What do you do when you're a couple of competitive LCG players who need a fictional, in-world card game for your upcoming D&D campaign? You design "Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres," of course.
And what do you do when your initial design for this fictional card game is…actually fun? And then you end up working on it for almost three years straight because you enjoy it so much? And then you hire an incredible artist (Vittoria Pompolani) because you want to see the factions you're obsessed with come to life? And then you bring your prototype to PAX East and everyone loves it? And then you end up talking to Nate Chatellier (Dice Throne) and Andrew Navarro (FFG, Earthborne) about how to start a company?
You end up with a new studio, Chaotic Great Games, making over $100k on Kickstarter and publishing a delightful, mid-weight, tactical card/board game called Gudnak. And we end up with a new indie "card" game partnership.
But don't worry—it's not one of those big commitment TCGs or highly competitive expandables. Instead, it's that game that you bring to the group when it's time to hang out and enjoy the unburdened fun of card games instead of testing and tweaking your tournament deck.
Tim and Ian, the creators of Gudnak, are the exact kind of people you want publishing a game like this. They have a clear-eyed view of the industry and have not deceived themselves into thinking that these kinds of games will be played weekly at game stores across the country. Instead, they know that the majority will play at home and in traditional social environments (coffee shops, breweries, etc), among partners, families, and friend groups. Gudnak thrives in these settings.
What they want with Chaotic Great is to build a publishing company that is deeply human. Their desire is to stay close to the player base, be actively involved in the community, and push a remarkable level of quality for such a small team—while still injecting plenty of humor and levity along the way.
As for the game itself, the box is super small and packable, the footprint will fit on just about any table, and you can grab your faction of choice and get right to it. Every player gets two actions per turn, and chooses from a simple list of available options. Slowly, you realize how deep the decision trees are once you're in it.
For me, this is a game I can take to a family gathering or gaming-adjacent friend group and know that it will be enjoyed—as opposed to something with a much steeper learning curve like Sorcery or Flesh and Blood. It's also the game that I'll play with Zach, or Jonathan, when we just want to relax after work or head over to one of the local breweries.
We just think it's a blast to play, a refreshing and *actually* unique theme that isn't regurgitating all the classic fantasy tropes, and an extremely impressive first outing from a new indie publisher. If that sounds interesting, check out the Core Set ($50) and additional items on our Gudnak page.
Resources
Buy the products - https://cov.link/gudnak
Our tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SdSTP9LeEE
Gudnak discord - https://discord.com/invite/eepGQNP7z5
Gudnak website - https://gudnak.com/
Becca Scott tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtghUJh_B3A
Chaotic Great YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ChaoticGreat
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