FissureVerse: 6 cards, 3 with new art!

First, thanks to Evgeniy Chugonov for the new art!

Click to see the new art... but bigger!

I always knew the term 'Flag' would be symbolic, not literal in the art. I think this works pretty well, because on its surface it looks like a beautiful image of a totem-worshipper, but looking close, you can see the bloodstain. I also chose this art for a Frenzy because I don't want Frenzies to get too dark in theme, so a Blue player, for instance, would not be too turned off by violent imagery. This one strike s a great balance. The flavor text is also fairly neutral; my first through for flavor text struck a darker tone, so I made sure to write something that was at least a little closer to the art.

For Deceptive, I got to invoke one of my favorite fairy tales, with a FissureVerse spin. Kinda pushes FissureVerse into new territory. We'll see if that idea extends or if this is a one-off.

My original idea for The Collector was of a shopkeeper who collected souls, or something to that effect. When I got permission to use this art, I originally considered other places for it, but ultimately I think this gives a much needed spin on this card. I also considered changing the name to Collectors, because there's multiple fliers in this art, but I also like the idea that they are a collective that considers themselves one unit. Kinda thematic. Okay, I'm stretching.

I decided to move the art from The Cracked to Android 4; Green is a tech-oriented faction so they'd be more likely to use an old busted robot. It just didn't feel right as a Red piece; certainly, Red is clever, but I don't think they'd take the time to reprogram an android for any purpose. I also made new flavor text to go with the new use.

Unkempt gets its -1 Attack stat changed to +0 to keep it in line with similar cards, like Love Potion and Coded. I also changed the flavor text ever-so-slightly to mean the opposite of what it used to...

Like Android 4 and The Cracked, I decided to move Irregularity's art to Stalkers. It fits better there; now I'm back to the tough one of finding art for the stranger name... But for Stalkers, I also shrank the flavor text. I think that perhaps since The Noise is so swift in speech (I imagine that's their public persona since they ought to be boisterous in their own crowds), they would condense common idioms to even shorter sound bites.

Man, looking at all these cards together makes me see just how outlandish and scatterbrained it all is... maybe I should've kept my old blog name after all...

FissureVerse: 6 cards

Six more cards get updated:

Click.

Since Holiday loses its rules text, I changed the flavor text to have less to do with it. Now it ties in more with the propaganda aspect of Solidity and less with backroom deals. What is funny, of course, is that their archenemy, Emptiness, goes second in turn order on this card, and they are the real peacemakers, if any faction can say that about themselves.

Since Locations just don't look right when there's no flavor text at all, I put off Hiding for a long time until I could come up with something. I almost wanted to quote an OK Go song...

I gave Flesh some flavor text to suggest that The Infinite knows that they can't be all brains. I still love how a card named “Flesh” has skeletons for art. This is the sort of card that either a Player will love and make it part of their strategy, or hate and never put it in their deck. And a player that is not Green wouldn't even have a clue how to use it right, since there is nothing like it in non-Green decks, so if they successfully converted by Reason it might become a liability.

Shortened is tough on the art, because the original image is so tall; it makes me struggle to decide where to shift the perspective, since something is always lost. This time I elected to push the image to show the bottom, so the character looks more cramped.

The Cursed gets completely redone, and, like Hiding, I put it off for a while because it's so tough to change. I really wanted the idea of a cursed card, but the previous special rules (the opponent gets to make a decision) were just broken, and no matter how impressive the card was in attributes, no one would ever play with it. So I gave a different spin on what 'cursed' would suggest (although it is perhaps similar to some Yellow cards like Hitchhiker), and to balance it out lowered both its Torment and Attack stats by one each.

Like similar cards, I modified Tames to make payment even. Instead of 1 Reason and +2 against Zealots, it becomes 2 Reason, -1 against Devotees, +1 against Zealots. Unfortunately I think it loses a little of the beautiful simplicity of the old text, which I think is needed on a card like this, but you gotta do what you gotta do for balance.

FissureVerse: 6 more cards, including two new pieces of art!

Firstly, two cards get brand new art! Thanks to Benjamin Wiesemann for the new art! Let's get to those first:

Click to admire the new art!

Servants of Emptiness was a little tough to get the flavor text just right. It needed to be somewhat pithy, but not terse like The Noise, but not overly verbose like The Infinite. It also needed to encapsulate the rebelliousness and independence of the faction, without necessarily being completely depressing and hopeless like a few of Emptiness' other cards are. I also like how the art suggests, more than other Servants cards so far, the even nature of the attributes. She's got a book in her hand, a sword on her back, and fire in her eyes.

I like how the Guardians art is similar: a book, a weapon; but lacking the fire in the eyes and having a softer look instead, which works great because the lessened Fire stat.

Psalms is a little tricky. I've gone back through a friend's notes who read the instructions and looked at the cards some time ago, and he said it seemed like too many cards were direct negations of player actions, such as how Psalms simply blocks another player's successful Crusade. I will have to rethink how such cards work. This is particularly troublesome since Psalms can be played almost any time (Spiker range 0-6). Naturally testing will figure out if it's too mean—which is funny, since Psalms should be the opposite of mean.

Witch Doctor has been modified to include one additional word: “if”. This completely changes the card, so now, it's no longer that Zealot Frenzies are negated against Witch Doctor, but rather only if the Frenzy is revealed on that Crusade does the Frenzy have no effect. This diminishes Witch Doctor's bonus considerably, so to compensate I raised the Book attribute from 1 to 2. I figure maybe a Witch Doctor might be a little more learned than before.

FissureVerse: 7 more cards, and the other back

Seven more cards, plus the back for cards in the players' decks.

Click, or something.

On the one hand, I question the usefulness of a card like Nightcaps. On the other hand, I don't want everything to be average and homogeneous. Maybe a clever player will find a great use for it. When a Frenzy is applied to any card, I should think, the stats are always up in the air.

Speaking of Frenzies, I'm considering adding some sort of “spy” mechanic so a player can reveal the Frenzy of another player without Crusading and risking anything. Maybe.

Academic gets its Endurance stat changed from -1 to +0 for consistency with similar cards.

Aetherworld is another Location where the simple special rules (Crusaders gets +1 Endurance) would do well elsewhere, so I'll consider where else I can put it (though likely not a Spiker).

Promised I would get to player deck backs. Similar to Location Backs, but of course without the icon, rotated, and with different art (same artist). I also decided to add my name to the back of the card, as well as the Location card backs (because vanity).

Burial Rites gets a major overhaul. Firstly, I changed it so you can play it when any Crusader is killed, not just your own, so it's easier to play. The old text used to say that players can't Frenzy “Until the end of the Round, or your next Turn, whichever comes last.” Well, the Round would now end immediately, since a Location card gets flipped only when a Crusader is killed, and it's possible that the player who plays Burial Rites might be first in Turn Order on the next card, so it accomplishes nothing. Now, it affects the entire next Round. I also mentioned that you play it after a Crusader is killed but before a Location card is flipped, because if you were to hand on to it til after the Location card is revealed, it might not be a Rogation at all, but a Spiker, and if it's the fifth Spiker, you wouldn't be able to play it at all. Lastly, I made it a Spiker requirement of 0-4, to say that there's no time for Burial Rites the further down the Spiker hole we go.

Carnival simply gets its flavor text changed, so it's more devious, less flippant. But as I work out the nature of Spikers, I'm considering making a few current Locations into Spikers, and replacing the locations with some other ideas.