Dig, fight, explore and build in this co-operative tabletop adventure for 1-4 intrepid Terrarians!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Mini-Update: Pre-Format Rulebook and Re-Uploaded Gameplay Video!
6 months ago
– Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at 10:21:37 AM
Hello Terrarians! 🌳
Here's a little optional weekend reading and viewing for you...
📖 Pre-Format Rulebook
As mentioned in July’s update, we’ve been finalising the rulebook after a major overhaul and several consistency passes. While layout and formatting are still in progress, we’re sharing the pre-format rulebook so you can provide feedback; we’ll use this, alongside the feedback that we’ve incorporated from external editors, blind playtesters, and playthrough participants, to add the finishing touches!
A few notes before diving in:
This is an unformatted document; we’re looking for feedback on the clarity of rules, rather than visual polish.
You’ll see inline references [in square brackets]; these are just placeholders for icons/diagrams and can be ignored.
Page references are listed as XX, rather than a number, as they will change during formatting.
Images are drafts and may show outdated components – these will be updated and replaced.
You can comment directly in Dropbox via your broswer (our preferred method, since it tracks comments to the right page and allows us to manage feedback in one place) by clicking the icon shown below. A free account is required to do this; if you’d rather not sign up, you can email your feedback to [email protected], please use the subject Line ‘Terraria Rulebook Feedback’ and be sure to include page numbers.
Thanks for helping us make the rulebook as clear and fun as possible!
🎬 Updated Gameplay Video
We’ve just re-uploaded our playthrough featuring Chippy, Alex and Hannah – this version is higher resolution and has been colour corrected, so the shots match more closely. This video is also public and shareable, so feel free to share with anyone who might be interested!
👋 We'll Be Back Next Week!
We’ll be back next week with August’s monthly update; we'll be out of the office for the bank holiday until Tuesday, so please bear with us if it takes us a little longer than normal to respond to comments.
Have a great weekend!
-The Paper Fort Games Team
July 2025 Update: Gameplay Videos, Updated Timeline, Shiny Pwnhammers, Squishy Slimes, Boss Card Art and More!
7 months ago
– Wed, Jul 30, 2025 at 08:14:20 AM
Hello Terrarians! 🌳
This month, we’re finally able to share not one, but two gameplay videos with you! It’s been a delight to play the game with some very special guests, and we can’t wait for you to see their reactions to the game 🤩 We’ll also be providing information about our estimated timeline, updated boss cards, development news and a sneak peek at the game’s special-edition Pwnhammers!
Let’s dig in...
⏰ Updated Timeline
TL;DR: We’re updating our estimated shipping date to November 2025.
In March, we revised our timeline, updating our estimated shipping date from June to August. We’ve been working as hard as we can to meet that goal, but we’re going to need some more time to ensure that the game is the very best it can be.
Why is the game taking longer than expected?
From a development point of view, reworking and improving the rulebook, updating the game’s boss mechanisms and preparing for the game’s consistency pass have taken longer than anticipated. Nothing has stalled - we’re making progress every day - but they’re complex, involved processes that move slowly and can’t be rushed without compromising the quality of the game. We’re confident that the time spent on these steps will be reflected in the final product, and if you’re interested in the details, you can read more in the ‘Development news’ section below.
Graphic design is deeply intertwined with development; it relies on the preceding steps being completed. We’re always doing as much as we can in parallel, but the design of a component can’t be 100% finalised until we’re sure of its content. For most of the game’s components, that’s not an issue, but for the game’s cards and rulebook, the final text must be locked in for the files to be generated and submitted for printing. The good news is that most of the game’s components (those with little or no text) *have* been finalised, so the cards and rulebook represent the lion’s share of the remaining graphic design work.
Terraria: The Board Game contains *lots* of components, the vast majority of which have been approved, but as with all large physical games, there have been a stubborn few that have required multiple rounds of physical prototyping. The King Slime miniature, for example, has gone through many rounds of alterations and improvements – there’s a drawer in the office that looks like a King Slime graveyard, filled with past iterations of the modular design! This miniature was recently approved, but it’s often the things you least expect that cause the most headaches. When you multiply these alterations and improvements across all of the components in the game, then add in the time it takes for samples to be sent and received, it can add considerable time to the process. In addition, our manufacturing partner’s print run estimate (i.e. the length of time it takes from approving all manufacturing files having pallets of games ready for pickup from the factory) was recently adjusted from 5 to 8 weeks, which we’ve needed to take into account.
Finally, we’re mindful that tariffs have affected sea freight demand; congestion on shipping routes and at ports can add time to the shipping process, so we’re also taking this possibility into consideration as we make our new timeline forecast.
What does this mean for backers?
It means that the game is going to take a bit longer to get to you; we’re updating our estimated shipping date to November 2025. As we mentioned in March’s update, we back many projects ourselves and we know that delays can be frustrating, but we want to reassure you that it’s in pursuit of making the best game possible, and as always, we promise to keep you in the loop throughout the whole process.
We really appreciate your patience; there’s just one final push needed to get the game over the finish line 💪.
🎬 Gameplay Videos
“…I love it… it's Terraria, through and through. All the attention to detail, all these cards and model pieces - I could go again!..” – Chippy
Earlier this month, Chris and three very special guests gathered in Nottingham to record a brand-new playthrough video. Join Chris, Chippy, Alex and Hannah as they Dig, Fight, Build and Explore their way through Terraria: The Board Game!
About the players:
Chippy is a community-focused Terraria superfan and YouTuber sharing tips and tricks, gameplay streams, mod overviews, update summaries and much more! Find his videos over on the ChippyGaming YouTube channel.
“…I love it… it's Terraria, through and through. All the attention to detail, all these cards and model pieces - I could go again!..” – Chippy
Alex creates tabletop game content on Instagram, with a focus on light to medium strategy games, often at two players. She also enjoys delving into storybook games and discovering new games with her friends from the board game community - find her at @pink_meeple.
"...Absolutely fantastic; I got beaten really badly by slimes, but on another day I might have been king of the slimes - I’ve learnt so much about the world; I’d play this again!.." - Alex
Hannah creates tabletop game content with a focus on light to medium games, bringing friends and families together at the table whether she's at home, travelling across the UK to see friends or visiting conventions. Find her at @han_playsgames.
"...I’d play it again in a heartbeat… it was incredible! Every turn I had felt really dramatic, really fun and really immersive; I’m going to have to play the videogame as well now! .." - Hannah
A huge thank you to Chippy, Alex and Hannah for travelling to Nottingham and taking the time to play the game; it was an absolute blast!
We’d also like to thank the team at Natural Twenty Tables, who kindly loaned a snazzy gaming table for the day; they even delivered and set it up for us! Explore their customisable setups at https://naturaltwentytables.co.uk/ .
But that’s not all!
We’re also delighted to share another playthrough, this time from The Brothers Murph – see how Mike and Nick fare as they push beyond King Slime (it's a nailbiter!):
We know you’ve been eagerly awaiting these videos and we’re very excited to share them with you; thank you so much for your patience! 🙏
✨ Ooo…Shiny Pwnhammers!
Our final stretch goal of the Kickstarter campaign was the addition of limited-edition, uniquely-numbered Pwnhammer cards for every backer – we just received photos of the sample cardsheet showing the beautiful holofoil effect! 🤩
👇 Squishy Slimes
Another stretch goal unlocked during the campaign was the ‘squishy' slimes slain token – this soft, compressible rubber token can be used in place of a wound token when you’re tracking King Slime’s spawn condition. It’s very satisfying to fiddle with!
*slime sounds intensify*
👀 ICYMI: Sample Box Tour
Last month, we shared a guided tour through our latest sample box, explaining how various components are organised, pointing out small but important changes that are being made and showing off some features that you won’t have seen yet. If you missed it, you can catch up below!
📝 Development News
🃏 Boss Cards
Our revamp of the boss cards and boss-related mechanics is almost complete; just a few more tests to go. As mentioned in previous updates, Allies now power up bosses via a ‘buff’ card – each turn, players must decide which space an Ally is added to, requiring interesting tactical decisions and discussions around the table.
While we make the final tweaks, the art and graphic design on these cards has been underway; you’ll find examples of WIP (but near-final) card designs below:
Each boss has 6 -double-sided cards, including spawning cards, setup and loot cards for 1-2 and 3-4 player games, forms, buffs and behaviours – we’ve just shown a few above. All of the KS-edition boss cards will have holofoil backgrounds to set off the art, sparing the text box areas so the wording remains easy to read. Holofoiled samples of the boss cards are on their way to us and we’ll share them next month!
📖 Rulebook
This has been a tough nut to crack, but we’re nearly there. Our outside editor, Anthony, did a fantastic job in reordering and streamlining the structure of the rulebook, as well as helping us identify some edge rules that could be eliminated to make the gameplay experience smoother. Since the edited draft has been back with us, Chris has been working on finalising the rulebook, but this has been alongside game development and liaison with the manufacturer, so the process has taken quite a while.
Earlier this month, we sent the latest draft to the Brothers Murph (who recorded our second gameplay video above), and despite no prior knowledge of the game, they were able to set up and play it with very few clarifying questions needing to be answered by the Paper Fort team; a huge relief!
Once the final draft edit of the rules is completed, it will need a consistency pass (more about that below), diagrams will be created and updated with the game’s final art assets and the document will need to be laid out; unlike some other components, graphic design work can’t properly start on the rulebook until the content is finalised. Following that, there will be some further blind testing of the rules and a final round of proof reading.
📑 Consistency Pass
It’s amazing how easily terms can be inadvertently used ambiguously or interchangeably when creating a game with lots of cards and a detailed rulebook. We don’t want these issues to affect a player’s experience, so one of the final jobs before sending the files to print is to check them meticulously for consistency. If you were wondering what the most boring part of game design is, this might just be it, but it’s a hugely important stage of the process!
Did we say ‘draw a card’ in one place but ‘take a card’ somewhere else? Are bulleted and numbered lists all formatted in the same way? Are words capitalised in a cohesive way throughout? We keep a document that tracks every one of these considerations, and it currently contains over 100 checks that need to be performed on every icon, component and piece of text.
Just a small selection of the terms needing to be checked for consistency across the game
👋 We’ll Be Back in August!
Next month, we’ll be providing information about locking of addresses and shipping charges (including tariffs). If you need to change your address based on our updated timeline, now’s a great time to do it; please follow the instructions here: https://help.backerkit.com/article/638-how-do-i-update-my-shipping-address . As always, if you have any problems, please reach out to us at [email protected]
Thank you so much for your support and patience – we really, really appreciate it.
Until next time, Terrarians!
-The Paper Fort Games team
June 2025 Update: UKGE Recap, Box Tour Video, Biome Tile Update, Boss Cards Mechanics and More!
8 months ago
– Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 02:05:34 AM
Hello Terrarians 🌳
Where did June go? The last few weeks have flown by here at Paper Fort HQ! 😮
In this month’s update we’ll be reflecting on a fantastic UKGE, taking you on a guided tour inside the Terraria: The Board Game box, telling you about some iconography improvements and providing the latest development news.... let’s dig in!
🎫 UKGE Recap
At the very end of May, the Paper Fort Games team travelled down to Birmingham for UK Games Expo. This year, over 40,000 people visited the show, the highest attendance in the history of the convention.
As always, we had a wonderful time meeting Terraria fans, backers, and those attendees who were discovering the game for the first time. The booth was packed for the whole weekend; thank you to everybody who stopped by, played the game, collected a slime balloon or had a go at our beanbag toss - we had a blast! 🤩
We had a bigger stand and more demos than ever before, and as a tiny team we needed to draft in some extra pairs of hands! We want to say a huge thank you to all the demo staff who helped us to make this a fun and memorable event for all involved! 🙏
In last month’s update, we shared some pictures of pre-production component samples that arrived just in time for UKGE. At the show, colleagues from our manufacturing partner dropped off additional samples that they had kindly brought in their suitcases; after many hundreds of emails back and forth it was lovely to see the team in person again 😊!
We were running two demos of Terraria: The Board Game all day, every day of the convention; this provided the perfect opportunity to put these new components through their paces. We identified a couple of minor adjustments that needed to be made; these have already been implemented by the manufacturer (just one of the benefits of being able to chat about the components in person!)
🍿 Sample Box Tour
For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see these new components in person, Chris has recorded a guided tour through our latest sample box, explaining how various components are organised, pointing out small but important changes that are being made and showing off some features that you won’t have seen yet… enjoy!
🎬 Gameplay Video
Speaking of videos, we’re currently finalising the logistics of filming our updated gameplay recording. In last month’s update, we asked what type of videos you’d like to see, and based on your comments, it sounds like a full playthrough is on the cards (no pun intended!). We’re very eager to share more of the game with those of you who haven’t had the chance to see it in person, and we’re excited at the possibility of being joined by a well-known Terraria fan… 👀
🎨 Biome Tile Iconography Update
Previously, when blocks could be partially mined, we added a pip system to diggable blocks that indicated how many hits were required. Through playtesting, we’ve identified that these small pips are too difficult to see, so they’ve been updated to match the chop icons on trees - a single, larger icon containing the dig value. It’s a small change, but a big improvement in terms of user experience.
📑 Development News
So, what’s left to be done from a development point of view?
🃏 Boss Cards
As mentioned last month, as well as streamlining Boss behaviours and mechanics, we’ve been trying out a new idea that make a Boss’s spawned ally more than just another enemy token in the world. We’ve been testing a new idea whereby allies powerup their Boss via a ‘buff’ card; the idea has been simplified and the boss cards redesigned so that the cards provide an interesting decision for players each turn (which buff do we place an ally token onto?) while also making the result of the buff easily visible in the usual flow of the Boss’s turn.
These are examples of prototype boss cards currently undergoing testing – once they are finalised, art and graphic design will be updated to match the rest of the game, and the final cards will be foiled for that premium boss feel!
📖 Rulebook
The rulebook is one of the most important parts of a board game, but also one of the most difficult to get right. We’re still working on the updated version, ensuring that it is as concise as possible while covering everything that players need to know. It’s a delicate balance; we’re getting close but a bit more work is required before we are fully happy with it. Rest assured that once it’s ready, we’ll be sharing it with you, along with a summary of what’s changed rules-wise over the past few months. Thanks for bearing with us!
👋 We’ll Be Back in July!
Next month, we’ll have final samples to show, details about the shipping and fulfilment process and more video content to show you!
Thank you so much for your support, enthusiasm and comments - until next time, Terrarians! 😀
-The Paper Fort Games team
May 2025 Update: Happy 14th Birthday to Terraria, Play at UKGE 2025, Pre-Production Components, Biome Art Update, Development News and More!
9 months ago
– Wed, May 28, 2025 at 03:47:51 AM
Hello Terrarians! 🌳
Firstly, we want to wish a very happy birthday to Terraria! The 16th of May marked fourteen years since the game was released on Steam - congratulations to the Re-Logic team for this amazing milestone! 🎉
This month has been dominated by preparations for UK Games Expo 2025, one of our favourite tabletop game conventions (not just because it’s 45 minutes from our office, but that does help!). You’ll find full details below, as well as updates on pre-production components, biome tile art and lots more...
Let’s dig in! 😀
🎪 Visit Us at UKGE 2025, Stand 2-714
From Friday 30th May to Sunday 1st June, the Paper Fort Games team will be at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, UK. Last year, we met loads of you at the show, and we’d really love to see you again; if you’re attending the convention, please swing by stand 2-714 to say hello and check out how the game has developed since UKGE 2024.
We’ll be running multiple demos of the game every day of the convention, as well as bringing our daily giveaways, beanbag toss, slime balloons and King Slime photo cutout; we can’t wait to see you there!
Some photos from UKGE 2024!
👀 Latest Pre-Production Components
In anticipation of UKGE, we’ve been working with the Gameland manufacturing team to produce as many close-to-final components as we can for demos at the convention. This has involved lots of preparation of print files, reviewing of proofs and discussions with the factory, but we were very keen to have up-to-date copies to show at the event.
Last year (and until very recently), we were using a handmade version of the game for demos and development, featuring laser-cut tokens, generic dice and 3D-printed miniatures; this year we’re delighted to be showing off the game’s production-quality components (though Chris is a little sad at not being let loose on the laser as much this year…)
You’ll be able to see the game’s organiser trays, die-cut punchboard pieces, moulded plastic miniatures, printed transparent cards, wooden character pack, spiralbound Bestiary/ Crafting Menu, full-art card sleeves and much more. We have received many of these components in advance, and Gameland are going to be bringing a few of the remaining components direct to the show. Below is a selection of the new bits and pieces; it’s wonderful to finally see the tokens and tiles as punchboards!
Gameland also sent us this video of the spiralbound Bestiary/ Crafting Menu sample, complete with the foiling on the covers!
🎬 Gameplay Videos
Getting our hands on these latest production-quality components will also give us the chance to do something we’ve be wanting to do for a long while - make new gameplay videos! With the game’s rules in flux due to playtesting and our development copy of the game getting a bit ropey from all the handling/ stickering/ scribbling we’ve subjected it to, we haven’t been in a position to make a video that shows off the game in the way it deserves – until now! Once we’ve recovered from UK Games Expo, we’ll be organising a filming session; let us know in the comments if you’d prefer a full playthrough, bitesize overviews of different aspects of the game, or something else!
🎨 Biome Tile Art Update
If you’ve been reading the Development News section of our recent updates, you might remember that we made the decision to remove half-blocks from the game. They were causing some confusion with movement, digging and line of sight rules, so they’ve been taken out. The game’s biome tile squares are now either full or empty. This required an update of the biome tile art by George, but we’re really happy with the result; it has allowed simplification of the rules while maintaining organic aesthetic of the tiles:
🔲 Shadowboxes
The lovely folks over at Artovision recently reached out to us about making a 3D shadowbox version of the Terraria board game cover art; if you were at PAX East at the start of May, you might have seen it on show at their stand.
Artovision make the official Terraria shadowboxes and they were keen to add the board game’s box art to their collection. The team kindly sent over a sample of the shadowbox and it looks amazing; it’s going straight up on the wall at Paper Fort Games HQ!
📝 Development News
Here’s what we’ve been focusing on this month:
Rulebook: The rulebook rewrite is ongoing – it’s taking a little longer than anticipated but it’s worth spending time on. The good news is that it’s simpler, and shorter!
Card wording changes: We’ve been going through the wording on every card with a fine-toothed comb to ensure consistency, simplify concepts and shorten text where possible. We’re currently replacing commonly used terms (such as draw, discard and scrap) with icons so it’s easier to parse a card’s effect at a glance.
Bosses: As well as streamlining Boss behaviours and mechanics, we’ve been trying out a new idea that make a boss’s spawned ally more than just another enemy token in the world. We’re testing a new mechanic whereby Allies powerup their Boss via a ‘buff’ track – players will have to decide how to move Allies on this track to balance rewards and boss buffs. The wrinkle is that an Ally gets added each turn, forcing Allies already on the track into new spaces. We’ll have more about this next month, but here’s a sneak peek of the prototype cards:
🚢 A Note on US Tariffs
A quick reminder that you can read our mini-update published last month for information on US tariffs; the situation is still in flux and discussions are ongoing with Re-Logic, with our manufacturing team and with fulfilment partners to find the best way forward. We'll keep you in the loop via Kickstarter updates, so keep an eye on your inbox!
📅 Updated Timeline Reminder
As per our March update, just a reminder that we’ve updated our fulfilment estimate to August 2025. You can read more about the updated timeline here.
👋 We’ll Be Back in June!
Thanks very much for reading this month’s update, for your ongoing support and for making this game possible.
If you’re at UKGE, we’ll see you there! Please bear in mind it'll take us a bit longer to respond to emails/ message/ comments while we're away but we'll get back to you as soon as we return to the office!
Until next time, Terrarians! 😊
-The Paper Fort Games team
April 2025 Update: Playmat Surprise, Colourful Insert and Card Tray Samples, Boss Art and Dice Tray!
10 months ago
– Thu, Apr 24, 2025 at 03:30:37 AM
Hello Terrarians! 🌳
This month’s update includes a little surprise for world playmat backers, our latest (and most colourful) box organiser samples and some excellent new Boss art from George. Off we go! 😃
🎒 Playmat Carry Bag
During the campaign, we said that the world playmat would ship in a cardboard tube that could also be used to store it. This was true at the time, but over the past couple of months we’ve secretly been working on something a little snazzier; a custom Terraria carry bag that will be included with every world playmat! 🎉
The bag features the Terraria logo embroidered in gold thread, an adjustable carry handle and a drawstring closure - it's perfect for slinging over your shoulder and heading to game night (or as a quiver for your Jester’s Arrows!).
📥 Coloured Plastic Organiser Trays
Last month, we shared a render of the game’s coloured trays; the physical samples arrived in the office this week and we’re really happy with them. Not only do they add an exciting pop of colour to the box, they aid organisation by making each tray more easily identifiable.
Satisfying organiser GIF; now with colour!
📦 Card + Biome Tile Tray White Samples
In previous updates, you’ve seen the games card and biome tile trays as grey plastic 3D prints. We recently received the cardboard versions which are sturdy and work really nicely. These will be fully printed; in the image below you’ll see a small hand-made mockup of the crate art that will cover the boxes. Not only will these have the Terraria crate vibe - the labels will help us to simplify organisation by reminding players of which cards are stored in which location.
George is in the process of wrapping up paint-overs of the game’s Boss miniatures and ally tokens. These pieces of art will appear on the game’s Boss cards, and will also serve as a great colour reference if you’re thinking about painting your miniatures!
🎲 Dice Tray Sample
The dice tray sample arrived this week; it’s easy to store and assemble, and the artwork really pops! We’re discussing with the manufacturer about the option of using invisible stitching in place of the black stitching shown on the sample.
📝 Development News
Here’s what we’ve been focusing on this month:
The rulebook overhaul continues; we've received initial comments from playtesters and are making improvements and clarifications based on this feedback. We’ll publish it for backers to read as soon as it’s ready (and less ugly!).
‘Blind’ playtesting is ongoing; the game is being playtested by groups playing the game based solely on the updated rulebook.
Removal of half-blocks from the game has been well received by playtesters; George has just finished re-working the biome tile art to account for this.
The ‘objective focus’ token (added to increase interactivity and planning between players) is serving its proposed function, but needs a couple of small changes to really shine.
Alternate objectives have been tested and enjoyed; we're adjusting some, but overall they are adding the desired variability game-to-game.
Simplification of enemy retaliation rules has been successful; less dice rolling is saving time!
Further updates to boss rules, spawn criteria and behaviours to streamline boss battles.
📮 A Note on US Tariffs
You can read our mini-update published earlier this month for information on US tariffs; discussions are ongoing with Re-Logic, with our manufacturing team and with fulfilment partners to find the best way forward. We'll keep you in the loop via Kickstarter updates, so keep an eye on your inbox!
👋 We’ll Be Back in May!
We hope you enjoyed this month's update; we're looking forward to showing you even more in May. If you have any questions, feel free to drop us an email at [email protected].
As always, thank you for your support and enthusiasm; until next time, Terrarians!
