The Turn of a Friendly Card

This week I am excited to introduce a parallel project that has been in the works for a while, the Realm of Runes Card Game! The card game is a stand-alone experience which draws heavily from the lore and ambience of the RPG. Whereas Realm of Runes itself is meant to facilitate long-term campaigns, and most RPG players know from experience that even one-shots end up taking more than one session, the card game is designed to be a discrete experience that can be completed in 1-3 hours. No RPG experience is necessary to enjoy the card game. It fits easily into board game nights without needing to be planned for specifically.

The Realm of Runes Card Game is a completely cooperative experience. Players take on the role of classes from the RPG to team up and fight foes drawn from the adventures. As a card game, the intricacies of Realm of Runes are streamlined to allow for the rules to be absorbed quickly. So far, during playtesting, even those players who are not at all familiar with Realm of Runes and who have not read the card game's rules in advance have felt like they understand the game by the time they finish with their first play session. This ease of entry does not mean that there is no mechanical depth to the game, however. There are always new and interesting combos that can be discovered as you gain more familiarity with the game's options.

Unlike in Realm of Runes, where you must build your own character from scratch, the card game has a suite of characters ready to go immediately. Players can choose their character classes specifically if they want, but the recommended method is to randomly deal each player two character options to pick between. This method helps keep the options varied from game to game. Even with the maximum of six players, there are enough characters in the game that there will always be some characters that go un-dealt. Although all of the characters are viable against all of the villains, some will have a tougher time against some more than others. Choosing your party composition wisely based on the available choices is part of the challenge!

The Realm of Runes Card Game is primarily meant to be a tactical gameplay experience, rather than a story-focused one like the RPG. Each play session in the card game feels like the epic boss fight at the end of a campaign arc. Players have to coordinate as a team and strategize efficiently to achieve victory. Indeed, teamwork is a major thematic element of the game, perhaps best exemplified by player allies. While all characters are a part of the same party of adventurers with the same goal, characters have a special bond with one specific other party member. These player allies provide characters with special abilities that they otherwise wouldn't have access to, and are another way that each game feels different, even if you happen to have the same party composition as you had once before. We'll take a closer look at this ally mechanic in a future installment.

Replayability is another one of the important design principles that go into the Realm of Runes Card Game. The villains are designed to have more going on than your group can see in just one session. Each time you play the card game, even if you're attempting a villain that you've already played before, the experience is different in interesting and challenging ways, regardless of your party composition. Even the same party against the same villain will have a different experience than the last time. This helps keep the game fresh even once you've tackled all eleven of the villains included in the base game at least once.

There's a lot to discuss about what makes the Realm of Runes Card Game special, so we're going to take a more detailed look at many of these aspects in their own entries going forward. Next week we'll return to the core rules of Realm of Runes to take a closer look at one of the important new concepts added during playtesting: Settlement Prestige! Stay tuned!