Changes in this version:

Completely new set of cards. They were randomly generated and then hand picked. I ended up with 52 cards. They are meant to be more powerful.

Prophecies require more cards.

Your play area is moved around so that your start/end of turn effects go Curses, Boons, Prophecies, then Disciplines.

Live Notes

Storing multiple cards on multiple prophecies with an action card was fun.

Action cards should just be renamed to “Instant” cards.

The background color of the boons is too close to the Instants. Maybe make it blue?

Picking new Prophecies is still easy to forget. Maybe a card could go there as a reminder? “Start of Turn: Draw 2 prophecies and place one here and discard this.”

Put reference numbers on the cards for feedback purposes.

Free Action to discard an opponent down to 6 cards isn’t that powerful.

The wording “The next time you would do X, discard this instead” is a little confusing. Maybe “The next time you play a Prophecy, immediately discard it and this card” or “The next time you play a Necromancy card, immediately cancel its effects and discard this card.”

Necromancy popper should be “Add the top card of the discard pile to your hand.”

I need to add more incremental power to the disciplines.

The popper that lets you store the card you just played on a Prophecy is really satisfying.

I feel like I want more Boon and Curse discard.

Dan: there’s a lot of text, there’s a lot to read.

Dan: is there a hand size limit? (he has 9 cards in hand at this point)

Having your stuff all be exhausted at the start of your turn feels punishing in a good way.

Stored cards under a Prophecy could just stay underneath them when you complete the Prophecy. This would keep certain cards from being in the game at all to increase variation between games.

Boons with a big effect that enter play exhausted are cool.

Cards that are “If the top card of the discard pile is X” are better than “If you played X this turn”

For simplicity’s sake it might be useful to make all Prophecies End of Turn and all Boons Start of Turn.

Cards that depend on the top card of the discard pile being something are cool.

Dan’s Notes

At some point he wanted something to ramp up. Either the gameplay itself speeds up, or there is some pressure, like the game ending soon.

First two turns forgot to put new Prophecies into play.

Didn’t feel inclined to read the Curses too much. Since he knew they were bad he decided to play them.

He would like to be able to advance more than one discipline in a single turn. Maybe you can do it more often but it gets more expensive if you do it more than once in a turn.

The Condemned Hex card might be cool if it has: “Cannot be exhausted by other players.”

The Necromancy level 4 effect wasn’t strong enough.

I wrote a script to randomly generate cards for the game. You can view the code and output here: https://jsfiddle.net/Vindexus/1x9zrjaw/178/

It randomly generates cards, which I render very simply on the page, and also puts them into a textbox as a comma separated values. I copy and paste the content from the textbox into a Google Spreadsheet I’m using. Then I go to Data->Split Text to Columns. The sheet is then downloaded and upload to Component Studio.

I wanted to see what kinds of things were fun on cards without going through all the work of actually writing the cards.

I put together a deck of 90 random cards, based on some text templates that I populated with random puzzle pieces. Example template would be: “If you [[random requirement]], [[random benefit]]”. Which could give you cards like “If you have 3 or more cards in hand, draw a card” or “If the top card of the discard pile is a Spell, target opponent discards a card”. The tags, category, name, and image are also randomly picked.

Here is a sample of some of the cards:

Live Notes

The mastery requirements, like Blood Magic 2+, are fun. Their effects I think are best when they are simple. For these little bonuses I think “Draw a card” is better than “Draw two cards and discard one of them”. The more complicated abilities can be the main abilities of the cards.

Boons should have their requirements in the End of Turn effect instead of as a requirement to play the card. So a card that says “Requires Demonology 2+ to play. Start of Turn: Draw a card” should instead say “Start of Turn: If Demonology is 2+, draw a card”

Boons, Curses, and Actions need a different layout or background so they are more easily identifiable.

Prophecy triggers that read “If you played an Item this turn” are harder to manage than those that say “If the top card of the discard pile is an Item”. The second is a bit harder to do, but it’s much easier to check.

I changed how Prophecies are added so that you can do it for free at the start of your turn. I like this change.

We are doing the game ends when 2xPlayer masteries are at max level. This works pretty good, but will probably need to have a backup game ending, like the deck running out of cards twice.

Masteries should definitely have permanent benefits at lower levels. Level 2 or 3 perhaps.

Miles’s Notes

For some of the curses, they are easy to deal with and easy to remove.

He liked cards from the discard pile being stored on the Prophecy more than being stored from your hand.

Live Notes

Mastery cards need to have an icon to make them distinct. Actually, all cards should have an icon for Boon/Curse/Mastery/Action.

Typo in Fire Sings of Destiny.

Magic Abandons Us might be better as an action. Discarding that many cards at the end of every turn can drastically change the duration of the game. It’s also tedious.

Rattle of Bones is fun.

Maybe Magic Abandons Us can be affected by the Mastery it is played under.

The cards that are “Search X where X is your level of this mastery” are pretty weak when you have 1 or 2 level in that mastery.

Mark of the Exiled makes you exhaust a Prophecy you control. If you have a Start of Turn prophecy, however, that will trigger first. So it does nothing in that case. Maybe it can be played on a specific Prophecy. I would need to add rules about discard attached cards when a Prophecy is completed.

There should be more cards that care about whether you played a certain Mastery. Prophecies that trigger off this would work.

A mastery at max level could be worth a bonus point.

Sacrificial Dagger should get stronger at higher Blood Magic levels. Maybe it starts as an action and becomes Start of Turn later. Or becomes a free action.

Blood Magic card where you discard from one of your Prophecies to discard from another player’s.

Maybe you should keep all the cards you played in front of you until the end of the turn, like Star Realms. Would make checking what you played easier.

It sucks when some cards are totally worthless in your hand. More effects that let you store from your hand would help with this.

Curses on Prophecies should always trigger before that Prophecy’s Start of Turn stuff.

Light of the Black Moon shouldn’t be a choice, it should exhaust immediately and then give you the chance to remove the curse.

Maybe for getting a new Prophecy you shouldn’t pick two.

Miles’s Notes

Add more effects that come into play when masteries are certain level.

After updating the prophecy scores and some cards, I am doing a playtest with a friend.

Live Notes

Purity of Evil might be too strong if you just get a bunch of Mastery cards with it. Maybe it should be an action instead of a boon. “You may play an extra Mastery from hand. This bypasses the limit of Mastery cards you can play”. Or it could be a boon that activates once?
  Start of Turn: You may play more than one Mastery card this turn.
  End of Turn: If you played more than one Mastery card, discard this.

I forgot to get the Middle prophecy on my 1st turn again.

Would Changer of Ways be better as a Start of Turn effect? Probably.

I forgot to get the End prophecy card on my 2nd turn again. I like the mechanic, because it allows you build out your strategy a bit more, but it’s easy to forget.

The Mirror Will Twist doesn’t give enough points. You lose a random card from hand to store it there, which is a hefty cost.

Witch’s Writing says to increase a mastery of level 3 or higher. You can’t be higher than 4, so it should just say “of level 3”.

Forbidden Lore says to increase your highest level mastery, but obviously you can’t increase a level 4 mastery. Should this card reflect that?

Black Moon really fun card.

I managed to get all of my prophecy cards to their max card count. They should either be harder to do, or they should always give more points for having more cards stored. As is, a prophecy could give 6 points for having 4+ cards, and then once you have it at 4 cards you just forget about it. That’s not very fun. Maybe each prophecy could have a “Every X Cards: Y Points” and then a “Z+ Cards: +V points”.

In general, I think more Boon cards are in order. They make you feel more powerful.

Post Game Notes

Going from two to three masteries felt better.

Slow reveal of the prophecies was good. They perhaps came out too quickly.

Perhaps you could fulfil a prophecy entirely somehow, and set it aside and draw a new one.

The Curses were fun.

He wanted to “daisy chain” some actions some more. Perhaps with more Boons.

The masteries could have permanent bonuses at level 2 or 3. You would lose the benefit if you advance to another level.

The background color of the card should match its magic type.

He looked forward to the Start of Turn and End of Turn effects.

Images

I’ve started posting my progress to WIP thread on BGG. I’ve copied the post I’ve made there below.

Here is the thread: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2556444/article/36467787

UPDATING PROPHECY SCORES
The prophecy cards I created were not at all balanced, so for my next playtest I’m trying to update them. I’m giving each card a difficulty and a risk score. Difficulty is how hard I think it is to meet the condition on that card that allows you to store a card there. A higher risk means you get more points, but you have a higher minimum of store cards required to earn points.

Here is the sheet in my Google Sheets where I’ve assigned points based on Difficulty+Risk

And here is the actual list of prophecies

The points in that second screenshot come from a VLOOKUP

=VLOOKUP(G2,ProphecyScore!$C$2:$G$11,2, false)

I have a playtest with a friend later today. Wish me luck!

I’m playing through with a friend of mine right now.

Notes as I Go

The Mastery card that makes other players draw a card is fun for the other players.

Two of the prophecies were virtually the same, but one was just harder.

Max hand size might need to be added.

I’m trying out adding parts 2 and 3 of your prophecy.

Linked Fate seems clunky. It’s an End of Turn effect that happens almost surely the same turn you play it. There’s no tension. Maybe enter play exhausted?

Spell Hound needs to be clear that you draw spells from the cards that you just discarded, not just the whole discard pile.

Powering up your Masteries might be more fun than doing the Prophecies, because it makes you feel more powerful.

Sectum Sabotoga was fun. Having my stored cards on a boon be discard adds tension.

More cards that care about mastery levels would be fun.

I think Masteries need mid-tier bonuses. Probably try adding a one-time effect at 2 level.

Magic Abandons Us says to discard cards equal to your power level, and if you discard one or more spells you get to store one of them. I should change it so you discard until you find a spell, with a max number of discards. That way don’t have to discard extra cards and waste time.

The mastery level of your magic could be closely linked with the prophecy piece immediately below it, somehow. Maybe it’s just 1 point per card stored on the prophecy below for each mastery level?

I’ve done some of the changes I talked about in my last post, and I’m just checking them out solo. Here are some screenshots of the game as is:

Live Notes

The masteries track skips over 2, will have to fix.

The new mastery improvements like “Increase your center mastery” and “Increase mastery of level 1 or less” are good.

There are too many mastery cards in the deck, probably. They’re about 43% of all cards in the deck.

The Prophecy about Demonology being level 3+ is fun. Gives you a clear goal right away.

While talking with a designer friend I had a cool idea for Prophecies in the game. Because of this I actually think they should be featured more heavily in the game. I’m thinking of renaming the game to Dark Prophecies. We’ll see how playtests go before I do that.

Here are the changes I’m planning to make for the next playtest:

From 4 to 3 Types of Black Magic
I would remove Chaos Magic and go down to just three: Demonology, Blood Magic, and Necromancy.

Everyone Gets Same 3 Types of Magic
Previously you were randomly dealt either 2 or 3 magics from the 4 types, depending on the game version. I want to give everyone the same 3, but in random order.

Change Altars to Masteries
The first version of the game’s fluff had you all working together to complete one big bad ritual, with your altars being a part of that. That’s no longer the case, so I’m planning to change them to Masteries.

Rename Invocation Cards
I don’t know the name to give them yet, but the invocation cards that previously would advance your ritual, will now instead increase your mastery of your magics.
Possible names: Mastery Cards, Learning Cards, Tome Cards

Add More Types of “Invocation” Cards
I can add ones for specific magics and for specific power levels. For example, Increase your Mastery of a magic of level 2 or higher or Increase your Mastery of a level 1 magic.

Increase Mastery Max Level From 3 to 4
You mark your progress by spinning the card until you eventually flip it over and you start at 0 Mastery. I used to have the final spot and the flipped side both be level 3, but I’ll make the flipped side be level 4.

Feature Mastery More on Prophecies
I think I could make some fun scoring goals with this. Examples:

• Start of Turn: If your Demonology is at level 2 or higher, store a card here.
• End of Turn: If you have exactly one magic at level 3, store a card here.

These are my raw notes as I take them.

• Rules should state that you get to choose which ritual to invoke if they’re tied
• Linked Fate could be a Start of Turn effect
• Deeds Shall Be Known has an annoying Start of Turn effect. It should be moved to an action card. It’s just too much hand management to do every turn.
• Knowledge Chant should let you draw a card instead of just putting one on top. Felt too weak.
• Engraved Truth is fun because you choosing which Prophecy is fun.
• Do End/Start of Turn cards need to have the “Exhaust this card =>” on them?
• Cursed Pact is cool

• 

• 

Dan’s Notes

When the Dead Rise never triggered for Dan, so he felt a little cheated by it.

He was trying to complete the rituals because he wanted the power spike.

“Are there more cards that react to your Power level?”

Prophecies could play off of specific types of rituals being at certain power level.

Maybe Prophecies could be separated into a Start of Turn, When X, and End of Turn types. Each player gets one of each type. This could allow the prophecies to be phrases that all fit together.

Things To Change

Give each player a third ritual.

Have Invocation cards that care about Power level. EG: Invoke a Ritual of Power 2 or less.

Have more cards care about Power level. EG: Draw a card. Power 3+: or higher, draw another.

Simplify more of the Prophecies. They could have additional scoring rules?

Cut it down to 3 types of Rituals: Blood Magic, Necromancy, Demonology. They could have different bonuses. Each player gets one of each school of magic.

The main cards could then have conditions on specific rituals. EG: Draw 1 card. Demonology 3+: Scry 2 before drawing.

Remove the “Exhaust X =>” on Start/End of Turn effects. If the card is exhausted you can’t do it, and you can’t do it more than once during those phases anyway.

Today I did a very short playtest of the game using a new card type: Prophecies. Prophecies are cards that you get at the start of the game that score you points at the end of the game.

Throughout the game you will “store” cards on Prophecies. This is similar to tucking cards under certain birds in Wingspan.

More cards stored on a Prophecy means more points. Prophecies currently have two different breakpoints. For example one could give you 3 points if you store 2-4 cards on it, or 6 points for 5 or more cards.

Here are three prototype cards:

Learnings

From my very short playtest I learned two things

Prophecies need more varied point distributions and breakpoints. They just aren’t interesting like this. I’ll be able to adjust this later on, as I determine what breakpoints are good, and which triggers for storing cards are the most difficult to achieve.

Having Actions is too much mental burden. With the cards in hand, and with the potential Boons you can play (permanent upgrades), having Actions on the Prophecy was too much.

Actions To Take

1. Change the distribution of points on the Prophecies.
2. Change all Prophecy card storage triggers to “When you X” or “End/Start of Turn” effect