9. Forum
I also hate this idea. Because you must moderate a forum. You can get one cheap elsewhere. And a forum enables you and your testers, players and fans to share their experience online. It really is an option as it provides direct feedback and exchange of experiences online. In addition to that, valueable keyword-strong pages are added to your project (wich is SEO relevant). any active, moderated forum is a self-growing source of keyword relevant page-add-ons to your website. just remember that you have to moderate and fuel it – like all of the other online tips presented here so far. weigh your resources and decide (i would recommend to focus only on a few aspect like a forum OR a facebook account – at least when you are alone). The major con about forums is that you are both the producer and seller of your project – and most people dont share positive but negative experiences (misprints, wrong interpreted rules, delayed shipments etc.) on a company-owned forum. think about that!

10. Forget about forms
Just a short sidenote: There are a few pages that offer “idea/game submission forms” via the internet. Forget about them! Usually form submissions are read with serious delay (if they are read) and dont offer any effect at all (besides automated answers). If you want to succeed, you always have to go the direct way via telephone, email or snail-mail (there are exceptions of course).

11. Step back from your expectations
So you want miniatures, custom dice, cards, a playmat and a 35 faction strong fantasy world in addition to full online and offline support? better try on your own! The first lession to learn when approaching a publisher is to step back from your expectations. and you can expect (for sure) that every publisher will cut back (if not reject) your idea unless its not fully: ingenious, marketable and affordable. so better think about limited expectations before dealing with publishers at all: resize and re-design your game to the single rule of Effiency! Nowadays, the board game market is not only hard to conquer, but also attacked from many sides because of increased production costs and tough competition from both computer- and video-games. it not your bright and shining fairy world anymore! think about that to re-design and re-size your game from the very beginning. its not about your dreams – its being about being simple, ingenious and playable – at a competitive price.

12. Stop loving your project
Take this one literally if you ever want to approach a publisher. There is nothing worse than a designer who fell in love with his own project. get rid of those feelings! The problem is that most (if not all) publishers see your project as one among many. and they judge it like one among a hundred. If your idea is too emotional you won’t be able to react on the requirements of a publisher. This is the point where you have to see your poject as a “patient” in a “hospital” who will be taken “care of” without developing too much relationship. im sorry if this sounds cruel – but publishing your game via a company/agency/publisher is not the place to be all “im so in love with this project”. So better get rid of those feelings before-hand! believe me, i have experienced on my own – and seen others fail – because of their “eternal bond” to the project they suggested to a publisher. people who spent years of their lifetime, developing a unique hermetic fantasy world are just “not right” in the eyes of a earnings-orientated company that makes a living of requiring many project on a regular basis. this is especially true when a publisher alters your idea and asks you to cut the material costs.

• See the original article on BGDF.com

• Head back to the first part of this article.

This being said, what can you do? It may be a daunting task, but its not entirely impossible. I want to give you a few quick tips for self promoting your project. Simple tips you can realize all by yourself, and wich will generate an effect – if you transcribe them tidily and repeat them.

1. Website
Build a website for your project that functions as a hub, centerpoint or staging area. Try to get a real domain name (they are not expensive nowadays) instead of the ad-loaded abc.xyz.com subdomains from free services. Also invest some time to give your site a good design. the better the design the more trust it is able to carry to your visitors. also update your site regularly with content to keep people interested.

2. Blog
Still developing your game? blog about it! already playing it? blog about it? making new cover art? blog about it! So you see, a blog is a good way to keep your site updated and tell your people about whats going on. in addition it adds another channel and more SEO relevant pages and tags to your site. blogging is not limited to your own website, you can also add external blogs (like wordpress, blogger and even the bgdf blog). with the right technique you can also tie many of those accounts together to update them automatically.

3. Newsletter
Its just the logical next step that when you have a site and blog, you can also have a newsletter or mailing list. just put snippets of your current blog updates there to provide your visitors with a reason to check out your site again and again. many free newsletter services allow you to start without any investment – and: you dont have to send newsletters hyper-frequent, just maintain your list and write something new every now and then.

4. Social Media
Get at least a twitter and facebook account, there are also various other social media networks you could join. Try to keep your updates frequent (not too frequent) and short. To build a fanbase you have to provide your visitors more than just repeating the content of your blog, site and newsletter. Trigger a contest every now and then, post some artwork or snippets of the background story of your game. Even comical real life events regarding the development team make perfect postings on social networks. and: have an open ear for your visitors and answer questions quickly. Social media is a very good way to provide your “fans afar” with valueable informtation. one final note: keep special offers and aggressive advertising at a minimum!

5. Other Sites
You should at least get a profile for your game at the boardgamgeek and boardgameinfo, take some time to build a good profile and provide enough information and some downloads. also never forget to link your main site. there are many other sites you can ask for help, a small review or a backlink – gamers are a social and funny folk and most of them reply nicely if asked nicely. dont be shy to ask!

6. Be Prepared
This is fundamental to all previous and future tips: be prepared! prepare your game, your site, your logo and arts, your prototype and rules BEFORE your start promotion on a broader basis. if you praise your project, people want to see something because they expect something. too many projects start promoting while there is nothing to keep the visitors interested.

7. Stick to it!
If you dont see immediate results: Dont give up! Stick to your project! Speaking from SEO point of view, it takes weeks if not month until Google visits, rates and ranks your site. and it takes humans even longer to identify and trust you. So dont give up! You should see the promotion work as a longtime goal, maybe 3, 6, 9 or 12 month (or more) – keep blogging, posting and doing your work. dont waste your energy in the beginning, keep posting on a reasonable rate. not too fast to be annoying, and not too slow or people loose interest. a self-created and promoted project is like a baby: you have to care for it, protect it, raise it and last but not least: love it.

• Continue reading the second part of this article.

“the galaxy consists
of three hundred billion stars
sixty thousand centuries ago
there were over twenty billion
life sustaining planets
orbiting those stars
some of the life on these worlds
evolved intelligence
some species learned
to travel through space
as they explored
they encountered one another
wildly different cultures
competed for the same worlds
in the enormous upheaval
that followed
one of these species
would gain ascendancy”
(from Ascendancy PC game)

Deck Building
Each player brings his own deck of exactly 60 cards. A deck may not include more than THREE copies of a card with the same title. In addition to that, a player also chooses a NATION card to begin the game with. Please note that a deck may include cards from various factions and players are not limited to the race stated on his NATION card.

• Continue reading the second chapter (soon)

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• Ready
• Exhausted
• Routed
• Destroyed
• Buried
• Gone

Ready
A ready unit is able to participate in any kind of action. Those units add their level-worth in dice to any actions performed by the regiment they are in. Ready Unit Cards sit upright on the playmat, facing their owner.

Exhausted
Units who participated in actions go from ready to exhausted state to indicate that they already acted this turn. A exhausted unit cannot participate in anymore actions until it returns to ready state again. Exhausted unit cards are turned 90° to inidcate their state.

Routed/Recoiled
Routed units have suffered at least their level in damage and are incapable to continue combat. Routed unit cards get turned 180° to indicate their state. Routed units never participate in any kind of actions and thus never add their dice. Of course no dice may be placed on routed units too. But routed units can still be the target of effects and damage.

Destroyed
Units that suffered at least twice their level in damage are destroyed. Those units have been decimated so drastically that they play no more role on the battlefield. Destroyed units are immediately removed from their regiment and placed in the Casualities Zone of the playmat.

Buried
After a destroyed unit is placed in the Casualties Zones of the playmat, it wanders into the Graveyard Zone at end of turn. Buried units are the Dead and it is not possible by normal means to return them into play. The amount of buried units on each side is a good measurement of the total casualties a army took so far in battle.

Gone
Some effects go even further and remove cards completely from play, those cards are not even placed in the Graveyard Zone. Gone cards are set aside and there is absolutely no way to return them into play, not even by magic.

• Battle Cards
Basicly all cards in the game are so called Battle Cards – as they all feature the Conflict Resolution Table (short CRT). A Battle Card is the most common denominator of all card types in the game. So whenever a rules text or ability refers to a Battle Card, every card type is affected.

• Unit Cards
Units are the main cards in the game and represent warbands, hordes, heroes and wizards alike. Units are the backbone of every army and do the actual fighting. In addition to that a player scores victory points for destroying enemy units.

Unit Card Subtypes:
• Personality

• Terrain Cards
Terrains are the regions the war is fought on and provide tactical advantage. In addition to that a player scores victory points by controlling terrain cards.

Terrain Card Subtypes:
• Domain

• Landmark Cards
Landmarks symbolize additions to the Terrain Cards and are always attached to such a card. Landmarks provide further tactical advantage to their controller.

• Artefact Cards
Artefacts represent weapons, armor or relics of magical power to aid your units. Most artefacts enhance the combat abilities of the unit that carries them. Artefacts are automatically destroyed when the last unit being able to carry an artefact is killed.

Artefact Subtypes:
• Weapon
• Armor
• Relic
etc.

• Spell Cards
Spells represent the magical powers that wizards can unleash. Spell cards can affect almost every aspect of the game, but have to be bought seperately and require a fair amount of spellcasters in your army. Once you bought a spell, it can be used by every wizard in your army. Most of the spells are unlimited in use.

Spell Card Subtypes:
• Ritual

• Tactic Cards
Tactics represent commands and orders that the leaders in your army can issue. Those tactics can turn the tide in the heat of the battle. Altough they are mundane and thus not nearly as powerful as Spells (at first sight), Tactics are easier applied. Once you bought a Tactic, it can be used by every leader in your army. Most the the tactics are unlimited in use.

Tactic Card Subtypes:
• Commands
• Objectives

Card Anatomy

• Elements/Level
The number and color of dice this card contributes to an attack. Also shows the cost to draft this card.

• Keywords
Special Traits that interact with other cards or provide additional abilities.

• Collectors Info
The set the card can be found in, Card Number in the set, Rarity, Copyright blah blah and Illustrator of the card.

• Card Type
A quick reference of the card type, card types can also be distinguished by the border of the card.

• Flavor Text
Some cards contain flavor text, wich has absolutely no effect on the gameplay.

• Conflict Resolution Table
The main part of every card shows the abilities triggered by a die roll. In conjunction those abilities describe how the card works, it’s strength’s and weaknesses. Most abilities include reminder text after their name. Certain abilities require a specific colored dice to trigger – in addition to the rolled number.

Background Story – Chapter 3:
“Silence!” shouted Oberon, the leader of the high council. The elder smashed his fist upon the table, with power undreamt of a person of his high age. The gathered crowd went silent immediately. The table still shook from the force of Oberons fist and a crystal carafe started to dance around nervously. Almost erveryone of the present persons watched the carafe eagerly, but nobody acted. And so the receptacle fell over and broke, spilling wine all over the wooden table. A sweet, alcoholic smell filled the room. Oberon – obviously annoyed – continued his address to the council: “Members of the council!”. The people raised their heads again, there where knight among them, priests and wizards too. “Members of the council! As far as we examined the facts, we have come to the agreement that further steps of how to deal with the so called threat will be decided after the messenger arrives” spoke oberon to the crowd. The elder wanted to take a sip of wine, but went for a rhetorical pause instead after his eye fell on the empty glass. Dahlia – who sat next to Ashra in the first row, raised her voice. “What if the messenger had been killed?”. A murmur went through the crowd and Dahlia earned lots of sly glances. Ashra, who noticed the uprising among the people, got out of his chair and started to talk calmly: “My dear friends and allies!”. The members of the council – including Oberon himself – awaited eagerly what Ashra had to say. The swordsinger continued: “Although the overall situation is as worse as it could be, I appeal to our common sense when I say that we should deal with the ongoing war instead of racking our minds about the threat”. Ashra let his view pass across the room, he registered a nodding here and there. Someone choughed and others whispered agreements to their neighbours. Ashra sighed, once more he managed to calm down this kindergarten of a council – and this earned him a respectful look from Oberon. But Dahlia had the feeling that the members ignored her like a little child. And so the young princess turned her attention to Oberon and started talking with a frozen voice: “Why do we not name our child? We all know very well that this so called threat will be our doom. There, take a look out of the window – its coming closer every hour – and its coming to kill us all”. One of the priests uttered a high pitched moan as if he realized the situation only just by now. “So I may ask my question again grandmaster Oberon: What if the messenger had been killed?”. Oberon threw a withering glance at Dahlia while Ashra didn’t deign her a look. The words of the princess had been like pouring oil into a flame: Suddenly the crowd broke out into argumentation: wizards verbally attacking priests, priests insulting knights. And some of the royal guard even forgot the codex and reviled oberon. but the old man kept his self-control and answered as flast as possible: “if the messenger died on his journey, then the last vestige of hope for theese lands died with him”.

Background Story – Chapter: 1
“But…Master Ashra, this war is in vain!” shouted Dahlia with an awkward voice at the elderly knight. Dahlia was a beautiful young woman, she had long blonde hair and a slim figure. her skin tone was tanned and her white dress added a breathtaking contrast to her curves. Dahlia was abut 20 years old and since her birth she had been chosen to be the future queen of the kingdom of eszme. As to emphasize her words she stamped her dainty foot to the ground. Her crystal slippers made a clickering-tickering sound on the marble floor. The arched hallway was immediately filled with a gentle echo. Ashra darted an icy glance at the young woman. “War…” he said with a resigned voice, while his eye fell on an ancient painting on the wall. Ashra was the oldest of the royal guard, the highest order of knights in the kingdom of eszme. His shoulder long, brittle white hair scarcely hid uncountable scars on his face, his shoulders and his throat. His worn armor still reflected sparks of daylight. Three symbols made from pure gold embellished his suit: A crown, a ring and a rose. Those three symbols mirrored the highest virtues of the order. But in theese war torn times of intrigue, murder and foul plots even the virtues of the royal guard seemed to loose their shine. After taking a deep breath, Ashra finished his sentence: “War, is our peoples destiny”.

Summary of Play
In the Ascendallion game, two players fight a war, each using an army represented by cards, a special playmat, differently colored six-sided dice and additional cards to aid the players. From turn to turn the players send their pre-drafted armies onto each other striving for victory through field dominance and terrain control.

Object of the Game
Claim six victory points to defeat your opponents army and win the game. Victory points can be claimed in two different ways:

• Field Dominance
At the end of every turn, the player who caused more casualties than his opponent this turn, claims 1 victory point.

• Terrain Control
At the end of every turn, a player claims 1 victory point for every terrain he or she controls.

Background Story – Chapter 2:
“Mylady, its time for us to go – the council awaits us” said Ashra to the young princess while putting his hand on her shoulder. Dahlia shrugged it off and replied: “The meeting of the of the high priests is in vain too. This land is doomed anyway. The council – nothing more than a desperate attempt to keep our minds busy.” Dahlia took a look out of the cone-shaped window and sighed deeply. Ashra raised his voice again: “Lady Dahlia, you wont be able to pluck up courage just by ignoring your duties”. The young lady spinned around, her look searching for Ashras. As their eyes met she began with a determined voice: “Duties? You try to shed some light upon my daily routine while our people, this land, the whole continent are doomed to extinction?” Dahlias tanned cheeks turned red and she pressed together her lips until they looked like nothing more than a thin bloodless line. Ahsra moved one step backwards, he knew about Dahila’s double sided personality very well. Sometimes it took only seconds to turn her from a sad little girl into a resolute woman with quite some temper. “Lady Dahlia…” began Ashra as calm as possible, spreading his hands towards her. In situations like theese he felt more like taming a mare than talking to a princess. “Dahlia, isn’t looking away desperate too?” he finished his question. But that was enough for the young woman and she yelled into the knights face: “Looking away? You tell me I am looking away? A blessed swordsinger you are, teacher and mentor on all my ways. But, tell me how can I turn blind eye to this?”. To underline her words, she raised a hand into the air and pointed her finger through the open window, directly towards the sun. Ashras view wandered from Dahlias angry face to the end of her forefinger. Although he already knew what he would see, his face went pale in presentiment. A small object was embedded within the bright, fiery aurora of the sun. It looked like a black pearl tht hovered weightless in thousands of miles of distance. The air around it shimmered and whirred because of the heat. Although the object was small, the leaders of men realized even without their wizards that this inconspicious looking object carried a devastating message with it: Apocalypse.

• Continue reading the second chapter

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“God is dead; but considering the state the species Man is in, there will perhaps be games, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown” – Friedrich Nietzsche

OCG – Open Card Game
This game is free and open-source, wich means that players and the author alike will both be able – and are encouraged to – expand and evolve the game by creating new factions, cards, rules and even card types or victory conditions. Expanding the game can be done either way: by simply brainstorming and inventing new stuff, posting it on your website and publishing it in forums. But also by building cards according to a “Creation Codex”, a system using point allocation similar to the character creation in roleplaying games. After creating cards you can submit them to the author of BloodstoneOCG and after a review and playtesting through a group of trusted judges, your content is added to the official game database. Please note that only cards created using the official “Creation Codex” can be submitted and accepted as “Official Cards”. While any card created without the codex and without review from the author of the game is considered to be playable but “Unofficial”. Only official cards will be integrated into the authors card database, and get their own templated design. Last but not least – only cards considered to be official are “tournament legal”.

“The concept of BloodstoneOCG is absolutely contrary to the money making aspect of all collectible and trading card games currently on the market. This free game is rather meant to be a ever expanding fantasy gameworld based around a core of fundamental mechanics. True to the spirit of both wargames and cardgames alike, BloodstoneOCG utilizes the power of the internet to add one more component to the development team: The player himself.”

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1.1 The Aliens Franchise
This game is based on the whole Aliens Saga including the Aliens vs. Predator Movies and Comics. The author is aware that using this franchise in a card game is a serious violation of the copyright. But, it has to be said that this project is merely a non-profit fan game. In addition to that, a fully playble version will never ever be available to the public.

1.2 Introduction
Each player’s cards include his own characters – a group of marines, a horde of aliens or a handful of predator hunters, each represented by a different card. Some other cards representing objectives, items and events support and defend the characters.

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1.1 The Birthright Franchise
This game is based on the Birthright roleplaying boardgame and novel saga by Wizards of the Coast. The author is aware that using this franchise in a card game is a serious violation of the copyright. But, it has to be said that this project is merely a non-profit fan game. In addition to that, a fully playble version – including critical card art – will never ever be available to the public.

1.2Introduction
“The blood of Anuire, of Cerilia, flows through your veins, my son. You and the lands share the same history, the same blood, and the same life. If you die, the land dies and the empire falls. ‘Unite the land, nuture it, and care for it, because when a man is seperated from the land, he is nothing’”
- The last words spoken by Roele, first Emperor of Anuire

1.3 Object of the Game
Legacy of Kings is a collectible card game for two or more players. Each player takes on the role of a clan, tribe or a noble house trying to control the lands of cerilia. The land of Cerilia is divided into two regions (northern and southern Cerilia), and each reagion is divided into four areas of conflict called provinces. Four different struggles are taking place in theese provinces (military, religious, diplomatic and economic), and in order to win the game, you must gain regency by haveing the supremacy in as many provinces as possible. you also win the game if your opponent runs out of cards in his or her deck.

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