An Update on Danse Macabre

Hey, everyone!

We figured we'd give you all an update and explain the lack of sneak previews and lack of release information for Danse Macabre. As you've probably expected, it's related to the ongoing negotiations amongst OneBookShelf, Hasbro, and CCP. Because the respective licenses have not yet been signed, we are under advisement to not publicly post the Danse Macabre material. This means no sneak previews and no .pdf release until we're given the green light by the parties involved.

In order to get us to the point where we can get the green light, we are working with Hasbro and CCP to ensure that the work we're doing meets their standards with respect to how their intellectual property is portrayed and represented. By our own standards, we could have released the set back in December, but we respect the wishes and standards of Hasbro, CCP, and OneBookShelf and we're happy to work with them to iron everything out. It's a slow process, but we're encouraged to know that all parties involved are engaged in the process and are willing to work with us.

Outside of representation of intellectual property, there are the ongoing business negotiations. We in the Design Team have no involvement in them, but we've been told to expect an update around the end of March. Our preference is to be able to do sneak previews and to release the set as a .pdf prior to the cards physically being in print, but for now those things are on hold.

We in the Design Team have no information at this time on the status of Print On Demand reprints, as that's outside of our duties.

Given all of that, we have some extra time so we're putting a dozen or so of the Danse Macabre cards through another playtest round, as well as a few storyline cards. We also started work on a second expansion about a month ago. Based on the player feedback in the survey that our Marketing Team conducted, we're going with Group 6 Independents for the next set. The plan is to have it be about the same size as Danse Macabre, with about the same number of crypt and library cards (15 library, 20 crypt, give or take). Playtesting will begin in March, and we're looking to get artwork started in April.

We'll post an update on the progress of the Independent set in a few weeks!

- the V:EKN Design Team

T-shirt for the 2013 Qualifier Tournaments