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Welcome to our very first blog at Fabled Studios!
Let's start with a little bit of history, because roots are important. Who are we, the people behind Fabled Studios and Fabled Games?
Nick and I started playing board games together in our early 20s; however both our pasts were full of games! We both have fond childhood memories, playing either with family or with friends, though different games each. I was more of a mass games gamer, and Nick was more of a tournament card game style. We never thought in our early days that we would be working in the industry. Much like everybody who talks to us is shocked when we tell them “we help make board games”, our small kids' (or young adults’ for that matter) heads could not wrap around the fact that this is an industry that offers jobs.
It wasn't long before we became an integral part of our home community. Local publishers would call us for playtest sessions, and would ask our opinion about their games. Nick would always comment more on the design, while I would always have ideas about how to market the games. While we were still working along with local publishers, on a more unofficial basis, we decided to see the industry from different viewpoints as well, with Nick gaining experience as a game-master, and at a retail store, while I went more in depth in reviewing and offering crowdfunding services. Those were the days that you did $100,000 on Kickstarter and you were the hottest thing!
We even organized our very own tabletop convention - the first in our home country. Even though it just ran for a year, we managed to get 1500 unique visitors throughout a single weekend. Our plans and aspirations for the future were, however, bigger than what our local industry could bear, so this was unfortunately just a one year event.
Nick and I started playing board games together in our early 20s; however both our pasts were full of games! We both have fond childhood memories, playing either with family or with friends, though different games each. I was more of a mass games gamer, and Nick was more of a tournament card game style. We never thought in our early days that we would be working in the industry. Much like everybody who talks to us is shocked when we tell them “we help make board games”, our small kids' (or young adults’ for that matter) heads could not wrap around the fact that this is an industry that offers jobs.
A 2-player game
But how do our personalities click together professionally? Nick was always the more creative type, loved the idea of making something tangible, that would hook others and help them escape in a fictional world. On the other hand, I was always the more strategic type, asking the whys and the hows. It wasn't long before our hobby turned a little bit into something more. We started off as reviewers. There were so many games out there that we were playing and enjoying, and tabletop game reviewing was not done in our mother tongue, so why not give people the opportunity to have content in their language? I fondly remember in the early days sending all those emails to publishers, explaining who we are, and what we do, booking appointments for Essen, and running around the halls to meet everybody. A little known fact - we loved board games so much that we decided to run a board game café, at a time when they were barely a thing. That was a risk, and it had its ups and downs, like everything. Let's say that our love for drinking coffee is bigger than our love for making coffee, which led us out of this venture.
It wasn't long before we became an integral part of our home community. Local publishers would call us for playtest sessions, and would ask our opinion about their games. Nick would always comment more on the design, while I would always have ideas about how to market the games. While we were still working along with local publishers, on a more unofficial basis, we decided to see the industry from different viewpoints as well, with Nick gaining experience as a game-master, and at a retail store, while I went more in depth in reviewing and offering crowdfunding services. Those were the days that you did $100,000 on Kickstarter and you were the hottest thing!
We even organized our very own tabletop convention - the first in our home country. Even though it just ran for a year, we managed to get 1500 unique visitors throughout a single weekend. Our plans and aspirations for the future were, however, bigger than what our local industry could bear, so this was unfortunately just a one year event.
