Designer's Notes
Jack Darwid Games
Introduction
The Island of D is in great danger. The Black Knight has seized the Dark Castle, and he wants to rule the island by chaos.
The Black Knight seals the castle gate with a strong magic so noone can go in, and he prepare the Dark Ritual in the castle's tower to
open the portal to the dark world.
Goblins, Orcs, and Goblorcs slowly spreading in the Island of D. The Black Knight just needs another 4 weeks to complete his ritual, to
pour those creatures into the island.
The Village of Dew, the nearest village to the Dark Castle has call upon all heroes in the Island to defeat the Black Knight, since the
Village Elder can help only one person a day to enter the Dark Castle's gate. Many heroes and wanna-be heroes have tried, and so far
no one has returned.
The Village Elder is worried, is this the end of Dew and D ?
The Mission
To impress the Village Elder, you have to complete at least 3 Quests, then the Village Elder will show you the secret way to the Dark
Castle (remember, without the Amulet of Dew you can not enter the castle). In the Dark Castle, go through all the rooms, then defeat
the Black Knight in the final room in the tower.
The Island of D is in great danger. The Black Knight has seized the Dark Castle, and he wants to rule the island by chaos.
The Black Knight seals the castle gate with a strong magic so noone can go in, and he prepare the Dark Ritual in the castle's tower to
open the portal to the dark world.
Goblins, Orcs, and Goblorcs slowly spreading in the Island of D. The Black Knight just needs another 4 weeks to complete his ritual, to
pour those creatures into the island.
The Village of Dew, the nearest village to the Dark Castle has call upon all heroes in the Island to defeat the Black Knight, since the
Village Elder can help only one person a day to enter the Dark Castle's gate. Many heroes and wanna-be heroes have tried, and so far
no one has returned.
The Village Elder is worried, is this the end of Dew and D ?
The Mission
To impress the Village Elder, you have to complete at least 3 Quests, then the Village Elder will show you the secret way to the Dark
Castle (remember, without the Amulet of Dew you can not enter the castle). In the Dark Castle, go through all the rooms, then defeat
the Black Knight in the final room in the tower.
Jack Darwid proudly presents exciting games for you to enjoy !
Well, this is my first card game.
I've been thinking this game while in the train...wait ! that's JK Rowling ! :)
It started when I played the now free-to-download Barbarian Prince (this is a solitaire/ solo game too). There are things I like in this game (I really like the adventure feeling) but
there are things I don't like in this game too (the bookkeeping is annoying to me, and this game almost 100% luck).
So, an idea was floating in my mind for a long time (maybe half a year or more), but I can not find the 'right' connections from my idea and the 'strength' to make.
Then the day came when at last I decided to act, and the rest is history :)
When designing this game, my goals are to make a game that are :
a. "a ONE player role playing fantasy adventure card game."
Why one player ? Sometimes we don't have friends around to play, and there's demand of a good solo game (I think), and a lot of people asking for a solitaire game that's not just
rolling dices (more on point C).
About the theme, this theme is what I like the most (adventuring around, defeating monsters, upgrading your level, buying items, what a life !)
b. "No bookkeeping, no token, just you and the cards and a die and an adventure."
I want a quick and compact game, and I want to be able to carry the game everywhere easily.
c."Not just rolling the die (luck factor), but a game about choices".
This is the hardest goal. I play the game over and over again, and change many aspect of the game so that the player have a lot of options (do I attack or run ? do I spend the Gold
I have to train or to buy items or to buy Skill? Which Quest should I take? etc). Yes, it's hard to win and the luck factor is high, but if you play well, the chance for defeating the Black
Knight is much higher. Play poorly, then you may not reach the Dark Castle's tower at all. Until the latest playtesting, I often feel 'arrghhh' for the wrong choices I made, so I think I
have reach this goal (at least a bit, c'mon folks ! :) ).
d."Fun"
The most important thing. Am I successful ? You tell me!
Q: What about the pictures in this game?
A: Well, I'm not good in drawing things, so I take the pictures from many source in the internet. Yes, without permissions (hey,this is a FREE game after all). Any complains made
(please, please don't :) ), and I will change the pictures.
If you think this game is good enough, and you can draw, how about you become the 'official' illustrator for this game? (this is an invitation,folks !) :)
Q: What about influence ?
A: I've played games since my childhood, starting from Atari, Nintendo, Magic the Gathering and so on. For the last many years, I have great interest in stand alone card/board
games (CCG no more).So, this game influenced by many games I've played.
Q: This game is so hard / Quests are so hard / My Character is too weak !
A: About the Quests,there are easy Quests and hard Quests. If you want, start (or search) for the easy one first, giving time for your Character to build up.
About Characters, there are many Characters (18 in the original form). I try my best to make all Characters equal in different ways (example : weaker Characters have more
money to do a lot of things at the beginning of the game while stronger Characters start with less/no Gold)
Thanks to my wife for playtesting this game. Love ya !
In the designing/playtesting process, we have played this game more than 50 times.
We hope you enjoy playing this game, as we do.
The Process:
01 April 05: I made the first scratch, version 0.1 (text only, black & white)
21 May 05: launch the game, ver 1.0 (final version)
25 May 05 : upgrade to ver 1.1 (change Week Token card ***thanks to Marcelo Paschoalin, change the way the Event cards are played [change the Rules,the Rule Summary card, the Amazon
Character and very minor changes on all Event cards] ***thanks to Greg Principato)
20 June 05 : Thanks to Dete (drawing) and Hpox (coloring) ,both from www.BGDF.com, for the Island Of D's cover !
05 June 09 : ver 1.2 release (cards redesigned by Dean Graham and Joe Kundlak from BGG, changed Week 5 Card *** thanks to Mary Lightheart and Horse *** thanks to Biofury/Art D)
I've been thinking this game while in the train...wait ! that's JK Rowling ! :)
It started when I played the now free-to-download Barbarian Prince (this is a solitaire/ solo game too). There are things I like in this game (I really like the adventure feeling) but
there are things I don't like in this game too (the bookkeeping is annoying to me, and this game almost 100% luck).
So, an idea was floating in my mind for a long time (maybe half a year or more), but I can not find the 'right' connections from my idea and the 'strength' to make.
Then the day came when at last I decided to act, and the rest is history :)
When designing this game, my goals are to make a game that are :
a. "a ONE player role playing fantasy adventure card game."
Why one player ? Sometimes we don't have friends around to play, and there's demand of a good solo game (I think), and a lot of people asking for a solitaire game that's not just
rolling dices (more on point C).
About the theme, this theme is what I like the most (adventuring around, defeating monsters, upgrading your level, buying items, what a life !)
b. "No bookkeeping, no token, just you and the cards and a die and an adventure."
I want a quick and compact game, and I want to be able to carry the game everywhere easily.
c."Not just rolling the die (luck factor), but a game about choices".
This is the hardest goal. I play the game over and over again, and change many aspect of the game so that the player have a lot of options (do I attack or run ? do I spend the Gold
I have to train or to buy items or to buy Skill? Which Quest should I take? etc). Yes, it's hard to win and the luck factor is high, but if you play well, the chance for defeating the Black
Knight is much higher. Play poorly, then you may not reach the Dark Castle's tower at all. Until the latest playtesting, I often feel 'arrghhh' for the wrong choices I made, so I think I
have reach this goal (at least a bit, c'mon folks ! :) ).
d."Fun"
The most important thing. Am I successful ? You tell me!
Q: What about the pictures in this game?
A: Well, I'm not good in drawing things, so I take the pictures from many source in the internet. Yes, without permissions (hey,this is a FREE game after all). Any complains made
(please, please don't :) ), and I will change the pictures.
If you think this game is good enough, and you can draw, how about you become the 'official' illustrator for this game? (this is an invitation,folks !) :)
Q: What about influence ?
A: I've played games since my childhood, starting from Atari, Nintendo, Magic the Gathering and so on. For the last many years, I have great interest in stand alone card/board
games (CCG no more).So, this game influenced by many games I've played.
Q: This game is so hard / Quests are so hard / My Character is too weak !
A: About the Quests,there are easy Quests and hard Quests. If you want, start (or search) for the easy one first, giving time for your Character to build up.
About Characters, there are many Characters (18 in the original form). I try my best to make all Characters equal in different ways (example : weaker Characters have more
money to do a lot of things at the beginning of the game while stronger Characters start with less/no Gold)
Thanks to my wife for playtesting this game. Love ya !
In the designing/playtesting process, we have played this game more than 50 times.
We hope you enjoy playing this game, as we do.
The Process:
01 April 05: I made the first scratch, version 0.1 (text only, black & white)
21 May 05: launch the game, ver 1.0 (final version)
25 May 05 : upgrade to ver 1.1 (change Week Token card ***thanks to Marcelo Paschoalin, change the way the Event cards are played [change the Rules,the Rule Summary card, the Amazon
Character and very minor changes on all Event cards] ***thanks to Greg Principato)
20 June 05 : Thanks to Dete (drawing) and Hpox (coloring) ,both from www.BGDF.com, for the Island Of D's cover !
05 June 09 : ver 1.2 release (cards redesigned by Dean Graham and Joe Kundlak from BGG, changed Week 5 Card *** thanks to Mary Lightheart and Horse *** thanks to Biofury/Art D)
DOWNLOAD
Ver 1.2 (June 2009)
Dean Graham and Joe Kundlak from BGG has redesigned IOD cards !
Download the Manual and the Cards: File1, File2 and File3
It is very important for me to know what people think about my games. Please send any Reviews /comments /etc and Rate IoD via BGG. Thanks !
Ver 1.2 (June 2009)
Dean Graham and Joe Kundlak from BGG has redesigned IOD cards !
Download the Manual and the Cards: File1, File2 and File3
It is very important for me to know what people think about my games. Please send any Reviews /comments /etc and Rate IoD via BGG. Thanks !
Download & links
Theme: Fantasy Adventure Card Game Player: 1 Req: 70 cards, 1 die Mechanic: die roll Playtime: +/- 30 minutes First release: May 2005 Latest Version: 1.2 (June 2009)
