I made a tarot board game – and a sneak peek of my next video game!

I made a tarot board game – and a sneak peek of my next video game…

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that a game I designed is launching on Kickstarter as we speak!

Sefirot is a board game that uses gorgeous tarot cards. It’s about reaching enlightenment and self-knowledge. It’s from the same world as the tabletop RPG I made, The Hidden Isle. Each game also generates its own Tarot reading! How esoteric!

You can play solo, cooperatively or competitively, or – and this is the bit I’m most excited about – there’s also a solo “adventure mode” where you go on a journey through a dream landscape, meeting and overcoming characters inspired by tarot figures. We’re calling it a “Taroguelike”.

To be clear, this isn’t my own personal project: I was hired by Causa Creations (another Viennese studio I’m good friends with) to come up with some new rules. If you back the Kickstarter I won’t get any of that money. But I still think it’s a very cool project and I’d love for more people to play these rules I devised!

My contribution was:

• The original rules felt a bit static and needed an update, so I devised a more intuitive ruleset and added some extra mechanics to help things flow a bit better. The co-op mode is co-oppier, the competitive mode more competitive, the solo mode more meditative.
• I also devised this new Adventure Mode, because I have loved Tarot-based narrative ever since I read The Castle of Crossed Destinies when I was 16, and I really wanted to create a solo adventure that used the cards as an anchor for your imagination and took you on an otherworldly journey. I hope I’ve succeeded!
• Creating more detailed tools for divination and Tarot reading. (I’m still working on these but I’m making good progress.)
• Creating rules for integration with The Hidden Isle. Both games are from the same world, so it seems logical they can interact!

So, the Kickstarter is running for a few more weeks, but if you back early then you get a free altarcloth! Neat! You can also grab our Tarot decks; if you back at a certain tier you can even snag one of the few remaining gold-foiled decks, which are just *chef’s kiss*

By the way, we’re still looking for feedback on the new rules. If you want to give them a spin, head to the Causa Creations Discord and post in the “silver-seals-testing” channel.

But Jamie, aren’t you meant to be making digital games?

Ok, so I really want to talk about my current project, but I can’t announce it yet for PR reasons. Here’s what I can tell you:

• It’s a digital narrative game
• Set in a dark steampunk world
• About exploring a city on the brink, and sparking a revolution

If you’d like to learn more, here’s a sneaky link! And here are some screenshots: