Doom and Redemption!

So, this week, I was all excited to start working on the Title of Liberty cardset, printing them out and getting them cut and sleeved, ready for playtesting. By the way, if you want to help playtest, just email me!

Then my son and I were talking about decks from the Scripture Mastery set, and he started wondering out loud if he could make a One-Turn-Kill deck. In Yu-Gi-Oh, that's where you kill off your opponent in, obviously, one turn. In this case, it would be a One-Turn-Win, since nobody dies in Seeker's Quest.

I thought, No way. It can't happen. I've set all of the verses where you receive blessings to have high sacrifice costs. But he thought that he could get enough draw verses going to overcome that. I was still skeptical, but I was, honestly, scared.

Well, to shorten the long story, he did it. It was a wicked deck, filled with verses that allowed him to draw blessings, and verses that allowed him to draw verses, both from his deck and the discard. Three games in a row, he won before I even got a chance to freeplay my first verse.

In the game design world, this is known as "Breaking the Game". I would have been thrilled if we had discovered this in the early playtesting phases of making the game. Instead, it came to light after the cards were designed and already available to the public! Yikes!

Seriously, I was quite dejected.

But, soon after, I regrouped, and he and I started talking about ways to "nerf" the verses in question.

Let me explain that. In his video/online gaming circles, if a game company makes a facet of a game weaker or harder to use, it has been "nerfed". To understand this word, think of a real sword, and next to it, a Nerf sword. That should clear up any confusion.

So, we had to nerf the blessing draw verses, and we did that by setting it up so that after receiving the blessing, you end your turn. That way, the other guy gets to play. We also nerfed the verse draws, so that they're not so many, or for greater cost. And, the few verses that pull from the discard, like "Judgement Day" don't pull quite so many, so easily.

That meant that I had to rework the graphics of the verses, and re-upload them into The Game Crafter's website. It took me a while to do all that, but it's done, now. Anyone who buys any of the Seeker's Quest products (Full games, boosters, or pre-con decks) will all contain the new versions of the verses.

There are a few of you who have bought the game already, and for you, if you contact me, and tell me which game set you bought, I'll make up a special booster with the right cards and get it sent off to you.

Here are a few of the "new" verses:

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

The Title of Liberty

I'm really excited!

I've been working on a first draft of a whole new set of Seeker's Quest verses!

This set is tentatively titled "The Title of Liberty" and will cover the books of Alma, Helaman, 3rd Nephi, and maybe 4th Nephi as well.

There are some fun new mechanics! One is called "Battle". When a battle is activated, your opponent puts verses from his/her deck into his/her discard. If that happens enough, you can cripple your opponents. Remember, unlike Magic, or Yu-Gi-Oh, having an empty deck doesn't lose you the game. However, with nothing to draw, you're out of resources, and it will be difficult to carry on!

Another mechanic is the "Cross Reference". A cross reference verse will mention another verse. If you have that referenced verse in your hand when you trigger the Cross Reference effect, you can set it immediately.

We're also exploring the markers, with some new ones, like Righteous and Unrighteous Characters, and Locations. The "Wartime" marker boost the Battle effect.

So, what does all this mean?

Well, first I have to finish the first draft of the verses. I'm making them all on a big spreadsheet. Then, when I've got them done (I'm shooting for about 125 finished cards), then I'll flow the spreadsheet into a form and print out some prototype cards. These are the ugly ones, without graphics. Then, I'll tediously cut them apart and sleeve them.

Then the real work begins! Playtesting! We'll test the set in isolation, meaning using randomized decks only of the new set. We may find some problems that we'll have to fix.  Then, we'll mix the new verses in with the original Scripture Mastery set, and test that mix, using random decks.  Finally, we'll make some decks and test those against each other, using both sets.

If you're interested in playtesting, just let me know by emailing me at mrkhmusic@yahoo.com, and we'll get you in on the party!




Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the week: Who Are You?

Verse:  GConf Apr 2016, Thomas S Monson, Pst Sess

Text: “You are a child of promise. You are a man of might. You are a son of God.”

Verse Rule: EFFECT: Draw a Verse
Sacrifice Cost: 1
Markers: Priesthood, Wisdom
Icons: W, L

In recent years, I’ve had a lot of fun creating a booster of verses with quotes from conference talks. I’ve posted them from time to time here to show, but until last week, they weren’t available for purchase. Now they are!  https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-voices-of-the-latter-days-boosters

This verse is from our most recent Priesthood session. It’s quite an inspirational line. It’s good to remember where we came from and who we are. The inspiration is played out in drawing another verse.

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the week: Write Our Stories

Verse:  BoM, 2 Nephi 25:23

Text: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ.”

Verse Rule: DISCARD: Mastery
Sacrifice Cost: 1
Markers: Histories
Icons: W, H, L

In Evangelical Christian theological circles, it’s often believed that Mormons are not Christian. Whether or not that’s true depends on what you mean by “Christian”. I don’t see how someone can look at this verse, or another one close to it, in verse 25, and think that we’re not Christian.

In reality, it simply means that even though we all strive to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, if I don’t believe the same things about Jesus that you do, then you can label me “not a true Christian”.

Oh, well...

The verse rules of this card were actually inspired by a mechanic from Magic: the Gathering. In that game, if someone plays a card that you don’t like, and you have a card with the “counter” ability, you can make your opponent’s play fizzle, and his card is discarded.

It’s a way to either keep your opponent from getting too much traction, or to prevent the play of a really powerful card.

In Seeker’s Quest, however, we do that with a twist: The DISCARD: Mastery mechanic! It’s a DISCARD ability, so you can trigger it in someone else’s turn, when they play something. That also means that you have to discard your verse, so you can’t go doing it over and over, unless you have more verses with the ability. “Mastery” means that your opponent has to be able to quote the text of the verse he’s attempting to play in order to successfully play it!

It means that when you’re about to make a key play, you’ll want to read over your verses in case someone goes all Mastery on you!

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the Week - Receive Me

Verse: DC, D&C 84:35

Text: “And also they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord.”

Verse Rule: ABILITY: When you play this verse or another priesthood verse, you may draw a verse.
Sacrifice Cost: 2
Markers: Priesthood
Icons:  S, W, F

There are many things that make Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) different from other religions, even unique among Christian sects. Many of them are cultural, some are political, others are doctrinal.

One difference between us and other Christians that I feel is key is the priesthood authority that we claim. We believe that the early church organized by Jesus and the apostles fell into apostacy over the years. We believe that as the apostles, who were chosen and ordained by Jesus Himself, were killed or died, that priesthood was lost.

We also believe that this priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith and others as a part of the overall restoration of the Gospel in the 1830’s and 1840’s. There are many revelations explaining the priesthood and documenting this restoration, but the best one to read is D&C 20.

This week’s featured verse is all about receiving that priesthood. It allows you draw a verse everytime you play a verse with a priesthood marker.

This verse doesn’t have a thematic marker. I thought it would be a little interesting to have a verse with just the priesthood marker, but to give it three different icons instead.

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the Week - Rememberance

Verse:  NT, Luke 24:8

Text: “...And they remembered his words.”

Verse Rule: Quote OR DISCARD: Play after chosen player fails to quote a verse. That quote attempt succeeded instead.
Sacrifice Cost: 1
Markers: Wisdom
Icons: W, H

So, this is kind of a fun and useful verse.

In the context of the scriptures, it’s quite joyous. This is when the women returned to the sepulcher to tend to the body and encounter the angel. He tells them that Jesus has risen, and quotes them the things Jesus said about the resurrection.

...And they remembered his words.

Then, they rushed off and told the apostles.

In the context of the game, I had a little bit of fun with it. I kinda ripped it out of context and just thought of the text, and of remembering the words. First of all, it had to be a Quote verse, because that’s all about remembering the words. Then, what if you flub a quote? What if you mess up and don’t remember? It seems to me that you should be able to have a “gimme” card that lets you succeed anyway. That’s what this one does. If you fail a quote, either for a verse’s ability, or if you get challenged, you can discard this verse, and treat it like you had quoted it perfectly.

It’s nice for some forgiveness, right? Like someone’s got your back.

Other than that, it’s a nice way to drop a W or H icon for free, because the quote itself on this verse is really easy. Also, it’s a nice cheap throwaway verse in case you have to play some powerful 3-drop pearl verse!  Like I said, a fun, useful verse!

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the week: My Holy Day

Verse:  DC, D&C 59:9

Text: “Thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;”

Verse Rule: none
Sacrifice Cost: 1
Markers: Strength
Icons: S

There have been times in my life when I just didn’t want to go to church. I think everyone goes through that a time or two. At those times, I often would try to talk myself into staying home by telling myself that I didn’t have to actually GO to church, I could just stay at home and study on my own, and that would be just as good.  Maybe even better, on a day when the High Councilman was speaking.

Even at the time, I knew that was wrong. I knew I was rationalizing. I knew that I would go back to sleep or get distracted or something and not end up studying.

I also knew that I would miss out on the connectivity, the camaraderie of church. I know that church should be a personal spiritual experience, and we don’t go to just to socialize, but interacting with each other and strengthening each other is a very important thing, too.

I think that’s why we’re commanded, in this verse, to go to church.

Now, this particular verse, in game, isn’t particularly powerful. It only has one icon, Strength, and it has no verse rules. I think it’s very important to include a lot of these kinds of verses in a constructed deck. It’s nice to have cheap verses to fill in a chapter and allow you to close up a book. It’s also good to have sacrificial fodder. If you want to play something really big and cool, it’s good to have small, weak verses to sacrifice to play it. If your hand is filled with power verses, you’ll be less eager to sacrifice any of them.

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the week: The Sealing Power

Verse:  NT: Matthew 16:19

Text: “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”

Verse Rule: None
Sacrifice Cost: 2
Markers: Wisdom, Priesthood
Icons: W, W, F

This one is interesting to me. I pull these out of my deck box at random, and then start writing. But just this last week, I’ve been musing a lot on how blessed I am to have a wonderful wife to whom I am sealed for time and all eternity.

We were married in 1987 in August (so our anniversary is coming up). We’ve had a wonderfully rocky marriage, especially the first three to five years. There were many times when we were working things out that we were each very upset at each other. And yet, at no time did I ever consider divorce as an option. As we’ve talked, she’s expressed this as well. We were committed to the idea of being committed to each other. We had promised ourselves to each other for eternity, so that meant we had to work out the problems we were facing.

Well, as we did that, it kept getting better and better. Now, we’re looking at our 28th coming up next month! 28 years together! I can’t imagine life without her.

This verse card has a very stunning graphic, I think. I tried to capture the thought of something being both earthly and heavenly at the same time. This arc shot of earth from space fit the bill very nicely, I thought!

Thanks so much, Jodi, for all these terrific years!


Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Card of the Week: Perfected in the Resurrection

Verse: NT, Corintians 15:42

Text: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption;”

Verse Rule: EFFECT: Exchange a chosen verse in one of your personal chapters with a chosen verse in your discard (its abilities are applied).
Sacrifice Cost:
Markers: Trials
Icons: W, F, T
Basic verse, Learning game

This verse, in its context in the New Testament, is teaching us about the Resurrection. It talks about how we all, being corrupt and mortal, will rise again, resurrected, perfected, and immortal.

This whole chapter talks about the reality and universality of the gift of the Resurrection. Verse 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

In the game, I worked the verse rule so that you could "resurrect" a verse and swap it out for another verse in your tabletop. The abilities of the verse thus brought forth are then applied.

This is particularly cool if there's a combo you've got going and you need a verse from your discard to trigger it.  Maybe you've already done the combo, closed the book, and now you want to do it again in another chapter. For example, what if you've got The Work of God and The Glory of God in a chapter. You close it up and receive your blessings. But now those two key verses are in your discard. If you get another copy of one of them in your hand, you can use Perfected in the Resurrection to swap it out from the graveyard and there you have another quick book!

In addition to this, It's quite flexible with its icons, and it's only a 1-sac cost to play it. Quite a useful card!

Seeker’s Quest! It’s the most fun you can have with your scriptures! To get the game, and get in on the fun, go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-scripture-mastery-set

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

You Can Finally Buy the Game!

About 8 years ago, I started working on this game. We've developed and tested the cards and the rules, trying to make it the best possible game, so that the players could have a way to have a great time engaging with the scriptures.

We went through 11 revisions of the rules, and I can't count how many sets of cards I printed and cut out.  But now, all that work has come to a fruition!

I'm very excited to announce that you can now purchase the first Seeker's Quest package, the learning game, at TheGameCrafter.com. Simply click to the "Buy the Game" link, above, or go to https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/seeker-s-quest-learning-game

The Learning Game package is an introduction to the game, with enough cards and rules for 2 players to play, right out of the box.

Come check it out!

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

What Happened? Exciting news for this LDS Game!

Hello!

There's been a lot happening in this little card game's world lately!  It's all very exciting, and a lot of work.


First of all, we've been rebranding.  It turns out that there's another scripture based game on the market already that got published using the name Chapter and Verse.  It actually looks like a pretty cool game.  While it's been a challenge to rebrand, it's a good thing for us, too. My use of the Chapter and Verse name was always a "place holder", and I was never certain I wanted to use the name in publication.  Now, we brainstormed, researched, and have chosen the name "Seeker's Quest".

In addition to having a more enticing, exciting sound, it also ties in better with the game's theme and backstory, as well as connecting strongly with advanced achievement gameplay.

I've also been preparing the graphic look and feel of the game, setting up prototype logos, icons, and cards. That's been very time consuming, as it's difficult to find royalty-free graphics for almost 200 cards!  Still, I've been very pleased with the results so far.

Here's the card back design:

And here's an example of the face of one of the cards:

Most of this is being shared and posted over at the new Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/seekersquestgame.  I hope you'll join the fun over there, for regular posts and updates as the new cards get ready for publication!





Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Open letter: I Need Your Feedback!

Hello, fellow LDS gamerz!

I'm very excited, and I have been for the last three months or so.  I've been reworking the rules, the cards, the game, all with the intent of submitting it to publishers.  As I've dealt with publishers in the past, I've realized the power of praise and endorsements. Good, kind words from the right people can make a huge difference in their decisions.

So...

If you have ever had the chance to play a game of Chapter and Verse, I would love to have you write a paragraph or two saying why you liked it and what you learned from it, and to email that to me, at mrkhmusic@yahoo.com, so that I can include it in the submission.  Alternatively, you can post it in the comments below.

If you haven't had a chance yet to play, let me invite you to download the cards and the rules (in the nav bar to the left) and give it a try.  Then, post me your comments.

In all fairness, if you have any complaints or suggestions for improvement, please send those to me as well.

Chapter and Verse is a very unique kind of LDS game, and so publishers might now "get" quite how it all works and how popular it could be.  Your words could be the assurance they need to know that it is viable and exciting!

Thanks!




Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Version 10.0 of this LDS Game is ready for general playtesting!

Whew!

After banging my head against my computer for a frustrating morning, I finally got the latest revision of the cards prepped as a PDF and set on the site!  You can download them on the left, or by clicking here!

Now there's a common thread through the phraseology of the verse rules, the Mastery challenge DISCARD effect is now in place, and it's all ready!

Soooo....

Pleeeeeze give it a try and start playtesting it!  Let me know how it all goes.  It is a bit intimidating to print and cut apart all of those cards.  There are 143 cards, and each one is a set of six on its own page.  I haven't yet figured out how to merge my database to flow them so that there are six unique cards on each sheet.

But, you can print them all out, then cut one off of each sheet, and you'll have enough to play.  Then, if you cut them all out, you'll also have enough that two people could make unique decks and test your deckmaking, so the error does have its advantages.  I also recommend that you put the verses into plastic sleeves (available dirt cheap at hobby stores and card shops), so that they're easier to shuffle!

Thanks so much for giving it a try!





Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

LDS Game Design and Dr Grimdeath: Part 1

Recently, I got a facebook message from one of my old buddies from my high/school college days. He was one of our gamer crowd, and played a lot of D&D as well as other miniatures and role-playing games.


He’d developed a game, with a prototype, that he wanted me to playtest.  It was based on the old, corny B-grade horror flicks of the past.  The premise is a bunch of students spending the night in a mansion with a monster.  They have until midnight to 1) identify and kill the monster using weapons and items they find, 2) escape the island the mansion is on, or 3) die trying.

Our family tried it, and it was a hilarious and silly romp.  It’s a cooperative game, so we were all trying to win together.

Afterward,. by a few days, I got on the phone with him and we talked a lot of cool things about game design and our game efforts.  It was interesting to talk to him about Chapter and Verse, and about Dr Grimdeath, because he’s not LDS, and so that made it interesting to explain the concepts of the game.

I thought I’d share some highlights of our discussion, because it plays not only into LDS gaming, but also into game design in general.  I’ll touch on each one here, in the successive parts of this posting!

Feedback Loops

There are two kinds of feedback loops in game design.  A “Positive Feedback Loop” is a rule or a circumstance that encourages a situation to recur more and more frequently.  One broad example, it’s the way a Monopoly game is really won or lost in the first few turns.  The player that gets the best properties in the first few rounds ends up collecting more rent, and that grows into more re-investment, until he or she is unstoppable.  You have to watch for these in your games, or they can make the game balance run away from you.

A “Negative Feedback Loop” is a rule or situation that makes a situation LESS likely to recur.  In American Football, when you score a touchdown, you have to kick off to the opposing team, and it’s their turn to be on the offensive.

It’s important to note that the terms “Positive” and “Negative” don’t refer to any thougths about the outcome.  As a player a PFL can have a very bad impact on my strategies and my play of the game, and a NFL can keep my opponents in check.  Positive loops are things MORE likely to happen again, and negative loops are things LESS likely.

Early in the game, when a player closed up a book, he/she would draw blessing verses, and then continue on with their turn.  I soon discovered that players could use various drawing verses (like Prayer and Keyword) effects to just keep on playing and playing, closing book after book, and win in one turn without the other player being able to do anything.  A PFL was messing up the game balance.  I chose to fix it like the football game.  Once you close a book, your turn ends.

It’s interesting because in an LDS game, as in any game, you have to watch out for PFL’s because they can really mess up the balance of a game.  On the other hand, in LDS LIFE, it’s full of PFLs.  Like prayer, for example.  You say a prayer and you feel great.  You feel connected to God.  That makes you want to pray more.  Which makes you more connected...

Of course, temptation is also a PFL.  If you give in once, you’re more likely to do it again.

Next: Getting to Your Core Essence






Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Scripture Mastery Card: City on the Hill

I thought it would be kinda fun to talk about some of my favorite verse cards from the newest Scripture Mastery set!  I keep working on the game, but I don’t always post it up here.  This idea, I think will help keep me more consistent!  I’m going to start with some of my favorite power cards.  These verses, if the game were to ever get published would be analogous to the “rares” in Magic, or Yu-Gi-Oh.  There really isn’t, unfortunately, an LDS game to compare it to, yet.

This first verse is from the New Testament: Matthew 5:14.  The card quote is: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”  It’s Pearl verse, which means that it can add one icon of any theme to the total of the chapter it’s in (like a wild card). It costs 3 to play it, and its special rules are: “Unique, ALSO, ABILITY: When you play any other verse, you may set another verse into the same chapter”

I’ve always loved this scripture.  I used it in a song, in fact!  It’s one of the LDS seminary Scripture Mastery verses, so it’s a good one to memorize, anyway.  It comes out of the Sermon on the Mount.  The Lord is telling his followers to go out and do good for the world around them.  Even if the service is quiet and humble, it will be seen.  It will set an example.  The world will “see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”

As I was preparing this cardset for the LDS game, I thought that good examples have a tendency to spread.  If you do something good, it feels good and you want to do more.  Often, it inspires others.  Soon, a lot more good is getting done.  As I thought about this verse, it seemed to me that light shining and cities on the hill in this sense can get things moving more quickly.  So, this verse in play allows you to set an extra, additional verse each time you play one into a chapter.  If I were playing it, I’d set it into an empty chapter, and use it to build up other chapters for the books and the win!

Chapter and Verse is a new kind of LDS Game!  Check out the print-and-play prototype cards!





Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.