Fan-made Gloomhaven expansion The Crimson Scales raises more than $300K

When I finish a nice board game, I like to pack it all up, put it on the shelf, and maybe — just maybe — consider trading it to a friend for something new. Many fans loved the game. GloomhavenOther ideas came up. The team found an artist and a writer, worked for months on the full-size expansion and sold it online. So far they’ve raised more than $300,000 for Crimson Scales. The game’s original designer, Isaac Childres, tells Polygon he’s thrilled.

Gloomhaven This campaign is about 20 lbs in one box. It’s an action role-playing game with nearly 100 scenarios that doesn’t require a game master to run, and it’s been snatching up awards since it first arrived in people’s hands in 2017. It’s given birth to a whole genre of similar experiences, ranging from hard science fiction to fantasy experiences, like this one set in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. Shortly after the game’s first printing shipped, Childres put all of the images and other assets used to create GloomhavenIt was saved to a Google Drive folder for everyone to access and use. Eventually he slapped a Creative Commons license on it and moved on to the game’s first proper sequel, Frosthaven.

Image: Alexandr Elichev

“To me,” Childres said, “it wasn’t so much about, This content you can use, this you can’t. I want people to be making new content, making new stories, and creating new monsters and new character classes and stuff like that.”

Nick Sims and Motti Ironbach accepted Childres offer. The result was an expansion that included 66 additional scenarios, 100 new items, 11 classes, 11 different miniatures and some original artwork.

“I see my part of it, at least, as a love letter to Gloomhaven,” said Sims, who wrote Crimson Scales. “The whole thing with this was, we didn’t want to do an extra thing, a crazy weird thing that you’ve not seen before. For people who are looking for more Gloomhaven. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

It begins much the same as in the original campaign. There are a few extra jobs for mercenaries. It expands from there into an extensive branching campaign much like the original. We won’t spoil the events here, but obviously the biggest joy of Crimson ScalesIt’s just about sitting down with your friends and reminiscing over the first.

Image: Alexandr Elichev

“People aren’t always what they seem,” Sims said. “There are twists and turns [and]There are many decisions you can make that will help or hinder your progress. It is possible to go back in time and replay all the scenarios. [with these new characters].”

Eisenbach, who has been more on the project management and logistics side of things than Sims, says he’s been in close contact with Childres’ team at Cephalofair Games pretty much the whole time.

“I’ve been communicating with them over email, letting them know about the project,” Eisenbach said. “I even got to meet Isaac. […]This was fantastic. He’s been very supportive of people making custom content.”

Initially, Sims and Eisenbach’s intent was to make their expansion as a print-and-play module, something you could take down to the local copy shop and bang out in an afternoon of cutting and folding. Over time, the fan base grew so big that it became feasible to print a printed edition.

Image: Alexandr Elichev

“I went and arranged a one-time bulk printing for anyone who was interested in getting it printed,” Eisenbach said. “Instead of them having to do the work to go to the print shop, I would do it for them.”

While the terms of Childres’ licensing agreement mean that the Crimson Scales team can’t make any profit from the endeavor, the project has opened up plenty of lucrative opportunities for its creators. Sims is still a bit stunned by Eisenbach’s prototype for his campaign board game, and will be displaying it at Origins Game Fair, June 8.

“I joined a forum [not long ago] because I thought it might be cool to make some Kickstarter stuff, and now I’m the social media manager for a games company,” Sims said. “Und there’s a quarter of a million pounds worth of games with my name on it going all around the world. I don’t know how that happened. It’s pretty amazing.”

Print-and-play versions of Crimson ScalesOnline ordering is still possible. The May 26th deadline for pre-orders of the second printed physical copy is the last. You will pay $119 for the base expansion, and $74 more for miniatures.