Perfect Minute Games is primarily focused on video games, but one of the fun secrets about game design is that paper is always an option for prototyping mechanics. And if you can prototype on paper, you can implement the whole thing on paper.

(Well, sort of. I found out quickly that there are hard limits on how much paper prototyping you can do with a game like Contension without also building the dynamic experience in code!)

The new project, then: It’s a card game. Specifically, it’s a card game taking design notes from RPG-adjacent boardgames like Gloomhaven, Pathfinder Adventures, and Descent; from light RPGs like Fiasco and Thornwatch; from heavier but non-traditional RPGs like Fantasy Flight Games’ excellent Star Wars and Genesys systems and from the Fate RPG; and, finally, from some really interesting indie RPGs like Phoenix: Dawn Command, Ten Candles, and Tavern Tales.

The initial iteration of the game is focused on simple, purely card-driven mechanics and is playable as a regular game akin to Munchkin and other Expandable Card Games. I have, in parallel, been fleshing out an expansion that adds roleplaying elements.

As I’m not an artist, it all looks pretty terrible right now, especially given that there’s no built-in “setting” or “theme”. Please keep that in mind(!) when I’m a little further along and post some shots of the game and “cards” in action.

I haven’t decided whether I’ll establish a theme or setting to “ship” with the core game. At the moment, as with most of my initial designs, it’s mechanics-driven, and I think I can create something compelling without the need to tie it to a single setting.

I’d much rather have expansions (or “splats”, as some folks call ’em) that contribute their own unique mechanics and style sitting on top of the core game. But a lot of the interesting work for projects like this comes down to creating the worlds that players inhabit. So we’ll see.