Things have been getting Harry behind the scenes at the Hat for a while, and we’re so happy to be able to talk about them publicly now. That’s right; we’ve been working on a Dresden Files cooperative card game!
For those of you not in-the-know about the Dresden Files series, we’re of the firm opinion that it’s one of the best urban fantasies around. The series, written by Jim Butcher, is fifteen books and counting and includes a few NYT bestsellers. Jim trusted us with the world when we made the multi-award-winning Dresden Files RPG, and he’s been crazy enough to do it again.
Now, here’s what we can currently tell you about the game: It’s designed by Eric B. Vogel, who you might recognize based on his excellent work on Don’t Turn Your Back and Zeppelin Attack. The game allows you to play Harry Dresden and his friends as they take on the cases from the novels in the ultimate what-if scenario—what if Harry was on the scene with allies who weren’t there in the original story? The core game includes Harry, Murphy, Susan, Michael, and the Alphas and plays through the first five novels. Expansions are a possibility! Designs are already well underway for more series characters and more novels.
We’ll be bringing this to Kickstarter in 2016, but you don’t have to wait that long to learn more. Fred will be demoing the game at Metatopia (Nov. 5-8), so make sure to check it out if you’re there. Also, you might remember that we really like transparency at the Hat, and with that in mind, we’re planning a series of sneak peeks and behind the scenes info so you can watch for yourself how the game is progressing. Some of that material will likely be here, and some will be at Fred’s site, Deadly Fredly. Eventually, you’ll be able to play it via our new arrangement with Envoy too!
Lastly…
- If you want to make sure you get playtest/Kickstarter/release information, sign up for our newsletter.
- Follow our tumblr for art sneak peeks.
- If you’re a reviewer interested in the Dresden Files Co-op game (or any of our other games, for that matter), drop Carrie a line at carrie@evilhat.com. Please include your interests (RPGs? Board games? Particular genres?) and a link to one of your reviews. We’ll get back to you when we have something we think fits your interests.
Fuego! Only we’ll make sure to keep the fuego away from the cards, because that’s dangerous.
Any chance the final lid cover image could be a picture of Harry without the hat? He only wears those when modelling for book covers.
In fact, I the art request I sent just the other day to Christian McGrath (the guy who does the cover art for all the novels) specified NO HAT. 🙂
“Getting Harry”, for those “not-in-the-know”
I love this write-up.
Also, as a fan of cooperative games, I am pretty excited about this.
Can I give you money now?
i look forward to the hat/no hat controversy!
Exploding Kittens and now DF the card game, all in one year?
TOO. MUCH. AWESOME.
I’m flashing forward to 3 years from now when I’m cursing the Hat for reanimating the TCG addiction I kicked 20 years ago…
Yes, NO HAT. I’m so damn tired of that freaking hat on the book covers.
Start an email list where I can be notified of the launch, please
KB, sign up for the newsletter (link above) to be notified via email. Keeping a separate email list for each product would probably make our heads explode, and we make it a policy to send a maximum of two newsletters a month, so we promise not to inundate you with junk.
Tell me it’s a deckbuilder and I will love you forever.
Alas, Adam, can’t tell you that. We’ve got two deckbuilders in our catalog already and I think it’s important that we don’t get too one-note with that genre.
Yes, please… No hat on Harry. I guess you could say that hat is…. Evil? 🙂
And please take my money now! I love Evil Hat and The Dresden Files. (You should start bugging Jim and making a Cinder Spires game while you’re at it.)
Yeah, I’m not crazy about the hat either… I mean focus on making the game great, but I’ve never really understood the hat… 🙂
The novels’ publisher requested the hat from the artist as a way to give bookstore customers a visual short hand for “private eye”.
It seems that the artist is just messing with him about the hat thing. I was looking at doing a Cinder Spires cosplay, and it seems Butcher specifically requested a hat for the Aeronaut’s Windlass cover. Guess what? No hat. Lol.