In addition to preparing the pre-production files, I've been hard at work investigating alternate design options for The King's Poisoner Custom Playing Cards, as requested during the crowdfunding campaign.
Playing cards that are suitable for every game of The King's Poisoner, no matter the setting or time period, is both essential and a challenge.
After scouring other card games, tarot decks, print and wood block designs, I've arrived at alternative I think will not only make The King's Poisoner playing cards more unique and thematic, but will also enhance gameplay—perhaps even for other roleplaying games as well!
New Playing Card Design🎺
Not only does each card have a NEW DESIGN but each of the game's four themes (LOVE, LOYALTY, AMBITION & MURDER) has been allocated to a suit (hearts, diamonds, spades & clubs) to keep them front of mind during play.
In addition, each card has optional graphic and written prompts to inspire storytelling and act as a visual aid!
Digital mockup of new playing card's design
Written prompts for other cards include: Allegiance, Beauty, Betrayal, Chaos, Compassion, Competition, Conflict, Corruption, Darkness, Dependence, Devotion, Discipline, Distress, Dream, Duty, Expansion, Exploitation, Exploration, Faith and more…
The design is still sufficiently traditional so that the embellishments aren't too restrictive or obtrusive, allowing the game to flow as it should, and the deck can be used for any other game that requires standard playing card elements e.g. one-eyed jacks, suicide kings, man with the axe, flower queen etc.
Finally, the prompts for each of the Kings can also be used to inspire your game's setting & guide world building. Simply separate them from the rest of the deck and draw a king at random to determine the type of setting in which you're going to play!
Meet the Four Kings
New front of card designs for each of the four kings
The King of Hearts, depicted as Charlemagne during the latter half of Henry VI's reign, is now also the king of fantasy with a dragon soaring above. A Targaryen, perhaps? Do you have a favourite monarch from the screen or literature? Rewrite their story or use it to inspire a new tale of love or betrayal!
The King of Diamonds, looking like Edward II but historically Julius Caesar, is also the king of the past with an hourglass evoking the passage of time or a bygone era. Set your story in any period throughout history or prehistory, from ice age tribal migrations to the chaos and strife surrounding the world wars! Draw from real world events to inform your narrative or provide a backdrop for your plotting & scheming.
The King of Clubs, once Alexander the Great, is also the king of the present with a globe of the world hanging over his shoulder. There are still a number of kings in the modern day and many leaders who act like them, which is fodder for compelling fiction and circumstances that are at once familiar and strange.
The King of Spades, traditionally the Judaean King David of biblical renown, is also king of the future with an android or artificial life form looming behind. What kind of kings, queens, autocrats or machines might rule in 10, 100 or 1000 years' time!
These can also be used as prompts in play: what FANTASY torments your heart? Which PRESENT would earn you favour? How can the PAST be used to your advantage? Who's FUTURE are you fighting for? Not to mention the images of mythical creatures, time, worlds and AI to fuel your imagination.
Please show your support for the new design in the poll attached below!
Summer Knights A Success!🎉
The King's Poisoner was played to stellar reviews and the online convention doubled its initial goal, raising over $2,800 for World Central Kitchen!
A big thank you to Good Games for a Good Cause, Games on Demand Online, RPG Alliance Con, The Dungeon Alliance Inc, and Trevor in particular, for putting on a wonderful event, congrats!
If you missed out on Summer Knights, The King's Poisoner will also feature at:
Conquest Games Market, a one day event on August 31 designed to showcase local game developers, vendors, suppliers, makers, and artists to the Melbourne Tabletop and Roleplaying gaming community.
The Shared Hearth, an online open gaming weekend held by Open Hearth Gaming from September 5–8th. Sign-ups open 12pm EDT, August 20.
92% Surveys Completed
We're getting ever closer to completion! 92% of backers have filled out their surveys and contributed an additional $788 to the campaign!
If you haven't completed it yet, please do so as soon as possible as I need this information to fulfill your rewards.
If you have any questions or run into any issues, you should find everything you need in the 2nd half of this update.
🔔 Remember, If you need to review your information after your survey has been completed, you can return to it by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page.
Thank you again for all your support and please let me know what you think of the new design in the poll attached below.
Looking forward to sharing more developments at the end of the month and best regards,
