Capitalism Mandated Corporate Mythos

Dice or Death Games was founded in 2020 by Ray Ortgiesen with a commitment to building a new living card game. The vision was simple: a single box that provides everything two players need for hundreds of hours of strategic deck building and tactical gameplay. The original concept was centered around the idea of a dynamic game board where each player pushes and pulls on the contours of the terrain vying for the advantage. The long-term goal was to foster a passionate, competitive community that could give direct feedback to the developers.

While the vision was simple, Ray knew the execution of such a design would be anything but. He reached out to 2013 StarCity Games Magic: the Gathering Standard Open Champion (nobody tell him this isn’t exceptionally prestigious) and life-long friend Erik Finnegan. Late night arguments about game design and mechanics have been a staple of their friendship and they now had the boundless arrogance to believe they could design and deliver a brand new tactical living card game that could stand up to Summoner Wars or Netrunner.

The only good thing to say about the first version of this game is that it had some potential. The deck building didn’t feel strategic and the tactical gameplay was shallow at best. Then they took what they learned and made an almost entirely different game. Half of that game was good and the other half is buried somewhere in the woods of New England. Eventually, the game wasn't an embarrassment to show to other people and a few of them even started saying it produced some amount of fun. In 2023, after much more iteration and testing, Ray and Erik took this game to Gen Con to get it in the hands of a wider public and many of them even enjoyed it. They did still say it was kind of ugly, though.

So Erik kept refining the card and unit mechanics with the help of an enthusiastic team of beta testers while Ray started handing money to some talented artists who helped drench the game in ‘90s cyberpunk vibes. With solidified mechanical foundations and a much-needed facelift, only one thing remains: complete the crowdfunding ritual that will materialize Black Hats into as many homes and local gaming stores as possible.