Psychohistory Meets Strategy in CREARDO’s New Foundation Board Game

Italian publisher CREARDO are bringing Isaac Asimov’s classic Foundation series to our tabletops with the forthcoming Foundation boardgame by designer Mirko Bazzoli.

Foundation will be crowdfunding on Gamefound later this year, and you can already register your interest on the projects pre-launch page to stay in the loop on the games development and launch. The game will be for 2-5 players, ages 12+, and take between 80-120 mimnutes to play.

In a distant future, the Galactic Empire is in decline. While corruption and savagery spreads across the galaxy, some factions begin to move, each with their own purposes. while the fabric of society collapses, agents in the shadows and commanders in deep space move according to steps predicted long ago by the psychohistorians. Which ideology will prevail in the depths of the universe?

Foundation is an asymmetric card driven strategic game, set in the universe created by Isaac Asimov in his “Foundation” novel series. In the game players compete across the centuries for control over the fate of humanity, by deploying agents, gathering technologies, sealing contracts, acquiring new characters to bolster their faction, all for the purpose of acquiring enough influence (and victory points!) to guide humanity through the predicted Crises.

Each player represents one of the five Factions, with a different deck of cards at their disposal, different abilities and an asymmetrical faction board, all ready to deploy their agents through the galaxy to exert dominance on various planets, receiving influence and acquiring strategic positions. During their turn, the player plays a card from their hand in front of their faction board: the card and its position on the board determine which actions and special effects they can perform. Over a variable number of rounds, they will compete to be the one that influences the outcome of the Crises, deciding in which way the galaxy board will be shaped. At the same time, they’ll try to progress on their faction track to acquire as many bonuses as possible to develop their strategy, until the final Crisis is resolved and the winner is decided.

Mirko Bazzoli has also been talking about his inspiration behind the game:

Foundation was born in a very spontaneous way, almost out of a personal necessity. During one summer I started reading the Foundation trilogy, after having already read 'I, Robot'. Those stories struck me tremendously: the galactic empire, the psychohistory, space travel, and the great dynamics between planets completely immersed me in that world. Curiosity turned into passion, so much so that I continued reading the other books in the saga, until I had completed them all.

Once I finished, however, I was left with a sour feeling: I wanted to continue living that kind of experience. As a board game enthusiast, I began looking for something that could truly convey that sense of exploration, strategy, and space adventure that I had found in the books… but I couldn't find the game I had in mind. So I thought I would try it myself. One day I took a piece of paper and started drawing ideas, mechanism, and images that I had in mind. From that first sketch, the rest was born: I started gathering notes, creating documents, and putting together everything that had struck me about Asimov’s universe, trying to turn it into a tabletop experience. Then the project continued to grow, until the meeting with Creardo.

They have been posting some really informative news and background about the game in their campaign updates. For instance, you can read about the Core Mechanics of the game in this Campaign Update.

Images courtesy of CREARDO.