Doom Guard, a board game based on Pinnacle’s Savage Worlds Adventure Edition TTRPG: Super Powers Companion, is coming to GameFound. Launching in January 2024, if you click the ‘Follow’ button on the GameFound page and back the campaign, you’ll get a free, exclusive Crazed OGRE miniature to use in the game. Michael Barbeau, designer of the Doom Guard board game for Pinnacle Entertainment Group, talks about the game, how it ties into their TTRPG, why Pinnacle is doing their first board game, and crowdfunding on GameFound.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thanks for talking with me about your board game. What is Doom Guard?
MICHAEL BARBEAU: Doom Guard is a cooperative board game for up to 5 players that pits a motley band of superheroes and supervillains against the evil minions of Cthulhu in a desperate battle to thwart the coming of the elder god!
EGG: This board game takes the setting and iconic characters from the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition TTRPG: Super Powers Companion, but not the Savage Worlds engine, correct? What type of board game is Doom Guard? What system/engine will it use to run the game?
MICHAEL: Doom Guard uses a combination of dice rolling, resource management, and risk assessment. Players roll custom power dice to determine what actions are available on their turn. Additionally, a player can play power stunt cards during their own or another player’s turn to aid allies, and thwart their enemies.
EGG: Can you give us a rundown of the setting?
MICHAEL: Doom Guard takes place in the world of Necessary Evil, but after the V’sori have left Earth. As a matter of fact, anyone who backed Necessary Evil: Cosmic Crisis may see some of the Doom Guard make an appearance.
EGG: Which characters are making the jump from RPG to board game?
MICHAEL: The core Doom Guard box contains Echo 6, Warden, Ogre, Blackguard, Hex, and Hellcat. You can find a few of these characters in the Super Powers Companion. We have another five Guardians in our first expansion along with several more set as stretch goals. You might even see a V’sori make an appearance.
EGG: The heroes are fighting Cthulhu’s true believers. As I understand it, they’re not fighting the Great Old One but his return. How will that work?
MICHAEL: The cult of Cthulhu is attempting to raise the Elder God from his slumber. Players move about the city fighting off cultists, crawling ones, hounds of Tindalos, and other minions, all while attempting to complete the scenario. However, Cthulhu isn’t totally out of the picture. Every round his influence spreads across the board, corrupting landmarks and driving the guardians insane. If the players fail to stop the cult before the doom track reaches zero, Cthulhu rises and well, we all lose.
EGG: PEG is a long established TTRPG publisher. While you’ve partnered to produce some non-RPGs, this will be PEG’s first in-house board game. What made Doom Guard the right choice for PEG’s first go at a board game?
MICHAEL: When we first started talking about branching into the board game world five years ago, we wanted to take something fun and exciting. We all loved the idea of superheroes fighting off Cthulhu. We also wanted to use some of the exiting fiction that PEG has built over the years without relying too heavily on it. In the end, in our eyes it has a fun theme, great gameplay, and touches on our RPG roots with the setting.
EGG: What can fans expect with this board game? Miniatures, dice, cards, what?
MICHAEL: Much like with our RPG box sets, we are cramming as much as we can in this game. We knew from the outset we wanted this to be a miniatures game. The minions and guardians all have beautiful sculpts. All of the guardians come with a set of unique power stunt cards and crazed power stunt cards. The bad guys also come with a deck of dark portents cards. This means that not only does each unique type of minion function differently, but the scenario will unfold differently depending on the types of minions you fight. Combine this with the impending doom cards that are unique to each scenario, the ultimate evil cards, tokens, and different types of dice and all of our planned stretch goals, and you are looking at enough content to play this game for a long time.
EGG: Does the campaign include any attempts to convert board gamers to RPGers with a free copy of Savage World or the like?
MICHAEL: No, while it takes place in one of our RPG settings, we're specifically and intentionally focusing all our attention on the board game audience. We know that's a very different group with very different concerns and desires, and we want to make sure they know that's where we've concentrated our efforts.
EGG: Despite the fact that Pinnacle Entertainment has their own crowdfunding platform, Game Changer, you’re crowdfunding this on GameFound, correct? What’s makes GameFound the right platform for this project?
MICHAEL: Choosing the right platform for our launch into board games was a long and difficult process. Each platform has its own pros and cons. At the end of the day, we’ve been very impressed with GameFound. They provide an environment that is much more focused on board games and offered insight and guidance when it came to our presentation. The personal touch and genuine excitement really pulled us in.
EGG: Some fans get nervous about TTRPG publishers jumping to board games. Is this the start of many board games from PEG? How does this impact your TTRPGs?
MICHAEL: First, let me say that this was not a quick decision or a sudden jump into board games. We have been working on Doom Guard for around five years. I bring this up simply to show that working on it has not impacted our RPG production in that time. In fact, we expanded our RPG scope to include new products such as Pathfinder for Savage Worlds. We do have other board games that have been in the works for a while and are set up to keep releasing new games for both board game and TTRPG fans.
EGG: Beyond Doom Guard, what TTRPGs is Pinnacle working on?
MICHAEL: We have a very busy schedule for RPGs and that’s continuing alongside Doom Guard’s development. 2024 is shaping up to be as busy as ever, with the release of the Sci Fi Companion, additional titles in the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds line, as well as some big new Deadlands products.
EGG: For fans interested in following Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s work, where can they check you out?
MICHAEL: You can find us through our website, watch gameplay and podcasts on our Twitch channel, or chat with us and other community members on Facebook on the Official Savage Worlds Facebook Group.
Doom Guard by Pinnacle Entertainment Group
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thanks for talking with me about your board game. What is Doom Guard?
MICHAEL BARBEAU: Doom Guard is a cooperative board game for up to 5 players that pits a motley band of superheroes and supervillains against the evil minions of Cthulhu in a desperate battle to thwart the coming of the elder god!
EGG: This board game takes the setting and iconic characters from the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition TTRPG: Super Powers Companion, but not the Savage Worlds engine, correct? What type of board game is Doom Guard? What system/engine will it use to run the game?
MICHAEL: Doom Guard uses a combination of dice rolling, resource management, and risk assessment. Players roll custom power dice to determine what actions are available on their turn. Additionally, a player can play power stunt cards during their own or another player’s turn to aid allies, and thwart their enemies.
EGG: Can you give us a rundown of the setting?
MICHAEL: Doom Guard takes place in the world of Necessary Evil, but after the V’sori have left Earth. As a matter of fact, anyone who backed Necessary Evil: Cosmic Crisis may see some of the Doom Guard make an appearance.
EGG: Which characters are making the jump from RPG to board game?
MICHAEL: The core Doom Guard box contains Echo 6, Warden, Ogre, Blackguard, Hex, and Hellcat. You can find a few of these characters in the Super Powers Companion. We have another five Guardians in our first expansion along with several more set as stretch goals. You might even see a V’sori make an appearance.
EGG: The heroes are fighting Cthulhu’s true believers. As I understand it, they’re not fighting the Great Old One but his return. How will that work?
MICHAEL: The cult of Cthulhu is attempting to raise the Elder God from his slumber. Players move about the city fighting off cultists, crawling ones, hounds of Tindalos, and other minions, all while attempting to complete the scenario. However, Cthulhu isn’t totally out of the picture. Every round his influence spreads across the board, corrupting landmarks and driving the guardians insane. If the players fail to stop the cult before the doom track reaches zero, Cthulhu rises and well, we all lose.
EGG: PEG is a long established TTRPG publisher. While you’ve partnered to produce some non-RPGs, this will be PEG’s first in-house board game. What made Doom Guard the right choice for PEG’s first go at a board game?
MICHAEL: When we first started talking about branching into the board game world five years ago, we wanted to take something fun and exciting. We all loved the idea of superheroes fighting off Cthulhu. We also wanted to use some of the exiting fiction that PEG has built over the years without relying too heavily on it. In the end, in our eyes it has a fun theme, great gameplay, and touches on our RPG roots with the setting.
EGG: What can fans expect with this board game? Miniatures, dice, cards, what?
MICHAEL: Much like with our RPG box sets, we are cramming as much as we can in this game. We knew from the outset we wanted this to be a miniatures game. The minions and guardians all have beautiful sculpts. All of the guardians come with a set of unique power stunt cards and crazed power stunt cards. The bad guys also come with a deck of dark portents cards. This means that not only does each unique type of minion function differently, but the scenario will unfold differently depending on the types of minions you fight. Combine this with the impending doom cards that are unique to each scenario, the ultimate evil cards, tokens, and different types of dice and all of our planned stretch goals, and you are looking at enough content to play this game for a long time.
EGG: Does the campaign include any attempts to convert board gamers to RPGers with a free copy of Savage World or the like?
MICHAEL: No, while it takes place in one of our RPG settings, we're specifically and intentionally focusing all our attention on the board game audience. We know that's a very different group with very different concerns and desires, and we want to make sure they know that's where we've concentrated our efforts.
EGG: Despite the fact that Pinnacle Entertainment has their own crowdfunding platform, Game Changer, you’re crowdfunding this on GameFound, correct? What’s makes GameFound the right platform for this project?
MICHAEL: Choosing the right platform for our launch into board games was a long and difficult process. Each platform has its own pros and cons. At the end of the day, we’ve been very impressed with GameFound. They provide an environment that is much more focused on board games and offered insight and guidance when it came to our presentation. The personal touch and genuine excitement really pulled us in.
EGG: Some fans get nervous about TTRPG publishers jumping to board games. Is this the start of many board games from PEG? How does this impact your TTRPGs?
MICHAEL: First, let me say that this was not a quick decision or a sudden jump into board games. We have been working on Doom Guard for around five years. I bring this up simply to show that working on it has not impacted our RPG production in that time. In fact, we expanded our RPG scope to include new products such as Pathfinder for Savage Worlds. We do have other board games that have been in the works for a while and are set up to keep releasing new games for both board game and TTRPG fans.
EGG: Beyond Doom Guard, what TTRPGs is Pinnacle working on?
MICHAEL: We have a very busy schedule for RPGs and that’s continuing alongside Doom Guard’s development. 2024 is shaping up to be as busy as ever, with the release of the Sci Fi Companion, additional titles in the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds line, as well as some big new Deadlands products.
EGG: For fans interested in following Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s work, where can they check you out?
MICHAEL: You can find us through our website, watch gameplay and podcasts on our Twitch channel, or chat with us and other community members on Facebook on the Official Savage Worlds Facebook Group.
- Crowdfunding On: GameFound
- “Earth's superheroes and villains must unite to defeat the minions of Cthulhu! Cooperative board game for 2-5 players. Don’t miss out on a free mini! All followers receive an exclusive Crazed OGRE miniature free when they back the campaign at any reward level.”
