Publisher Orange Nebula is running a Kickstarter campaign for Vindication: Chronicles, the second expansion to the titular board game of redemption and restoring your honour designed by authors Marcel Claxton, Marc Neidlinger and Tom Mattson. Originally published in 2018 as a result of a highly successful crowdfunding campaign, Vindication has players taking on the role of a disgraced outcast washing ashore a hostile, unknown island. Throughout the course of the game you set out with the goal of achieving vindication by completing quests and developing your character so that you may rise from the figurative mud. The first expansion titled Leaders & Alliances introduced an official solo mode which is now being expanded upon by the introduction of the second expansion Chronicles which adds several new mechanisms and elements designed to flush out the narrative aspect of Vindication even further by introducing story cards with multiple choice outcomes that in turn will have an impact on your character progression as described by publisher Orange Nebula:

“Normally, when you gain a card in Vindication, the story of how that came to pass is implied in the actions taken to gain it: you sought strength at the fort and knowledge at the library, then combined that strength and knowledge to find vision—which you used to enter to arcane tower and come away with a new magical relic. Chronicles enhance this narrative with additional story and choice. Each time you gain a card (for example, a relic) another player draws a chronicle and reads aloud what you encountered in that part of your journey, presenting you with a choice in how you handle that situation to gain the card. In other words, chronicle cards—and how you choose to respond to them—are the unique stories of how you gained each card in your tableau.

Once you’ve chosen how you respond to the encounter and the other player reads the resolution, you take the chronicle card, rotate it to orient the result of your decision upward, and slipping it beneath the card you just gained—leaving the the takeaway text exposed. Over time, your tableau not only fills with party members, magical relics, and monsters slain, but also with the stories of how each were gained (including, sometimes, small quirks or distinctions—like scars or phobias), turning each play of Vindication into a fleshed out narrative of your journey along the road to restored honor. 

Your choices in these chronicle encounters are primarily driven by your storytelling motivations. How would you—or your character, if you’re roleplaying—react in that situation? The biggest immediate result of your choice is already known—you gain the relic, pet, etc—so you’re free to immerse in the story and make the narrative choices you wish. This is your journey. Tell the story you want to tell.”

At the time of writing the Kickstarter campaign for the Vindication: Chronicles expansion has 10 days to go with an estimated delivery projected for January, 2022.

Source: Kickstarter