History TabletopGame / KingdomDeath

In November 2016, a second Kickstarter for the 1.5 version of the game was launched. It smashed the funding level of the first campaign within hours, and at the end of its first day had amassed more than double that amount, over $4 million. It ended in early January 2017 and was the most funded game Kickstarter of all time until it was overtaken by ''[[TabletopGame/{{Gloomhaven}} Frosthaven]]'' in May 2020, and at the time the fourth overall with over $12 million.

* GroinAttack: Genitals are a potential attack target on survivors and certain monsters.

* ThePhoenix: A monstrous bird with some magical powers shares the name in the core game. That's about where the similarities end.

* SanityMeter: It's possible to contract all sorts of mental disorders.

* TimeMaster: The Phoenix can age a survivor years into the future or to dust.

* AlluringAnglerfish: Gorm has a bioluminescent lure. Spidicules uses a [[{{Squick}} human torso]] (which sometimes is [[AndIMustScream still alive]]) as a lure.

** Two of the named survivors and series mascots are [[Manga/FairyTail Lucy and Erza]].

* VaporWear: Most of the pinups wear very little clothes. The Dragon King's armor for both genders has [[AbsoluteCleavage a giant gash down the center of the chest]].

** The White Lion doesn't have human teeth... it has those of a ''great white shark''.

In November 2016, a second Kickstarter for the 1.5 version of the game was launched. It smashed the funding level of the first campaign within hours, and at the end of its first day had amassed more than double that amount, over $4 million. It ended in early January 2017 and is currently the most funded game Kickstarter of all time, and the fourth overall with over $12 million.

* DiabolusExMachina: At the end of the regular game, [[spoiler:the Gold Smoke Knight explodes and suffocates everyone in your settlement to death.]]

* DungeonBasedEconomy: The main ressources in the game are the hides, bones, organs and treasure of the monsters. To get those, hunting parties need to be sent out into the darkness.

* HeroicBuild: Given that this game was originally built about a line of very specifically crafted boutique miniatures, all of the humans portrayed in the game seem to hold the physique of olympian athletes, supermodels, or, commonly, both. [[spoiler:Seemingly ''[[JustifiedTrope justified]]'' however, in that the dried ink that cakes the eyes of all newly-awakened humans found among the Plain of Faces implies that they were literally ''written into existence'' by the powers of the [[RealityWarper Scribe]], in furtherance of that entity's continuing interest in studying human civilization cycles. The Scribe can, literally, make his creations look as beautiful or ugly as he pleases, so it seems that - in either a small act of mercy, vanity, or both - he blesses the humans he creates with physically perfected bodies... Not that having a top-of-the-line physique actually ''allows'' many newly-made humans to survive the overwhelming rigors of the [[DeathWorld world of Kingdom Death...]]]]

* TheWatcher: There's a monster that shares its name with the trope. Attacks after year 25, which throws the non-interference portion of the trope out the window.

* [[spoiler:{{Womb Level}}]]: [[spoiler:The lantern hoard is actually the womb of a Watcher, a powerful monster who waits for the settlement to grow powerful enough before consuming it]].

* AbortedArc: The Lantern Festival expansion, as the original idea behind it would have taken the scope and power level of the game too far for Poots' taste, turning settlements into towns and pitting survivors against two PhysicalGod {{Humanoid Abomination}}s ([[MonsterLord the King]] and its master, [[RealityWarper the]] [[RewritingReality Scribe]]). WordOfGod is that the miniatures intended for it will be reused in one or more unspecified future projects.

* BadassInCharge: The King's Hand is more powerful than the King's man: [[spoiler:even when the survivors defeat him he doesn't die, whereas the kingsman will.]]

* DiabolusExMachina: At the end of the regular game, [[spoiler:the Gold Smoke Knight explodes and suffocates everyone in your settlement to death. Why? Because TrueArtIsAngsty.]]

* CherryTapping: There are rules for unarmed combat. No word on its effectiveness, but Poots has implied that it's a last resort deal. Definitely a case of MagikarpPower, as unarmed mastery gives everyone in the settlement immunity to knockdown, and its luck bonus makes it invaluable to certain crit builds.

** The recently introduced Cyclops Knight is one as well; if the vast queue of prospective clients stretching to the horizon outside his workshop is any indication, he may even be an UltimateBlacksmith.

* MonsterKnight: The Dung Beetle Knight, The Flower Knight, the 1st and 2nd Lion Knights, the Black Knight, the Gold Smoke Knight, the Storm Knight, the White Knights (both standard and Heavy versions), the Spiral Knight and likely the Lost Knight.
* MonsterLord: The King (to the King's Men and King's Hand), the Dragon King (although he's the LastOfHisKind) and the Lion God (to the White Lions). It's unclear yet if the Screaming God is this to the Screaming Antelopes.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: According to the play test reports from Poots. Many of the reports involve TheButcher wiping the party.

* FinalBoss: The Watcher in the core game. The Dragon King and Sunstalker in those expansions and The King and Scribe in the Lantern Festival. The 1.5 version brings a new one to the core box, the Gold Smoke Knight, while upcoming expansions will have the Gryphon (in its eponymous expansion), the Mountain Man (Inverted Mountain expansion), the [[HarderThanHard Legendary]] version of the Lion God (The Silver City expansion), and the Ivory Dragon - AKA True Form {{Satan}} (also in its eponymous expansion).