KDM Thanksgiving Showdown

Quick post, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

This year, instead of family traditions, we accepted an invitation to go hang out with friends.  This is a group from across the country that manages to assemble a few times a year for shenanigans. 

This invitation involved a several state road trip, so we set out mid-morning on Wednesday and arrived Wednesday night.  Since we rarely take ANY additional vacation at Thanksgiving (and normally work Black Friday) we were off our usual routine straight out of the gate.  (I could post separately on the evolution and end of family traditions, but won't right now).



Aside from feasting, Thursday and Friday were nominally movie marathon days, but several of us moved to the back table where Kingdom Death was already set up.  We started a new settlement and over the course of the next two days played two full days of KDM.  It was glorious, with many victorious cheers, and (as things go in KDM) several "ohh.... oh fuck" moments (with the latter being more frequent, hah). 

But we built a strong settlement and ended the session not because our civilization collapsed but because of our own mortal fatigue. Stats were recorded and we could pick up the settlement later if we ever have the chance.  We got lucky with several rolls and resource drops, but I also feel like some puzzle pieces on the KD strategy clicked into place (as someone who mostly avoids online strategy guides, this is important and fun).

Sandwiched in the middle of this was of course the annual KD Black Friday event.  I don't say 'sale' because it's more than that - Poots loves Black Friday; the day is basically a KDM Holiday.  In years past I've struggled to engage (due to work) but this year I wasn't headed to the office.  I took this laptop with me for the sole purpose of being online when the new content went up if at all possible.  So as the minutes ticked down to midnight, I was online woodpeckering F5 at the store and watching people go bananas in the unofficial KDM discord.

Of course, it's Poots, so nobody really knew when things would really kick off.  But a few minutes after midnight, emails started dinging and Update #69 hit the kickstarter, and ... the sale began.  I managed to snag all the new things, and even got a t-shirt. 

The next day, I helped a friend navigate the preorder backerkit to upgrade his 1.0 KS pledge for the 1.5 KS content.  The dollar amounts involved were eye watering, but still ahead of the curve vs. buying retail. 

On the drive home yesterday, I finally had time in the car to read the update for content.  It's apparent that the Gambler's Chest and Campaigns of Death are going to be supercool.  But it's also apparent that Wave 4 is going to take a long long time. 

But that's okay. There's a lot of Kingdom Death left to play.  As casual gamers, we're still just at the tip of the iceberg.