Folklore The Affliction: Cheap organizer solution

 

The Game

Folklore: The Affliction is a tabletop 'RPG in a box', published by Greenbrier games. According to Boardgame Geek the core box was published in 2017. Expansions were released in 2017 (Dark Tales) and 2021 (Fall of the Spire). 

After watching a lot of reviews, I decided to purchase the core set. Despite having some flaws that most reviewers seemed to agree on (what game doesn't?) I felt the game offered me plenty of elements that I am currently looking for:

• A game with lots of 'theme'.
• Opportunities for roleplaying.
• Captures the feeling of an 'RPG', with a story you can move through with characters.
• Dice chucking, combat, and character management (lots of stat management on character sheets!)
• No model painting (a second printing comes complete with standees.)

After the game arrived, I played a chapter solo (with a party of three characters) and really enjoyed it (despite a hard party wipe at the final battle!) I looked around further and discovered that the expansions offered new stories, rules and systems that would take the world of the game to another level. I invested in both expansions (rather than just use the rules PDFs) and both boxes duly arrived (and the 'Equipment' pack, which includes cards for all the equipment in the game.)

The Challenge

I find Folklore to be a gorgeous game with lots of high-quality components. A thick map of the world, tactical maps (on thin card), standees, mini-Euro sized cards for components and abilities etc. 

Did I say 'lots'? Let's see how many components we are talking about?

By my count: 1,615 bits and pieces (I may have made some mistakes, but I totaled publicly available info in this Google sheet.)

Living in an apartment in Japan, I don't have a lot of storage space. Could I fit all of this into a single DIY box organizer? If so, how?

The Tools

In the past I've made my own box organizers from foam core for Descent 2e, and Mansions of Madness 2e. I enjoyed the challenge but it can be very time consuming. In my lazier (or more lucid!) moments, I've found the 100 Yen shops here in Japan a great way to get small storage bits and pieces and organize boxes at low cost. I did that with Gloomhaven and most recently with my Mage Knight organizer. 

So what to do with Folklore, where I want to get the content from three boxes into one? Some creative 100 Yen shopping was in order. After a few shopping trips (including carrying the box in with me for some testing) here is what I ended up with!

• x6 'PU' (Polyurethane) fake Leather' trays. (600 yen, approx 5 USD)
• x3 acrylic token trays (each with 5 sections) (300 yen, approx 2.45 USD)
• x1 'Cube' storage box with drawer (100 yen, approx 0.80 USD)
• x1 foamboard (black). 10mm thickness (100 yen, approx 0.80 USD)
• x1 glue gun (200 yen/ 1.60 USD) with x20 black glue sticks (100 yen/ 0.80 USD)
• x2 sets of three 'Book bands' (200 yen/ 1.60 USD). Basically giant elastic bands.

Total cost: 1,600 Yen or approx 13.05 USD.

For reference, here are a couple of images of the most important parts. If you can't get these, you may be able to find something of the same size OR create them from foamboard.

'PU leather' tray. (26cm x 10cm x 4cm) I used 6 of these.

'PU (fake) leather tray details/ dimensions

'Multi-connect box'. x1 (8cm x 7.7 x 8)

Multi-connect box dimensions.

Glue gun. This uses 7.5mm glue sticks

Clear acrylic tray. x3 (17.8cm x 7.2 x 3.0 )

The Result

In the photos below, let's open the box and explore layer-by-layer. (Stay with me - lots of photos!)

Top layer: rulebooks, world map, tactical maps

The box: yes, it doesn't close (a possible deal-breaker for some), 
but fixable with foamboard 'walls'.

Top layer includes the fold-up map...

...rulebook and all three Story Journals...

Underneath the journals are all the tactical maps.

Lay the maps aside and here is a foam card topper.

Bottom layer: standees, cards, and tokens

Then we reach the core of the box. A PU leather standee tray, a 
central 'valley' with enemy cards, and a DIY card holder (black, at top).
Also made of PU leather trays x2 (one of which is used as a lid)

The standee tray (bottom) holds just over 200 standees. Enemies
are sorted alphabetically L-R, with characters at right.

Removing the PU box cover at top reveals it to be another PU tray,
to which I've added some partitions (glue gun).
The bottom half holds all the mini-Euro sized cards.

Here is that layer again in full!

Standee tray removed. Underneath is another PU leather tray,
within which is our first acrylic token tray and Town events deck.

Zooming in, you can also see the initiative track (vertical, at left)
and the character cards (vertical, at right.) Top right there are three
small grey pouches. What is in them?

Each pouch contains the equipment and ability cards for
one of my party members (I run with three.)

I've readied the initiative track (L) and pulled out the PU 
leather tray and placed it to the right. This has revealed
another PU leather tray With Road events deck and another acrylic tray beneath.

At the top of the box is a matching PU leather tray, with
the Rumor deck and other tokens.

The enemy and character cards from the 'valley' and which
are tucked down the side of the box are removed.

With most of the trays out, we can see the small storage box
that contains miscellaneous tokens and other (easily lost!) pieces.

Dice are also held in a small pouch. Let's roll!

So with most things out, you can see the cards 'ready to play' 
(at right), so they can be easily drawn.

Here is another view. Note how the small cards are stacked
vertically in the space between the acrylic trays and the PU leather trays
-ready to be used.

Here is another view.

Phew! There is a lot of stuff. The positive is that I can get everything into 'one box'. The issue is that the lid doesn't close. That annoys me, but I'm thinking of adding in some foam or plastic walls to add some rigidity and hide the insides.

Overall, I'm very happy with getting everything together BUT...

...while exploring all the boxes and fitting everything together I discovered a BIG problem.

(To be continued.)

Cheap Organizer Solution for Mage Knight

 'All hail the dollar store'

After getting a new 'big box' tabletop game one challenge that faces gamers (for most boxes) is finding a way to organize the components after they have been assembled. Very rarely do games come with well integrated organizers that protect, organize and facilitate play. Frankly in this day and age that is a debacle. This is so bad that when a game does do this well (e.g. Dwellings of Eldervale) everyone comments on it. 

I don't know about you, but I'd pay more for a game if it came with an integrated, bio-degradable organizer system that cleverly kept everything together and ready to play quickly.

Now, there are plenty of good commercial options for most major games, but they can be expensive (sometimes as much as the game itself - or more). That is why I experimented with foamboard for my copies of Descent 2nd edition, and Mansions of Madness 2e. I like making stuff, so experimenting with foamboard and glue to organize these was fun and challenging, but it does take a lot of time (and cutting!). After the excitement of unboxing Mage Knight I was getting out a pencil and paper to plan my foamboard solution and I thought 'Why am I doing this? Isn't there a faster way?'

As it turns out there was a faster way. It cost a little bit more and isn't completely customized, but I think it 'gets the job done'. All it took was a trip to my local 100 yen shop (Daiso - praise be thy name!) and some measuring.

Let's take a look...

1. Open up the box and you'll meet the rulebooks on top of the reputation track.

2. Take those off and we get to the day and night cycle card. It lies on a black piece of plasticard.

3. As well as supporting the day/ night card the plasticard also serves as the lid for a stack of two boxes underneath. Remove the day/ night card and you reveal a long box underneath. This has a variety of bags and cards. You can see this in the image below...

4. Lift up that box, you'll find another one underneath. This identical box has more cards (wound cards etc.) as well as the enemy tokens.

5. Remove that second box (see below) and you get to the bottom of the game box. You can see here that I've put a black piece of craft paper underneath. This isn't only thematic, but it looks coordinated with the other pieces and hides the white base of the box. You can also see three small storage boxes at right. (Note how the city models sit nestled between them.)

6. Now let's look at the two small boxes that hold the Mage Knights themselves and small bits and bobs like mana crystals. 

7. Now we come to a third small box. This is identical to the two above, but I use it to keep all the decks for the Mage Knights themselves. You can see it in the lower right corner of the image below...

...and here is a close up of that small box and the cards in it. You can also see clearly how I use the space between those boxes for the city models and where they sit.

8. The biggest piece is actually two separate, identical boxes that I have arranged to lay on top of each other. These are actually letter stands/ pen stands for a desk. Pull them apart...

...and this is where the map tiles are stored.

They are actually divided into two levels on which sit the sets (brown and green). When you play the game, these can stay horizontally like this and tiles can be drawn as needed, but they could also stand vertically (as below). 

You could use the empty twin box to store anything else that you want, but I like to store card decks in there to save table space. Below you can see that spell, artefact, advanced action, and wound cards can all be stored. It is tight, but it will serve!

Cost?

About 6-8 USD.

• x3 small PU leather boxes (3 USD)
• x2 large PU desk boxes (2 USD)
• x2 long PU leather trays (2 USD)
• x1 piece of black plasticard, cut to size (1 USD)
• x1 piece of black paper (0 USD...I already had it.)

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

1. Fast to put together.
2. Cheap.
3. Convenient - no cutting or gluing.
4. 'PU leather' looks more professional than foamboard/ foamcore.

Cons:

1. More expensive than foamboard (by about 3 dollars!)
2. Not 'custom' so doesn't fit exactly (there are gaps)
3. Not custom, so there aren't separate slots for everything (tokens etc.)
4. Not custom, so lid extends 2 cm higher than normal.

Perhaps one day (if I win the lottery) I'll get a nice insert from one of the many companies that make them, but until then this does the job!

Happy gaming!

Dirt cheap Mansions of Madness 2e box organiser.

Why?

For Halloween 2021 I gifted myself a board game in keeping with the season - Mansions of Madness (2nd edition) by Fantasy Flight Games.

If you aren't familiar with MoM 2e, it was released in 2016 to critical acclaim, and over the following years picked up quite a lot of awards. I wasn't aware of it until I started watching some YouTube channels for reviews of other games (e.g. Descent 2e, Arkham Horror: the card game) and MoM kept coming up. 

What is Mansions of Madness 2e? In a nutshell, an app-driven, dice-chucking game set in the classic world of horror written by H.P. Lovecraft. You and up to 4 other players choose from among 8 different investigators in 1920s America, solving mysteries while peeling back the thin veil between our world and another (revealing the horrors that seek to pass between.)

Like many FFG games it comes in a big box. Two rulebooks, 30+ miniatures, lots of high quality cards and tiles, dice and more are all there. Then you download a free app (iOS, Android, PC) which will play the part of your opponent and help you run the game. (The app is a plus for me as it makes solo play pretty easy.)

What the box doesn't contain is a plastic organiser of any kind - quite a problem if you want to keep things neat and tidy and facilitate quick setup and takedown. There are several out there by different manufacturers like Tower Rex, Feldherr, Go7gaming, Folded Space, and Broken Token and they look great! BUT, they can cost anything from 30 dollars to almost 200! (no, I'm not making that up, take a look at the Mad Manor Crate...) 

Having recently used a guide from the Esoteric Order of Gamers to make a dirt cheap Descent 2e box organiser I thought I'd take on a new challenge and design my own. Could I do it, and could I do it cheaply? 

Sure, but note that where all those kits above ARE really valuable is in terms of time. They may cost money, but you'll have your organiser constructed and protecting your stuff within an hour or two. My solution below took HOURS to do. If what you value is your time, then the solutions above are well worth the money.

Let's take a look at what I ended up with, how much it cost and how I made it.

The End Result:

If you have time, here is a 7 minute video unboxing of my...

...boxes.

(*every time I say 'Dice roller', I mean 'Dice tray'!)

If you don't have time for a video, here are a few photos:

Rule books...

...which rest on a cardboard lid (recycled box insert)

Top view: card and token tray at top, dice tray below

Remove card and token tray & dice tray to reveal tiles & minis

Mini bases+models can sit on tiles and/ or mini storage area

All cards (sleeved) and tokens

Monster token tray sits inside dice tray

Dice tray with dice (and wonky wall!)

Close up showing dice tray support

Materials and cost:

Everything below came from my local dollar store/ pound shop/ 100 Yen shop.

• 5mm black foam board. (450mm x 300mm x 5mm). About 3 of these (buy more than you think you need - this stuff will be useful for your next box organiser too right?)
• Green felt (x1 large piece, 700mm x600mm - lots left of this when finished.)
• Box cutter/ hobby knife
• 5mm double-sided tape (one roll)
• White glue/ wood glue/ hobby glue/ 'Elmers' Glue x1 pot
• Pencil (for marking black foam board), black marker (for marking felt)
• 30cm ruler
• Large, sharp scissors (for cutting felt)

I already owned some of these items, so my materials outlay was about 550 yen (4.80 USD, or 3.50 GBP) for the foam board x3, felt and double-sided tape.

5mm thickness foam board.

Black foam board (called 'Color board' in Japan)

Box base with home made cutting board

Green felt sheet.

Lessons learned

Between this and the previous box I made, here are some things to keep in mind. Are they obvious? Sure, but I'm not too proud to say them!

• Don't forget to account for card sleeves. Although each card only adds a few mm of width that will add up as you put several stacks of cards individually... 
• ...then leave more wiggle room! Do this even if you have accounted for sleeve sizes - add at least a couple of mm on top of that. You don't want the cards to be super snug in their space. If they are you'll find it really difficult to get the cards in, and out.
• Felt looks classy, but never forget that it adds 1mm..
• Prepare your work surface. Use a cutting mat or something else you don't mind getting dirty. You are going to do a lot of cutting and you'll want to protect whatever surface you have underneath (unless you have a workshop/ work table.) Also, if you are using a black marker to mark out your felt for cutting, remember that felt is very thin, so the marker might go through, marking you table/ work surface.
• Plan with paper. For complex shapes with different sections (e.g. card and token tray) draft out on paper first, tracing outlines using sleeved cards and tokens etc. Does everything fit? Is there enough room? This plan will also help you keep track of what pieces you still have to make etc.
• Measure twice, cut once. Yeah, it is worth saying! Measure and measure again.
• Use your best parts to measure-out others. If you have a piece that is perfect, use that as a model and trace around it for other identical parts. This will save you time and reduce errors. BUT, when tracing, be careful to trace as close to the original edge as you can. Then when cutting, do the same. Every millimeter you are out adds up.
• White glue doesn't work on porous foam card. When assembling, many of the edges to which you want to glue felt will be the porous part of the foam. White glue just soaks into that foam and won't work. This is where the 5mm double-sided tape is used. It won't hold the felt as well as glue, but it works.
• Sewing pins are your friend. When gluing parts together, inserting sewing pins to hold the parts together will save you a lot of effort (and boredom) while the glue sets.

Plans

I'm not a designer, and I didn't want to put together a full set of plans, but here are some photos to give you an idea of roughly how things go together. NOTE: Please measure and dry fit everything yourself. These measurements are not super-precise (use at your own risk.)

Thanks for reading. Hope this is useful to someone - it was a challenge (and fun) to do.

Cheers!

*Squeek*