A few days ago, I launched a new website called print-and-play.net.
Right now, it's a bit thin on the content side but that will change
over the course of the next months. The idea behind that website is to provide a free of charge download archive for the many game ideas I had in the past.
If you browse the many blog-posts and threads here on BGDF, you will notice a lot of different game ideas besides my main project Gods & Minions. Some of those projects are finished and playtested, while others are work-in-progress.
The plan is to offer the games (and ideas) of the last decades for free, in a downloadable form, for others to enjoy, use them as inspiration or base of their own projects.
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To get us started, the background world of "Gods & Minions" has been added as free PDF document. It contains the history of the world, geography, important places, an overview of all races/tribes on the planet as well as in-depth description of the first three tribes. This manifesto is a perfect starting point for a Pen-and-Paper RPG setting or fantasy world.
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Next up are two smaller, casual games - both finished and playtested.
Comments
UPDATE 0
Gods & Minions Background Worldbook added to Print-and-Play.net
It contains the history, geography, racial description and overal mood of a dark fantasy background world. The perfect "sinister" setting for your next RPG game!
Get your free copy here:
GODS & MINIONS - BACKGROUND WORLD BOOK
https://print-and-play.net/download/gods-minions-world-book/
UPDATE 1
Just added a few more (free) files for download:
Note: The offered projects are on hiatus, the provided files represent a work in progress snapshot. The included files are provided for demonstration and inspiration and do not represent the final product.
Futher Note: The print-and-play.net website is supposed to be a "mind cache" of the games and ideas created over the past two decades.
1. DEMONGARD RULES
Card based light war game blending CCG and miniature wargaming (not CCG format and does not require miniatures)
https://print-and-play.net/download/demongard-card-war-game/
2. GODS & MINONS LCG RULEBOOK
The full (completed) rulebook for the original Gods & Minions LCG
https://print-and-play.net/download/gods-minions-lcg-rules/
3. WORLD OF MANA SOURCEBOOK
The famous background world of the Nintendo Console Game "Secret of Mana" turned into a pen-and-paper RPG campaign. Note that the provided PDF is just a "demo", the actual content is in the TXT file that is part of the download.
https://print-and-play.net/download/world-of-mana-source/
UPDATE 2
Added three completed games this time:
1. HORSEMAN'S CHESS
A Chess variant by BGDF community member Frank MacCrory
https://print-and-play.net/download/horsemans-chess/
2. FAYRA
A quick casual game inspired by Go Fish - also features nice art!
https://print-and-play.net/download/fayra-casual-card-game/
3. LAST FIEF
A two player duel game, developed together with BGDF community member Larienna a long while ago.
https://print-and-play.net/download/last-fief-duel-game/
What is Fayra?
Fayra is a casual card game for 2 players of all ages. The game is strongly inspired by classics like Go Fish and is suitable for kids and grown ups alike.
This game was completed over the course of three weeks, including the rules, card layout and design as well as play testing locally and remote with many volunteers from the boardgamegeek.com forums. Although the basic game is rather simple, a lot of effort has been put into the overall design and representation, as well as the play testing to make the game as enjoyable as possible. We used children friendly artwork, provided by a stock art site, to make the game appeal to all ages.
To me, besides being a lot of fun, Fayra was also a test run to see how quickly an enjoyable little game could be created, tested, polished and published. I see the whole thing as a three week "sprint" and an exercise to "get a project done from 0 to 100%. The game itself might not be something fancy, but having a finished game that is enjoyed by players around the globe, is a great personal experience!
Like all games offered on print-and-play.net, Fayra is free:
FAYRA - CASUAL CARD GAME
https://print-and-play.net/download/fayra-casual-card-game/
WHAT IS A ARCHON VARIANT?
This post represents an introduction to a duel board-game family invented between 2000 and 2012. Several offsprings have been created after the initial game, called "Archon Variants". Without going too much into detail with the rules, I would like to take the chance to introduce you to the "Archon Variants":
Back in the year 2000, we played many games of chess alongside the more modern war-games, skirmish games and collectible card games. During yet another chess match, it came to my attention that the lack of any luck element is most important factor for the tactical decisions and strategic complexity of the game. The idea that was born from these chess matches was to transfer the "no luck" principle from chess to a two player duel game that takes place in a fantasy setting and would be more appealing to nowadays players.
Read the full article on print-and-play.net:
https://print-and-play.net/what-is-a-archon-variant/
TBH I'm not sure WHERE I was going with MY "Archon" Game
But I'm really interested to READ more "Articles" about your "Archon Variants"... It seems like you have been "obsessed" with that game for many years, dedicating a lot of "prototypes" to the CONCEPT. I personally welcome you sharing more of your thoughts... Like I said, I too had what was the "infancy" of a "card game". Here's the CARDBACK that I had designed:
You've RE-SPARKED my interest in that GAME. But my game will be different. It has an RPS-5 and spread out into separate RPS-3 which compose the various cards in the game. I'm not sure where to go with the game... Why? Because "Monster Keep" (MK) is ON-HOLD; I can't figure how to market the game so what is the point of working on the design.
Archon ... Hmm... Need to figure out what I WANT from this GAME! What is the GOAL and how do players achieve it... TBD ATM! (Sorry for all the acronyms!) LOL (Pun intended!)
Anyways please do share with us your thoughts. I'd love to read up more about YOUR efforts to make some kind of "Archon" Game. And you know what they say, right?! "Smart minds think alike!" Cheers Tobias.
My reasons for being UNSURE are...
I have like PURPOSE in my Designs. Each design is a very different Game and I approach each game from a different ANGLE. With "Archon", I'm not sure what kind of game that I want to design. So ATM all I know is that there was an RPS-5 and has TEN (10) RPS-3. Double my initial computations after Googling and finding a Combinations Calculator: 5 Choose 3.
Anyway while I wait for more of your VARIANTs, I'll think about what I would like to "accomplish" with "Archon". Cheers!
Hi Quest, That card back
Hi Quest,
That card back looks quite good for a prototype.
Do you have more information to share? Like an old rules file that i could take a look at? Im exactly at the same point in time: Interest in old projects is re-sparked. Not saying there will be a finished product soon, but messing with this stuff is a lot of fun (and lot of good memories).
The first variant has been posted on the print-and-play website already, but keep in mind this one is almost 2 decades old.
The next one (Magitech Wars) will be posted by the end of this year. That version used dice and cards and features the art introduced in my other blog recently.
GODSEND (Excuse the rather mis-leading name)
https://print-and-play.net/download/godsend-archon-variant-from-2002/
Sharing information -- as I kinda figure it out...
I am leaning towards a "card game" with ONLY the game's units (Light and Dark). But I am also trying to make it a WHOLE game. Not a CCG or a TCG, nothing collectible, only a CARD GAME.
Each player gets 40 cards (per side) and there are FIVE (5) COLORS: Red, Green, Blue, White, and Black.
But I still need to "think" about GAMEPLAY. Will respond when I have more ideas to work with... Cheers!
interesting
I remember looking over some of these a while ago and being intrigued by what I saw!
There seemed to be some solid ideas among them. For at least some of the ones I looked at they seemed potentially incomplete? If I recall correctly, there were just rule books without the needed pnp cards associated with them. Did I just not look in the right place for the rest of the content or was this intentional?
Yes thats intentional. You
Yes thats intentional.
You have to look closely at the categories in the menu, where it says "Work in Progress" the game is incomplete.
The ones in the other categories are "finished" and can be used/played.
The Print-And-Play website is completely free and will stay free, it is some kind of "mind cache" of the many ideas from the past years.
ahh
That makes sense!
Thanks for the clarification.
UPDATE 3 - Magitech Wars
The download for another Archon Variant (this time with dice) has been added for free to print-and-play.net. Get your virtual copy here:
https://print-and-play.net/download/magitech-wars/
GAME INTRODUCTION
In "The Magitech Wars" - players take the roles of mighty Technomagi - competing to claim Crystallium Sources on the plane, through skirmish battles. Using customized Vaults of cards, a hex-tile gameboard, six sided dice and tokens, they let their units fight to become the emperor of a fictitious multiverse. From turn to turn the players summon Units and move them around the board to let them battle. Players gain crystals by putting some of their Units into the crystal zone, and win the game through gathering six victory points. Those points are scored by controlling the most Places of Power on the gameboard, or by banishing enemy cards.