I’ve written quite a few issues about what makes a game stand out.
Sometimes it’s the story. Sometimes it’s the mechanics. I once ran a small vote asking whether folks cared more about theme or mechanics, and most folks leaned toward mechanics. Fair enough too. A clever system can absolutely carry a game. But not without a great story ;)
But the truth is, the more PnPs I play, the more I feel the answer is rarely that simple…
A great game is usually not made by one big thing. It is a lot of smaller things coming together. The mechanics, yes. The story, yes. But also the world around it. The little extras. The bits the designer could have skipped but chose to include anyway.
A comic book to set the scene? A printable playing mat that ties the whole game together? Lore that makes the game feel like one piece of a much bigger universe? A mini-game that continues the story instead of leaving everything hanging?
NONE of these are mandatory. A game can technically function without them.
But for me, these things say a lot about the person behind the game.
And that brings me to 7 To Midnight.
Because this cute little horror card game has so much of what I’m talking about. There’s a comic book that gives you a taste of the world. There’s a printable playing mat that enhances the whole game experience. There’s lore that stretches beyond this one game. There’s Midnight Showdown, a separate mini-game that takes place after the core mission.
And yes, there’s a solid game underneath all that too. 7 To Midnight integrates set collection, action management, maze navigation, and event-driven pressure into a rescue mission where you’re trying to save critters before Zumoffa, the badass villain, gets to them.
I really enjoyed playing it. But what made the project stand out more was everything around the game.
Bob Whitely has been designing games for over 40 years, and talking to him about 7 To Midnight made it very clear that this is not just one small Kickstarter game he put together. It is part of the Toonaria universe he has been building for years, with more stories, more games, and more connected ideas still to come.
This is also where I want to be very upfront. Sometimes, the numbers on a campaign page do not always reflect the quality of the game behind it. They do not show the years of work, the worldbuilding, or the heart someone has poured into creating something. 7 To Midnight is one of those games for me.
It may not be the loudest campaign out there, but it is one of the most heartfelt print-and-play projects I’ve played in recent times. You can clearly tell that someone has poured years of imagination and experience into it.
You’ve got less than 24 hours left to back the game on Kickstarter. Even if you do not end up backing it, I’d still recommend giving the campaign page a look, just to see what Bob has built here.
I really hope this is not the last game from the Toonaria universe I get to write about. I hope it’s the first among many!
- Tas.
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