First Prototypes Ordered

Still waiting on two copies of prototype cards to arrive. They are now #54 in the Gamecrafter production queue.

As you can see, prototypes are rather expensive, but I would rather pay to have good quality prototypes than trying to print and cut them myself. I've never been much of a print and play kinda guy.

I will need to figure out how to get them in an easily printable file once we move to wider playtesting so that the game can be shared easily.

Barachiel - The Angel of Blessing

Barachiel is the Angel of Blessing and is usually depicted holding roses or a bread basket to represent the distribution of favors from heaven. He is one of the four ruling seraphim and is chief of the guardian angels.

His power in Battle For Souls is to magnify the blessings that a holy relic brings, or nullify the evil that an unholy relic can bring.

In cases like Barachiel, where an ability can be used only once per game I will not use a scoring track as it will be easy to track when a single use ability is used up. Once you use it, your opponent is not apt to forget.

Holy and Unholy relics are cards that can be purchased at random for the cost of 3 holy/unholy points and can be used for the remainder of the game once purchased. They are not as powerful as angel and devil cards, but their special abilities in addition to their value of 2 victory points will make them very tempting for player to incorportate. Owning Barachiel will make them even more appealing for the side of heaven to invest in. I'll be listing them here for your feedback!

Please keep letting me know what you think and please share the blog. Those who jump in will be helping to make Battle For Souls a great experience and you will be rewarded when we expand playtesting!

Azrael - The Angel Of Death

There are 7 archangel cards in Battle For Souls. Right now the plan is to have a player start with a single angel or devil card chosen at random. From there, players can earn another angel card by guiding a soul to sainthood.

This is the preliminary prototype card for Azrael, the angel of death (click to enlarge). Each angel card is worth 3 victory points and can add 1 holy point each turn to any soul that shares the same heavenly virtue color - in this case yellow as shown in the +1 circle in the top left of the card.

In addition, each angel has some special power they bring to the table. In some cases, the power is limited to certain amount of uses per game, as is the case with Azrael. If a card has limited uses a marker track is provided on the card to ensure no confusion about how many times a power has been used.

Angel and devil cards offer decent advantages, but where they can tip the balance of power too far, we limit them. I'm sure the power and number of uses for each will change as we playtest in order to get the balance just right.

In Azrael's case, the angel can reap a soul in play without a reap card. This will allow the player to score victory points by reaping souls that are neutral to holy, or Azrael can deny the devil a soul that he has been working on bringing to hell.

This is a pretty powerful card that is essentially worth 9 points. But even more, those who play the devil will hate this card as it will force them to spread unholy points evenly across souls as spending too many unholy points on one soul will just be lost to Azrael. If we find this is too powerful, we can reduce the purgatory power to only souls with a single unholy point, reduce the total number of uses, or remove the purgatory power all together.

Temptation and Virtue Cards

A good chunk of gameplay in Battle For Souls will take place with Temptation and Virtue cards, which are drawn and played by the side of evil and good respectively.

Each player will have a deck that consists of 45 temptation/virtue cards -- 6 cards of 7 different colors that correspond to the 7 deadly sins, or 7 holy virtues, and 3 wild cards. In addition, each player will have 5 reaper cards in their deck, and 2 victory point cards for a total of 52 cards.

These cards will be shuffled and a 5 card hand drawn. We will have to see how it plays, but the idea is that holy/unholy points can be added to souls based on what you play from your hand.

For example:

3 cards all of a different color = 1 holy/unholy point added to any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the colors played

4 cards all of a different color = 1 holy/unholy point added to any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the colors played OR 1 holy/unholy point subtracted from any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the colors played.

5 cards all of a different color = 2 holy/unholy points added to any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the colors played

3 of a kind = 1 holy/unholy point added to any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness of the same color

Full House = 1 holy/unholy point added to any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the played colors OR 1 holy/unholy point subtracted from any soul that has a heavenly virtue / mortal weakness in common with one of the colors played

4 of a kind = 1 holy/unholy points added to any soul

5 of a kind = 2 holy/unholy points added to any soul AND a victory point card to your discard pile if you so choose

If you use cards on your turn you keep what is left in your hand and draw back up to 5 on your next turn.

A player may also discard any amount of cards if they cannot play, or choose not to.

In addition, a player can buy a victory point card at the end of their turn at the cost of 1 holy/unholy point from any soul they control. This victory point card must however, be placed on top of the player's deck, effectively reducing their next hand to 4 cards.

All cards including any victory point cards purchased or won, must be reshuffled once the deck is played through.

This is how will will begin playtesting anyway. I will update here once we see how it works out.

What do you think of this mechanic?

Battle For Souls Artwork

Something I am pretty excited about for Battle For Souls is the plethora of public domain art that fits the theme of the game perfectly. Masterworks of religious art will give a very special feel to the game that will also let it double as a religious art history class!

Goya, Bosch, Michelangelo, Raphael, Memling, Da Vinci -- the possibilities are endless. I am also contacting some classically trained artists who can fill in the gaps.

One concern is different copyright laws in different countries and although a painting made before 1923 is automatically in the public domain a photograph of the painting may have a copyright. Researching this will be difficult as I will need to have hi-res copyright free photos of the originals. An other option if I cannot confirm copyrights on images is to pay an artist to modify them, or even repaint them which will be cheaper than paying for all original artwork.

Art is something no game project should ever skimp on in my opinion, and so I am determined to make something stunning. Graphic design by Luis Francisco will also make a huge difference in the wow factor. If anyone has any experience or knowledge on using public domain images in games I would really love to hear from you!

Artwork is in the public domain:

"Witches' Sabbath" by Francisco Goya - 1798

The Devils - 7 Princes Of Hell

In Battle For Souls players must choose the side of good or the side of evil.

The side of good has more power to protect and bless, while the side of evil has more power to exploit the mortal weaknesses of man.

Their are 7 princes of hell (or devils) in the game that can be used to help corrupt souls and drag them to hell for victory points. Each of these devils corresponds to one of the 7 deadly sins and is associated with a color.

Here they are:

ASMODEUS - LUST - PURPLE

BEELZEBUB - GLUTTONY - ORANGE

LEVIATHAN - ENVY - YELLOW

LUCIFER - PRIDE - WHITE

MAMMON - GREED - GREEN

SATAN - WRATH - RED

BELPHEGOR - SLOTH - BLUE

The colored +1 circle for each devil will award one unholy point to any soul with a mortal weakness of the same type/color in play of the devil's choosing. The soul must be unholy or neutral to use this point. The devil's +1 bonus cannot be used if the soul has even a single holy point. In addition, each devil has its own unique power as explained with the card text.

It will be important to get the balance right as angels and devils work to add holy and unholy points. I expect some tweaks as we playtest.

Each devil gained is worth 3 victory points as shown in the shield icon.

Soul Cards

The 21 souls in the game all have a scoring track on the left had side of the card face.

Each of them has a mortal weakness that corresponds to one of the 7 deadly sins, and a heavenly virtue for one of the 7 virtues.

Each of these is represented by a different color. For example, the mortal weakness of lust is represented by purple, while the heavenly virtue of chastity is also represented by purple.

There will always be three souls in play in the center of the table that players battle over. When new souls are placed on the table a marker is set in the middle of the scoring track. The starting position is always the grey space representing the neutrality of the soul.

As holy points are added, the marker is moved up the track, as unholy points are added the marker is moved down the track. Depending on where the marker is when a soul dies determines whether the soul goes to heaven or hell, earning victory points for the side of good or evil respectively. Souls die when a reap card is played or when a special ability to reap is used.

Reap cards are drawn randomly and a player must decide if it is beneficial for them to reap the souls now, or wait for a later turn.

On each soul card track you will see a spiral four spaces up and four spaces down. This represents the amount of holiness or unholiness a soul must have to be taken to heaven or hell. If a soul is reaped while the holiness marker is in between these two spirals the soul is placed in purgatory, and neither side gets the points.

The very last spaces on the holiness track are a 7-pointed star and a 5-pointed pentagram. If a player on the side of good can get a holiness marker to the 7-pointed star the soul has reached sainthood and is taken immediately to heaven without dying (no reap needed). When this happens the player is also allowed to draw a new angel card at random and add it to his or her arsenal for the remainder of the game. If a player on the side of evil earns enough unholy points to reach the pentagram the soul goes straight to hell and the player is allowed to draw a new devil card.

When the reap card is played all three souls in play must be resolved based on where the holiness marker is on each. So each will either go to heaven, hell, or purgatory. Then, three new soul cards are put into play, each starting with the holiness marker on the gray space.

This battle over souls is the ultimate goal of the game and can be a real tug fest between the forces of good and evil. Right now I have rules on how holy and unholy points will be gained and playtesting will be starting soon. I will write down my ideas and playtest results here as we work to balance the game. Input is greatly appreciated!

Artwork is in the public domain:

"Laughing Model With A Cloth" by Albert Edelfelt - 1880