How to Create Custom Cards for Your Game Prototype

I create quite a few prototypes of card games and board games of my own design. I am often making custom cards for these prototypes. Here is a simple rundown of how you can create custom cards for your own game prototypes, easily and economically.

[GM Resources] [D&D 4e] A Medieval Tournament

Knights jousting, c.1445-c.1450. The British Library, Public Domain

In the last session of my current roleplaying campaign of D&D 4th Edition, one of the heroes participated in a medieval-style tournament. The competition took place over six rounds, with competitors being eliminated in each round until there were only two left to face off in a climatic final confrontation.

[D&D:ATFF] Character Backgrounds

The last bit of prep I needed to do before my gaming group gets together to make characters for our new campaign was come up with some choices for character backgrounds. Not every published background would suit my campaign, and I had a few ideas for some backgrounds of my own that would help flesh out some parts of the setting. Below are the backgrounds I created or selected for this campaign.

[D&D:ATFF] Playable Classes in My Campaign

Another limit I am putting on player characters in my new RPG campaign is which classes they can play as. The purpose of this is to reinforce my ideas for the setting. Below is a list of playable classes. Each one is listed with its source/version and its combat role, along with a brief note on some of them.

A few of the classes are marked for "multi-class only". These are classes with more magical abilities. I don't mind if player's heroes have a touch of magic about them, but I want to keep this a low-fantasy setting to begin with. So if a player wants to make use of one of those classes, they'll have to choose one of the other classes as a base and then multi-class into one of the "multi-class only" classes by way of the appropriate feats.

Also of note, character options from the "Player's Option" and "Power" series of supplements are fine if they apply to classes on the list below.

[D&D:ATFF] Playable Races in My Campaign

I’ve decided that I want all player characters to be humans in this campaign, to reflect the idea of a world based on medieval Europe. However, for the sake of diversity, I’m allowing players to create characters using a few different D&D races. In this case, these different racial stats and abilities will just be representing different tribes or cultures of humans. Below are the D&D races I’m allowing, and a quick explanation of who they represent in the setting.

[D&D:ATFF] Setting Overview for New Campaign

So, my players have helped me decide on my next RPG campaign. I'll be running the "A Tale of Fae and Foe" campaign that I mentioned in my last post. For this campaign, I'm taking some of the common precepts of the default D&D 4th Edition setting and twisting them a little to create a world that feels more like medieval Europe. Below is a summary of the setting.

Ideas for My Next RPG Campaign

I'm planning on starting another roleplaying game campaign in the next month or so, and right now I'm kicking around four different ideas for what to run. I believe each will pose its own challenges and present its own opportunities for fun and interesting roleplaying. Below are summaries of my ideas.

Welcome to Nice @ Dice!

If this is your first visit to the Nice @ Dice blog, welcome! Here you will find articles discussing the playing, collecting and designing of all manner of tabletop games. I hope you enjoy! If you read this blog back when it was Catalyst Games, a quick explanation is in order.

My Month in Gaming: August 2015

New video reviewing my month in gaming for August 2015.


Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for watching!

[Design Review] Sylvion

I've posted a new video review to YouTube, embedded here for your convenience.

[Design Journal] Battle Cup Preview (100th Post!)

Hey, I thought I should do something a little special for my 100th post, so I created a video previewing one of my games in development. I hope you enjoy. I would love to hear any feedback you may have. Thanks for watching!

Games I Haven't Played Yet

Been awhile since I posted anything. Here's another quick video for you. This one is about some games I own but haven't played yet.

Gaming On a Budget

Here is my promised video about gaming on a budget. I hope you find it useful. Thanks for watching!

Gaming Update: March 2015

Hey, it's been a couple of months since I've gotten back into a habit of updating this gaming blog, so I thought I would throw together a new video to recap a bit of the last two months and talk about what's coming next.

[Kickstarter] Entropy

 I thought I would bring to the attention of my readers a really interesting looking card game that I am currently backing on Kickstarter.

[Design Review] Between the Shadows, an expansion for Star Wars: The Card Game

Hey, sharing something a little different today. This is a review of an expansion to Star Wars: The Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games. In this video, I will not explain how the basic game works, so if you are completely unfamiliar with the game you can probably skip this video. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!

[Design Review] Blokus

Hey, I just uploaded another short video review. This one is for the family strategy game Blokus.

[Design Review] The Hobbit Card Game

Here's another short video review for a fantasy-themed, trick-taking game by Fantasy Flight Games.

[Design Review] Adventure Time: Card Wars

Check out my video review for this simple and fun collectable card game.

[Design Review] Batt'l Kha'os

Posting another video review tonight - this time of the strategic tile-laying game, Batt'l Kha'os.