Patch notes
How Blackridge got here
Blight of Blackridge started as a game made in 24 hours and has been rebuilt a few times since. Here's what changed in each version, newest first. The current rules are always in the rule book.
- 2.1 Current
Death is not the end: the Blighted, trophies, and new cards
- Blighted: if your hand is full of ailments with at least 1 Corruption, you are Blighted, not out. You can play Corruption cards much like tools or weapons. Gain an item in any way and you come back to life. Run out of Corruption, or end up with a hand full of Damage, and you are dead. The last one standing wins.
- Blighted players don't eat. At Meal Time they discard a Corruption and take a Damage. They ignore event penalties, keep any items they gain, and fill their empty slots with Damage at the end of the event (the Damage deck is now 40). For now, as a playtest rule, they can only shop by spending a trophy.
- Trophies: win a 'Kill the Creature' option and you keep the creature card face up next to your hand. It takes no slot. If the Event deck runs out, the most trophies wins, then the fewest ailments, then the fewest Damage.
- Betting: the Event Leader moves clockwise each day, and if you pass you can still bet when it comes back around. The Wager is the minimum bet. Partnerships can be any size. On a tie, only the top-tied players avoid the penalty, and nobody gets the reward.
- Shopping goes around the table like betting, and the shop closes when everyone passes in a row. You can use each option once, spend a trophy to pay a whole Cost, or rob the shop by taking 1 Corruption for each item in the Cost.
- Every shop now has a safe option and a risky one. Cookhouse: Shake Down (every other player gives you 1 Ration). Saloon: a simpler Gamble, plus Standoff (you and another player roll, plus your weapon's Damage, and the lower roll takes 1 Damage). General Store: Buy Supplies and the push-your-luck Bargain Bin. Carnival: Pickpocket (take a random card from someone's hand) and a bigger Watch the Show. Snake Oil Salesman: Shill Snake Oil (give one of your Corruption to another player) and Get Surgery.
- Corruption cards were redesigned with new art and a banner title, and more of them hit back now. Malice and Apathy also deal 1 Damage. Neglect deals 3 Damage, minus 1 for each player taking part. Cowardice played face down deals 1 Damage for each player taking part, and face up it gives the players who skip 1 Corruption. Oppressive sets aside one face-down card from another player's bet. Sloth forces another player to skip the event.
- Weapons and tools: Six Shooter counts every 6 rolled until the event ends and gives you an item for each one. Poison turns your rations into weapons that deal 2 Damage each. Coach Gun's 1 Damage now lands when you collect the reward. Cheaters Dice works on anyone's roll. Lasso no longer hits your own partners. Corrupted Lantern takes every item the other players bet. Loaded Deck can draw a Ration and eat it at Meal Time.
- Creatures hit harder: the Hellhound, the Blood Moon Beast and the Death Rattler now give 2 Corruption, the Aractus Scourge deals 2 Damage, and the Gorge Beast gives 1 Corruption to players who lose the bet. The Greedmarrow Ghoul makes you discard an item, and the Iron Reaper's reward is now 'Try to survive'.
- Incidents now work with Blighted players. Duel: weapons used are discarded, and Blighted players don't duel. Liar's Bounty: declare a Weapon, Tool, Ration or Corruption, and every liar takes 1 Corruption. Double-Cross: everyone puts in 1 item (Blighted players put in a Corruption), and if you take a Weapon you also take its Damage.
- Order of operations: Corruption from corrupted items now comes after the winner is decided. Face-up cards take effect as soon as they are played. Only items can be traded, never ailments, and you can lie when trading. A new item can only replace an item. Each deck reshuffles its own discard pile. Multi events are staying. 2 to 4 players.
- New wording everywhere: Damage and Corruption cards together are now 'ailments'. Corrupted abilities say 'instead' when they replace the normal effect and 'also' when they add to it. It all comes with a brand new 2.1 rule book and new images for every card.
- 2.0
Give death a purpose: every Corruption card rewritten
- Nathan's goal for this update, in his words: 'Give death a purpose.'
- All 12 Corruption cards were rewritten. Instead of nudging an event's numbers, they now work like weapons and dirty tricks for knocked-out players.
- Damage dealers: Violent deals 2 Damage. Cowardice deals 3 Damage, minus 1 for each player taking part. Wrath deals 1 Damage for each corrupted card bet. Gluttony deals 1 Damage for each non-weapon card played.
- Tricks: Malice cuts the highest other bet by 2. Apathy makes corrupted cards count as normal ones. Greed steals a face-down bet card. Envy reveals 3 face-down cards. Pride breaks up every partnership.
- Meddling: Oppressive makes a player draw from a different deck. Sloth lets a player skip the event, take their bet back and gain a Ration. Neglect still hurts players who skip the event.
- The Silkflame Siren went from two sides to one option, 'Succumb to Her Charms', which gives every other player 2 Corruption.
- 1.0
Corruption cards come alive, loadouts, and four new creatures
- The big Corruption change: Corruption cards now do something, and you can play them after you die, so a knocked-out player stays in the game and long games speed up. Dead players play 1 Corruption face up per event (at any time on Shops). Nathan's reason: Corruption felt 'pretty samey when compared to damage'.
- Petulance was renamed Cowardice. Oppressive now draws a second event as a multi event, and players take the penalty of any option they skip.
- New tool: Poison. Play it face up, and every ration you bet deals 1 damage.
- 4 new creatures, bringing the Event deck from 16 to 20: the Greedmarrow Ghoul, the Aractus Scourge, the Death Rattler and the Silkflame Siren (who you could fight for or against).
- A creature's 'Cost' is now its Wager, so it doesn't get mixed up with a shop's Cost. Events say 'Take 1 Damage' instead of 'lose 1 Health', with more Corruption on events overall.
- Pick 1 of 3 starting loadouts: Rancher, Prospector or Gunslinger.
- Items are split into 3 decks, and you roll to draw: 1-2 Ration, 3-4 Tool, 5-6 Weapon. Each deck has its own discard pile, which fixed the old shared-deck mess.
- Bluffing: any face-up card can be played face down as a bluff, with no effect. Bluffing a corrupted card still costs you its Corruption.
- Shops are no longer bets: everyone can buy. You can also trade cards at any time, and there is a fixed order of operations for how a bet resolves.
- Cards now say whether you play them face up or face down and which events they work on. Dynamite only works on Creature Events, and the Loaded Deck text was fixed.
- Duel damage is now taken as Corruption, and in Double-Cross dead players can sneak Corruption into the pile.
- All art was cleaned up, many creatures got completely new art, every event got flavor text, and the rule book was rewritten.
- Playtest
Blackwater becomes Blackridge
- The game was renamed from Blight of Blackwater to Blight of Blackridge. The Blackwater Bog Beast kept the old name.
- New wanted-poster card frame: a western title font, fancy corners, the Corrupted Ability in a red scroll, and the first flavor text.
- There are now 3 copies of every weapon and tool (it was 2), so the deck needs less shuffling. Slop went to 12, Tonic to 3 and Canteen to 3.
- New weapons: the Tomahawk (win the bet and you keep it) and the Deringer (play it after the bets, before the result). New tools: Chickens Foot (lets you play a Corruption card) and Loaded Deck (draw and play a Weapon or a Ration).
- Liar's Dice was renamed Cheaters Dice: roll a second dice and take either result.
- Canteen moved from tools to rations.
- Six Shooter now rolls when used: a 6 gets you a card, and every other 6 rolled that event gets you an item. Bowie Knife now gives you 1 Ration when you win the bet. Ritual Knife removes a Corruption when you win the bet.
- Lasso now lowers every other player's weapon damage by 1, instead of lowering your own cost.
- Tonic is now eaten at Meal Time, and on a 5-6 it also removes a Corruption.
- The 30 blank Corruption cards became 12 named ones, 2 of each. Back then each one changed the event: Malice and Apathy raised or lowered the cost, Wrath and Petulance changed the penalty, Greed and Envy changed the reward, Violent, Pride and Gluttony added a card to the cost, Oppressive drew a second event, and Sloth and Neglect punished players who skipped.
- Saloon Gamble now pays out items instead of rations, the Carnival's snack got cheaper, and the Railroad Wraith now gives 2 items.
- Duel: attack any number of players. Liar's Bounty: anyone who lies gains Corruption.
- Jam
The 24 hour jam version
- Every card got a silhouette drawing, and 30 Damage cards (with skull art) were added. Damage stays in your hand for good. Corruption can be removed.
- The biggest playtest fix: betting was optional, so players skipped every creature and slowly starved. Creatures now hit you with a penalty if you skip them or lose the bet.
- Jam rules: everyone draws 5 from one shared pile. On each event you Pass, Bet face down or Partner Up, then raise in turn order. The highest bet wins, a tie means nobody gets the reward, and every bet item is discarded. Meal Time: discard a Ration or take a Corruption, then draw. If the events run out, the player with the fewest ailments wins, then the fewest Damage.
- Renames: Long Gun became Lever Action. Double-Barreled Shotgun became Coach Gun (deal 1 Damage to a player when you kill the creature). Consumer Grade Rations became Beans and Premium Rations became Tonic.
- Cut: Lucky Coin, the Gunsmith, the Gambling House (its dice table became the Saloon's Gamble), the Plague Incident and the Wendigo.
- New cards: Ritual Knife (killing the creature removes a Corruption), the Iron Reaper, the Gorge Beast and the Carnival.
- Dynamite became a tool that hurts everyone else in the event. Throwing Knife rolls its damage (1-2 deals 1, 3-4 deals 2, 5-6 deals 3). Lantern now lets you keep your bet after you lose. Bedroll lets you skip an event with no penalty and gain a Ration.
- Corrupted abilities got their own label and no longer use up the card. Instead they make it stronger and give you Corruption.
- Every option got a name, like the Cookhouse's Barter and Hold Up and the Snake Oil Salesman's low and high quality oil.
- Incidents became Mandatory.
- The jam deck had 16 events: 5 shops, 8 creatures and 3 Incidents (Duel, Liar's Bounty and Double-Cross).
- Draft
First draft, still called Blight of Blackwater
- Made in 24 hours for Blackthornprod's Engine Battle video, after DualWielded invited Nathan in. It was the first board game ever made for one of their videos. Inspired by Hunt: Showdown: PvPvE, cutthroat, cowboy horror.
- The core idea was there from the start: your hand is your inventory and your health, with 10 slots.
- In the planning doc Corruption was called Insanity (Hallucination, Hysteria, Mania and Delusion were planned). By the first export it was already Corruption, but the 30 cards were blank placeholders with no effects.
- The first deck had 6 weapons and 6 tools, 2 of each. Weapons: Six Shooter, Bowie Knife, Long Gun, Dynamite (a weapon back then), Double-Barreled Shotgun and Throwing Knife. Tools: Liar's Dice, Lasso, Lantern (peek at the next event), Bedroll, Canteen (a tool) and Lucky Coin (flip a coin instead of rolling: heads is 6, tails is 1).
- There were three ration sizes: Slop counted as 1 ration, Consumer Grade Rations as 2 and Premium Rations as 3.
- Using a card's corrupted bonus used up the card and gave you a Corruption.
- 22 events, with no art yet. Six shops, including a Gunsmith and a Gambling House. Creatures included a Wendigo. Four Incidents, including Plague (everyone discards a card).
- There were no Damage cards yet. Events said 'lose 1 Health'.
- The cards already said 'bet' from the very first export.
