"Illevar" Role-Playing Card Game

 Happy New Year Everyone!

Today's post is about a game I am designing and hope to have published in a few years time. Crossing off one of those lifelong bucket list items. 

So what is a Role-Playing Card Game (RPCG)? Great question!

An RPCG is very much like a traditional Tabletop Role Playing Game ala Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulu, etc., but, instead of going through pages and pages and pages and pages of statblocks, descriptions, and using a dictionary, the experience is scaled down into one that uses a main storybook (GM device) and cards that have the players abilities on them. 

You can get an idea for what this game will look like. It will be similar to the newly released video game Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. 

Truth be told, this game gave me the big "A-ha!" moment I was missing when crafting my fantasy world adventure game. I have always enjoyed a good social TRPG and the stories that they told. I have also always enjoyed card games. So, why not slam those ideas together?

I don't have a prototype or anything like that to show today. I do, however, have a basic description and overview of the game's mechanics and one of the premade adventures that could go with it. 

Illevar - the RPCG:      

• All items, equipment, monsters, and character classes are represented on cards.
• Simplified and streamlined combat using a d10 system to hit. 1 miss, 2-9 hit, 10 crit. *pending how well it actually works*
• Combat and skill checks should be engaging with decisions.
• Players are allowed to print or craft their own character art cards or use premade ones. Character Cards will have a picture side and a backstory side.
• Monster Cards will have a player view set and a GM set. Gm set will be larger with the stats, attacks, etc. on it. 
• Game will have a World-building guide as well as a premade adventure set in the world of Illevar. 

Illevar - the Story:

Illevar is a high fantasy world made up of 4 nations that are collectively governed by the Empire of Illevar. Magic permeates throughout all of the land. Airships riding through the sky using wind magic, trolleys in the cities run on magical electricity, etc. 

According to ancient lore, Illevar was one tethered to the realm of the gods by magical crystals. These crystals sent devotion, or the lifeblood of the gods, to their realm and in return, the gods sent back tons of magical energy. This allowed the humans of the past to craft wonderous items and cities. Though, as years passed, some humans began using the excess energies to fuel their own selfish desires. This would lead to a massive war between the 4 nations, culminating in an arms race of world ending weapons. 

Before the battles could go further and humanity would be destroyed, Eshura, the First Emperor, had his disciples destroy the large crystals that tethered the humans to the gods. This act caused massive explosions of magical radiation that destroyed much of the world and the weapons of old. 

Eshura and his followers began an Era of Restoration after this. Rewriting history so that the humans would never again try to recreate those weapons of old or reconnect with the god realm. 

400 years later, our Players' adventure begins. The empire has begun its settlement expansion plan, allowing for previously unclaimable and restricted land to be claimed for new homes and cities. Massive infrastructure plans are in motion to connect the nations of the Empire and speed up transportation and communication. All seems to be well under the Empire. The reigning Emperor Jhazal Halmedh has been in control of Illevar for 50 years, but is he the good king everyone percieves him as, or does something else lurk beneath the surface of the world?

Cults, Monsters, Crime, and Mystery all make up this Empire spanning premade adventure. 

Added Bonus: the actual map I used for the original version of this adventure! It has changed a bit since this first version, but gives a decent look at the world. 

Credit to Inkarnate for the tool used to make the map.

That's all I've got for this post. I'll be fleshing more of the world and mechanics out in future blog posts so be sure to stop by! 

Happy New Year Everyone!