Ghost Tarot Communication 004
The Game
Three of Ghosts is a cooperative, survival horror game with a focus on exploration and intense encounters. Outside of miniature casting, Three of Ghosts is essentially a solo project with 0 budget. I have always had big aspirations for the setting and the game, doing far more by myself than is probably sensible. I wanted the project to appear as if it was bigger than what one person could achieve, and on occasion this has proven to be true. I have had to be honest with myself about what is possible, what's best for the project and what's exciting to me as a designer. So I have been making some big changes to the project.
The Monolith
When I first started designing Three of Ghosts, I imagined it as a massive boxed game I would take to Kickstarter. Hundreds of cards and tokens, supported by a quality resin miniatures line to help pay for its development. Over time however I became exhausted with this idea. I didn't want the game to be another 50 hour campaign game sitting on people's shelves never seeing the light of day. Additionally the cost of creating such a game has skyrocketed in the last few years.
I decided to start from scratch, distilling everything down into something that could be played more like a pen and paper RPG, with just a book or two, some tokens and a few sheets of paper, whilst hopefully retaining all of the systems and content I had already made.
This new format takes up far less room on a shelf and table, is incredibly quick to set up and pack away, has no need for hundreds of cards and tokens as everything is handled on the sheets/books, and is (in theory) entirely print and play. Following are some images of a mock-up of the game as it currently stands:
The Tombsite Book (The Citeka Graveyard). Containing all the rules needed to play and the first Tombsite your Ghosts will explore.
Printable Character, Enemy and Tracking Sheets. These work much like a pen and paper RPG, you can write and draw directly on them, almost entirely removing the need for additional cards and tokens.
Tombsite Equipment. A set of hexagon tiles, dice and miniatures/standees to resolve Encounters against the denizens of the Tombsite.
A Closer Look
So now for a quick overview of how the game currently plays. You begin by assembling your Coterie, briefly exploring each Ghost’s past then signing a contract with the Coven lifebrokers before finally leaving for the Citeka Graveyard tombsite.
Each spread in the Tombsite Book represents a new zone to explore. During an Exploration Round you will assign your Ghosts to the zones' various Nodes, performing tests and using equipment to unearth, understand and steal. Risk vs reward plays a large part in exploration, knowing when to chance suffering the effects of a Zone Hazard to stay an extra round and when to move on is paramount.
When moving into a new zone you may reveal an Encounter, fought out over a simple hexagonal map.
Each Ghost and Enemy in the game has a unique play-style, all contained within their character sheets. The Fusiliers RUii90 rifle builds heat, increasing its effectiveness but risking great harm to themselves the longer they refuse to vent the heat.
The Gutter Wych carves flesh from her enemies, converts it to various ingredients which are then thrown into her biological cauldron triggering all kinds of strange game breaking effects.
The Needler uses a bolt fabricator to analyse its target. Each time you attack that same target you pick a new upgrade, increasing its effectiveness against armour or causing the enemy to bleed.
Enemies are governed by a combination of random actions, passives and events, creating a unique encounter filled with horror and revelations. I won't spoil too much here but here’s a quick look at the Lumpwasp’s Encounter. The Lumpwasps guzzle your blood, filling their blood sacs and birthing delicious clotstones, standing too close to these probably isn't a good idea as your Ghosts find them irresistible…
Exploring the Tombsite rewards you with resources: Tracked on the Coterie sheet and forged into various tools, drugs or rituals.
Found and crafted Items are added to the Ghosts character sheets, giving them access to new powerful abilities.
Insight reveals hidden depths through understanding, unlocking powerful special actions and ways to use stress to your advantage.
Find precious Prismatic Fragments: scraps of data sold to the Covens to be woven into the prismatic tarot and uncovering knowledge to help the Ghosts in relevant tests.
The game is still a ways off from being finished (there's hundreds of illustrations, graphics and play-tests ahead of me yet) but I'm finally happy with the system and so I feel like it's finally coming together. If you would be interested in playtesting Three of Ghosts, sign up to my newsletter HERE as later in the year I will put out an email asking for people to help play-test the game.
Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who has bought a miniature, every single one means a lot.
- Sam