Chrysopoeia - a Steampunk-themed game of Alchemy, battles, and resourcing is up on Tabletopia

Something weird is going on with my image links - the pics are hosted on BGG, but seem to be on and off broken links today...

And they're back?

Weird - after going to BGG to view each image in my gallery, the links started working again...

Yup, one by one as I viewed them they started showing up here again.

A couple of screen shots from the 2 player setup on Tabletopia:

Hi folks, just wanted to make note of the progress on Chrysopoeia. This is still a Work-In-Progress, both in physical prototypes and on Tabletopia, so for anyone who has been trying to get familiar with the manual, feel free to PM me anytime to ask about any minor changes or updates I've been doing. I don't want to add a post here every time, since that would just be annoying, right? :) But I'd be more than happy to PM you and fill you in on any recent changes.

I know that a 22 page manual is pretty involved, so I don't expect that too many people are ready to invest the time into it, although as a prototype it is fully functional on Tabletopia. But hey, at least it's 10 pages shorter than the Scythe manual, right?? Lol

Anyway, my latest play-test helped to cement in place some of the recent changes, but also helped me to cut out some overly-complex rules with the Alchemy Lord character cards. While the replacement graphics are done, I may still play around with the graphic design a bit. But at least they're ready for the next test!

So that's basically about the last thing I need to iron out! But if the next test or two goes better with those, I'll be happy. I was also finally able to send off a lot of updated cards and tokens to a friend out of state so he and his group can start play-testing too!

Thanks for checking it out @tikey! Page 3 has a description of the player boards and the layout, but I changed some of the text to make sure it's all explained. I'll work on rearranging the page better though since it's a little messy.

And I found room on page 4 to briefly describe the resources as part of the setup instructions. Thanks for the feedback!

I never did a title page or a table of contents - I should probably get those in there soon tho & see if that helps navigate a little.

The main thing I need to settle on is the right unique character abilities. Trying to make them interesting but simple - the character cards are not a big part of the game, but instead serve to give different "flavors" to the way you play the game.

Getting close!

Done!

Thanks again for the feedback tikey! And it looks like you have a good understanding of how a lot of things work in the game, so that's helpful to know. Especially as English is your second language, right? But I must say you have an excellent command of English!

I will also freely admit that Chrysopoeia seems to be kind of tedious to play on Tabletopia compared to the actual physical version. It's like that for most games that I've tried on there too, of course. It's not as fun as the real thing by far. Picking up a handful of Alchemy dice to chuck and sort through the "experimental reaction results" is fun, and it even adds a unique player interaction as everyone wants to see if they can find matches with you, even though they are "opponents".

But in Tabletopia it's tedious to move the dice, draw a selection around them, or select them one at a time, roll, then move them again to place them - it's much easier on a real table! Although the moving gauge needles are pretty cool in Tabletopia...

Anyway, it has still helped a lot with play testing. Thanks again to anyone who has tried it out!

Yes that's the real strong point for Tabletopia - so much faster to upload new images to create a new virtual iteration, instead of ordering new cards & such from a printer!

Well I learned my Spanish after spending a couple years living in Ecuador, but that was a long time ago, so my pronunciation is much worse than it once was! But I'll send you a PM tikey, and maybe we can try both your Galactic Battlecruiser game and Chrysopoeia on Tabletopia.

Hey, that rhymes.

So I'm working now on balancing the special ability ideas for my 6 Alchemy Lord character cards. They will each have a basic ability, and an advancement track to unlock a greater ability.

Other than that, I'm going to have only the Apprentice able to get the "Research" resource. A golem can gather your other resources (Iron, Copper, Brass, Rare Earths), It doesn't make sense​ though for golems to gather research! I'll try to get some examples up soon.

The main thing I'm working on now is solidifying the Character card abilities. Instead of the above idea, My wife and I were brainstorming and thought it would be cool to have a special "golem mascot/pet" for each character that comes with an ability.

So once you've unlocked the golem, you can trigger its special ability if its symbol shows up in your unused Production dice roll.

This next character doesn't get a pet, but gains control over the Chaos that seems to haunt him:

there are two more but my daughter is working on some sketches for steampunk wolf and fox golems!

Glad you like that too! I have 6 total, and only 5 symbols to work with, so I used quintessence (my connection to pure essence of Air element) twice.

The others will be reduction (Earth) and aqua vitae (Water).

Fulmination represents Fire, as the flame symbols represent Chaos/destruction. Hope that all makes sense overall.

I've put my own twist on some things because I didn't want to try to copy "medieval alchemy" but to create a "Steampunk Alchemy" that's more unique.

Also, nothing here is "final art" yet, but since the newer prototype is pretty well fleshed out, I want to have everything fit consistently, ad much as possible.

The images for these cards are public domain - I double checked everything, since I'll be uploading them to Tabletopia soon. I was just overlaying gears & such to get the concept across, but there are a lot of other cool concepts out there - I look forward to seeing what a real artist can do with my ideas!

In our most recent play tests, I have been able to finally incorporate the looming threat of Chaos that erodes the world, and now Chrysopoeia is a very competitive game - a race against each other - but also a race against Time!

Each Alchemy Lord blames the others for unleashing the Chaos, and each believes that he or she is the only one capable of banishing the Chaos at the Well, whence it seeps into the world. As an Alchemy Lord, you believe that the others will only make things worse - and they can!

Players now use the Prima Materia Alchemy cards they collect throughout the game to construct their Final Experiment to perform at the Well of Chaos. But if they are not properly prepared, and their Alchemy goes awry, they will push the Chaos Track forward, ever closer to allowing it to break free and consume all of Reality!

There are other events in the game that trigger the advancing of the Chaos Track, adding more intensity to the game! But players also have ways to push back the Track, to buy a little extra time here and there. You can select the difficulty by adjusting which space will be the "final" space on the Chaos Track above, as well as adjusting the length for the number of players.

More to come, and I've been "practicing" my video presentations a bit, so hopefully I'll soon be uploading some short clips to demonstrate different parts of the game!

As far as I'm aware, I'm not able to go back and edit any of my previous posts on this forum, other than the most recent post, right?

So I'm going to go ahead and put the updated Intro page to the game here, which reflects the changed end goal of the game. The earlier versions of the game were about the final goal of creating the Philosopher's Stone, but I had always intended to find a more unique end goal.

Since February, that goal was replaced with the end goal of banishing the Chaos that is seeping into the world, and all playtests since have used that successfully! So here's the revised intro!

LORDS OF ALCHEMY -- CHRYSOPIA & CHAOS

The Domains of Chrysopia abound with ores and the mystical elements of the Cosmos, a prime location for the wise Alchemy Lords to thrive as they delve into the mysteries of their science.

Once united in purpose, the Alchemy Lords built a great Harness to subdue the Essence of Chaos, and from it create order and perfection in the world.

But then, with their insatiable desire for the deepest of mysteries, they each began to cast aside too many laws of the Cosmos. The unforeseen and unintended workings of Alchemy opened a void in the Aether itself. The great Harness became instead a Well of Chaos, threatening all of reality.

The formless tides of Chaos have begun to manifest throughout the lands of Chrysopia, and now strange werebeasts and vampiric horrors roam free. Chaotic vortices sweep the Domains with their twisting, malevolent winds, and have left many structures of men in ruins.

Bitter rivalries have arisen between the Alchemy Lords, as each blames the others for the unleashing of this unpredictable Chaos. Fearing that the inept works of their rivals will only hasten the utter destruction of the Cosmos, each of these Lords isolated themselves, creating their own small legions of loyal soldiers, apprentices, and worker golems to sustain them, thus buying themselves time to restore Order to the world.

LORDS OF ALCHEMY -- CHRYSOPIA & CHAOS is a game for 2-4 players, where each person controls a domain of resource-generating facilities and is seeking the elusive substances of Prima Materia and the Philosopher's Stone. With these mystical elements, the portals of Chaos could be sealed again, and Order would be restored to Chrysopia once more.

In a world of steam-powered contraptions and anachronistic Aether science, players must manage their resource production by animating worker golems and placing them in their resource facilities. Players spend resources to build Transport and Aether Science upgrades. Use gauges and needles to track your Steam power, your fortifications, and uses of your Time Machine. Build up a supply of Rare Earth chemicals, which are the essential ingredients for your Alchemy experiments. These experiments will lead players to claim the title of Prime Alchemist when the Well of Chaos is at last sealed, restoring Order to the world!

Here are some images I've been posting to Twitter:

Finally did a demo video! I'm not great at this, but I kept it short. This playlist has 3 segments - I left them separate in case I needed to redo anything, & so you can just watch one at a time if you wish.

Watch Videos

I realized after watching this that the recent issues with the Alchemy feeling too easy lately is due to the Time Machine being available earlier in the game. It's just too powerful! I'm going to try limiting the starting ability to only re-rolling 1 (or 2) dice, with an upgrade to re-roll an additional die.

Couple images from setting up: