had 15 Achievements and 6 Rewards, today we have 29 Achievements and 8 Rewards.

Tiles: we have added 2 new ones, with a water effect side and a mud effect side. These two new tiles obviously have in-game effects and those may vary from mission to mission.

Missions: In the original project there were 26 missions, we increased them to 28. We did it to make the plot and the interweaving work better. Of course those add further longevity to the core box.

Plot book: last but not least, this book was initially a volume of about 100 pages in A5 format, now it reached about 300 pages (!!). Our graphic designers are working on the layout of its final version, changing to an A4 format of about 150 pages, presumably with spiral binding. The work on the plot book was one of the biggest efforts, with numerous corrections and reworking that came out during the playtest sessions. To make you understand better, every time a new idea intervened (on a mission, on objects, or on narrative plots), or changes were made to improve the clarity and usability of the texts during the tests, it was necessary to re-check and pontentially modify all previous closed and already paginated missions. We never managed a plot book like this before, we admit it was far more complex than expected.

Mea culpa, as the Latins used to say.

All these implementations, which here in the studio, generated enthusiasm thinking about the final version of the product, caused delays in development.

The situation in the recent past did not help, we already told you about the difficulty in carrying out the playtests, with live sessions blocked for months and with jumping sessions due to various absences due to illness and various isolations, and then the need to re-work on so many of the missions, which passed the internal playtests, but then failed during the external tests.

We must honestly admit that we underestimated the overall work needed, the integration of the stretch goals released, the solidity of the internal playtests carried out before the KS, the impact of the finalization work, and the consistency of the plot book. We must admit that even if there was no pandemic, we would still have had serious difficulties in completing the work on time.

It is our duty to take responsibility for this.

It is also our duty to apologize for failing to communicate: often in the hope of being able to catch up with delays and bring you good news, we have slowed down the pace of communication on development, actually doing worse. In any case, we should have kept you updated on the positive news, on the difficulties, on the options developed to overcome them, and on the impacts on the timing. This project exists and will see the light only thanks to you, and this transparency was therefore due to you.

Let's start right away, by communicating two important decisions just taken, regarding Updates and 2 Waves shipping.

Updates: Starting from May we will release 2 monthly updates, in order to keep you constantly updated on the status of the work, development, and production.

We will share images related to the playtests and images of the graphics of the various elements of the game, and we will of course give you insights on individual features and special elements.

2 waves shipping: This is the biggest news today. We did an accurate estimate on the time it takes us to complete the expansions, part of the stretch goals, and then localize NAR in the 5 promised languages. Given the amount of text on cards and the various Plot books (yes, even the expansions have their own Plot book!), the timeline looks very long to complete all the translations, so sending everything in a single shipment would lead us to deliver everything around mid 2023.

We have therefore decided to split the shipments in two waves, in order to deliver part of your pledge to you more quickly, to let you start playing while we finish the work on the second part.

The additional costs for the management of the two waves will be absorbed directly by us.

The first wave will include not only the core box, we are also working to add all the following material: Hyperion, Draco, The Mediceo, Minotaur, plus all cosmetic add-ons (Artbook, Card Holders, Dice sets). We will also include Magister pledge stretch goals for everyone, this means that Magister pledges will be fully delivered, together with all BRW crossover material.

Shipping Timeline

Production of the first wave will start in June, we plan to load cargo on ships in China by the end of the year, we are awaiting feedback from the factory to confirm these dates.

Production of the second wave will start before the end of the year and, considering the Chinese New Year that blocks factories for about a month, we think we can load cargo on ships between April and May next year.

Let's add a clarification note about working on new projects while other projects are still under development/finalization. Some of you, understandably, expressed doubts and concerns about this situation. We want to give you more clarity about this topic, the work teams are different, people work in parallel on multiple projects, and the overlaps that can really slow down the work can happen in very few occasions. Let's go into our specific situation: at the moment, as many of you know, the creative group of the Studio is working on three projects: "Nova Aetas: Renaissance", "Black Rose Wars: Rebirth", and the new arrival "The Breach". Regarding the game design, Andrea Colletti and Luca Bernardini (the authors), Diego Fonseca and now Marco Presentino are working on NAR, Marco Montanaro (the author) is working on BRW: R, Michele Morosini (the author) is working on The Breach. The internal playtests are managed directly by the game designers, for the external playtests each game design group moves its tests independently as needed. Regarding illustrations and sculptures, the work on NAR has been completed months ago, the work on BRW: R is done and we are in an advanced stage of reviewing the print files with the factory, it is on The Breach that illustrators and sculptors are now engaged. Regarding the graphics work, we have 4 people at the moment who follow the different projects, each person with his/her specific focus.

This is just to give you more evidence that, for example, not releasing The Breach would have no impact on speeding up NAR. We hope that this brief description will help to better understand the internal dynamics and to reassure you that NAR is not and will never be a parked project due to new initiatives.

Last note, now that here in Italy the security measures related to the pandemic are finally reducing a lot, if you want to come and visit us here in the Studio just contact us and you will be welcome! After so much forced distance it will be a pleasure to have the opportunity to chat and show you the work in progress. Of course, we are not really within the reach of all of you, but never say never :)

That's all for now, we hope that this update has transmitted to you the commitment and passion we are putting into developing this ambitious game.

We'll be back in two weeks!