Project Status: Prototype

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Project Status: Prototype 〰️

The Deckronomicon is a cosmic horror card game that puts unfathomable power in your very irresponsible hands. Play curious Relics, gain the favor of the Outer Beings, and sic unimaginable horrors on your friends for fun and profit.

What’s the worst that could happen?

 Q: How does this one work?

In The Deckronomicon, all players draw cards from a central, communal deck (the titular Deckronomicon) and take turns playing their hands in an effort to gain the most Favor from the mysterious Outer Beings. Players can either spend Favor Points to play Relics, which grant them special powers, or play Aspects of the Outer Beings which cause Earth-shaking effects to rock the board, wildly shifting the distribution of favor. It’s a chaotic game meant to capture the feeling of wrestling with forces infinitely greater than yourself, but if you play your cards right, you might be the last one standing when the Grand Invocation summons the greatest Outer Being of all to close out the game.

Q: So what exactly are these cards?

The cards are divided into two types, Relics and Aspects. Relics are purchased with Favor (the game’s point system) and confer various bonuses on whoever owns them. Aspects, when played, merge together at the end of each round to form powerful Outer Beings, which either confer or remove Favor to players. Usually, the effects of Aspects depend on the types of Relics player have in their possession.

Relics come in four colors…

  • Where

    Red Relics

    Focusing on sacrifice and destruction

  • Our

    Blue Relics

    Focusing on creation and accumulation

  • Realities

    Green Relics

    Focusing on protection and healing

  • Meet

    Yellow Relics

    Focusing on chaos and confusion

And Aspects come in two types.

There are Light Aspects, which typically grant favor to players…

And Dark Aspects, that can inflict grave losses…

 Q: And when does the game end?

Every game of The Deckronomicon ends with a special round called the Grand Invocation, where players play all the Aspects in their hands at once for a massive final summoning. Whoever has the most (or any) Favor at the end of this wild ride is declared the winner. The Grand Invocation happens…when all players agree it does, so it all comes down to when everyone’s feeling the most brave. Prepare well, but be wary. After the Grand Invocation, nothing is ever the same.

Q: I see, so where’s this project at?

A prototype has been produced but is currently untested. This game was developed during the pandemic and unfortunately it’s been a bit difficult to put together playtesting groups until very recently. I’m currently looking into venues I can use for playtesting this and other projects, and if anyone in the LA area has any good leads, I’d love to hear about them!

Q: I assume this one also needs a ton of art, yes?

Oh hell yeah. The prototype for The Deckronomicon has 200 unique cards, and-…

Q: I’m sorry, did you say 200 UNIQUE CARDS?!

Yeah, I got a little carried away. Giving art to all of them would be a pretty massive undertaking and require a LOT of money to properly compensate the team of artists it would take to make it happen. Right now that’s the biggest hangup for this project, but I believe the base is solid, so I’m keeping this one in the Active list. The Deckronomicon has some of my favorite “flavor” of anything I’ve designed. (Every card has a unique flavor-text “excerpt” from the forbidden texts themselves.) I’m looking forward to more people seeing it in the months to come!

Where our realities meet, hear our last echo.