Ludus Magnus Studio Talks Sherwood Bandits, Robin Hood, King Arthur, and More

Ludus Magnus Studios is branching out a bit for their latest release, the lightered and colorful [...]

Ludus Magnus Studios is branching out a bit for their latest release, the lightered and colorful Sherwood Bandits. The game is in its final hours on Kickstarter, but there are more stretch goals to unlock. Sherwood Bandits comes from Ludus Magnus' newest division Ludus Magnus Lite, and the game has players taking on the roles of Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck as they try and steal from King John and give the riches to the people. We recently had a chance to talk to Ludus Magnus Studio's own Fernando Armentano, Andrea Colletti, and Luca Bernardini all about the game and the new studio, starting off with why they decided to create the new division and what it allows them to do that they can't necessarily do under their main studio umbrella.

"The purpose of the main studio is to create more 'demanding' games from the point of view of development and production, trying to innovate known mechanics and create new ones. Lite is a label born to bring to light the many games (currently 5) that could not be included in the mission of the main studio. These games must have precise characteristics, they must be fun, easy to learn, and must be within everyone's reach. In the main studio, we are building a very vast narrative universe that does not suffer from external contamination, while with Lite we can be more elastic."

Most games undergo some tweaking or changes throughout their development, but Sherwood Bandits is mostly intact from that original idea, though a few things have received some upgrades.

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(Photo: Ludus Magnus Studio)

"The game is practically identical to that presented by the author. We asked to better balance the treasures and fix some Merry Men skills, but they were really minor improvements, as the game was practically perfect, and some of the greatest work was on Sherwood Bandits' components and graphics." Not everything was as it is now though, as they said: "to give an example, the chests did not exist in the original version."

First impressions are especially important with tabletop games, as every game can be someone's first, and some games can be extremely daunting at first glance. Sherwood Bandits is a perfect game for those new to the genre and was designed with beginning players in mind.

"In the case of Sherwood Bandits, it was all designed to be of help to the beginner player, as there are a limited number of rules to learn and the game is language free. For the future of Lite, we are focusing on games of the genre where the rules are easy to learn and the depth is given by the game joints and its variables. We will try, as far as possible, to make language free games under this new label as we cannot do it with the main brand due to the complexity of the games."

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(Photo: Ludus Magnus Studio)

Ludus Magnus Studios has tackled Robin Hood-style adventure, Dungeon exploration, science fiction, and magic thus far over the course of several games, so we had to ask if there's another genre or franchise they have their eye on for the future.

"There is also a rather particular post-apocalyptic like that of DEI, so the macro areas have affected them all. Now we will try to explore more specific sectors, such as classic dungeons or the reworking of imaginary stories. In addition, we are also exploring other game and entertainment realities, such as role-playing games or comics. All games need time to be developed, both as an idea and as a realization, for this reason, we search and explore in multiple directions. Sometimes a game can run aground for months because a mechanic does not work, so having several in development allows us to continue the work, waiting for the right alchemy between the parts to emerge with the inclusion of new ideas."

Robin Hood will always be a fan-favorite character, and over the years there have been many interpretations. This version is much more lighthearted, more in line with the animated cartoon from Disney or the Robin Hood: Men In Tights live-action film. Hood is the star of Sherwood Bandits, but they do have ideas for another beloved character.

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(Photo: Ludus Magnus Studio)

"In the past, we've thought of making games on other imagery not ours, specifically King Arthur. We think we could integrate it with the appropriate reinterpretations, not leaving them 'clean'. At the moment there are a couple of ideas in the pipeline but I'm still too far behind to talk about it."

Ludus Magnus Lite's Sherwood Bandits can be found on Kickstarter right now, while the main studio's upcoming Nova Aetas Renaissance game hits Kickstarter soon. As always let us know what you think of the game in the comments, and if you want to talk all things tabletop you can always find me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!

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