Hortven: King of Fortress is a massive 8 kilogram 3D RPG

Hortven: King of Fortress is an RPG in the sense that you have a character, improve that cover over time and can encounter NPCs. It’s also a board game in that, well, it uses a playing board.

But what a board! It’s a 3D, 8kg, giant fortress full of hidden treasure. MasterGames, new to Kickstarter, is looking for €12,000 to fund this beast and have a month to do it. You can see how well they’re doing or pledge on the project page.

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The game suits 2 to 6 players, each with a unique character, and in it, you try to collect the parts necessary to build the mechanism needed to access the next level of the fortress.

You also need to find or craft an outfit to progress with, you guessed it, the crown as the ultimate piece of the costume.

PCs include nobles, blacksmiths, merchants and even nobles with intelligence stats, strength, eloquence and resilience.

MasterGames suggests it’ll take at least four hours to play through the game, noting that the randomness of inside chests adds to the replayability. Despite 8KG of wood, it also carries an “eco” claim.

Speaking of an 8-kilogram board game, what do the pledge tiers look like? For a start, they’re limited in number.

You can get a “souvenir platform” with the characters, some coins and crates for €25. That’s about £22. It’s not crystal clear what a “souvenir platform” is, but it’s not enough to play the game, as MasterGames make clear in reply to a comment.

Another “more but not enough to play” tier is €65, which gets you many components, even a wooden platform and story cards.

€130 for the Fortress Edition, which gets you the fortress and the guide to building it. But it does not get you the game.

So, finally, and it should be easier to make sure this is the case, the only tier in which you get the complete, and playable 3D RPG is €220 with a tier containing the words “Full Set”.

There’s no higher tier. There are geographical restrictions and delivery is expected in August 2022.