Exclusive Interview With Cephalofair Games, Creator Of 'Gloomhaven'
Image Source: Monica Paprocki and Mofei Wang
CultureSlate had the privilege to sit down and chat with Monica Paprocki of Cephalofair Games at the Origins Gaming Convention to discuss exciting updates and new releases in the Gloomhaven universe.
CS: You’ve mentioned that you have several new releases coming up. What can you share that we can look forward to?
MP: Right now we are currently promoting our newest and first solo game ever called Buttons and Bugs. People call it their lunch break game because each of our scenarios runs about 20 minutes per scenario. What’s fun is, even though it’s a solo game, it is very rich in the Gloomhaven universe lore and provides to the narrative that is true to the Gloomhaven brand. The premise takes place right after Gloomhaven. Our heroes find themselves knowing that the Aesther recluse Hail studies at the Crooked Bone tavern and go off to find her. The minute they walk into the tavern, they find themselves slowly shrinking down. Hail has had enough of people just barging into the tavern and trying to ask her to help them become heroes so she enchanted the door so everybody who walks through it shrinks. Now you as the player have to figure out how to get back to your regular size.
On top of that we have our new printing of Jaws of the Lion, which is back in stock now. Our most anticipated one that we have going on for this year is our second edition to Gloomhaven. There has been a lot of confusion about this one because a lot of folks think that it’s a reprint or redesign of the game, but it’s actually a brand new game. We wanted to bring something new into the game so when you notice the box for second edition, it doesn’t just have new artwork, but there’s also some additional names that will be at the bottom of the box. Isaac [Childres] is still a part of it of course because this is his world. Then we have Drew [Penn] and Dennis [Vögele] who are also helping write the new scenarios for second edition. Dennis is a really good puzzle master so we have new puzzles and then we have a lot of new artwork. The boss and boss fight are going to be different. The only thing that’s similar are the monsters and the character sheets which pretty much stay true to the originals. We’re big into playability in all our games so you can play characters from Gloomhaven and you can also take those characters and bring them to Frosthaven. We needed to revamp the Gloomhaven starter 6 characters to keep up with the other games so you’ll have a fighting chance when you go to those worlds.
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Image Source: Monica Paprocki
CS: What are the release dates for the new games?
MP: Jaws of the Lion is already here. Buttons and Bugs is out now at all your Friendly Local Game Stores. For second edition, our timeline has moved further out due to manufacturing timelines, but keep an eye out for updates on that. We’re starting to wrap up everything so that we can send it to our factory to produce. We’re also working on our RPG right now, which is pretty big, and our miniature line. The RPG stays true to how you play Gloomhaven, but it’s completely different in such a way that you have goals you have to attain during the gameplay. Since it’s an RPG, you can really, truly customize your character and ancestry with this game and mix and match classes.
In tandem with that, we decided it’s time to make miniatures for our monsters. A lot of the monsters in our game right now are standees. We have such interesting artwork and very intricate designs so we wanted to translate that into miniatures. The RPG and miniatures will be released. We have about 650 different monsters. Their divided into a Frosthaven set, a Jaws of the Lion set, and a Gloomhaven set. By the time second edition comes around, you’ll have the minis for the monsters available as well. Another fun thing about our miniature line is that we partnered with The Army Painter. They’re providing you a Gloomhaven starter paint set to go with painting your minis.
CS: What has been your favorite game that you’ve worked on so far?
MP: I always want to go back to the first time I started working for the company when we launched Frosthaven and announced it at Pax Unplugged. That was such a pivotal moment for me. I had just started my cosplay business and was doing cosplay commissions at that time. It was the first time I worked with a company who brought me in as their cosplayer. Being part of that big announcement, for the board game that broke the record for the most funded board game on Kickstarter, it felt like such a big achievement, not just on my part, but on the team as well. We had such a diverse group of writers and artists involved in this project that we were just so proud of it. We had so much content in it, we ended up hiring a submarine designer/engineer to help us figure out how to put everything back in the box organized. When you open the Frosthaven box, you actually have a diagram of how to stack everything back. Isaac was really excited creating this game, and he put a lot of passion into creating and adding more stuff into it and that’s how we ended up with a 35 pound game.
Buttons and Bugs is another game that I’m very passionate about because it’s the first game I started marketing when I got my marketing position here. What’s fun about the game is that I get to actually work with a lot of my friends who are a part of the project. While I was marketing it, I actually did a diorama and hired Brushwood Minis to do the miniature paints for it and our partner Kovray Studios To do the photos of the diorama and the pictures look absolutely amazing and bring you into the world of Gloomhaven and Buttons and Bugs.
Image Source: Monica Paprocki
CS: What Cons do you have coming up where readers can find you?
MP: This year we’ve tripled the number of conventions we’re going to. We were at San Diego Comic Con for the second year in a row. We were also at Gen Con of course. I’m made a cosplay that I debuted there. We also have GrandCon and Spiel Essen in Germany. We’re also going to Pax Unplugged. We also go to other retailer expos to make sure we have all our games available where you are locally.
CS: Can you tell me a little more about the collaborations you have with other artists?
MP: A lot of our games have their own flavor, and we want it to reflect in the artwork. Buttons and Bugs had a cartoony kind of feel to it, and Mofei Wang brought it to life with their own style of artwork. It stayed true to the characters in Gloomhaven and looks amazing. A lot of my friends write RPG and are involved as well including Banana Chan, Sen-Foong Lim, Danny Quach, and Ella who does Ella Loves Board Games. She’s written for Frosthaven. Crystal Mazur who’s an award winning writer and game designer. And so many other great collaborations. Alexander Elichev is the original artist for Gloomhaven and Frosthaven. Francesca Baerald did the map for Frosthaven and is another award winning artist we have. Having a diverse pool of talent really brings a whole new meaning to creating this world. Isaac does the worldbuilding, but worlds have their own diversity to them and having diverse groups of artists and writers help bring a whole new meaning.
CS: What do you love about the marketing position?
MP: I’ve been involved in this industry so much that I’ve worn many different hats. I started out as press and after doing press, I fell in love with cosplay and started doing the cosplay realm. All of this while doing my accounting job. I’ve been an accountant for 11 years and a business owner for my cosplay commissions and guesting. I also taught cosplay at the Chicago Public Library and did some shows locally. As much as I love accounting, being able to bring the creative side of me into the board game industry and market the games that I really love and am passionate about, gives it a whole other level of having a sense of fulfillment and creativity. What I like about being a marketer for board games is there are so many people to collaborate with on these projects and looking at the behind the scenes creative process of everything is something I’m passionate about. Making your own world is not as easy as people think, making it cohesive, too, and bringing other people in to collaborate with, it’s a whole thing you have to tie together. Somehow, despite the diverse and differing backgrounds, it all works because we all have the same vision for it.
Image Source: Monica Paprocki
CS: Do you have to have played Gloomhaven before you play Buttons and Bugs or another one of the games?
MP: Jaws of the Lion brought a lot of new gamers into the Gloomhaven world with an ease of learning. Many of our tutorials have been award winning because of how easy it is. Buttons and Bugs is even easier. You don’t need to learn how to play Gloomhaven in order to understand Buttons and Bugs. We have partnered with DIZED, which is an tutorial amazing app that will actually teach you how to play this game. They provide illustrations and a lot of text that will explain the game for you. Buttons and Bugs and Jaws of the Lion are beginner-friendly if you’re trying to start off in the Gloomhaven universe for the first time. Then I’d say Gloomhaven and then Frosthaven is a little more challenging because it’s got more components than the dungeon crawl part.
CS: Did you have anything else you wanted to add?
MP: What I love about our games is you’ll notice our games are an evolution. Each new game we’re producing, it’s ever-evolving and ever-catering to what our fans love. Fans wanted a little bit more challenge and different components to the usual dungeon crawl we have in Gloomhaven so that’s how we got Frosthaven. Frosthaven has the work replacement element and not just a dungeon crawl hack and slash, get my loot.
In the horizon, I will say, we are once again bringing a new component to a new game. I can’t talk about it just yet, but it is in the works. I’m not sure if it will be ready for next year since it’s in development and we’re testing out the kinks before we make any more spoilers. Look out for my spoilers on social media for sure. I wish I could say more.
Thank you so much Monica and Cephalofair Games for chatting with us! Check out the Gloomhaven universe at your Friendly Local Game Stores and conventions near you!
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