An outline of the Experience/Gold combination currency.

In the last lesson we talked about the basics of battles. This time we’re digging into the rewards for a battle, and the currency system in Aethermon: Adventure. 

As you and your Aethermon adventure, you will gain XG, a combination currency that represents both Experience and Gold. XG can be earned as a reward for battle victories: you will earn a little XG in a victory against a lower level opponent, a moderate amount of XG in a victory with an opponent of the same level as you, and a lot of XG in a victory against a higher level opponent.

XG can also be earned through completing quests as you venture across the map. After all, battles aren’t the only kinds of experiences you can learn from!

In this world, courtesy of your membership as Junior Aetherren, you’ll find most items for FREE! Important items such as potions and elixirs will be refreshed every time you visit one of our AetherLegue Waystationstm! This is also an opportunity to refresh both your Aethermon’s HP and your exhausted Battle Cards, which will return to your hand.

Occasionally you may get the opportunity to acquire especially valuable goods like Artefacts – these will cost you XG. (Don’t worry if you don’t have any XG handy, you can always take a Minus XG token, which you can pay back at your next opportunity).

Aside from being tradeable for goods and services, XG can be used to power up your Aethermon! Every time you acquire 5XG, your Aethermon can use it to level up, increasing its HP and moveset!

This is a valuable opportunity for your Aethermon, so we’ll discuss more about levelling up in the next lesson.

A simple metric to estimate the value of Battle Cards each time your Aethermon grows.

The Battle and Progression System used in Aethermon: Adventure (and Aethermon: Ascent) is designed to reproduce the experience of battling in JRPGs – albeit much easier to track, given that you AetherRen will be tracking it, rather than a computer.

To that end there are a few strategies we’ve taken to simplify the overhead on AetherRen. For example, almost all the battle cards are marked with a ‘Star/Heart Value’:

• Star Value is indicative of how powerful a move is. Cards have one to five stars. A two-star move is stronger than a one-star move, etc.
• Heart Value is directly inversely proportional to Star Value, and indicates how much additional HP an Aethermon gains when it learns this move. Cards have zero to four hearts.

Cards’ Star/Heart Value always totals five: if a card has one star, it also has four hearts; if a card has five stars, it has zero hearts.

This makes for an easy reference point for AetherRen to quickly ascertain stronger and weaker Battle Cards, and if you find yourself agonising over which of your choices will best benefit your strategy in the long run, it can help cut through the indecision.

Additionally, this works as something of a balancing mechanism. Obviously five-star moves are powerful at any point in the game, but an AetherRen choosing a five-star move too early will have to contend with the tradeoff that their Aethermon may be too weak to survive a battle long enough to pull that move off and vanquish its foe.

Conversely, even weaker one-star moves come with the advantage that your Aethermon gains some additional health, so that if you have been struggling to survive battles you can cover your weakness, even past the early game.

Each of the eight Elements of Aether has a different battle strategy. Let’s learn about them!

The most obvious expression of Elements on an Aethermon, aside from their appearance, is their style of battle. Each Element has synergies and strategies that are distinct to their members, although the exact form of expression may change for each different Aethermon family line in that Element!

Let’s look at how the Elements are expressed in the starter Aethermon:

Earthformed (Batuursa)

Earthformed Aethermon gain more and more (A)rmor as a battle continues. Often, if they can last long enough in a battle they can achieve victory just by removing their opponent’s ability to deal damage.

Fireforged (Sparkitty)

Firegfirged Aethermon burn brightly with powerful abilities that require sacrificing future battle cards. This can earn them victories against more powerful opponents, but requires more frequent returning to Waystations to replenish their moves.

Moonlit (Velvenny)

Moonlit Aethermon are the Kings and Queens of healing, frequently finding victory by outlasting their opponents. Blessed with abilities that can restore health and stamina, a Moonlit Aethemon is capable of bringing themselves back from the brink of defeat. 

Naturegrown (Eleafy)

Naturegrown Aethermon have powerful self-buffing abilities that increase the potency of subsequent attacks. If a Naturegrown Aethermon is able to stack enough of these buffs at once they can unleash a devastating onslaught.

Skyward (Cervistral)

Skyward Aethermon love flying. Most Skyward moves not only deal damage on the turn they are played, but launch the Aethermon into the skies, giving them a defensive bonus during their opponent’s turn and an offensive bonus to their next attack.

Sunkissed (Languravi)

Sunkissed Aethermon are the masters of disrupting their opponent’s strategy. Their (P)ure attacks cut through an opponent’s defense; while their (C)leanse attacks remove any Buffs or Debuffs their opponent’s battle plan may be relying upon.

Thunderstruck (Raivalp)

Thunderstruck Aethermon are all about speed. Their attacks can be so fast that they land before their opponent can act. Winning fights before incurring damage matters to these Aethermon, as they get bonuses when attacking with full health.

Waterborne (Aquus)

Waterborne Aethermon can control the power of their abilities, but this comes with an ebb and a flow. This means they can deal the exact damage required to win a battle, saving energy for a critical moment against a future foe.

Of course this is all a little hard to follow without knowing about the Battle and Progression System, so let’s talk about that next.

What to expect when setting out for the first time with your Aethermon companion!

Greetings AetherRen! 

I see you’re gearing up for your very first Aethermon adventure! It’s a big moment in a young Aetherren’s life when you and your Aethermon companion strike out away from home!

And there’s a lot to discover! Before you head off, why not take a few moments to learn about what to expect from life as an Aetherren? This is the first in a series of posts introducing the gameplay and mechanics of Aethermon: Adventure – it may be just the thing you’re looking for!

First things first – have you bonded with your Aethermon? 

Your Aethermon will accompany you throughout your entire journey and will be your most trusted companion – and you must be theirs – but you only get one, so choose wisely! In case you’re unsure, we’ll look into the differences between each of the elements in the next post, which may help you to decide.

Since you’re working towards the Junior Championships, you and your Aethermon should prepare yourselves for battles – including with your friends! Combat uses the Aethermon Battle and Progression System, with Battle Cards to track actions.

But the world is much bigger than just the Aetherleague, so while you’re on your travels, keep an eye out for unexpected opportunities and new acquaintances. Some of them will help you, and some may need your help!

Next post we’ll be discussing the Elements of Aether and how they affect your Aethermon. Future posts will cover the Battle and Progression System, Items, Quests, and exploring the world at large.

Welcome to the Aetherleague!

Aside from some convention apperances this year, we are hard at work on two future Aethermon games, which share one very important feature – the Aethermon Battle and Progression System! Let’s talk about it!

Unlike Collect, which has fairly abstract gameplay where players can discover the Aethermon creatures but not really interact with them, the Battle and Progression System is designed to provide a consistent interaction with your Aethermon of choice throughout your gameplay experience.

Think of it somewhat like a streamlined interpretation of old-school JRPGs: at the beginning of the game, you choose your Aethermon companion, and that one creature stays with you throughout the entire game, as you fight, quest, level up, gain strength and skill – and eventually, evolve.

At each new level you may choose a new battle card – representing your options when you enter a fight. Weaker battle cards are balanced out by an additional health bonus to your Aethermon – which means that you choose the particular style of play you prefer with any Aethermon regardless of type. Raivalp the Thunderstruck dog Aethermon might be designed to have lots of quick moves, and you can lean into that – or you can choose differently and end up with a particularly tanky little puppy that game.

Although emulating the JRPGs which inspired it, the entire system is designed to reduce player overhead, providing a smoother gameplay experience to players, rather than a maths challenge. Moreover, this system is compatible with multiple future Aethermon games, including both that we are currently working on, Aethermon: Ascent (co-operative 2-5 player roguelike boardgame) and Aethermon: Adventure (competitive 2-8 player adventure boardgame).

Look out for more information about these two games in upcoming blog posts and newsletters!

Stay awesome, AetherRen!