KICKSTARTER UPDATE: The Mad Kings Ire - Converge Games

Hail Mighty Readers and Followers of the Luck Gods Math Rocks, 

We've just had an update from our friends over at Converge Games in regard to their Kickstarter project "The Mad Kings Ire" Here's what they had to say:

Firstly Thank you so much to all of you that have backed, we truly couldn’t have gotten this far without you! The Mad King’s Ire development continues at a fast pace, we are now in the finishing touches stage and it won’t be long before manufacturing begins, and good news here! If you haven’t already it is not too late to back! Head to our Pledge Manager on Hive and you still have a chance to back at the Kickstarter discounted price and get all the extra goodies as well! The pledge manager won’t be open forever, so, if you are thinking about it, get over there before the pledge manager closes! Late Pledges are available via Hive. Get your copy of Shattered Destinies - The Mad King’s Ire for up to 47% OFF Testing Complete! I am pleased to say after hundreds of hours of testing and demos, all content is complete, and every piece of content has been tested and adjusted/nerfed/buffed where needed. We’ve changed the worst offending Ire Cards that would all but guarantee to end your run in failure, and buffed up some of the worst performing skills. There are still a crazy amount of powerful combos of skills and items to discover, and I’m sure there are some that we haven’t even considered. I can’t wait to see all the build ideas you put together during your adventures once we get The Mad King’s Ire to your tables! This one, we kept in the game. A combo of two Escalations (which make the game harder), and one skill, can mean you’ll be dropping bombs on your foes with regularity. Just make sure it is fully upgraded, or shout a warning to your allies before you blow everything up! Final Checks Underway Final proofreading and adjustments are now being finalised, we should have everything complete and ready for the manufacturers by the end of the week! We are on track with our timeline, we will continue to keep you updated if anything changes! Rulebook revamp! We’ve updated the rulebook based on testing and feedback and our amazing graphic designer is busy redesigning the layout to improve the look and readability! I’ll include a link to the new rulebook in the next update! We’ve added some surprise extras! Although our Kickstarter didn’t quite hit our £50,000.00 Stretch Goal, we added it anyway! We felt the Game Organiser was far too good quality of life not to include, we want you to be able to get The Mad King’s Ire to the table as often as possible and we don’t want the barrier of a lengthy set up. With the organiser you can be ready to begin your adventures in 2 minutes! We also added 8 new items to the Twisted Traps expansion - because we could! Including a couple of clockwork pals and some ways to mitigate the danger of the new trap mechanic! So if you've been putting it off...here's a FINAL reminder... Get The Mad King’s Ire NOW for up to 47% OFF before it's too late! Backing our campaign will take less than 3 minutes and will get you The Ultimate Dungeon Crawler. A fast paced, quick to set up and play, character building adventure like no other! We put our hearts and souls into creating and designing The Mad King’s Ire - and we want you to know that your support is what fuels our fire and makes this community possible.  We hope you’ll choose to continue supporting us today, and experience not only our amazing game, but join our amazing community at Converge Games.

Claim your copy now!

Finally, a massive shoutout to all our amazing backers! Thank you all again for following us for so long and supporting us during our launch. We can't wait to get Shattered Destinies - The Mad King’s Ire to your doors and on your tables, it won’t be long now!

You can also see our interview with Glenn Phillpot here and learn a little more about him and Converge Games.

All the best,

ThunderMouser

KICKSTARTER ENDING SOON: Shattered Destinies: Mad Kings Ire - Converge Games

Converge Games kickstarter for "The Mad Kings Ire" is ending in the next 48 hours, so join over 282 backers on their kickstarter campaign and get a massive 30% off MSRP.  What you get is a replayable dungeon crawler where how you shape and equip your hero which can make all the difference.

Made using 100% human skills (No AI) this game has been a pure project of love.

You can also see our interview with Glenn Phillpot here and learn a little more about him and Converge Games.

All the best,

ThunderMouser

ROUND UP NEWS: July 6th - 12th July 2026 - Various

Hail Mighty Readers and Followers of the Luck Gods Math Rocks,

To make sure we carry as much as we can, at the end of each week we have a weekly round up for people to find out about other items that haven't made a main article on the site, here is this weeks...

In Malediction news:

"A growing Malediction community needs more than one kind of table. Local stores give players a place to return. Conventions give them a stage, a meeting point, and a chance to test what they have built in front of a wider scene.

At Lone Star Open 2026, Herald Allen Stelly is helping bring Malediction into one of those spaces.

“Players can expect four games of exciting Seeker on Seeker carnage! Everyone will walk away with some form or prize; no one goes home empty-handed. Being a Herald is exciting; while I enjoy the game itself, the community is why I am a Herald - I love meeting new people, and being a Herald enables me to do that”, said Allen.

Events like LSO give Malediction a public place to be discovered, played, and tested. Every organized event becomes a chance for players to meet, learn, compete, and carry the world of Selejia into a new room.

Join us at Lone Star Open and put your warband on the table. Or, if you want to help create more opportunities like this in your own community, become a Herald and help bring Malediction to new players, stores, and events.

The event will feature a Malediction Standard Mode 1V1 Tournament using the published organized play ruleset. Players will bring their warbands, decks, and side decks, with painted miniatures and 3D terrain encouraged but not required. The format is built to keep the tournament organized while making the path into competitive play clear for players ready to put their warbands on the table.

For Allen, the work of a Herald goes beyond running matches. It means helping players gather, learn, compete, and find a community around the game.

Across the events recorded at Mana Vault, 16 Malediction sessions have already been held, with Heralds including Jason Norman, Migual Mahr, and Patrick helping bring the game to the table. Together, they show what happens when a local store becomes a true community anchor: demos become free play, free play becomes players, and players become the foundation of a scene.

That relationship matters. Stores give players a reliable place to gather. Heralds bring the timing, teaching, and table presence needed to make those gatherings repeatable. When both sides work together, Malediction gains something stronger than a single event. It gains a local home.

For Jeffrey Ackerman, owner and operator of Mana Vault Game Shop, Malediction fits naturally into the kind of community his store is building.

“As an avid tabletop and TCG player, I’m always looking for games that bring players together in fresh ways. Malediction felt like the perfect evolution for our shop, blending strategy, creativity, and community in a way that fits exactly what we’re building at Mana Vault.”

Want to help build a strong Malediction community at your local game store, just like our Heralds and the Mana Vault team are doing in Utah? Become a Herald and help bring more players to the table where you live.

Missed the IronAndy Learn-to-Play?

IronAndy Studios recently brought Malediction to Twitch with Herald Matt, also known as Nergil, helping guide a live learn-to-play using the Two Player Starter Box. If you missed it live, the replay is a clear way to see how new players enter the game, how the starter experience flows, and how Heralds help their community to grow.

The timing is also perfect for anyone ready to start playing. The Two Player Starter Boxes are part of the current Loot Studios Anniversary deals, making this a good moment to watch the game taught, choose your side, and bring your first match to the table.  (Go here to watch how it unfolds.)

Lore Update

Finally for Malediction you can go here to see the latest news on Lore Updates.

This one here is for The Seven Rites, and this other one is for The Rite of Honour.

In a new update from Dwarven Forge:

"The Pledge Manager for Caverns Reforged is live, and will be running through August 19th! Whether you backed the campaign or not, you can grab anything in the collection and take advantage of Stretch Pay to split it up into fourth monthly installments with no interest or fees.

We've added a few things based on our backer feedback: new compositions for the Caverns Risers and Short LED Walls, as well as offering the Mine Entrance Door and Cave-In Rubble Wall as individual pieces. We also included some out-of-stock store sets like the Natural Bridge and Dock Pack.

We're over the moon with how well the campaign performed, and it's wonderful to see our Caverns line so fully-featured thanks to your support. If you've been pondering dipping a toe into this biome, we hope you'll join us!

As always, if you have any questions you can reach out to us on social media, or join the conversation on the forums or discord."

More news as we get it

Today, we're proud to bring an unpate from our friends at Converge Games for their kickstarter for "The Mad Kings Ire" which has now hit over 250% of its funding goal.  They had this to say:

"We are so grateful for everyone's support so far, and to you all for following along on our adventure!

We are also about to unlock our next Stretch Goal Premium Token Trays - make your game that much easier to get playing with this game organiser upgrade. This stretch goal was voted for by our backer community.

Our current stretch goal vote is still going but will close soon, and helps us determine our final stretch goal order!

We've had so much fun running our community story vote system and you can back now to get involved!"

More news as we get it,

ThunderMouser

WeirdCo went crazy at Anime Expo demoing Cyberpunk TCG to more than 2500 people, and speaking to thousands more. If you want to catch up with them and learn the fab game before its Worldwide Release on 6th November 2026, you can catch them at the following Conventions:

Japan Expo 2026 - Paris - 9-12 July

Gen Con Indianapolis - Indiana - 30 July - 2 August

Spiel Essen- Essen, Germany - 22-25 October

In other news from Cyberpunk TCG:

"We’re approaching an important Kickstarter milestone. On July 17th, all Backerkit surveys will be locked and charged. This means that you’ll no longer be able to make changes to your address or order after this date. We will also no longer be able to issue refunds.

Regarding addresses, if you are set to receive products as part of our first fulfillment wave, please plan for this to arrive during the first two weeks of September. So, if your address is going to change between now and then, you will need to provide us with your new expected address via Backerkit before July 17th.

If your survey is still incomplete when it locks on July 17th, you will forfeit express wave one shipping, and your entire order will be shipped as part of our second fulfillment wave, provided that you complete your survey before the wave two deadline.

If you have not received your Backerkit survey by email yet, please reach out to our team through Kickstarter so that we can help you fill in your details before July 17th."

In addition to this, Cree "Kawa" Gunning and Paweł Burza in this weeks podcast are looking at the latest card reveals head at what you can expect at the Anime Expo and whats next for the demo decks.  You can view this here.

For more information join the Official Discord and have the latest sent to your implants.

Hail Mighty Readers and Followers of the Luck Gods Math Rocks,

Warlord Games Konflikt 47 has put up a post in regard to the future releases coming for the Game in particular which mini's are going to move from metal/resin to plastic for the rest of 2026.

To read more about this please go here.

More news as we get it,

ThunderMouser

Once again, we wanted to thank Ramona, the designer of the beautiful page break we've been using.  You can follow her here on Bluesky and enjoy many of her art pieces or here is her website where you can also request commissions.

NEWS: Mad Kings Ire Fully Funded in 17 hours - Converge Games

Today, we're proud to help announce that Converge Games kickstarter for "The Mad Kings Ire" has been fully funded in 17 hours.  A replayable dungeon crawler where how you shape and equip your hero can make all the difference.

You can still back the campaign for another 29 days and remember that its a game by enthusiasts for enthusiasts using 100% human skills (No AI.)

We wish them every success and to find out more alongside back, please go here,  You can also see our interview with Glenn Phillpot here.

ThunderMouser

KICKSTARTER: Shattered Destinies: The Mad Kings Ire - Converge Games

Today, we're proud to help announce the launch of Converge Games kickstarter for their brand new game "The Mad Kings Ire" a replayable dungeon crawler where how you shape and equip your hero can make all the difference.

Recently at UKGE 2026, they welcomed a fair few people to their world and with being able to explain the base mechanics in a few minutes they had a good many take their first foray into

ttrpg's.  As such, we wish them great success with this kickstarter and if you're looking for a tabletop game where you have a lot of nuances, huge options for customisation alongside a dungeon crawl that builds as you explore, then please get behind this now as its developed and brought to you by enthusiasts for enthusiasts using 100% human skills (No AI.)

We wish them every success and to find out more alongside back, please go here,  You can also see our interview with Glenn Phillpot here.

ThunderMouser

NEWS: Twitch and You Tube Streams of Mad Kings Ire - Converge Games

When you don't manage to get to events like UKGE, you might hear about the odd game thats going to kickstarter but don't know enough as to whether you want to back it or not, so much so that you feel that its a bit of a gamble.  What our friends at Converge Games are doing is playing their forthcoming kickstarter "The Mad Kings Ire" on Twitch and You Tube so you can get a full view of whats in the box as well as getting to see the game in action.  

We hope you'll enjoy this and get behind them when the game launches on kickstarter on the 23rd June 2026. (Via the link above.)  You can also see our interview with Glenn Phillpot here.

Thank You,

ThunderMouser

NEWS: UKGE is live today - UKGE

Today marks the first day of UK Games Expo which runs from the 29th to the 31st May at the NEC in  Birmingham's.  Running from 9AM through to Midnight on Friday and Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday.  At the event are a number of blog friends who are going to be there so please go visit them and get a look at a ton of absolutely fabulous games and mini's.

Demo's on Stand: 

Conquest: First Blood - Para Bellum Games 12+  Tickets £15 Various 3-462 (also the limited edition Winters Bite for the Weavers Court can be picked up from here) 

Crits and Tricks, Ice and Idols and Thieves of Eldris - Inside Up Games (4-302) - Various

Cryptid Smash - Noctilux Ltd - 7+   Various 3A-644

Cyberpunk TCG - WeirdCo - 4-779

Feed the Kraken - Cheatwell Games - Various - 3A-318

Gundam Asssemble - 3A-343

Kryptothera: The Cryptid Pursuit - Noctilux Ltd  14+  Various 3A-644

The Mad Kings Ire - Converge Games (3A-166)  Various

Malediction - Loot Studios (3-1129)  Various

P3 Paint - Paint and Take Feature - 4-814

Orcwood Showdown - Orcwood Games (4-274) - Various

Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat - Fan Crafted - 10+  Various  3-154

Tunnels and Trolls - Rebellion Unplugged (3A-502)

Warmachine - 4-413 - Various

Sellers:

Amber Works Studio (Realms of Tiberium) Featuring Pandemonium Miniatures Painting (Saturday)

Bad Squiddo - 3-913

Bags for Dice - 3A-T46

Chaos Cards - 3-302

Chaos Curio's - (selling Lost Haven Studio TTRPG's) 3-T20

Cryptic Cabin - 4- 823

EN Publishing - 2-921

Fistful of Crits - 3-621

GMS Hobby Games & Handiwork Games - 3-846

Iconic Smart Hobbies - 3-824

Lucky Leaf Tea and Objet d'Artifice - 2-981

Magic Madhouse - 3A-144

Mig Ammo (Paint Range demonstrated by Pandemonium Miniatures on Sunday)

Monford Tales - 3A-412

Tabletop Tinkering - (3-967)

Trench Crusade (3A-506)

Warbases - 2-494

Wayland Games - 2-502

Finally to help you keep up with everything, there's a fab map done by The Offline Gamer on their article, here.

Hope Everyone has a fab time,

All the best,

ThunderMouser

TTRPG CREATOR INTERVIEW: Converge Games and their Appearance at UKGE 2026 - Converge Games

With UK Games Expo (UKGE) only a week away, we were lucky enough to be able to grab some time with one of the independent teams attending, Converge Games (Stand 3A-116) , who are bringing their brand new game "The Mad Kings Ire" to the event with live demo's on the stand.

Glenn Phillpott kindly took some time out to chat to us about Shattered Destinies (their lead TTRPG that has a live play Shattered Destinies: Starfall available for you to watch here), the development of the world and what he's love to do with infinite resources...

Totally Pawsome:  As a creator of Shattered Destinies, what inspired you to design it and with The Mad Kings Ire soon to be added to Kickstarter what do you feel it brings to a table that will have people falling in love with the setting?

Glenn Phillpott:  Shattered Destinies really came about over a number of years in a number of stages, none of it was really planned, it just all sort of happened! 

First the setting, which has been built over 20 years collaboratively over countless home games with a great number of players, we built Kintsor (the world in which Shatteries Destinies is set) together and played through many of the ages of the world. I never repeated campaigns or storylines within Kintsor, every game became canon, every character added to the games lore.

Next, the mechanics, I’ve always been a game designer at heart, and was never truly satisfied with the systems we played (and I’ve played a lot), each had things I liked and things I didn’t, and I never really found a system that worked well for my table. Over the years I developed a number of homebrews for different systems to try and fix things I didn't like, and much of Shattered Destinies evolved from those homebrew hacks!

Finally it was the want to have a system that blended narrative and mechanics in such a way that felt intuitive and allowed cohesive and natural storytelling. The mechanics needed to make sense within the story and not be too jarring as to bring players out of the moment when the game started to get tense. The need to also make every result matter, if dice were rolled, there should always be an outcome that could go beyond just pass/fail with easy to apply rules to support it. Luckily I have a close circle of very talented and enthusiastic people that would help Shattered Destinies develop into the system it has become. 

But as creation process began, I also began thinking about my other passion, board games, the creative juices were flowing and I realised we could offer a lot more of the world of Kintsor, so I also began working on a number of board game ideas with the same underlying concept, that blending of gameplay and narrative. 

The Mad King’s Ire came about from my love of the old school dungeon crawlers, from my youth playing massive campaigns of the original Warhammer Quest, and other games like hero quest and space crusade. I wanted to evoke the same feelings of exploration and adventure, but go beyond it. The Mad King is one of the first Antagonists in the world of Kintsor and has been a constant threat in various stories over the past 20 years, so it seemed like the perfect focus for a game where you would be thrown into a dangerous dungeon by an unpredictable overlord. I wanted a stand alone experience that anyone could play needing no prior knowledge of Shatter Destinies that would pit you against unpredictable threats and foes, and have some similar mechanics and concepts to the Shatter Destinies TTRPG, I’m very happy with the results!

TP:  What would you say is the best selling point of your TTRPG's?

GP:  It’s very accessible and easy to pick up, the base mechanics can be explained in 5 minutes, but there’s depth to find within the mechanics and as you advance your character. 

I’m very proud of the character builder. We’ve designed a system where every choice you make when generating your character not only gives you mechanical benefit, but adds to your character's backstory. By the end of character creation you’ll have a fairly good idea of where your character comes from and what their motivations are, it goes beyond numbers on a page and breathes life into something you’ve created.

The attrition system allows you to spend your Vigour (a form of HP), and even take wounds  to modify your die rolls and push for a greater level of success, but the cost there is these resources are not available to you later, there is the narrative element of the adventuring party slowly succumbing to their ordeals as they push themselves further and further. Resting and downtime is important, there are a number of useful activities you can perform to develop your character while they rest from their adventuring ordeals and replenish their resources.

Combat flows smoothly, there is very little break in narrative flow when combat begins, and no jarring change of rules during combat, initiative is fluid, turns are fast paced your actions can be split to allow you to combo up with others, there are easy rules for doing more than just an attack or casting a spell, using the environment to your advantage is easy to do and feels intuitive.

The magic system is flexible, allowing you to modify a spell as you cast it, using additional successes to increase damage, targets or add other effects. 

We also have a full crafting and harvesting system for those that like to dig in to seeking out the best materials and building the most powerful gear.

TP:  With so many characters to design and play, which is your favourite and why?

GP:  That’s a difficult one! I’m fond of all of the Paths (classes) in Shattered Destinies, but I think my favourites are the ones that do things a bit different from what I’ve seen in other game systems.

The Troubadour - allows a bard to be a bard, changing the course of events with their music and song, it’s really fun to have a character that could be a full non combatant playing their music to buff the party and distract foes in tense situations.

The Juggernaut - All about wearing big armour and being unstoppable, feeling powerful in combat and intimidating out of it. There’s something about being able to charge around the environment, sending foes and obstacles flying that is really satisfying and a lot of fun when using elaborate battle maps.

The Inquisitor - A pure investigator that gains bonuses every time they glean information which can then be applied to later tests. I’m currently playing this path in a home game and it’s really fun to be able to apply all your gathered bonuses in one go to find important information that would have been missed.

TP:  Where do you see Shattered Destinies developing and can you tell us anything about future products?

GP:  We’ll continue to expand upon the world of Kintsor, developing our TTRPG with new paths, backgrounds and adventures and providing more detail about the world itself.

We have a number of other board and card games being developed, all add to the lore of the world in some way.

We also have a few D&D related projects, taking some of our favourite aspects of the Shattered Destinies system and converting it to be 5th edition compatible. Enhanced Origins is our first of these projects, taking our advanced character creator from the Shatter Destinies TTRPG to allow anyone playing 5th edition to easily create a character with a better idea of backstory elements, with rules to support it, a slew of species options, origin feats and an advanced background system will allow you to create a 5th edition character that feels unique, with over 3 million combinations available! 

Enhanced Origins will also serve as an introduction to Kintsor, and would be a good resource for anyone interested in running games in our world.

TP:  When you designed your world, what were the key things you wanted to include and why?

GP:  The world of Kintsor has evolved naturally over the years, the main concept of the world was to make something that felt big, but also make it very obvious that the stories you took part in mattered.

Much like the rules we write, I wanted the world to be fairly easy to jump into, but with history and depth once you begin to scratch the surface. 

It’s a jumping off point for groups to naturally evolve their version of Kintsor as they play their games. I’ll be very excited to hear about how the various realities of Kintsor change from table to table as more groups play in the world.

I also wanted the world to make sense! 

The rules of the game needed to match the rules of the world, for example the need to explain why powerful mages don’t rule Kintsor, and more serve in the shadows led to magic being heavily policed, along with emerging technology. It creates a kind of tension when a character might want to bust out a powerful spell or weapon to deal with a threat, should they do it? What will the repercussions be? 

TP:  Who do you think would love to play your TTRPG's and why?

GP:  Anyone that wants a blend of narrative and gameplay in equal measures. 

We don’t make purely crunchy games, nor do we take a rules-lite narrative only approach. We sit somewhere in the middle. Anyone that wants to tell a story with friends with clear rules to support the story telling, and level of risk/reward and push your luck with a little character building on the side will enjoy our games. Theme and feel is very important to us, as is that feeling of a satisfying gameplay loop. 

TP:  Where do you see your TTRPG writing career taking you in 5 years?

GP:  The dream would be to do this full time, there’s so many ideas to develop and test, Kintsor is constantly evolving and growing, I would love to add more to the system, we have a lot planned for the future!

TP:  If budget was not a problem and you had an infinite fund to call upon, what do you think you'd like to develop and bring to the fore?

GP:  Firstly, more art! We are slowly building up an amazing art bank with our very talented artist, but I would love to be able to get more artists involved in bringing Kintsor to life. Being able to afford to bring everyone in the Converge Games team on board full time would be a big plus with infinite funds. 

Upgrading our live stream would be one here, providing a dedicated space for shooting actual plays and gameplay previews in an environment that feels immersive.

TP:  Who do you admire in the Independent TTRPG writing space and why?

GP:  Anyone that had an idea and a passion and made it a reality. I’ve picked up a number of games from independent writers who either had an idea to fill space that they felt was missing in the space, or had a passion for the world they were writing that comes through in their work. 

As someone that enjoys character stories, world building and interesting gameplay loops, anyone that has a system that blends these in new ways will always get my attention.

Honestly anyone that gives it a go, not for money but because they love what they are doing! I can relate!

I just wish I had time to play and run more games, there is so much out there to discover!

TP:  What got you into TTRPG's in the first place?

GP:  Ever since I was young, I was telling stories and making games for my friends and family, I did more board gaming and wargaming when I was young, the closest I got at a young age was playing sprawling Warhammer Quest campaigns and making my own TTRPGs based off of JRPGs and Warhammer (an interesting mix!). I didn’t really get into the TTRPG space until later, I actually started LARPing first, from doing Performing Arts in sixth form I was introduced to the concept of LARP (which I still enjoy to this day), the friends I made there introduced me to the TTRPG space, and everything just clicked from there, 25 years later, here we are!