Anthromancer: Beauty, Mystery, and Deadly Aesthetic

The goal of any game, table top, digital, or otherwise, is to catch your eye. Walking the floor of Pixel Pop 2017 there was one game in particular that shouted "Come look at this!" Anthromancer is the creation of the multitalented folks at Dancakes. Yes, that is correct. Pancake artists by day, the people at Dancakes are also hard at work on a board game that is damn beautiful. 

In Anthromancer, minimalistic geometry meets otherworldly occult. Dan himself (@drdancake) describes the game as "the Voyager Record from another planet." For those unfamiliar, the Voyager Record was a bank of information stored on the Voyager 1, a space probe launched in 1977. In the record was a mix of media that included images, sounds, greetings in 55 different languages, and music. A time capsule sent into space for any intelligent species that may find it. For those playing Anthromancer, you have found a time capsule from another planet, and boy does the game get that across beautifully. 

UPDATE 5/18/20:
Having played the game several times over the last three years my opinion of this project has only improved. Most recently Ryan (SergeantSodium) and I sat down for a game and tarot reading with creator Dan Drake, and the experience was simply majestic. Dan is so passionate about this project and it oozes out of every corner of the box. As it stands, Anthromancer is currently in the heat of its Kickstarter campaign, and we wanted to share this write-up again to get people to back this amazing project.

You are immediately confronted with a board covered in geometric symmetry, save for the faction logos at the compass points, Claws, Souls, Gears, and Blades; four factions with advantage against one and weakness against another (Claws beats Souls in a tie, Souls beats Gears, and so on...). Aether sits in the middle, a confluence. 

Anthromancer plays like a game of checkers if each piece were summoned and had attack ratings on each side of the piece. And if you had Hymn cards that played a myriad of different strategic roles. So in other words, not like checkers at all. Anthromancer is a unique blend of conventional mechanics retooled into an experience that is part divine, part sacrilege, all enthralling. 

And that is just the surface. There is an musical component that will come with the full game, albums that hint at deeper truths hidden in the cryptic language littered about the board and cards. I played my game against Hank Gustafson (who appears to be better than Twitter, pff!) and as I played he regaled me with a lore richer than even the most heady expectations for a board game.

Anthromancer is a beautiful creation by people that desire nothing more than to bend your mind.

Oh, and did I mention the game can also be used as a Tarot deck? Yeah...prepare to "Be Moved."

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Support the Kickstarter here.

~Caleb
@LubWub