Welcome to the Basic TCG: Stellar Rhythms Jam!
We're making a community-driven and created trading card game for everyone to play! With very simple base rules and an emphasis on filling in the blanks of rulings during play, Basic TCG has a lot of potentials and is very open-ended for just about anyone interested in TCGs to get into, regardless of skill level! The goal of this jam is to, as a community, collaborate on one focused theme - in this case, the space station Star Central Station!
Theme
Deep in the emptiness of space, between bustling star systems, hiding under the lightspeed highways and transit hubs, there is a lonely space station sleepily waking up. A beacon deep within it’s core begins to ping, inviting the universe back to it’s ports.
Star Central Station is an ancient derelict space station with a small star at its core! Various species and cultures around the universe arrive at it's strangely open ports answering a distress beacon coming from deep within. They begin rebuilding and preserving its ancient halls, creating new homes and communities and exploring what secrets it might hold about the universe before our own. Create Factions, Districts, People, Secrets and much more as we all explore and rebuild Star Central Station together!
Jam Content
As you can see, this Set's theme is a newly discovered ancient space station, so let's get our weird SciFi hats on and make cards! Here are some suggestions of things you could make for the Jam:
- Loose cards for the Card Catalog!
- Create interesting Districts that are either found or built on the station! Locations that affect the playing field or specific cards.
- Secrets, knowledge, and craft are found all over Star Central Station! Make interesting cards of the things residents find, build, or bring to the station and the cool things they do!
- Factions and Communities are excitedly coming into the station! Create Characters that would be found there, from Station Delvers to Slug people to the Portmaster, bring Star Central Station to life with the many faces that live there!
- Scenarios for the Scenario Catalog!
- Create specific Scenarios that could take place on Star Central Station! Maybe rebuilding the station takes priority so a Scenario about working together. Maybe Factions are vying for control and there's a race to see who gets to the Beacon at the center of the station first. Whatever it is, think about the story that's being told when cards hit the table and what Star Central Station looks like at the end of the game!
- Full decks for the Deck Catalog!
- Build up entire Factions in full decks! What do the Anti-matter Vampires doing here on a station with a star as its core? How do the mechanical Reptoids fix up the station and each other? How do the Mist People thrive in the vents around the station? Get creative and make Star Central Station unique in your own way!
- Art Packs for people to use and get inspired to create cards for!
- Want to just draw rad Scifi art of this cool species or district you thought of? AMAZING! Draw it up and share it with the community, let others take a crack at giving it mechanics and bringing it to the table!
Resources
Basic TCG can be found here where you can download its base files to start making your own stuff, but more importantly, you can find the Community Forum here, where the Living Rules, Card Catalog, Scenario Catalog, and Deck Catalog are! There you can find the Canva Card Template, a free design tool so you can easily create cards!
Here are some community-created resources as well:
- @wereoctopus created some Affinity templates here as well as some additional tools here!
- @maguaxRPG created some alternate layout Figma templates here!
- @VforValensa created some irregular card layouts for Bigger Images or More Text here!
Join the BASIC TCG DISCORD SERVER if you want help with anything! Chat about ideas, ask for help, connect with others and collaborate!
As you can see, Basic TCG already has some really cool stuff created for it and a very lovely and respectful community is forming! I wanted to keep that spirit up and create a formal game jam to get people interested in the game and taking the game even further!
Submission Guidelines
I have two goals with this game jam: To keep up the open and free community creation structure established with Basic TCG AND to allow creators to direct people to their work and to leave the option for others to pay them! So to achieve this, submitting to this jam maybe a little weird. Here are my suggestions:
- If you just want to submit cards and scenarios to the Catalogs as normal, do so! No pressure or worry to submit something specific as a game page to the jam!
- If you create CARDS, DECKS, SCENARIOS and would like to package them together, create an itch page of the work and submit it to the jam AND make a post linking to the page in the corresponding Basic TCG Community Forum page.
- For the sake of easily grabbing cards to put into play platforms ALSO consider posting them as images on your itch page itself or the Basic TCG Community Forum you've posted in. For platforms like playingcards.io, it is currently very easy to grab an image URL and put it into a deck, I would love to keep that option available!
- If you make any other form of content for Basic TCG (art packs, card templates, creation resources, web-tools, etc) submit to this jam as you would normally. I'd highly recommend then posting a link to it in the Basic TCG Community as well, but all the submissions for the jam will be collected there at the end!
- It is not required but highly encouraged to set your work at least to Donation/Pay What You Want. I would like to keep all playable content for Basic TCG free for the player base but I also really want contributors to leave the door open for others to tip for your work. The Basic TCG community should be built off an understanding of supporting and encouraging each other.
- If you create art packs or other non-gameable content, please include ways that card creators can credit you! You are also more than welcome to have your up for a cost.
If your product declares compatibility with Basic TCG you must state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Viditya Voleti.” You do not need to put this on every card you make or on every post in the forums, only if you choose to make an itch page, a robust hack, or tools.
Community Standards
The Basic TCG Community is run and upholds the SWORDDREAM Principles, shown below:
- *DREAM stands against hate & prejudice in all forms. We seek to actively oppose bigotry & harassment in gaming communities. We create kind spaces.
- *DREAM works to be radically inclusive. We seek to support and encourage creators, GMs, players, and organizers from marginalized groups. And we seek to get better at this all the time.
- *DREAM encourages the use of sensible tools for communication and consent. This includes both conversational consent (in community spaces) and safety tools (at the table).
- *DREAM opposes harassment and strives for non-toxic discourse. We value best intentions, we call in before calling out, and we start discussions before we make accusations. We seek to empower everyone to curate their space. Above all, we engage sincerely.
- *DREAM values creators & their work. We support equitable pay for professional creators and fair treatment for hobbyists.
- *DREAM values a DIY approach to creation. We question gatekeeping, we take alternative approaches when traditional publishing models fail, and we believe anyone can make great games.
- *DREAM values experimentation in game design & worldbuilding.
- *DREAM isn't defined by, but is interested in: anti-canons, emergent story, generative worlds, kitbashing, non-violent play options, and more. And it's fine if some of these things contradict each other!
- There is no one *DREAM. Anyone who commits to these principles is *DREAMing
Entries may not contain racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other hate speech. They will be deleted.
I want to avoid the common issues with TCG Communities of them breeding gatekeeping and bigoted. There will be no shaming others for the content they make, there is no standard of play, no concept of balance, there is nothing wrong with broken or underpowered cards, no one singular creator's work is better than another. Basic TCG is about having fun first and creating room for others at the table! If you wish to play the game a certain way, create a Scenario and find others who want to play that way as well!
If you have any questions, feel free to post in the Community Forums or you can @ me/DM me on Twitter (@vidityavoleti)
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