Coins of the Realm, Dice for Games
Alex, owner of Ulfsark Games, gives us insight into his Elven and Dwarven coins and RPG dice.
When did you discover RPGs?
When I was about 10 or so, my Dad bought me the basic box for Dungeons and Dragons, the black one with the dragon and fighter on the front, still have most the minis. So i suppose I had a very regular introduction to it.
Why did you create Ulfsark Games?
I have a massive passion for design and gaming. Also, it is very hard for young people in England to get a well paid job. Therefore, I decided that I could do what other people where doing on Kickstarter. I love business and creating new things and with Kickstarter I felt I could flex this. Although, Kickstarter has a lot of big companies on it, I still feel that a small business would do well to start on Kickstarter.
Tell us about your coins.
Our Dragon Scales coins are inspired by the Lord of the Rings series as well as Warhammer Fantasy. The are made from a zinc alloy which gives them a very satisfying feel.
They are designed by a friend from Argentina who goes by the alias Nexz and he did a wonderful job. The coin idea went from conception to launch in about 2 months and all the regular coin sizes where pre-prototyped. The campaign did so well that we were able to release bar coins, which are bigger and represent higher denominations. These were requested by our backers and we blew them all away.
Your dice look incredible. Can you describe them?
The Dragon Scales dice are awesome, I love them myself! The D6s are the easiest to make, they are made from aluminium and then laser engraved with our beautiful designs. The designs we have are Elven, Dwarven, Gearpunk, Techno, Roman and Celtic. We feel this covered enough genres that everyone could find a dice they like. Getting the first Kickstarter project set up cost me nothing, and with a goal of £500 I was nervous we would not make it. Then we made that goal in the first 24 hours. It was amazing, people loved the dice. So many happy backers and our brand name became a thing.
The polyhedral Dragon Scales dice we make are equally awesome and were so popular I had to use Backerkit to help me organise it. It still stands as the most massive project I have ever undertaken and taught me many things. The dice are made the same way as the D6s, but in all the shapes. This made them perfect for RPG games and with the release of the latest D&D game coinciding with our product launch we felt this had a tremendous effect.
Do you do all the design work yourself?
I do most of the design work myself but for full color paintings or anything I feel is out of my reach, I hire outside help. Nexz is my go to guy, he is hard working and very creative. He is a talented young man who I see going very far in the industry.
Tell us about your podcast.
The Kick the Wolf podcast is a little project I do on the side as it allows me to connect to other project owner and also entertain. In Kick the Wolf we talk about Kickstarter and the games industry trends with regards to indie companies. I love interviewing people and producing it as I used to study media and miss doing that.
Are you developing any new products?
YES! We are at the moment making a game that is going to be our first! It is called Tio Dynasties and I have invested a huge amount of personal effort and funding to get it where it is today.
Tio Dynasties is a miniature skirmish game for 2-4 people.
Based in feudal Japan, but with a twist. It is set in a parallel universe where humans never existed, but beastmen evolved to take their place. Not only that but the life force called Tio contained within these beastmen can be used to perform superhuman acts and magical abilities.
With two main factions and a unique new rules set the starter box will be launched on Kickstarter in April and will really be a amazing achievement for me if it gets funded.
How can someone learn more about Ulfsark Games?
Our Facebook page is great for keeping up to date in real time, but for background information go to any of our Kickstarter projects or most importantly our website to get your hands on the remaining stick from the Kickstarters.