Horror in the Garden – Expansion Development

It’s been cooking away for a while now… We wanted to explore the rest of the Mad Professor’s Mansion in Horror in the Library in the board game. We first ventured out of the showy book rooms with the Secret Rooms expansion that was part of our Kickstarter campaign. This allows players to explore the Kitchen and part of the Laboratory. There was higher risk with the Butler and Lab Assistant stalking players.

There was a lot of conversation with players and the team around the idea of venturing outside. Where next could we allow players to test their nerve and find news ways to torment each other?

It was when we were at Chillingham Castle on a photoshoot that we realised the next place had to be the garden. Chillingham has a beautiful garden that has wonderful hedgerows and ornamental fountains and secret areas. With Penelope playing Lady Hermione Elderoy, we knew we had a great opportunity to expand the game.

This expansion brings a new dimension to the classic and advanced game modes in Horror in the Library. So, a quick overview…

New Monsters

Horror in the Garden can be used with the monsters from Horror in the Library but also contains its own monster set that work differently to the Library terrors.

New Tiles

A new set of 16 tiles that have several new features. These have the classic rotation and have some surprises for players for setting up their games.

New Page Cards

Helen and I are working on a new set of Page cards. Helen is creating 60-page card illustrations of flowers. It was Helen that did all the illustrations of the Herbs in Horror in the Library. Yes, this is a garden game where you must find and press the flowers that the Mad Professor wants you to find.

New Blessings and Curses

We are also making a new deck to go with this expansion, this is themed around the terrifying garden and like the Secret Rooms decks work differently to the classic card decks in the main game, so make a fun addition to any Horror in the Library play experience. Here’s a tase of some of the cards:

Blooming Inspiration – The scent of flowers clears your mind. Get and extra roll to search Flowerbed.

Butterfly Companion – Pass a Curse inflicted on you to another player of your choosing.

There will be 20 cards to play with in Blessings and Curses.

New Mechanics

I wanted to make sure there was a clear reason to buy and play Horror in the Garden, and that it was not just a re-skin of Horror in the Library. I also wanted to expand some of the ideas developed in the Collector’s Expansion set. So Horror in the Garden has a blend of monster mechanics, card effects that are familiar in their roots (excuse the pun) but unique to the Garden theme. There are also some exciting surprises that I will reveal later as we get closer to a crowd funding campaign launch.

One thing I will mention here now is that there are some new features that will hint to another new game that I will announce later in the year. This is something new but in the “Horror in the…” family. It’s been in my notes for over a year. I am very excited about it and I made a subtle drop on Instagram about it. So do feel free to have a guess about what it could be.

No to AI Images

I feel this is a good point to address this thorny issue. I’ve been working in Generative AI for a while for corporate clients and data for LLMs. This has been fascinating. As an artist myself, I was worried about AI art. I’ve also had some good discussions with Christian who is working hard on our Further Beyond RPG. We’ve experimented with it but after a trial in the promotional art for FB but feel that it’s just lacking in any creative spirit and we’re very lucky to use some amazing art from Sci-Fi Art Legends.

There is something innately right about human created art no matter how good or bad it is, that we subconsciously feel connected to. With AI art, no matter how good it is, it is missing something. The Uncanny Valley is there. I will write about this I think later. In relation to “Horror in the…” part of what makes our games special is our art. We’re truly blessed by people who have given us very kind love for our artwork. This is why we are using photos and drawings we make. Old School. It’s also part of why we love making games.

Marcus

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MD Blue Donut Games