Designer: Florian Pfab

Artist: Florian Pfab

Publisher: Peacock Tabletops

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, grid movement, modular board, pick up & deliver, take that, variable player powers

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Materia Prima is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges already currently total about 1.3x the initial funding goal, with 4 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

What It’s About:  A competitive, fantasy-themed sandbox game with striking watercolor art, a variety of game mechanisms where players compete to generate a Philosopher’s Stone, possess at least one Soul Stone, and complete their secret quest.

How It Works: Materia Prima is played over a number of rounds, until at least one player builds the Philosopher’s Stone and triggers the end of the game. Each round, in clockwise order, players can take up to 3 Actions on their turn. This includes Moving to a neighboring hex not occupied by another player or a Homunculus, Mining element hexes for resources, Fighting, or Discarding elements. Alchemists can lose their Soul Stone in battle, and if they do, they can no longer win the game unless they retrieve it. Players can build Tower Extensions, Equip elements, and Convert or Transmute elements. Additional, at Towns players can Research recipes and Purchase goods. Once a player has both a Soul Stone and a Philospoher’s Stone, the game ends and points are scored. Players receive 1, 2, or 3 points for each Level 1, 2, or 3, Homunculi, Equipment, and Philosopher’s Stone, 2 points for each level 3 (only) element, 5 for the Philosopher’s Stone Set, 3 for a Soul Stone, 2 for each Tower Extension, and 9 points for completing each Secret Quest. The player with the most points, wins!

Comparisons:  The watercolor art is somewhat unique, although the recent Evolution spin-off, Oceans, also featured some pretty cool watercolor art. Beyond that, the game is sort of a hodgepodge of exploration, resource management, and occasional combat. The HEXplore It series just launched their 3rd Kickstarter, and that game certainly bears some comparisons, as does Vindication, though that game has a darker, more adult theming in place of the cheery visual palette of Materials Prima.

What Should I Pledge?:
$45 Materia Prima base game: the base game & all unlocked stretch goals.
$143 Materia Prima limited edition: the base game & all unlocked stretch goals, plus signed & framed original artwork.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $45 for the Materia Prima base game (assuming you don’t want the original artwork) plus $16 in shipping for a total of $61.

Materia Prima completes its Kickstarter on Friday, August 9th and tentatively ships in March 2020.