So many interesting things going on in The City.  The Royal Gardens, extravagant galas, the bustling streets, groups of strange little tourists (that look suspiciously like Goblins in disguise) snapping photos of the Cupcake Factory...  all the delightful shops and welcoming cafes to visit.  It's no wonder that folks from all over the land make a visit to The City part of their Holiday itinerary.  Visits to nearby RPG University and the School of Magic in particular are big attractions as well.  After a tough job ridding the world of evil bad guys and otherwise righting the wrongs that plague the land, our valiant heroes deserve the pleasure of an exciting (or relaxing) day browsing the quaint shops and trendy cafes of The City.

Please allow us to introduce the latest element to the world of Feonora, the new "Goods and Wares" shopping and collectibles add-on.  This entirely optional multi-page file features a selection of The City's most frequented establishments along with unique books, interesting wares, delectable treats and other rare finds.  Have a glimpse below...

Or download the entire Goods and Wares pdf to peruse at leisure.

It's something for our Characters to enjoy at the end of the Victory Phase when they perhaps have a few extra Copper Pieces to spend.  Your Characters will find that bargaining is a big part of the shopping experience so come prepared to nab that special something for a good deal less than the price on the tag.  Just be sure to properly follow the rules of bargaining etiquette.

Speaking of extra Copper Pieces we should use this opportunity to talk about the new Banking mini-game and upcoming revisions to Bank Day cards.  There's no guarantee these changes will result in greater returns on your Character's deposits, but they should prove a more exciting way of exploring that possibility...

Up to this point the Bank has played more of a background role, during Town Time especially but also in the way it related to “Bank Day” cards.  It has served mostly as an opportunity for characters, very rarely mind, to score big returns late in the game (or at least offer a safe place to store CP away from the prying hands of Thieves, Brigands and Tax Collectors... as any good bank should).  This update maintains the original spirit of the Bank while reworking the act of making a deposit during Town Time into a new mini-game.  It also gives the various Bank Day cards a refresh, with the same opportunities to score big, or suffer a cruel and dreadful Stock Slump.

Previously, the main activities that took place in the Bank were making a deposit or withdrawal (or the occasional Trouble card).  Withdrawing funds from one’s deposit box remains the same and still consumes one Action.  What has changed is that now, whenever a Character makes a deposit they will have a chance at triggering an event... one that affects all Characters with money in the Bank.

There's much more in the way of details on these new game elements covered in the latest Upcoming Changes document, including an example of how the new Bank Day cards will (likely) be structured...

...along with more thorough exposition on how everything ties together.

In the meantime, keep practicing those finer techniques of getting a solid Set, Sequence or Combo.  That way you'll have more CP to spend in The City  : D

Download Character Sheet Front or Character Sheet Back

Download the latest Companions deck

For this update we're going to touch on small adjustments as they relate to the Opponents deck, but more than anything this is a way of sharing more about visual presentation and design.  Many of the previous changes we've seen in this area have been revealed in the recent updates to the Adventure and Dungeon card decks, where (for example) serif fonts have been replaced by styled handwriting fonts, with far greater emphasis on the narrative presentation that has become the central basis for characters and player storytelling.

As we sat down to consider these changes the Opponents deck presented a good opportunity as a point of reference, with the idea that each deck will [continue to] have its own visual style, but also where changes might be influenced by the shift in focus of recent years.  Those of you already involved or experienced with layout and design know there are many factors that inform the choices and combinations that go into something like a font palette, which can be a lengthy process with respect to crafting the appropriate look and feel.  But with an iterative development process, as we have done with Heroes of Feonora, this has allowed each element to evolve in its own way, resulting in things that quite possibly might not have occurred otherwise.

Of course, we know from the player perspective (and our own prototyping efforts) how challenging it is to keep everything up-to-date. And so we do want to take a moment to acknowledge that and to suggest that for something like this updating can at times be optional.  For example, in earlier updates one or two characters may have changed, or a stat will have been adjusted slightly.  In these instances sometimes it might suffice to mark the change on a card or try to print only the newer characters rather than the entire deck ~ even if the backing doesn't match up exactly.  We have come to suppose that most of our players, those who've chosen to dive into this thing with us, have accepted by varying degrees that this isn't a game that will always be completely perfect or "finished" at any given moment, but that is embraced as acceptable so long as it remains fun and playable.  Perhaps others have realized too that even a fully "boxed" version of a game is bound to have small imperfections and ultimately be representative of more a snapshot in time than anything... but that's a larger topic best tackled in the tavern.

Coming back around to this most recent update to the Opponents deck consider that none of the characters (or their fighting abilities) have been changed, which means that if you have the previous version it is still mechanically a fully up-to-date deck.  This might be the first time an update has been purely aesthetic.  Although that said, we did capitalize on opportunities for additional wordsmithing, so if the way the characters read is important that is another consideration.

Well by now you must be wondering what the new design looks like and so...

Download the latest Opponents Deck

The other thing we've been wanting to do for some time is revisit the color for the Opponents backing.  No major change but we did increase the saturation just slightly.  In fact, for most printers it will hardly be noticeable, but whatever the case you should be getting something like a Grayish purple or a Light plum.

Download Opponents Backing with adjusted color

There are of course more changes in the works, although possibly not quite what you will think... at least, not for the next update.  As always, we want to thank all of the families, individuals and groups of players out there for giving this game a chance.  It's no small thing to go through the effort of putting something like this together let alone keeping it up-to-date, when there are so many other games out there available in a nicely decorated box on a store shelf.

...maybe someday.