Tell us a little bit about yourself and your gaming history?
"I have primarily been an avid enthusiast of the abstract strategy board game Go since 1998. I was originally exposed to the game through its depiction in Darren Aronofsky's first major film, Pi. I was captivated by its aesthetics and visited game stores in the hopes of locating a copy. I eventually found a flimsy cardboard set with tiny ceramic stones and proceeded to teach myself and a friend how to play after chancing upon a copy of Kaoru Iwamoto's book "Go for Beginners" in a thrift store. Intimidated by the use of a handicap, my friend eventually lost interest as my skill at the game improved through frequent study and practice. I continued to read Go books, acquire higher quality traditional game equipment, play via online Go servers, and created the infrequent Shusaku Go Club which I periodically reestablish when I move to a new city. Over the years I have come to appreciate the therapeutic value of Go and teach the game to clients during group and individual counseling sessions. I have also recorded my impressions of the symbolism and spiritual possibilities of the game in an essay entitled "The Way of Go." Within the last year, I have gradually started to broaden my gaming horizons after becoming smitten with the iOS game Card Crawl by Arnold and Weibke Rauers. Arnold listed among his influences Scoundrel by Kurt Bieg and Zach Gage, Donsol by John Eternal, and Royal Assassin Solitaire by Mark Brown. I immediately began to track down these and similar games and my inquires repeatedly sent me to the Boardgamegeek site as the principal repository for all things gaming related.
What is your favorite PNP game?
My favorite PNP game that actually uses printed components is Dice of Arkham by Mads L. Brynnum. I have a history of appreciation of H. P. Lovecraft's stories and these serve as the setting for a very compact and enjoyable experience. I originally started collecting dice just to be able to play this game. It also served as a springboard to the appreciation of other PNP games with similar mechanics. I would love to see someone apply this formula to Robert Chamber's Carcosa Mythos which was one of the precursors to and primary influences upon the Cthulhu Mythos. I may just have to try my hand at crafting one myself.
How did you first discover PNP design contests?
While searching for playing card games similar to Card Crawl, I found that many of them emerged from the Print and Play design contests. I gained increasing exposure to the contests while scouring the boards for weeks and collecting my findings in the "Thematic PNP Solitaire Card Games" geeklist. This activity also exposed me to dice games and I soon proceeded to make a similar investigation and compile my findings in the "Thematic PNP Solitaire Dice Games" list. The enthusiasm and friendliness of the participants (as of the Boardgamegeek community in general) was infectious and it soon became evident to me that I too wanted to participate in one of these events.
Could you describe your game from a thematic point of view?
The Fool's Journey makes use of a complete deck of Tarot cards. It takes its theme (and name) from a common motif built into the deck itself. In addition to the four suits similar to the standard deck of playing cards, there are 21 numbered and one unnumbered trump cards featuring evocative and highly symbolic images. The unnumbered trump is named the Fool and it traditionally depicts a disheveled vagabond traveling with a bindle dressed after the fashion of a court jester. There is a lengthy precedent within the history of the Tarot cards for interpreting the trumps as representations of various stages in a spiritual journey or adventure undertaken by the Fool.
Could you describe your game from a game mechanics point of view?
Mechanically, it is a straightforward dungeon crawler in which the swords are weapons, batons are shields, cups are potions, coins are gold, royals are allies, and trumps are monsters. Aces could represent spells. The dungeon crawling mechanics are transposed very naturally into the adventure theme. The central element is the identification of the trump cards with the stages or "challenges" of the journey. In the adventure motif, the Fool must use his volition or will-power (swords), interior reserves of strength (batons), and vitality (cups) to overcome challenges (trumps) while taking risks (aces) and accumulating the wisdom of experience (coins) to make use of mysterious helpers (royals). A subtle thematic element is additionally incorporated into the gameplay layout which is divided into past, present, and future after the manner of the use of the Tarot cards as a fortune-telling or divinatory device.
What were your design goals with the game?
My design goals were to incorporate all of the cards of the deck, create something that was balanced and beatable, and utilize the native properties of the deck as much as possible. Although certain games such as Scoundrel seem to achieve the height of elegance with only a selection of cards from the standard deck, I have always found this limitation somewhat disappointing and so planned on using the entire deck from the very beginning.
Making the game balanced and beatable is still an ongoing project. Achieving balance in a game with random elements seems to be part planning and part luck. The initial planning involved doing some basic mathematical calculations to determine what kind of mechanisms would be needed to bridge the gap between the value of the Challenges and the Fool’s limited resources. I settled for incorporating special properties into the Aces and Royals for shuffling (essentially postponing difficult challenges) and doubling in order to bridge the value gap. Using a currency to purchase the latter feature simultaneously tempers it while increasing the importance of strategic choices. So far I am receiving positive feedback on the win/loss ratio showing that the game is challenging while still being achievable.
Finally, I also tried to incorporate the native values and properties of the cards as much as possible in order to keep the game simple and intuitive and also to retain a semblance of the feel of traditional Patience games.
How long have you been working on your game?
I first conceived of the game very suddenly one evening in early February of 2016. I did my initial calculations the following day and developed the mechanics of the Chance, Wisdom, and Helper cards the day after that. I have been slowly refining the rules to account for different situations as they arise during gameplay ever since that initial creative impulse.
Finish the sentence: "If you like
If you like Scoundrel, Donsol, and Card Crawl, then you will probably like my game. These three games served as the primary inspiration for The Fool's Journey. They are all based on variations of the use of a standard deck of playing cards with a dungeon crawling theme and mechanic. Scoundrel uses only a selection of numbered cards from three suits associated with potions, weapons, and monsters. Donsol uses all 54 cards associated with potions, shields, and monsters. Card Crawl uses a highly modified deck of 54 cards including a selection of numbered cards from four suits of potions, coins, swords, and shields, and additional cards representing monsters and spells. All of these games play out in four card rounds.
Mechanically, The Fool's Journey is most similar to Card Crawl. My original impetus for creating the game was the desire to play Card Crawl with a physical deck of cards. I had the thought of using the tarot trumps as monsters and the basic mechanics and theme seemed to correlate naturally to the native values and properties of the deck. The main differences between the two are the theme, type of deck, the use of all cards in the Fool's Journey, and the use of special cards. The primary aim of Card Crawl is to accumulate gold which serves as the score and may be used to buy a variety of special cards each with unique functions that may be incorporated into future games. The aim of The Fool's journey is to complete all challenges and it makes use of only two special card functions, reshuffling and doubling, the latter of which requires coins to implement during play.
Overall, each of these games is very unique while applying its own idiosyncratic variation of a similar mechanic. I am very pleased with the result of The Fool's Journey and made an effort to notify the designers of these other games prior to entering it into the contest to let them know that their work and creativity served as my primary inspiration and that I intended to make that fact well-known. They all provided positive and encouraging responses. It is especially satisfying to learn that the designers of my favorite games are also genuinely nice and friendly people.
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