Recently, I wrote about the Tales from the Loop board game that’s currently campaigning on Kickstarter.

The sci-fi universe is growing with the latest RPG starter set and new Amazon Prime TV show.

And, now, Free League Publishing was gracious enough to sit down with GameTyrant and discuss the upcoming board game. I talked with lead designer Martin Takaichi about what players should expect from the cooperative game and what’s so appealing about the Tales from the Loop universe.

Here’s the conversation (edited for clarity):

For someone unfamiliar with Simon Stålenhag's Tales from the Loop, how would you describe the sci-fi universe?

Nostalgia askew. For me especially, when the first of Simon's paintings appeared online seven or eight years ago it hit the nostalgia nerve hard as I grew up just a couple of miles from the Mälar islands where it all takes place and was about the age of the kids in his art during the '80s.

So Simon's art has that familiar feeling, but then you notice that it's askew. Sure you recall perfectly the bus you used to ride, or that old grocery store logo, but you can't remember the big robot in the picture. And it feels like you should. What we got when the first art book was first published in 2014 was a look into the '80s that never was. In the book we didn't only have the paintings, but also the fragmented stories to accompany them.

It's a slightly melancholy universe where we remember things that no longer are. Both in terms of our lost childhoods but also in the robots, dinosaurs and hovering machines that inhabit it. It sometimes comes close to being straight-up horror, but we don't quite get there until the follow-up book Things From the Flood.

So while the strange machines juxtaposed on a familiar 1980s landscape might be the hook that brings you in, the pieces of the story you get from the kids who experienced these events, and the implications of them, are what makes you stay.

What drew you to this project?

Since it basically illustrates my childhood (with additional robots and sci-fi weirdness that I only imagined myself) the theme is very close to my heart. Since we decided early on that it would be a cooperative game I also enjoyed the challenge of bringing something new to the genre.

And of course, working with Simon's art and setting, getting to make models of the robots certainly made it even more attractive.

What did you learn from your work on Crusader Kings that helped you when designing Tales from the Loop - The Board Game?

Crusader Kings was Free League's first board game project. They took me on as a consultant and I helped to lay down the foundations of the game. It taught us all a lot about the industry in general and I think the one thing we really wanted to do with Tales From the Loop, which we felt was lacking in Crusader Kings, was have a tighter focus and more clear designer vision.

I took the role of lead designer for Tales From the Loop to make sure the game had a singular vision rather than being more of a communal endeavor. Naturally with input and feedback from the rest of the team.
In more concrete terms we also want to make sure that the components are top quality. Both cardboard and plastic components. Which is why we approached Paolo Parente and Dust Studios.

How do you feel that the board game enhances the experience for fans of Tales from the Loop and/or provides a new experience in the award-winning universe?

We discussed many different alternatives for what kind of board game could be set in the Loop universe. In the end, we settled on what would likely be most familiar to both fans of the books (and now the tv series) and the fans of the roleplaying game Free League released in 2017.

It's a way to experience the setting yourself and marvel at its wonders. Being a board game rather than a roleplaying game makes it more accessible as not everyone is comfortable with taking on roles in the RPG sense.

I also think there's a lot of room to explore science fiction themes in the game. Since the Loop universe has a kind of mystical or fantastical sense to its science fiction elements it has this feeling of not being bound by rules. I really like hard sci-fi, where things are as plausible as possible, but here that feels irrelevant as the Loop and the gravitron at its core, makes it possible.

What Kickstarter exclusives or stretch goals are you most excited to share with backers?

Ooh, good question! While things like more machines and perhaps character miniatures are what catches the eye of most backers, I'm actually most excited for additional scenarios to be added to the game. Nils Hintze, who wrote the RPG, has written a few as well as myself and others in Free League, and being able to highlight different parts of the setting through scenarios is so much fun.

On the other hand, I also hope we'll be able to unlock what we call sandbox mode. It would essentially allow you to play the game without a specific scenario. The sandbox experience would naturally lose out a bit when it comes to the narrative structure, but would, on the other hand, allow you to explore the islands in a new way.

What gameplay mechanics stand out in Tales from the Loop - The Board Game?

While I've tried to make a game that feels fairly familiar in its general structure, I of course also wanted to make sure the mechanics matched the theme. One thing I wanted to capture was the duality of the Loop universe. The duality of the kids living perfectly mundane lives, going to school and eating cheese and ham sandwiches but at the same time experiencing all the weird stuff going on around them as well.

Chores were introduced early in the design process to ground the kids. While they also sometimes touch on the science fiction of the setting, they're more often than not about mowing the lawn or picking up your younger sister from daycare.

Another thing knew I wanted in the game from the start was that the machines should be both potential threats and potential assets. I didn't want a game where machines were simply your enemies, but rather something more... unpredictable. The machines can absolutely be a hindrance and even dangerous, but if you're careful you could end up riding one and using it to get into all kinds of places you'd never be able to go otherwise.

How did the partnership with Paolo Parente's Dust Studio come about?

Well, way back I played a bit of AT-43, which was Paolo Parente's personal science fiction baby. When Rackham folded and AT-43 with it, Paolo instead focused on the Dust weird war setting with Dust Tactics. I started playing that when it was published by FFG, (and incidentally that's how I came into contact with Free League) and while I painted my own minis I saw the pre-paints that Dust Studios made and were blown away by them.

So when the discussion came up about having top quality miniatures for Tales From the Loop and perhaps having them pre-painted as well, my first thought was to contact Dust Studios and Paolo. Fortunately for us, he was more than happy to be able to work with the Loop universe, and the prototypes we got from him are really great looking!

If you wanted readers to know one thing about your board game, what would it be?

That it's the perfect way to experience a childhood with robots, dinosaurs, and wormholes in your backyard. Just like your own childhood should have had!

So there you have it. It’s an insightful look at an upcoming board game that will be a sci-fi adventure accessible to all tabletop gamers.

If you want to learn more about Tales from the Loop - The Board Game, check out the links above.

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