Yowza! We blew through our funding goal and unlocked our first achievement. Clearly, our fans remain the best around.

One of the things we were excited about when we decided to use this platform for the new campaign was BackerKit's attention to the social aspects of crowdfunding. (If you haven't done so already, check out the Discussions page and see how robust the community conversation is.) One of those aspects is the Community Achievement system. It's a little different than the ad hoc stretch goals we've used in prior campaigns. It's new to us, and we're going to explore all the cool things we can do as we move through the campaign. Importantly, since we already unlocked every stretch goal in the universe (and a few extras) in the first campaign, we're going to be focusing on the fun: unlocking updates with deeper dives on the content, backer polls, maybe even a little lore and worldbuilding.

So, without further ado, let's start things off by having a closer look at our first two monuments....

Since this is our first up-close look at monuments, let's talk a little more about how they impact the game. When using the Covenant expansion, at the start of the game, the app will tell you to replace a different building in each kingdom with a foundation token for a monument. Each type of building has two associated monuments. For the citadel, these are the Cenotaph of the First Prophet and the Tower Shard. So, if this is your home kingdom, you're starting the game in an empty space with a sad foundation token in place of your citadel. That's right, no more first turn potion for you. This also means one less building in each kingdom to hold skulls.

You definitely start in a bit of a deeper hole when playing with this expansion. But when you build them, you can really turn your fortunes around. (You can complete a monument by taking the Build heroic action in its foundation space when it has 3 offerings on it.) A completed monument counts as a building, including holding skulls and granting a Reinforce action (including special new enhanced Reinforce effects unique to that monument). It's all about deciding which monuments you're going to focus on building.

So what about these two monuments...?

Cenotaph of the First Prophet

Azkol’s first prophet built this as a tribute to his lord, before Azkol went mad. Now it stands as a testament to the Gods of Light, reaching towards the sky. The knowledge of all prophets that came after is stored within.

To gain offerings for this monument, you must defeat a foe in a wasteland. This presents two challenges. First, you have to get a foe to a wasteland if it's not already there. This can be done with a potion of the siren's song, the cloak of stars, and similar effects. Second, you need to enter the wasteland to Battle it (unless you have the oakstone bow, for example).

After it's built, the Cenotaph's enhanced Reinforce effect allows players to gain access to virtues from heroes outside the game! If you want to see how your favorite Spymaster virtue works on a different hero, then this monument is for you. The completed Cenotaph also generates events in the app that grant spirit to heroes in that kingdom.

The Tower Shard

For generations, pilgrims from the Four Kingdoms journeyed to the site of a glorious battle, where a piece of the original Tower fell, a scarred wedge. Eventually the site was sanctified and became a shrine to the Gods of Light.

To gain offerings for this monument, you must defeat foes adjacent to the Tower. Like it's counterpart, this might require some clever maneuvering to get it done.

After it's built, the Tower Shard's enhanced Reinforce allows you to trade spirit for potions. But its true power come from the Aura of the Tower Shard, which causes foes to tremble in battle. For the rest of the game, all foe critical hit battle cards are replaced with benign cards that can even aid you in Battle.