My high charms work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up
In their distractions. They now are in my power.
- Prospero, Act 3, Scene 3 (The Tempest)
Out of all of our captains, none of them have shaped Captain’s Gambit quite like Prospero. Conceived as one of the original 8 captains alongside Hamlet, Cordelia, and Brutus, Prospero’s strategy seems deceptively simple at first. Like in the Tempest, Prospero just wants to gain enough power to escape. The key is that after Prospero Reveals, the other players have one final round to stop them (or to quickly achieve their own objectives). If Prospero reveals too recklessly, their enemies will team up and defeat him. But if Prospero declares at the right moment, he’ll ascend to victory.
Prospero has two significant impacts on the game. The first is that he discourages stockpiling. Because Prospero (along with Richard) can end the game if they hoard enough energy, the passive act of Charging/Overcharging poses a threat to the table. This forces players with a lot of energy to either spend it to avoid suspicion, or keep it and risk retaliation.
The second effect is that he enables alliances. As I mentioned in my tips for new players, teaming up with other captains can give you a significant advantage. Notably Puck, Iago, and Imogen all want to work with other players but lack the ability to end the game on their own. But Ascenders like Prospero provide them the perfect pacifist opportunity to win collaboratively… as long as no one is lying about who they are.
In terms of balance, Prospero has remained fairly unchanged since his inception. Originally, Prospero players had to collect 10 Energy before their reveal, but we found that amassing that much energy without drawing suspicions was too difficult. Specifically, having to spend 10 energy meant they rarely had any left over to Shield themselves. We decided to knock the requirement down to 8 and he’s stayed that way ever since. While he does win many new-player games, his win rate drops dramatically for a time once players learn his warning signs.
Usually, Prospero’s strategy has been a great way to track the metagame at the table. When everybody plays passively, Prospero wins by collecting energy. When players begin to fear Prospero and attack each other, Prospero tends to win by making surprise Reveals once everybody had spend their energy on Barrages and Strikes. If you’re ever curious if your friends lean towards aggressive or passive playstyles, take a look at what playstyle Prospero ends up using to secure victory.
While Prospero’s mechanics have only changed once, his art has gone through more revisions than any other captain in the game. Originally, Prospero was envisioned as an Android, but that design didn’t feel quite right once we started updating our captain art. We pivoted into making him a Technomancer and loved the new direction…although something still felt off. We tried out an alternate pose (which you can spot early on in our trailer) before realizing our issue was his fist. Once we fixed his arm and added some blue lightning, all was right in the galaxy.
That’s the story behind everyone’s favourite mage. Whether as the leader of a formidable alliance, or as common threat to the galaxy, you must always be wary of the Magician of Storms…
Want to try to ascend as Prospero? Join our Discord to play with the community. You can also join our mailing list to get notified when the
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Fun Fact: For some reason, Alvin is always Prospero. He just keeps getting him. It’s gotten to the point that during internal playtests, we automatically assume he’s Prospero unless proven otherwise.