As you all know, the world of the SHARD RPG employs martial arts as one of the staple elements of its cinematic combat. Since it's always been my desire to create a fun, more "easily accessible" way for folks to check out SHARD (there are quite a few gamers out there who don't have the time or inclination to devote to running, or even playing, an RPG), and since I've always enjoyed sitting down with friends for small table-top type games such as cards and board games, I figure it's finally time to make a cool card-game that really tries to capture the wild and deadly aspects of Shard martial arts....
Check out our Facebook page, "Like" us, and keep up with my friend Denis and I as we develop the game in preparation for a Kickstarter that's soon to come! This development cycle will correspond with our continuing work on the "Magic and Martial Arts" book, and if all goes well, we'll be able to publish them both within the next eight months!
With the Spiral Arena card game, we will be attempting to create an experience that replicates the action-packed concept of the martial arts "honor duels" that occur within the ritualized combat areas of Dárdünah called Spiral Arenas. Unlike a great many card games that allow players to oppose one another with tactics and attacks whose game effects can be constantly undone or altered (thus making a single game last hours), those of you who are familiar with SHARD as a RPG know that sudden death is ALWAYS possible, and this card game will DEPEND on it!
The idea with our card game is that, once the players sit down and familiarize themselves with the rules (learning them is EASY if you're already familiar with the SHARD RPG combat system), have picked one of the pre-generated characters that come with each deck, and have set that character up with all their pre-assigned attributes, then martial arts duels can be fast, furious, and playable again and again (like "hands" of poker)... The losers crushed during one battle might be glorious winners in the next!
If all goes well with the Kickstarter, then we'll be trying to include things like colorful little crystal "dalán" pieces used as tokens to represent Stamina which you win from your fellow players as you successfully strike their characters with your maneuvers, play mats adorned with lush artwork to define your playing area, a special boxed edition, cool "Spiral Symbol" cloth patches, and more!
Just to whet your appetite, on our Facebook page for the game, we've posted an example of what the final "polished" look of the cards might be. There, flanking the current concept for the back of the card, you'll see examples of two of the four basic types of cards the game will use; a Character Card and a Maneuver Card.
We'll post some more snippets concerning our creative process on Facebook as we go!
Scottie
Check out our Facebook page, "Like" us, and keep up with my friend Denis and I as we develop the game in preparation for a Kickstarter that's soon to come! This development cycle will correspond with our continuing work on the "Magic and Martial Arts" book, and if all goes well, we'll be able to publish them both within the next eight months!
With the Spiral Arena card game, we will be attempting to create an experience that replicates the action-packed concept of the martial arts "honor duels" that occur within the ritualized combat areas of Dárdünah called Spiral Arenas. Unlike a great many card games that allow players to oppose one another with tactics and attacks whose game effects can be constantly undone or altered (thus making a single game last hours), those of you who are familiar with SHARD as a RPG know that sudden death is ALWAYS possible, and this card game will DEPEND on it!
The idea with our card game is that, once the players sit down and familiarize themselves with the rules (learning them is EASY if you're already familiar with the SHARD RPG combat system), have picked one of the pre-generated characters that come with each deck, and have set that character up with all their pre-assigned attributes, then martial arts duels can be fast, furious, and playable again and again (like "hands" of poker)... The losers crushed during one battle might be glorious winners in the next!
If all goes well with the Kickstarter, then we'll be trying to include things like colorful little crystal "dalán" pieces used as tokens to represent Stamina which you win from your fellow players as you successfully strike their characters with your maneuvers, play mats adorned with lush artwork to define your playing area, a special boxed edition, cool "Spiral Symbol" cloth patches, and more!
Just to whet your appetite, on our Facebook page for the game, we've posted an example of what the final "polished" look of the cards might be. There, flanking the current concept for the back of the card, you'll see examples of two of the four basic types of cards the game will use; a Character Card and a Maneuver Card.
We'll post some more snippets concerning our creative process on Facebook as we go!
Scottie