General:Chip Theory’s Betrayal of the Second Era Boardgame Now on Gamefound

Originally published September 21, 2022. The original article can be found here.

Learn more about the epic upcoming boardgame set during the time of The Elder Scrolls Online from Chip Theory.

Announced in January of this year, Chip Theory’s massive upcoming Elder Scrolls tabletop adventure game, Betrayal of the Second Era, can now be discovered on Gamefound. Check it out to learn more about this upcoming solo or cooperative experience, and sign up for updates by selecting the “Follow” button.

In Betrayal of the Second Era, you and your allies set out in five of Tamriel’s nine provinces, quest and complete encounters, develop your characters, and engage in strategic battles—exactly the kind of adventure you’d expect from an Elder Scrolls game! Since the game’s announcement earlier this year, the team has been hard at work developing this new tabletop Elder Scrolls experience.

“While we've had the overall concept of this game in mind for the past couple of years, we've spent a lot of time since January fleshing out the core gameplay mechanics,” explains Josh Carlson, Betrayal’s Lead Designer. “There are a lot of interlocking systems in the game—combat, character customization, traveling, dungeon delving, story and side quests, etc.—and we want to make sure the final product allows all of those systems to interact in a way that feels dynamic and meaningful, without being overly complicated. ESO and the Elder Scrolls games in general are known for the large amount of player choice in how to interact with the game; we want that feeling to extend to Betrayal of the Second Era as well, while still maintaining a clear objective and endgame.”

Additionally, we have also spent a lot of time developing the actual content players will be interacting with in the game,” says Josh. “This includes a massive number of illustrations of the races and creatures found within Tamriel. In conversation with the ESO team, we have also been working on skill and class lines, province maps, story quests, and the other elements players will see when they open the box. We have made a lot of progress on these elements and are excited to see how they will be received by fans.”

But how will Betrayal of the Second Era play on the tabletop? In a lot of ways, it is like one of Chip Theory’s most-beloved game, Too Many Bones, but it will have plenty that is uniquely Elder Scrolls, too.

“Betrayal of the Second Era revolves around three interlocking gameplay concepts: exploration, character building, and combat. At the beginning of a session, players select a quest that provides them with a unique objective within a given province. To accomplish the goals of a quest, players travel across one of Tamriel's nine provinces, stopping at famous locations to train, shop, advance the storyline, or just get into a bit of trouble. As they explore the world, they earn experience points, which they can spend on upgrading their character—either in increasing baseline stats or unlocking unique skill dice that they can roll and apply in a variety of ways.”

“The primary place players roll those dice is during combat, either in ground-level, fast-paced clashes or in explorable underground areas we're currently calling delves,” explains Josh. “In either case, combat is much more than just a roll-and-see experience. Combat movement and positioning, skill and attack dice selection, and the way in which you apply your success rolls (and fails—which builds your Tenacity), all come together in a dynamic battle experience. As the battle wages, players need to carefully manage their usage of available Skill dice with those on cooldown, to make sure they have the resources available to finish the battle.”

There’s a lot more to see and even more yet to be revealed when it comes to Betrayal of the Second Era. Be sure to visit the Gamefound page and select “Follow” to sign up for more details so you know exactly when and how you can get your hands on this epic tabletop adventure game!