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Coming 2025: Publishing with Chip Theory Games

Chip Theory Games will publish Dragons of Etchinstone in spring 2025 with all new art and PVC cards. Follow the campaign at this link.

You will still be able to buy the original version of the game for a limited time here on The Game Crafter.

Important: Northvale is an 18-card expansion for Dragons of Etchinstone. You need a copy of the base game to play.

Expand Your Fight Beyond Etchinstone!

Finally, and at great cost, the dragons lay defeated. But now, a greater threat looms. Ancient evils have claimed Northvale, the warrior civilization in Northern Valorfall. These winter-hardened tribes would not have stood for loss without a fight. Surely this aggression must have been committed by only the most powerful adversaries. Some say they are the fathers of dragons. Others, dormant titans awakened from deep beneath the earth. It will require the greatest of Valorfall’s Ether Mages to answer this challenge. Etchinstone calls for every elemental guild’s best Mage to travel northward--to glory or defeat.

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What's in the Box?

When you buy Northvale, you get...

• A 36-card hook box that can hold the base game + expansion

• 16 action cards, four corresponding to each of the four playable characters

• A new region card

• A new boss card

How Do the Mages Work?

Each Ether Mage comes with four action cards that you swap into the base deck. Mages have their own new and unique mechanisms that add to the tactical puzzle.

Thematically, each Mage is the leader of one of the four guilds, which correspond to the four element colors. They all have strengths and weaknesses built in. They're desiged to be roughly as powerful as the base-game action deck to avoid power creep.

Everything is backward and forward compatible. You can take a Mage on an adventure in the original Etchinstone, or you can play with the original base deck against the new Northvale content.

A Continued Love Letter to Mage Knight

Mage Knight: the Board Game was a big inspiration for Dragons of Etchinstone. I wanted to make a game that gave players that same sense of adventure--and puzzly depth--in the most convenient package possible.

Northvale continues what Etchinstone began. Mage Knight players will quickly recognize how the play styles of the Northvale Mages were inspired by their Mage Knight counterparts.

Meet the Ether Mages

Voltak

Voltak is a weaponsmith by trade and a bruiser at heart. He subscribes to the gray school of magic. Gray mages are like the Stoics of Valorfall. They are not flashy. They instead seek balance and pursue discipline. Voltak's special action cards are sometimes colorless, giving him less use of ether actions. But he makes up for it with sheer willpower, adding oomph to his leader actions by carefully positioning his Mage cards in your action set.

Mythix

In many ways, Mythix is the opposite of Voltak. He's a showman. Mythix is a yellow mage, but is extremely gifted at using most types of ether. Some of his special cards have multiple background colors, especially at upgraded levels, giving him flexibility and ensuring he can more often make use of ether actions. But he has other tricks up his sleeve, too. His Ether Chain action allows him to use the leader action of the unused card, but at a boosted strength. And his Windwalker card grants him temporary flight, giving him flexibility in which Encounter he faces. But as talented as he is, Mythix has his weaknesses. He failed to train as hard on the fundamentals, so he has weaker boosters. All his antics have also earned him enemies over the years, which pursue him through his journeys and make them more difficult.

Noramir

Noramir is not as imposing or powerful physically as the other mages. He instead relies on wisdom and leadership. Noramir is the only mage who has units who follow him. These are allies that can aid him during encounters. Noramir is an ancient blue mage, and as such faces certain pitfalls when using ether magic. Some of his special actions have weaker leader actions if the wrong element is used.

Promethia

Promethia is a red mage who is gifted at combat. She has a temper, which gets her into trouble. She is more vulnerable to certain types of attacks. But she has trained in ways to use the damage she takes to grow stronger. In some situations, she may even put herself in harm's way to gain a long term advantage. She also has a flexible card called Contingency Plan. It boosts her turn based on the color of the unused card, either giving her extra attack, movement, defense or shield. Promethia may struggle more than other mages at journey encounters.

Why No Physical Rulebook?

Like the base game, Dragons of Etchinstone: Northvale does not come with a physical rulebook to keep the cost to the consumer down. Instead, you can download the nicely formatted PDF rules. For a game this small, Dragons of Etchinstone has a lot of rules. Adding a physical rulebook would have made the cost to buy the game way too high. I assure you, I as the designer am not making a large profit margin on the game. I just want the consumer to be able to get the game at a reasonable price.