Interview with Bill Smith of Waning Gibbous Games, creator of Larceny

Larceny is a heist themed party game from Waning Gibbuos Games currently raising fuinds on Kickstarter. In Larceny players have to create daring robberies using a a limited arsenal of equipment and their imagination to get away with the prize. I posed the games creator, Bill Smith, a few questions about the game, Kickstarter and 70's movies.


I only have enough money to back one Kickstarter tell me what Larceny is all about and why I should back it?

In a nutshell, Larceny is a heist-themed party game where you and your friends plan one heist after another. It’s fast, fun, and even family friendly. Larceny’s best trait, if you ask me, is that it takes the traditional word association party game and adds a layer of problem solving and strategy. It’s not just about which words get the laugh, in Larceny you have to not only work out what the Chief might like, but also what might actually work to get the heist done. We’ve got half a dozen different play modes, so you should back it if you like party games, storytelling games, co-op games, light strategy or heists in general.

Larceny’s style and theme take influence from 70’s heist movies, is there a particular movie that led to the creation of Larceny?

We’ve tried to cast a broad net there. Larceny’s slang, for example, fits in with anything from 20’s gangster flicks to modern grafter code. We’ve tried to keep specific influences and direct references out of the game, but I will say anything from classics like the Italian Job and the 39 Steps to modern crime shows like Leverage and Burn Notice might have had a hand in its creation.

This is Waning Gibbous’ first Kickstarter project, why should we trust you and what have you learned from the process so far?

The short answer is we’re motivated to make this a career. We hope Larceny is the first game of many, so it’s in our interest to deliver quality and on time. Beyond that, we did as much research as we could leading up to the launch. I’ve personally spoken to half a dozen printers, priced out offset printing vs print on demand, worked out the shipping size and weight to determine costs, researched business arcana such as startup taxes and what goes into getting a UPC code and so on. We’ve worked hard to get to this point and I think we have the drive to finish what we started. We’ve learned a lot so far: I can now speak knowledgably on card stock thickness, can explain why wildly successful Kickstarters often lose more money than those that barely fund, and know first hand what a gaming stress test at a convention feels like. We’re working hard to make sure we know what we’re doing, and hope that we can show that effort enough to earn the trust of our backers.

 

Larceny has some similarities to other party games like Dixit, Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity. These games also have many expansions, what plans do you have to expand and support Larceny after launch?

We aren’t talking too much about those, but I will say that we have a lot of cards that didn’t make it into the initial set due to printing and shipping costs. We already have enough card ideas for an expansion, with more ideas coming in every day. Our first stretch goal includes these cards, so we’re hoping to hit that and to be able to add more value for our backers, but either way we definitely have ideas for expanding the base set. Beyond that, we also have whole sets of variant cards already drawn up, such as the sci-fi themed Larceny in Space, or the Cthulhu-Mythos themed Eldritch Larceny. After we fund the base set we’ll look very closely at what our fans want us to publish next.

What is the silliest or most memorable heist that’s come out of your games of Larceny?

I think it would be the heist where my wife got in with smoke bombs, disabled the spotlights with a crowbar, extracted the highly valuable kittens by scooping them up in the cutest way possible with a shovel, and then riding off into the sunset on the baddest motorcycle. Good times.

A big thanks to Bill for taking the time to answer our questions. If you fancy robbing a priceless piece of art using a tiger then check out the Kickstarter project.