Stonemaier News October 2025: New Game Announcement

0:00 Hello everyone and welcome to the mill. Today we had a big week for Stonemer Meyer Games. We had our last big announcement week of 2025 and the big story is we just learned today about the last release of Origin story. So Jamie talked a lot about that on the live cast today. I'm recording it a little bit after that. So that's the big news. So, between that and the Vantage newsletter, that's kind of where I'm going to go with. So, I'll talk about origin story first. And as the newsletter says, your inner superhero is ready to emerge one chapter at a time. Reveal your backstory. Gather gadgets and allies. Develop a grudge against your arch archeneemy and unleash an ultimate ability as you transform. Use a combination of brains, love, speed, and strength to craft your origin story. And what we know from the live cast and what Jamie has shared so far is that brains love speed and strength. Those are your four suits as this is an engine building tricktaking game. So it's Jamie says it's about 45 minutes long. It goes from one to five players and it's five rounds of trick taking except before each round you get to kind of put out your origin story through a card that gives you special abilities. Jamie gave us a couple sneak peeks at some of those during the live cast, but he's going to go into a lot more detail in the upcoming design diaries, so I'm going to

1:30 let him kind of spoil those for you. But needless to say, there are definitely hints to kind of other superhero movies and superhero stories and comic books, but this is all unique. He designed it with his friend Pete, who also is the designer of Crits and Tricks, which I believe it was Inside Up Games, uh, had on Kickstarter earlier in the year. So, I've met Pete before. He is great with trick takers. He's the one who always brings them to Jaime's game nights. He knows trick taking. So, personally, I'm very excited for that him pairing with Jamie to kind of bring us this. And the art is by Clementine, who also did the worms art. So you can see that watercolor with it as well. So that was the big news. Jamie is going to start design diaries. By the time you see this, he's probably already had some out. And then on October 10th is when myself and other content creators can really start putting more stuff out there for you to watch, whether it's gameplay videos or reviews or any of that. And then on October 15th, Origin Story will launch, go on sale on the Stone Meer website. The other new products that will launch on the 15th are the Tokido expansions and playmats.

2:47 So Jamie combined both Tokaido expansions into one for Stonemer. So that will launch then. And he says there's also a playmat that will go along with it as an additional add-on. It's a natural rubber playmat that replaces both the game and expansion boards. Okay. And the other product, big product that's going on sale for the first time on October 15th is the Wingspan fan design packs. And there are six of them. Jamie has revealed all of them. He also revealed how him and Megan have kind of did like their own twist where they each had their own pack. So, I actually just got mine in today. So, I got them a little bit early. So, I'm not going to show you any of the cards, but I can show you the covers at least and tell you what Jamie said. So he said he and his words played birds of Canada and Megan played birds of New Zealand. And what they did was they their five starting cards were from their packs and they had their own personal draw pile.

3:46 So the main draw where you see all the bird cards, they kept that with the other deck, but then they also had a personal draw pile for their birds that they could choose from so they could see more of these. And uh Molly and I talked about we think that's a really cool idea. said, "I think I might do that when I get my mother-in-law a set and we are down for Thanksgiving. Maybe we'll try Jamie's version." But I have these and I'm really excited. I've opened a few of them. Not going to spoil them. Uh Molly and I also have a planned interview coming up with Travis, who is the coordinator of all these fan design packs and is actually designer or co-designer of quite a few of these. If you know Wingspan, you probably know Travis. He's in there all the time, especially with his frog mouth, the birds, obviously. So, yes, he's kind of in charge of all that. And we're going to talk to him so we can kind of hear about what started it all and kind of some of what's going on with some of these birds. And maybe we'll get a chance to show you a couple other ones, which will be really cool. So, that'll be coming up soon from the mill. All right, so those are the big promos packs. And the other part that's kind of nice with this October 15th launch since there was a launch in September, Jamie and Stonemire Games have kept the launch discounts from Dragons Academy and everything else that was done in September. So everything including Tokaido Duo and Smitten 2 will be on launch discount through October 19th.

5:15 So, if you were waiting, you'll be able to get all of that starting October 15th through the 19th at the launch discount. All right. So, that was a lot in the first part of the newsletter. All right, then. Let me see. Okay, that's the main part there. Okay, so yeah, that was the main part from the newsletter. Then the other parts I have, there was a recent Vantage newsletter within the last couple weeks and there was a survey on there. So in case there were any other pieces you wanted, um, for instance, he was looking for interest. If people wanted an art book and if people wanted the Skirm pack on its own with all the different Skirm cards. So, if you're interested in either of those products, you should go to the Vantage newsletter. So, you can sign just not really signing up, but you're showing interest so Stonemire knows if they should make those products. And if you don't sign up for the Vantage newsletter, it is posted on their website. Jamie also started a monthly challenge with Vantage. So, it kind of involves minor spoilers. He actually recently put out a video of him doing the challenge. He's calling it the Indiana Jones challenge. So, if you're familiar with Indiana Jones, you might be able to figure out a little bit of a hint of what it is, but just very minor spoiler, it involves caves. I'm not going to give you the whole piece there, but it's kind of an interesting twist and it's a way to kind of give you an

6:46 extra challenge if you are playing a lot of Vantage. So, he's Jamie has started those and that's on there. So, that's in the Vantage newsletter. He also has in BGG. Along with everything else that's happening on October 15th, you also can get stickers for Vantage. The production of an update pack is complete and will be on their web store along with several new non- Vantage products. Obviously, um this is going to have a few new cards and storybook stickers for some of the Arata that's already come out for Vantage. So, you'll be able to purchase those if you want them on your Vantage game. And in those story books, you'll be able to get those on the 15th as well. And then there is further. So in the Vantage new newsletter, they also usually put any more Arata that is found because it's a massive game. So all these little side cases are popping up every so often. So that's on there. And those are also constantly being updated on Rule Pop. So if you are ever confused, maybe go and look at Rule Pop online and you'll be able to see if it's one of the cards or one of the options that maybe needs tweaking.

7:51 All right. So, yes, there's also a spoiler design diary about Caves in Vantage that's on that newsletter. I'm not going to deep dive into that because once again, spoilers, but you can go see it if you would like. All right, the last part as any good newsletter is the progress chart. All right, nothing too crazy. Obviously, we know Dragon Academy, Tokaido Duo and Smitten all arrived last month and are all out. And we know the Wingspan fan design, bird packs, Tokaido expansions, and origin story are all in that about to launch and fulfillment part. So that's they're all kind of in that area. Wingspansion 4 and Finsspan expansion one are still slated for Q1 of 2026 and are kind of in the process of the component stage. And then the expedition's expansion 2 is still slated for Q3 2026. I don't think that's changed. That's in the graphic design. Uh code name bone is our next code name and that's pretty far down there. That's slated for Q4 2026.

9:05 That one looks like it is currently in solo design. Namiji, which is the last one in that Tokido line. Jaime's mentioned several times he's hoping to get another completely new game in the Tokido line that's strictly Stonem soon, but Namiji is the last piece of what they acquired. So that's also predicted for sometime in 2026 and is also I believe in the solo design stage. Then Deep is the next code name that's slated for Q1 of 2027. So that one's in really good shape. It's actually pretty far along. That's in graphic design. And then we have Bale Lost and Keys still at the bottom. Bale is slated for 2027. And then complete question marks on Lost and Keys still. But that is what's going on with Stonemire this week. And yeah, I can't wait to tell you more about Origin Story and the Wingspan packs. And then gosh, I still have to get to the Tokaido expansions as well. So, lots to come for the mill for the rest of 2025.

10:09 And we will see you next time. If you have any questions or comments, tell us what you're excited for. Please put them in the comments below. Thanks. Bye.