jesse
Recruit
Hey guys! Some more info about our card game and an opportunity for anyone that wants to help us test the game and/or contribute to it! But first, gameplay footage!
We'll work on getting some more informative playtest/tutorial videos up soon. All the cards for the first volume have been completed (at least tentatively) and we're currently in the middle of our alpha test with local Colorado gamers. But we're interested in getting some people from the Gamesquad community involved too! So we've constructed a Domain: Lords of Ether Instant PDF Game to send out to any interested card gamers. This PDF contains the full rules (which are a bit ugly to look at right now, but will be prettied up!) as well as a full set of cards for you to print out. The rules are approaching completion, but there are still a few issues we're working on addressing.
We've also "finished" nearly all the art. I use quotes because we've only been able to spend a few hours on each piece thus far. We'd love to double or quadruple that amount of time in the coming months to make the cards look super pro. We'd also love to find some other interested artists to contribute! Here's some more samples:
Lastly, we've started a website at LordsofEther.com which, while a tad sparse at the moment, will soon be home to loads of info about the game!
You might notice a counter at the bottom... that'd be our schedule for launching a Kickstarter for the project! We're planning to launch the campaign in June, and we hope to have all your help!
So if you'd like to test the game out, or are an artist interested in contributing some awesome art, please drop us a line! Send a message here on Gamesquad or shoot me an email at jesse@jollycorpse.com
Thanks guys!
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We're an indie games studio that usually works on PC and Xbox games. But recently we've been working on a tabletop card game, and though I'm new to Gamesquad, I wanted to show you guys. This is "Domain: Lords of Ether"!
Pictures!
Here are some WIP shots of some of our card designs so far (before I make you read a wall of text...):
We've been spending 4-8 hours on art per card so far (we have a lot to design), but if there's enough interest in the game we hope to be able to spend much more
Background
Domain is sort of a mix of Magic: The Gathering and Risk played with cards, one 6-sided die, and tokens (like poker chips). It takes place in the dark, fantasy world of Abhaddon, a realm where the prosperity of humans and other industrious species is constantly undermined by the warring of the greedy and powerful Ether Lords. These mystical beings take the form of tyrannical wizards, ancient deities, giant creatures, and legendary spirits. They vary vastly, but what they share is that they wield control over a magical energy called Ether, which has the power not only to give life, but also to take it away.
This energy originates in the ethereal plane - a mysterious “second universe” that exists in tandem with the material plane but operates under its own natural laws. The ether plane is home to impossibly massive clusters of swirling ether energy in the form of billions of souls. Anything living in the material plane has a matching soul in the ether plane, but there exist millions upon millions of souls beyond that. A soul’s ether can be manipulated by a skilled user of magic to exercise dominion over a monster or cast a hex. These energies bleed into Abhaddon through places of strong connection called Soul Wells.
Objective
You control one of these powerful ether lords, and they serve as your leader and movement piece. Each lord worships one of five Domains - Faith, Order, Deception, Chaos, or Gloom. They also have a base Ether Pool from which to conjure monsters, hexes, and traps. The objective of the game is to be the first player to expand her lord’s ether pool to 20 by conquering the soul wells scattered about the world - a world which the players build themselves.
The v.0.0.0.1 alpha! (Don't worry, we've ordered real cards already)
On each turn you draw and play a world card, which currently is either a road or a soul well (we’d love to have more types of location in the future). Roads must connect, and soul wells can be connected to any road. You then roll to move your ether lord and attempt to claim an unowned soul well or invade a claimed one. To do this, you’ll need to arm yourself with three different types of conjure:
Conjures
Monsters: These creatures serve to guard your soul wells and invade others. They each have an ether cost and a power rating, which is used to determine the outcome of battles. In many cases they have abilities, which are used automatically during combat, or sometimes at other points in the game. Unlike hexes and traps, monsters require constant upkeep, using their value in ether at the end of every turn. Monsters may be sent to the Abyss to recover this value at any time, or may be placed back into your hand if on the same tile as your lord. Monsters can only be played on your turn.
Hexes: Hexes have instant effects and can be cast at any time - even when it’s not your turn - provided you have the reserve ether necessary to cast them. This ether is spent instantly, and replenished at the start of your next turn. Hexes can be stacked, and resolve last to first. So if one player casts an offensive hex, and the target player then casts a cancel hex, and the first player casts another hex reducing the second player’s ether low enough they couldn’t have cast the cancel hex, the original offensive hex also succeeds. Spent hexes go to the Abyss (graveyard), whether or not their effects succeeded.
Traps: As a player moves along the roads they may choose to set a trap on any of the tiles they pass over (provided they have enough reserve ether to set it). Traps may not be placed in soul wells. Traps are activated when a player passes over the tile and fails a roll (rolls 3 or under). If a trap is passed over by the lord who set it, that player may decide whether or not to spring the trap. Traps are not persistent. Once sprung, they go to the Abyss, like used hexes and dead monsters.
The current card backs
I suppose that’s enough info to read for now! I'll talk more about the domains, about combat, and about the ether lords themselves in future updates.
Our goal with the project is to make something competitive and fantastical that CCG geeks will love, but that’s still easy enough to learn that it provides fun for more casual board game lovers as well. We’re moving along quickly, and have already ordered our first alpha decks from The Game Crafters. We’re super excited to get them so we can start real testing, and start shooting tutorial and test videos.
And though there's no digital version for you to play, we plan to create some instant printable decks in PDF form. If people are interested in helping us test the game, we’d love to make them available here!
Be back with more soon!
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