Stones of Fate in Kickstarter

Cosmic Wombat Games looking to bring their casual strategy game, Stones of Fate, to market

Many gamers enjoy 4-5 hr gaming sessions playing games like Battlestar Galactica or Eclipse. Jeff Cornelius and Luke Laurie count themselves among those gamers. However, when a game of Battlestar Galactica is finished and they still have a little time left in their game day, Jeff and Luke like to pull out a small, half hour casual game. They have a feeling that this preference is widespread in the gaming community which is why they are bringing Stones of Fate to market.

Luke Laurie is the designer of Stones of Fate. When he sat down to start working seriously on game design, he wanted to create something that would play well with both the hard core gamer group as well as a casual group just playing a family game. He realized that to do this he would have to balance the concepts of strategy and luck with simple rules, and fit it all into about a half hour play time. Stones of Fate is the successful result of those efforts. Father Geek says, “Stones of Fate is strategic. Stones of Fate is tactical. Stones of Fate is fun. Lots of fun.”

Jeff Cornelius is an engineer, but has long had the dream to publish games. He founded Cosmic Wombat Games with his brother Nathan, and they decided to publish Stones of Fate as their first project. The first time Jeff played Stones of Fate he was hooked. Here was a game concept[NC1] he had never seen before. He took over the project with vigor; acquired the beautiful, engaging artwork of Ciro Marchetti; scheduled numerous events at game conventions all over his home state of California, Indiana, and North Carolina; and built support across the nation through online networks such as Boardgamegeek.com.

Stones of Fate has received excellent reviews from industry experts like The Game Whisperer, Father Geek and All Us Geeks. It has also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from everyone who has played it at Gen Con, Strategicon, and Polycon. Jeff and Luke would like everyone to have a chance to play Stones of Fate which is why they have turned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a full professional print run.

Kickstarter campaigns operate under an “all-or-nothing” funding model so if Stones of Fate doesn’t reach its goal at the end of 30 days then Jeff and Luke go home empty-handed. Be sure to follow them on Twitter (@wombatgames, @LukeLaurieGames) and Facebook to follow their progress and make sure to spread the word to your social media networks.  Consider donating as little as $1 to help their project come to life.  If you decide to donate more, you might be among the first to play this great casual game, Stones of Fate.

If you’d like more information about Stones of Fate or to schedule an interview with Jeff or Luke please email jeff@comsicwombatgames.com or send a Tweet @wombatgames.

Luke Laurie lives in Santa Maria, California with his wife and two children. He is an award-winning science teacher by trade, with 15 years of experience and numerous accolades for his professional work, including being named Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year and Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow. He has been a gamer his whole life and loves tabletop games of all kinds; board games, cards games, and RPG’s. His passion for game design emerged from decades of designing his own Dungeons and Dragons adventures and his ongoing passion to build, create, and tinker, with everything from old cars to robots.

Jeff Cornelius lives in Santa Maria, California with his wife and two children. He is an Aerospace Engineer working on contract at Vandenberg AFB. He spent 8 years active duty in the Air Force where he worked on acquisition of space systems. This is where he learned how to get projects in on-time and on-budget. He has been playing and designing games since about 11 years of age when he first picked up a pair of dice and tried to land on Boardwalk.