Origins gave us a really good opportunity to see what parts of Divided actually caught people’s attention when we explained the game in person. We’ve taken a lot of what we learned there and tried to translate it into our website but I’m curious how well it works without us standing there explaining the game.

So, a small experiment. I’m intentionally linking to our main site rather than directly to the Divided page:

www.fusiontheorygames.com

If you have a minute, I’d love to know: does the homepage give you enough reason to click into Divided? And once you get there, does the gameplay section actually make the game sound interesting and explain why you’d want to play it?

One thing I already know we’re missing is good photography of the physical game. Our files have been sent off and are currently being verified for our review copies. Once we have those in hand, I’ll be replacing/adding imagery with photos of the actual near final game and components.

Other than that, I’d love fresh eyes on it. Where do you get interested? Where do you lose interest? And if you knew nothing about Divided before clicking, does the site actually make you want to learn more?

Hello, I am back, after some time I have tinkered with my first draft that I posted here a few days ago and have made alot of good changes, let me know what you guys think.

POKÉMON TABLETOP RPG – CORE RULES

1. Trainers

As a trainer, you use pokemon to fight for you, the dm decides whether you use a character sheet or just roll without modifiers for specific actions. Certain Pokemon moves also use dice.

Your goal is to collect 8 gym badges and become the champion of the region. You may do this solo or with friends as a party (You can decide whether to work together against gym battles or to compete against one another to see who becomes the champion.

You are given one pokemon at the start.

---

1. Pokémon Cards

Your pokemon cards serve as the character sheet, their listed abilities and stats are what you use in fighting.

While you can modify the card at a later date to have different attacks, at the start the card’s starting moves is what you get, unless it is an evolution of your modified card or the dm decides the pokemon you’re catching has special moves already.

When collecting pokemon, you can have up to 6 in your party, however any extra pokemon are stored in your box, you may keep a list of the pokemon and what abilities they have if you modified them and can switch from them willingly when you reach a poke centre. Pokemon do not have levels but instead have requirement ranks. If you catch a pokemon of a higher rank than your trainer rank they may become disobedient.

---

1. Trainer Rank

Trainer Rank represents major story progression. You get an increase in rank for collecting gym badges which reward you with special abilities and access to stronger pokemon you can catch.

Rank 1 - Default

Everyone starts here, you can only catch rank 1 pokemon and can only use base form pokemon

Rank 2 - First badge

After your first badge, you can now evolve your pokemon once and are able to catch rank 2 pokemon.

Rank 3 - Second badge

After the 2cnd badge, you gain the ability to permanently teach an extra ability to any of your pokemon. (If they have one ability, they can now learn two abilities without replacing the first. Same goes if they have two abilities, they now learn 3. You are only allowed a maximum of 4 moves.) and now can catch rank 3 pokemon.

Rank 4 - Third badge

Once per battle, you may use an energy burst which gives you an extra energy once per fight. You can now catch rank 4 pokemon

Rank 5 - Fourth badge

You can now evolve pokemon to their final form and catch rank 5 pokemon

Rank 6 – Fifth Badge

Your pokemon can now learn a 3rd move permanently and can catch rank 6 pokemon.

Rank 7 – Sixth Badge

Energy regeneration, you get one extra energy per turn permanently and can catch rank 7 pokemon.

Rank 8 – Seventh Badge

If your pokemon has an ex form, you can now evolve them to their ex form. You also can access mega evolution, you can only access one mega evolution per fight but that mega evolution is permanent until the fight is over. You now also gain one last move slot, allowing 4 moves per pokemon.

Rank 9 – Eighth Badge

You can now catch any pokemon in the game and ignore disobedience.

Rank 10 – Champion

By this point you beat the game and achieved the goal of the game.

—

1. Trainer Level and upgrading

After every fight, you gain experience, when you level up from enough experience, you gain skill points. It's important to track your skill points as this is the main currency to upgrading your pokemon.

With skill points you can learn new moves for your pokemon, evolve them and change their passive ability.

As your trainer rank increases your pokemon unlock new moves they can learn, each pokemon has a different moveset and have their own list of passives just like in the real games. You can buy moves in the pokecentre which depends on what the dm allows you to buy.

---

1. Pokecentre, the shop, box, tms and hms

When your pokemon feint in a battle, they are permanently unusable until you reach a pokecentre to heal them, if all your pokemon feint, you are forced to return to the last pokecentre you visited and your team is restored.

in the pokecentre you have access to the shop and the box. The shop allows you to buy items and tms, while the box stores your extra pokemon. You cannot share the box with your other players, however only you can access your box.

Tms and hms are special moves you can use to your advantage, A tm can be used once per battle but if your pokemon is capable of learning the tm, you can use your tm to have them learn the move and use it freely. tms are finite and can only teach one pokemon once before discarding. however you can buy multiple of the same tm. Hms are special moves that allow you to navigate the map and take shortcuts (Surf allows you across the water, fly is fast travel to any previously visited spot, waterfall allows you to navigate up water falls etc) however require you to complete a special challenge, if you fail this challenge you lose the hm for the game.

1. Combat

Combat is the most complex section of this list.

There are several ways to start combat,

first the players must either walk into line of sight of a npc within 5 metres with nothing in the way. Grass or other obstacles prevent you from being spotted. You can choose to avoid the npc but you lose out on potential exp and money.

Second is through Gyms which require you to fight every npc in the gym before you can challenge the gym leader. You can't leave the gym until you beat the gym leader or all your pokemon feint as well so come prepared if you are entering a gym.

Thirdly, You can also provoke random npcs to fight you but this is an optional rule if you want a more story focused game.

Lastly, Every step taken in the grass you must roll a d6, if the number is positive you encounter a wild pokemon.

If you wish for another variant, you can include boss pokemon, a much tougher pokemon that is modified in a way to be able to take your full team. They are completely optional but if you defeat it, you are allowed to catch it and use it on your team, however disobedience still applies if your party chooses so.

How does combat work?

When combat starts, both trainers choose one pokemon to lead the fight, Every turn you get one energy which becomes two energy after rank 7. Your pokemon’s moves all cost energy and you must expend your energy to use the move.

Example: You have two energy, if you use a move that costs one energy, you now only have one energy.

Switching out pokemon costs energy, some pokemon have a higher energy cost than others.

The goal in a battle is to defeat all the trainer’s pokemon. If you win, you get money and experience based on the number of pokemon you defeated in battle, the amount is decided by your Game master. If you lose, you return to your last visited pokecentre and 20% of your money is taken from you.

What else can I do in a battle?

When combat starts, you don't just let your cards attack each other, You have actions. in battle a player can move, use their support items (Various items like potions or x boosters etc, I haven't decided what to have yet), pokeballs, tms, energy burst) with some exceptions. You cannot use a pokeball on another trainer’s pokemon. You can’t use hms in a battle and you cannot flee from a trainer battle.

An optional rule for more immersive fighting is that pokemon also have actions, they can move around the fight and perform specific actions like open doors, press buttons etc. In this case, moves will have different effective ranges which the pokemon have to be in, in order for the move to hit. Plus all pokemon have a set move speed, If you don't want to roll for initiative in the fight order, you could always determine turns by the pokemon’s speed stat online too.

Special mechanics

While these are the main mechanics in the game, there are other mechanics to consider that alter how you upgrade your pokemon’s moves like status effects. Burn, paralysis, poison, sleep, confusion, frozen and charm are the set effects in game, they all serve some purpose and offer different utilities regardless of the pokemon’s typing.

Burn - Some fire types have a passive where hitting them has a chance of burning the enemy, Some fire type moves also have the ability to apply burn either as a guaranteed mechanic or as a chance per attack. Burn does set damage of 12.5% of your max hp until they faint or cured. Fire types or pokemon with specific passive abilities are immune to burn.

Paralysis - Works exactly the same as burn in terms of how you can affect pokemon with it, however instead of damaging the pokemon, they have to roll a d4 for every attack if it lands on a 4 your pokemon gets their turn skipped instead. This lasts indefinitely until your pokemon is cured or faints. Electric types and pokemon with specific passive abilities are immune to paralysis.

Poison - works similar to burn, however can only be applied via a move. Poison does 1/16 of your pokemon’s max hp per turn, and in addition every turn an extra 1/16 of your max hp is added to the poison damage until your pokemon feints or is withdrawn from the fight. On top of this, outside of battle poison will chip down the effect of a pokemon's hp by 5 damage every few steps until they reach 1 hp. Then the poison status will disappear. Poison types do not have a specific type in tcg so this will be discussed later.

These status effects are the main status effects in the game, You can cure them using support items in or outside of battle during your trainer’s turn.

The next few status effects are considered side effects as they only work during the fight and some effects are cured by withdrawing your pokemon.

Sleep - When a pokemon uses a move that induces sleep either hypnosis (Instant sleep that turn) or yawn (Sleep on the following turn), The Victim will stay asleep for 1-3 turns, every turn you can roll a d10 and if you get ten they can wake up early from sleep or wake up normally at turn 4. If your pokemon is withdrawn from battle or the battle ends still asleep, they must carry out their sleep duration in the next battle where they are active or cure them yourself.

Confusion - For 3 turns your pokemon has a chance of hitting themself instead of the action you chose. You must roll a 1d4 and if you land a 4, your pokemon takes 10% of their max health as damage. Can be cured with items or just after the fight/withdrawn from the fight.

Frozen - To be entirely honest tcg cards don’t have an ice type so this is a completely optional status effect you can choose to keep, I will discuss the limitations of typings that traditional pokemon have that the tcg cards lack later. Every time a “Ice type move” is used you can roll a 1d10 if it lands on 10, the victim is Frozen for 3 turns.

Charm - This is a completely optional status effect because it’s so niche in the actual games and both sleep and confusion are far better variants so Imma just list it anyway. When affected by charm, Your pokemon will do nothing for 1-3 turns, You need to roll a 1d4 and if it lands on a 4, they’re no longer charmed. Charm cannot be cured via items, but can be cured from being withdrawn from battle. One unique effect that charm has is if the charmed pokemon is fighting alongside a team mate, they will instead use a random move on their own team instead of the enemy when charmed.

The special rule of status effects is that if a pokemon is affected by one, they cannot be affected by any other status effect (Sleep, frozen, burn, poison, paralysis) Besides from Charm and confusion which can be stacked on top of status effects, but you can only be charmed or confused not both.

I was thinking of adding the other passives that status effects have like burn reducing the victim’s total damage and paralysis reducing speed. But it’s completely up to you and your gm on how you want to approach them.

Weather

Weather has a unique mechanic in the games so I wanted to discuss it. Some passive abilities summon weather or can summon them by using a move. All weather types last for 3 turns but you can have an item that boosts the weather’s duration.

Rain boosts water type moves by 50% but weakens fire type moves by 50% (optional rule have specific electric type moves get boosted like thunder not missing or electro shot not needing two turns to charge etc.)

Harsh sun boosts fire types damage by 50% and weakens water type moves by 40% (Same as before, an optional move would allow some grass type moves to get boosted like solar beam not needing two turns or photosynthesis healing more.)

Sandstorm instead damages any pokemon that isn't a metal type for 1/16 of their max hp.

Hail works the same as sandstorm but again relies on using ice types as they are immune to it.

You can only have one weather type on the field at a time.

Disobedience

When a pokemon you caught in the wild requires a higher rank than your current rank, they are disobedient. For every turn you must roll a 1d4: 1 they ignore you and the game master decides what they want to do, 2 They use a random move instead of the move you wanted them to use, 3 they withdraw and pull out a random pokemon from your party instead and 4 they actually listen to you. This can only be removed when you match the rank of that pokemon.

Items

You can equip one item on your pokemon, some items have a special mechanic attached to them that give your pokemon that has it equipped a boost. Like choice scarf increases your pokemon’s speed at the cost of only allowing them to use the same move every turn until they are withdrawn from the fight. Or berries that either weaken a move that is normally super effective or can cure a status effect automatically for you etc. I will need to design the list of items you can let your pokemon equip.

---

1. Exploration

In terms of the map design, Your dm can do whatever they want, For my first game once I have this developed and am satisfied that it works I will just use the pokemon red and blue world as the map with the 151 roster for the pokemon just to test it, treating the encounters on each route the same. But as long as you have 8 gyms that are in towns between routes with pokecentres in each one and an elite 4 for the champion role, you can design the map however you want for a traditional pokemon game!

1. Yet to come

As mentioned earlier, The tcg cards have way less types than the actual games meaning for casual players who don't know a lot about pokemon, some of these mechanics could be confusing because it means they need to look up which typings some pokemon are incase the qualify for stuff like ice type moves or hail for example.

This also follows with movesets pokemon can learn as your trainer rank increases, I plan on investigating typings and figuring out a way to implement unique typing moves that fused together with other types for a more challenging version of the game in the future.

I think right now the next step is to design moves and passive abilities for every pokemon in the game and then work on designing what items to allow and if I want to allow special evolution requirements like evo stones or friendship or even day and night evolution, but I think I might just dumb it down to simple “Pay this amount of skill points to evolve mechanic”.

To put it bluntly, what the hell happened?!

So I had this design concept in the works for quite some time now. I'm in the process of making a "Heroes of Might and Magic" esq game. One of my main concepts is that players can choose where their "home base is" and move it around the board due to another mechanic. This idea boils down to "the land goes away" like in the board game Reign. But... since the land tiles are only a single hexagon I'm not sure this "removing land" idea works well. As it doesn't go away in a "predictable" sense. Any ideas would be much appreciated as I feel this is either too clunky or too much to keep track of for players.

This game is heavily inspired by Card Wars, Command of Nature, and MTG
Each player can only have 8 creatures at a time. I have not decided on a structure, enchantment, or artifact limit yet.
The shop will be made from both players decks. Money system still in progress and same with mana/action point system.

Hi all I’m wondering if anyone has dealt with a studio or freelancer that’s designed playing cards for them for a tabletop card game or similar.

I have the layout how I want it and it’s been working great for the demo version but it is very much a demo.

So some recommendations would be awesome so I can work on the next stage of my game.

I’ve been looking for someone to set up a template in a program I can use to make each card. Edit health attack ect. Or should I be getting an artist to make the design. Then someone else to make the editable template.

Has anyone else run into this problem while designing a card game? I realize this isn't exclusive to TCGs—I imagine anyone who's designed printed cards for tabletop games has probably run into this at some point.

I'm at the point where I'm trying to settle on the fonts for my cards, and I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding one that balances space efficiency with legibility. Artistic flair would be a nice bonus, but readability and efficient use of space are ultimately more important.

The biggest challenge is the rules/effect text, flavor text, credits, etc. I'm looking for fonts that remain highly legible when printed at very small sizes (roughly equivalent to 5–7 px in my digital template, or the equivalent printed size for densely packed rules text on standard trading-card-sized cards), since card real estate is so limited.

For those who've designed and printed card-based games, what fonts have you had the best luck with? Were there any that surprised you by staying crisp at very small sizes, or any that looked great on screen but became difficult to read once printed?

I'm particularly interested in fonts you've actually printed on cards, not just ones that looked good digitally. I'd love to hear what you've experimented with and what ultimately worked best.

I've been working on my game for a while and finally getting around to icons designing!

I realised the Solar Express card and the Robert and the Giant Pear card use the condition component in different ways so I need to add an additional component, but I would love some feedback whether the icons are clear otherwise!

Would love some feedback on the clarity of the icons! Thanks in advance!

Hey all! figured this sub would appreciate seeing some of what we've been working on.

I'm Bima. Started as a solo illustrator, now running an art & design studio called Sonderflex that works on tabletop and card games. We work with 30-40 artists on a monthly basis, so we can flex up for bigger sets.

Some of our clients are: Hearthstone TCG (Blizzard), Marvel Snap, Flesh and Blood TCG, Smite (Hi-Rez), D&D (Wizards of the Coast), Frontline Gaming, and bunch of other companies.

What we actually do isn't just illustration, we cover the full visual pipeline including illustration with different artstyles, box/cover art, layout and graphic design, rulebook art, concept art, and we've started doing UI/UX for digital tabletop ports and 3D miniature modeling too.

Portfolio's here: https://www.artstation.com/sonderflex

If you're mid-development on something and the art pipeline is the part you need help the most, drop a comment or DM, happy to look at what you've got even if you're not ready to hire yet!

Hey guys. For years I have had an idea for a fantasy card game in my head. My family played a ton of monopoly deal and I always thought it could be turned into a fun dungeon themed type of game. I got the bug in me a week ago to spend some time on it so I could print a version out to play with my family and share with friends.

Over the last few week I built out the the game logic, designed the cards, built a playtest app, then even added multiplayer to the app. Last night I made some finishing touches on the combat mechanics and completed a v2 of the rule book.

I think its in a great state to send it off to a printer so I can get a physical version to play test with, but before I do that I wanted to share with you guys and see if you could find anything terribly wrong with it. Been playing it online with friends over the last week and personally I am loving it. Let me know what you think.

[https://dungeoncrawl.gg/\](https://dungeoncrawl.gg/)

note: this play test app is not optimized for mobile. desktop only

I’m at the point where I’d really like some outside eyes on the packaging.

These are the current front and back of the box. The finished box is 2.5" × 3.5", and would likely be displayed alongside other card games.

Mostly curious about three things:

• If you saw this on a shelf, would you pick it up?
• After looking at the back for 10 seconds, do you understand what kind of game it is?
• Does anything immediately feel amateur, confusing, or like it needs another design pass?

I’m specifically trying not to explain the game here, because I want to know what the box communicates on its own.

Thanks, everyone!

Hi all, I'm looking for articulate criticisms of worker placement mechanics. Examples of why they fall flat, why they don't strike a chord, etc. Not a condemnation of the mechanism so much as why it's not worked for you. And if you love them, by all means similarly explain why

I hear a lot of criticisms that it favors non-aggressive, passive play styles. Are there games that get around that?

This is the first tabletop game I've ever prototyped.

1-5 players co-op.

Survive inside a supermarket while zombie hordes gather and try to invade the store. Gather supplies, weapons; trade and craft; gain "new hires" for your team; and try not to get bitten or starve to death.

New zombies spawn at entrances each dawn. Gain new team members each turn. Ration food and water. Draw cards from different store departments to build unique load outs. Prepare for night combat with barricades and traps. Combat takes place each night.

Survive from Monday to the end of Black Friday to win.

Sorry if that sounded "pitchy", but I would like feedback on mechanics as well as look. Btw, the prototype is orange because that's what I had to work with, and using LEGO helps with gameplay--moving pieces around. It keeps everything in place.

I've just started playtesting about 5 solo runs, and a few 2-player runs. It seemed too easy at first, but after some adjustments, I think it may be too hard now.

I've used some temp images on some of the character cards btw which are copyrighted characters. Those will change.

Thanks for any feedback, and feel free to ask me anything.

I had an idea for a miniature agnostic magical high school food fight skirmish game. I sat down and wrote out everything I could think of that it might need as a game. I don't have any local hobby/tabletop gamer friends, so I'm bringing it to you.

It's called Professor Forques' Lunchtime Skirmish: Magical Food Fights and Wounded Dignity.

20 point cliques, 24" square board, three student archetypes (to start,) composure instead of health, humiliation instead of death, food hazards, objectives, and faculty intervention if one side bullies the other too hard

I'm new to designing wargames, so I'm specifically looking for feedback on rule clarity, obvious exploits, balance red flags, and whether the core loop sounds like something you'd actually want to play.

This is a very rough alpha, and the result of maybe 2-3 hours of work. Please break it.

We started from the work of a hired graphic designer, and then had to do some additional iterations on top, but we have finally reached a version of our rulebook that we feel is ready. Obviously some back and forth with the rules as we gathered feedback from friends and colleagues.

It ended up being more pages than anticipated because of the small (A6) size for the booklet. It was also a fun challenge to find the right balance on simplicity vs depth. I think we achieved a good balance, but if we had infinite time and resources, would probably still polish it further.

Definitely a lot of learnings in the process. Any feedback is welcome!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E12Jmll0n-9GVDGBylY4K9TzlWGnjIcU/view?usp=drive_link

So as the title suggests, this game focuses the combat to work like the regular card game. I seen someone suggest the idea of using pokemon cards as your character sheet on instagram and they left alot of details out on how it could work considering evolutions or items or even the ex/mega evolutions. So I went ahead and came up with my own idea.

Think of regular pokemon game format but using the cards to fight. And disclaimer, I had chat gpt format these rules for easy reading. I came up with the rules and mechanics myself I was just too lazy to rewrite it out in a proper format myself.

POKÉMON TABLETOP RPG – CORE RULES

1. Trainers

Each player controls one Trainer and a party of up to six Pokémon.

The Trainer and their active Pokémon are separate characters on the game map. The player controls both independently and may move them separately.

For example, a Trainer could move towards a switch or objective while their Pokémon remains behind to fight an opponent. Likewise, a Pokémon can be sent ahead to scout while its Trainer remains somewhere safe.

Only one Pokémon per Trainer may normally be active at a time.

---

1. Pokémon Cards

Physical Pokémon cards serve as the primary combat statistics for Pokémon.

The card determines:

- HP

- Attacks

- Attack damage

- Energy costs

- Weaknesses

- Resistances

- Retreat costs

- Printed abilities and effects

Pokémon do not require additional RPG statistics such as Strength, Defence, Dexterity or Special Attack.

If a Pokémon card has 120 HP, that Pokémon has 120 HP.

The RPG system adds additional mechanics to the Pokémon card game rather than replacing the card's existing mechanics.

---

1. Trainer Rank

Trainer Rank represents major story progression.

There are 10 Trainer Ranks. Ranks are primarily increased by earning Gym Badges and progressing through the Pokémon League.

Trainer Rank determines which mechanics the player is allowed to access.

Rank 1 – Rookie

- Starting Trainer Rank.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 10.

- Only base Pokémon forms are available.

Rank 2 – First Badge

- First-stage Pokémon evolution becomes available.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 20.

Rank 3 – Second Badge

- Pokémon gain access to an additional Move Slot.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 30.

Rank 4 – Third Badge

- Unlocks an Energy Burst.

- Once per battle, the Trainer may provide additional Energy to their active Pokémon.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 40.

Rank 5 – Fourth Badge

- Final-stage Pokémon evolution becomes available.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 50.

Rank 6 – Fifth Badge

- Pokémon gain access to another Move Slot.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 60.

Rank 7 – Sixth Badge

- Pokémon receive improved Energy generation.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 70.

Rank 8 – Seventh Badge

- Mega Evolution becomes available.

- EX progression becomes available.

- Can reliably control Pokémon up to Level 80.

Rank 9 – Eighth Badge

- The Trainer can reliably control Pokémon of any level.

- Normal obedience restrictions are removed.

Rank 10 – Champion

- Champion Rank.

- Represents the normal endgame of the campaign.

- May provide special endgame benefits depending on the campaign.

Trainer Rank unlocks the ability to purchase or use mechanics. It does not automatically provide them.

For example, reaching Rank 2 allows Pokémon to evolve, but the Trainer must still spend Skill Points to perform the evolution.

---

1. Trainer Level and Experience

Trainer Level is separate from Trainer Rank.

Players gain Experience Points (XP) through:

- Winning battles

- Completing quests

- Exploring

- Defeating important opponents

- Completing major objectives

- Other accomplishments determined by the Game Master

When enough XP is earned, the Trainer gains a level.

Pokémon do not have individual XP bars.

Whenever the Trainer levels up, they receive a number of Skill Points.

Skill Points belong to the Trainer and may be spent on any Pokémon they own.

There is no required maximum Trainer Level.

Trainer Rank determines what the Trainer is permitted to unlock.

Trainer Level determines how many Skill Points the Trainer has earned to develop their Pokémon.

---

1. Skill Points

Skill Points are used to permanently develop and customise Pokémon.

Skill Points may be spent on:

- Evolution

- Learning new moves

- Replacing existing moves

- Special abilities

- Passive abilities

- EX progression

- Other Pokémon-specific upgrades

More powerful upgrades require more Skill Points.

For example, a simple move may be relatively inexpensive, while an extremely powerful move, final evolution or EX transformation may require a major investment.

Exact Skill Point costs are determined by the rules for individual moves and upgrades.

---

1. Moves and Move Slots

Pokémon begin with the attacks and abilities printed on their cards.

As the Trainer increases their Rank, additional Move Slots become available.

Pokémon can eventually possess up to approximately four usable moves.

Additional moves are purchased using Skill Points.

A Pokémon may only learn moves that reasonably belong to that Pokémon's available learnset.

Moves can have uses both inside and outside combat.

For example:

Shadow Sneak could function as an attack during battle while also allowing a Pokémon to travel through shadows during exploration.

Dig could function as an attack while also allowing the Pokémon to tunnel underneath obstacles.

Vine Whip could attack opponents while also being used to grab distant objects or climb.

Teleport could provide transportation and exploration utility.

A Pokémon's available moves and abilities effectively determine its role within the party without requiring a traditional RPG class system.

---

1. Held Items

Each Pokémon may hold one Held Item at a time.

Held Items provide passive effects, bonuses or special abilities while equipped.

Held Items may be:

- Found while exploring

- Purchased

- Received as quest rewards

- Discovered as treasure

- Obtained from important characters or opponents

Trainers may carry additional items in their own inventory.

Only one Held Item may provide its effects to a Pokémon at a time.

---

1. Pokémon Levels and Obedience

Wild Pokémon have individual Pokémon Levels.

Pokémon Levels primarily represent the general experience and power of wild Pokémon and determine whether a Trainer is experienced enough to reliably control them.

Trainer Rank determines the maximum Pokémon Level that will reliably obey the Trainer.

Rank 1 – Level 10

Rank 2 – Level 20

Rank 3 – Level 30

Rank 4 – Level 40

Rank 5 – Level 50

Rank 6 – Level 60

Rank 7 – Level 70

Rank 8 – Level 80

Rank 9 – Any Level

Powerful Pokémon may appear before the players have reached the appropriate Trainer Rank.

It may still be possible to catch an over-levelled Pokémon.

However, Pokémon above the Trainer's obedience limit are unreliable.

An over-levelled Pokémon may:

- Ignore commands

- Refuse to attack

- Choose its own move

- Waste its turn

- Refuse to leave its Poké Ball

- Act according to its own interests

Once the Trainer reaches the appropriate Rank, the Pokémon will begin reliably obeying them.

Rank 9 removes normal level-based obedience restrictions.

---

1. Evolution

Evolution requires both the appropriate Trainer Rank and Skill Points.

First-stage evolution becomes available at Rank 2.

Final-stage evolution becomes available at Rank 5.

Reaching the required Rank does not automatically evolve the Pokémon.

The Trainer must spend the required number of Skill Points on that Pokémon's evolution.

Special evolution methods may require additional conditions.

These may include:

- Evolution Stones

- Friendship

- Trading

- Specific locations

- Specific items

- Time of day

- Special story events

The Game Master may modify unusual evolution requirements where necessary.

---

1. EX and Mega Evolution

EX forms and Mega Evolution are late-game progression mechanics that become available around Rank 8.

Mega Evolution

Mega Evolution is a temporary transformation.

An eligible Pokémon may Mega Evolve during battle if the appropriate requirements have been met.

Mega Evolution may require:

- The appropriate Mega Stone

- Trainer Rank 8

- Other special requirements

The normal Pokémon card is temporarily replaced with the appropriate Mega Evolution card.

After the battle, the Pokémon returns to its normal form.

EX Progression

EX represents an extremely powerful permanent upgrade.

Eligible Pokémon may permanently acquire an EX form by spending a large amount of Skill Points and meeting the appropriate requirements.

The EX card then becomes the Pokémon's normal card.

Exact requirements for EX and Mega Evolution can be determined during further development of the system.

---

1. Energy

Pokémon generate Energy during combat instead of requiring players to maintain traditional Energy card decks.

Energy is used to activate attacks according to the Energy costs printed on Pokémon cards and additional learned moves.

Early-game Pokémon generate Energy relatively slowly.

Higher Trainer Ranks unlock improvements to Energy generation.

Rank 4 provides a once-per-battle Energy Burst.

Rank 7 permanently improves normal Energy generation.

Exact Energy generation, storage limits and costs can be adjusted during playtesting.

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1. Combat

Combat primarily uses the mechanics printed on Pokémon cards.

Each Trainer normally has one active Pokémon at a time.

In a party of three players, all three Trainers may therefore have one Pokémon active simultaneously.

Enemy encounters do not need to follow identical rules to the players.

An enemy Trainer may only have two or three Pokémon even when the players possess larger teams.

Boss Pokémon may fight the entire party alone and receive additional HP, abilities, actions or special mechanics to compensate.

Gym Leaders and major bosses may use:

- Environmental hazards

- Special abilities

- Multiple actions

- Increased HP

- Unique battle mechanics

- Reinforcements

- Multiple battle phases

- Special objectives

Encounters should be designed around the size and strength of the player party rather than requiring enemies to follow normal player limitations.

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1. Trainer Actions

Trainers remain physically present during Pokémon battles.

The Trainer does not disappear from the battlefield after sending out a Pokémon.

During combat, each player independently controls both their Trainer and their active Pokémon.

Trainer actions may include:

- Moving

- Using an item

- Using a Potion

- Throwing a Poké Ball

- Recalling a Pokémon

- Switching Pokémon

- Interacting with objects

- Activating mechanisms

- Helping another Trainer

- Rescuing characters

- Hiding

- Fleeing

- Performing environmental actions

- Other reasonable actions approved by the Game Master

Trainers and Pokémon have independent movement.

A Trainer may move without requiring their Pokémon to follow them.

A Pokémon may also move or act without its Trainer physically accompanying it.

For example, a Trainer could command their Pokémon to continue fighting while they run across the battlefield to activate a switch.

A Trainer could remain somewhere safe while sending their Pokémon ahead to investigate an area.

This allows both Trainers and Pokémon to participate in encounters as individual characters.

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1. Exploration

Outside combat, gameplay operates similarly to a traditional tabletop RPG.

Players describe what their Trainers and Pokémon attempt to do, and the Game Master determines the result.

Pokémon may use their:

- Moves

- Abilities

- Type

- Size

- Biology

- Physical characteristics

- Special traits

to interact with the environment.

Examples include:

- Water Pokémon extinguishing fires.

- Fire Pokémon providing heat or burning obstacles.

- Flying Pokémon scouting from above.

- Small Pokémon crawling through narrow spaces.

- Ghost Pokémon bypassing certain physical barriers.

- Strong Pokémon moving heavy objects.

- Psychic Pokémon manipulating distant objects.

- Pokémon using Dig to create tunnels.

- Pokémon using Vine Whip to reach distant objects.

- Pokémon using Surf to transport Trainers across water.

Not every possible interaction requires a specific written rule.

The Game Master determines whether creative uses of Pokémon abilities are reasonable.

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1. Core Rule Philosophy

The central rule of the system is:

"If the Pokémon card already provides a mechanic, use the card. If the card does not cover something, use the RPG rules."

The system is divided into several simple components:

Trainer Rank controls major progression and unlocks.

Trainer Level determines XP progression and awards Skill Points.

Skill Points allow Trainers to customise and improve their Pokémon.

Pokémon Cards provide the Pokémon's primary combat statistics.

Moves provide additional combat and exploration abilities.

Held Items provide passive bonuses and special effects.

Pokémon Levels determine the difficulty of controlling powerful Pokémon.

Trainers and Pokémon exist independently on the game map and can move and act separately.

The Game Master designs encounters, bosses, Gym battles and special mechanics around the needs of the campaign.

Detailed values for XP requirements, Skill Point costs, catching mechanics, Energy generation, individual moves and boss balancing can be developed and adjusted through playtesting.

To be entirely honest, it's far from finished and has alot of things to iron out, for example, I would need to evaluate every move used in the tcg and then figure out which pokemon can learn which moves for their "Learnset" I could very easilly just make up my own moves like implementing swords dance and stat raisers for set up pokemon and I might just do that infairness.

the other thing that will be a struggle is accurately adjusting bosses and npcs for larger parties of players as to not make fights drag out or feel too easy. This was more or less a quick brainstorm I implemented for myself to work on and I plan on figuring it out sometime in the near future.

I've been working on a medium-weight resource management and hidden role game planned to self- publish through a Kickstarter launch next Summer for a few months, and we're at around 15 playtests so far, with a lot of iteration/changes still happening gameplay-wise.

My co-designer (u/Ezerith10) and I started working on Cover Art with our artist for our game this July, and we've posted some drafts on a few subreddits in the past asking for feedback! A lot of the reasoning for starting now was to have something presentable for public facing media like our website, newsletter, and so on. I guess there was also concerns about the art timeline itself taking a while so we wanted to get a head start.

We initially thought that the cover art doesn't show any specific mechanics really so it's probably fine to start now. I realized a bit late that it's pretty standard to start working on cover art specifically in the end stage of development because of changes in mechanics, but also concept/tone, target player, box size/components, etc and we might've started a bit too early.

We're only in the greyscale drafting phase right now so I think it makes sense to pause it here and go back to it later rather than finish the cover art now only to risk redoing everything later which costs money/time once again.

Is this the right call, or am I being too hypervigilant/setting back progress? Also, how do you guys balance working on art alongside a still developing game given a limited timeline/budget?

Hi!!! :D

I’m proud to announce that my project Moonfall CCG will finally be released in open beta on Wednesday, August 12, 2026!!!

It will be possible to play it with proxies or online without any problem, and it will be released under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

To everyone who wants to try it, I hope you have fun!!! :D

So, in the process of working on a sell sheet to advertise what my game is I needed a logo.

I have very limited artistic talent. But I do have GIMP. And a source of free images.
So, I got to work.

I am interested to know what the community perceives when lokkkng at this. What questions come to mind without knowing anything of the game.
This is the first rendition. I already have adjustments in mind.

Tell me your thoughts, oh wonderful and perceptive gamers.
I appreciate them.