The Creatures that inspire Aethermon

Aethermon and animal companions Today we here at Aethermon HQ mourn the loss of our own special animal companion, Moofy. Moofy was a very special dog with a very big heart. He considered it his privilege and responsibility to care for his family. Whenever we walked in...

Naming the Aethermon (cont’d)

Last week we discussed the principles guiding the creation of the names of our Aethermon: A name should be pronounceableA name should be inclusiveA name should feel like it fits the Aethermon Additionally, Aethermon names follow a very simple formula (I’m bad at...

How to choose a move when levelling up

The original levelling up process involved players drawing 2 moves (1 Aethermon Specific and 1 Global), from which the player could choose one to learn and one to discard.  This system simultaneously addressed multiple design goals: (1) limiting analysis...

Let your fans tell your story

Continuing our series on Victory Points, let’s explore how a player’s victory points tell a story. Every time a player earns victory points the player is rewarded with a card describing that experience and the points it awards. When a player defeats a Dojo...

Why Victory Points

If you zoom out enough, you’ll discover the victory condition for most competitive games tend to take only one of a few forms: First player to achieve a goal (Connect 4); the last player standing (Tsuro); or Victory Points accumulation (Ticket to Ride); or some...

The 7 Movement Card System

The goal of Aethermon is to provide its player’s with a complete experience in a single sitting: Discovery -> Growth -> Climax.  Last week we noted this process takes about 25 turns + a final setpiece to cap off the event. At about 5 minutes per turn (each...