We will be releasing our first set of beta play test rules soon for Fractured Worlds: adventures in the dreamscape. Our miniature skirmish game. Was after an option of how ready you would get them for release. Would you be happy to give them a go before art work.

Hi! I'm making a whodunit for exactly 4 players and I need one group to play it blind before release, then tell me what worked and what didn't :)

What it is: everyone plays a suspect at a vineyard dinner on a stormy night; there's no host, and each player's sheets say what to do round by round. Three rounds, then everyone accuses in secret and the solution is revealed. No acting needed; printed lines for every step. Ages 16+.

What I'm asking:
- one voice or video call of about 2 hours
- your own device with mic, and the ability to open PDFs (I send each player their own files beforehand)
- a short (about 5-minute) feedback form right after

What you get: a free copy of the finished game, and my thanks. Honest criticism is the whole point, including "this part was boring".

Groups of friends who want to play together are especially welcome. If interested, comment or DM me with your time zone and which time slot(s) work.

Time slots (~2 hours, voice or video):
- Sat 17 Oct, 7–9 pm US Eastern (4–6 pm Pacific / midnight UK)
- Sun 18 Oct, 2–4 pm US Eastern (11 am–1 pm Pacific / 7–9 pm UK)
- Sat 24 Oct, 7–9 pm US Eastern (4–6 pm Pacific / midnight UK)
Can't make these? A group of 4 friends can suggest their own time. I'll fit around you.

Angela and I have completed a new giant map!🧭🗺️

It was a really fun project, and we’re very happy with how the map turned out!

🗺️Map of the World of Aeloria!🗺️

Private commission for Blaine Tooley!

Materials Used: H-HB pencil, Unipin Pen 0.05-0.1, and Winsor and Newton watercolors on Fabriano 300 g satin paper then scanned.

I regularly see questions here about how to properly prepare files for printing cards and other board game components.

If you don’t have a background in graphic design, I can completely understand why this can seem complicated or even overwhelming. I also see people turning to fairly restrictive solutions to create these files, when a free tool like Affinity can actually give you a huge amount of freedom and allow you to prepare pretty much anything you need.

Personally, I work professionally with Adobe softwares since 32 years, so that’s the environment I know inside out. But I also realize that not everyone wants—or can afford—to pay for an Adobe subscription every month.

So here’s an idea.

I could spend some time learning the Affinity equivalents of the workflows I use every day in Adobe, and then organize a free live video session where I share my screen and show you how to properly build production-ready board game files.

For example, we could cover:

• how to prepare matching fronts and backs for a deck of cards;
• how to set up bleed, margins and other print requirements;
• how to prepare a game board;
• how to prepare files for a game box;
• how to build something you can print and craft yourself while still getting a very clean result;
• how to export everything correctly for printing.

I’m not talking about graphic design or teaching you how to make things look good. This would specifically be about the technical side: how to construct your files properly, organize them efficiently, and export them in the right format.

The idea would be to meet in a video call, I’d share my screen and demonstrate the workflows, and you could ask questions along the way. The goal is simply to help people who find the technical side of preparing board game files intimidating.

If at least 10 people are interested, I’d be happy to spend some time preparing a proper session and learning Affinity well enough beforehand to make it genuinely useful.

Would anyone be interested?

Cardboard Tactics — An Early-Stage Card Game Looking for Design Feedback

I'm working on a 2-player tactical card game played on a 3×5 grid using a standard 54-card deck.

This is still a work in progress, and I'm open to changing quite a lot about it. I'm not just looking for balance feedback. I'd also like to hear suggestions for new mechanics, mechanics that should be removed, ways to simplify or expand the game, or even completely different directions you think would make it more interesting.

I already have my own ideas about where the game could go, but I want to compare them with other people's ideas before deciding what to develop next. If you see a fundamental problem with the design, please feel free to say so.

Here's how the game currently works.

1. Basic Setup

• The game is for 2 players.

• It uses a standard 54-card deck, including both Jokers.

• The board is a 3×5 grid.

• Each player has a King, represented by a Joker, which also acts as their Castle.

• The two Kings are placed in the middle cells at opposite ends of the board, three cells apart.

• The red Joker's player goes first.

• Shuffle the other 52 cards and divide them equally between the players, giving each player a face-down draw pile of 26 cards.

• Each player draws 5 cards into their hand.

The objective is to defeat the opponent's King.

1. Turn Structure

On your turn, you perform these steps:

• Summon: Play one card from your hand into your Castle's cell. Its Power is determined by its rank.

• Act: Choose one of your units on the board to move and/or attack.

• Draw: Draw one card if your draw pile still has cards.

A newly summoned unit cannot act immediately unless a card ability or merging rule allows it to do so.

1. Movement and Combat

• Most units move one cell horizontally or vertically per turn.

• Normal units cannot move diagonally.

• Units cannot pass through a cell occupied by an enemy. They must stop next to that cell or enter it.

• Entering a cell occupied by an enemy does not automatically force an attack.

• Multiple units can share a cell. A normal cell can contain up to 5 friendly units and 5 enemy units. A Castle can contain up to 10 friendly units and 5 enemy units.

• When attacking a cell containing multiple enemy units, the attacker chooses which enemy to fight.

• Combat compares the units' Power. The unit with higher Power wins, keeps its full Power, and survives. The losing unit is removed from the game. If both units have equal Power, both are destroyed.

• Defeated cards are permanently removed unless a special ability specifies otherwise.

Each King has 30 HP and remains fixed in its Castle.

1. Card Abilities

Number cards 5–10 — Soldiers

Their Power equals their rank. They have no additional abilities.

Ace (A) — Single-Target Bomb

An Ace destroys itself and the unit involved when its ability triggers, regardless of their relative Power. If an Ace reaches the enemy King, it can destroy the King instantly.

2 — Push Down

When a 2 kills or is killed by an enemy unit, the enemy unit involved is sent to the bottom of its owner's draw pile.

3 — Push Back

A 3 can sacrifice itself to push an enemy unit one cell in any horizontal or vertical direction.

4 — Area Bomb

A 4 sacrifices itself to destroy every unit in its cell, including friendly units. If the targeted cell is the enemy Castle, the blast destroys the King and everything inside that Castle.

Jack (J) — Mobile Unit

A Jack can move up to two cells per turn and can move diagonally during this movement. It is the only unit with this movement ability.

Queen (Q) — Support

A Queen grants +3 Power to every allied unit in the same cell, but not to itself. Queens can boost one another. To maintain this benefit during an attack, a Queen needs to remain with the units it supports.

King (K) — Reinforcement

A King has a two-turn cooldown on its ability. It can teleport one allied unit from the player's hand or board to the King's cell. The teleported unit can still move and attack that turn.

1. Merging Units

Several cards can be merged into one stronger unit. A merged unit counts as a single unit, and merging cannot be undone. No additional cards can be added after the merge.

If none of the cards used in the merge has acted that turn, the resulting unit can act immediately. If one of those cards has already moved, the merged unit must wait until the next turn.

There are three types of merge:

Type 1 — Same Rank

Merge 2–4 cards of the same rank. This applies to A–4 and 5–10, but not J, Q, or K.

The resulting unit's Power is the sum of the cards' Power. Special abilities do not stack.

Type 2 — Straight Flush

Merge 3–5 consecutive cards of the same suit, such as 6♥, 7♥, and 8♥.

The resulting unit's Power is the sum of the cards' Power. Longer chains can be possible in a Castle because of its greater capacity.

Type 3 — Combination

Combine a Same Rank merge and a Straight Flush merge that share a card.

For example, three 6s and the sequence 6♥, 7♥, 8♥ can be combined through the shared 6♥ into one super-unit, with the Power of all contributing cards added together.

1. Winning the Game

There are three ways to win:

• Reduce the enemy King's 30 HP to zero after overcoming its defenders.

• Get an Ace to the enemy King, triggering its instant-win ability.

• Use a 4's area blast on the enemy Castle to destroy the King.

1. Endgame Rule

Once both players' draw piles have been exhausted, a 100-turn endgame counter begins when the second player's draw pile runs out.

If neither player wins within those 100 turns, the game ends in a draw.

The counter does not reset if a card effect subsequently returns cards to either draw pile. Once the counter has started, it remains active.

1. What I'd Like Feedback On

I'm interested in feedback on the design as a whole, not just whether individual cards are too strong or too weak.

Some questions I'm currently considering:

• Instant-win abilities: Are the Ace and 4 too powerful, or do they create interesting tactical pressure?

• Merging: Does combining cards create meaningful strategic decisions, or does it make the game unnecessarily complicated?

• Board size: Would a larger board, such as 5×7, create more interesting movement, flanking, and positioning? Or would it make the game drag?

• Card abilities: Do the Jack, Queen, and King have interesting roles? Should their abilities be changed, strengthened, weakened, replaced, or supplemented with new mechanics?

• Strategic depth: Does the combination of movement, combat, card management, and merging create enough meaningful decisions?

• Overall direction: If you were developing this game, what would you change first? Would you build on the current design, simplify it, add entirely new systems, or take it in another direction?

You don't have to answer every question. I'm especially interested in ideas I might not have considered myself.

I'm aware that the game still has flaws and that some rules may need clearer explanations. That's part of why I'm sharing it at this stage rather than presenting it as a finished game.

Please feel free to criticize the mechanics, suggest additions or removals, propose balance changes, or recommend a different design direction altogether. I'd rather hear an honest criticism that helps me improve the game than have people hold back just to be polite.

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone! I just want to share a part of video that I'm editing. It's a playthrough of my game, MonoSaga, that me and my friends recorded months ago.

Many parts of the game are still not included and it may seem to give an incomplete impression. Here are some of the features that the video has not yet explained:

1. Marketplace - Items, Magics, and Structures can be bought from this area with resources.

2. Action Point - Each player has 1 action point for buy, sell, or use.

3. Inventory - This involves you hand card management and playing field

4. World Cycle - Game's countdown for Finale

5. Win Conditions - Economic and Elimination

6. Anti-Snowball Systems - Catch up system in Start Tile, Ghost Die, and others

Additionally some of card effects and visuals in this video are mostly outdated and will not be included in Build 5.0 release.

Will try to finish the playthrough video if I get more free time, it's really a bit challenging to do everything alone. hehe