Story War: A New Card Game for Geeks

Story War is a storytelling card game that encourages computergeeks to turn of their computers and interact with each other in real life. The game has been drawing a lot of attention on it’s Kickstarter campaign page. The original goal of the campaign was to raise $20,000. By the 10th day, anxious gamers had already pledged $70,000. Now, with just minutes left of the campaign, the game has raised over $356,000 from 7,262 backers. That just goes to show you how excited geeks can get about their mythological games.

Gameplay

The game is played by 3-8 players, and one player each round is named the judge. The judge, which rotates with each round of the game, will draw a battlefield card which will decide the setting of that round. The other players will then choose one of their 3 Warrior cards for the battle and then try to convince the judge that their warrior has what it takes to defeat the other warriors, through creative storytelling. Also included are item cards that will help aid the warriors in battle. For example, in one of the playtests, a player who drew a dwarf wielding an axe was pit against a frost breathing dragon and a flying whale. She then threw down an item card with a flying carpet, and wove a tale that convinced the judge that her dwarf could destroy both of his opponents in a flying battle.

The game has now been through hundreds of playtests, with a variety of players from different age groups and backgrounds. What was found is that the game has different results with each group. For instance, when children play the game has a G rated storyline. When gamers play, the stories becomes brutally combat based, and when college kids play, it could very well turn into a drinking game.

Productions and Extras

The creators of Story Wars have been writing, drawing, designing and playtesting the game for 6 months. The plan is for Cantrip Games to start production upon completion of the Kickstarter campaign. Because of the successful fundraising, the game is going to have several new game modes, expansion cards and special features including an online multi-player client, a weekly webcomic, and an animated short. And once the campaign raised $300,000, the company vowed to give away 100 copies of the kid-friendly game to schools.

Now that the funds are raised, geeks everywhere wait with anticipation for the printing and shipping process to be completed.

[Image via wired]