Nautical Nomad

Lee Winder
Apr 21
2 min read

Print and play games can be difficult to photograph. At the end of the day, the components tend to be... printed out pieces of paper. It's the game that matters since you can't rely on the kind of components that sometimes swamp a Kickstarter to make up for how the game feels - but it's hard to photograph just a concept.

However, when a print and play game comes with a limited print run, that does make it easier - and that's exactly what Nautical Nomad is doing.

A Nautical Theme

Given the quality of the limited print run, I really wanted to accentuate the ship side theme, especially next to the ship log and nautical themed print and fold books.

Thinking about what comes to mind when thinking about sailing in the distant past - treasure chests, captains logs, rum and messages in bottles, all bring to mind the idea of long travels on rough seas.

It's important not to drown (pardon the pun!) out the game with props though, at the end of the day the game is star, not the elements you've put next to them.

But I do really want to stress how good the print and fold books that come with the game are - especially in the limited print run - they really added to the feel of the shoot, and are a great thematic way to introduce the rules and game modes rather than just presenting a flat PDF for players to read.

Dice or No Dice

With games like Nautical Nomads, I'll often play them with a copious amount of dice to track progression and values. Especially with print and play games, where using dice can simply make it easier to track what you're doing.

But for a Kickstarter, you have to be mindful of what a potential backer might see.

They see the dice, and even though you've called it out as a print and play, do they think the dice is part of the package they're backing.

The same could be said for any props you use in a shoot, but when something is so closely aligned with a game - and what's more aligned with games than dice - you have to be careful on what you include.

But, photos look nicer with a set of lovely dice included in them!

With Nautical Nomad, and with any similar games, I'll often provide images with both dice and hand written notes. It gives the flexibility to use the right image in the right place, and show the different ways in which the game can be played.