Tabletop Game / Talecraft

Talecraft is a Philippine based story-telling card game developed by Ria Lu. It aims to promote the creation of stories by means of randomly picked cards that decide the key elements of the author's narrative. It is currently being published by Komikasi Enterprise.

As a game, Talecraft aims to promote creative thinking through story creation. As a story-creation tool, Talecraft aims to help writers generate ideas for stories, and help combat Mental Block.

Talecraft provides the different Genres and Archetypes as cards. Since the setting is dependent on the genre of the story, Talecraft leaves the creation of the time and place to the imagination of the player. For the plot, Talecraft uses the Key cards, where a player may either be given plots, or keywords that would govern the story. Players may be required to add more characters to his cards. In this event, the player's story would be more character-driven than plot-driven.

A player of Talecraft has to create a story using the cards he had picked. The limit the picked cards set to a player prompts the use of the player’s resourcefulness; and the need to fit all the cards into a story stretches his imagination.

"Words are spells. To practice Talecraft is to weave words."

The aim of Talecraft is to create stories based on cards. Some see Talecraft as a creative tool. Others, as a game. But Talecraft is an art: one with the purpose of taking its participants on a journey to the recesses of imagination, to see lands where rules are bent, and to meet people who steal our hearts.

Tell your Tale...

Master the Craft.

To play the game, the cards must first be arranged into three stacks: The Genre stack, the Archetype stack, and the Key stack. The cards are facing down.

First, each player must pick one card each from the Genre Stack. That card will determine what genre the player fs story has to be. Next, each player must take two cards each from the Archetype Stack. One card will be their main protagonist, and the other card will be their main antagonist. Next, the players must pick six cards each from the Key Stack.

If the player picks a Keyword, the player must integrate that as a major factor or important item in the story, which the player will create at the end of the game. If it is a Plotline, the plot of the player's story must follow it. If a player picks more than one Plotline, the player must decide which Plotline will be used as a main plot of the story, and which will be used as subplots. If it is an instruction that tells the player to pick, the player must follow it and pick a card from either the Genre Stack (the player's story now has more than one genre, i.e. Romantic Fantasy) or the Archetype Stack (the player is now required to add another character). If the player picks an instruction that tells him to swap, the player is given the opportunity to discard one of his cards (any of the three types: Genre, Archetype, or Key) and pick a new card of the same type.

The players will then have ten minutes to create their stories, and then take turns telling their created stories.

Two Booster packs are soon to be available, covering Fantasy (e.g. High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, the Black Knight, the Wise Old Man) and General (Comedy, Inspirational, Shadow Jungian).

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This card game shows examples of:

• The Ace: Represented as an Archetype Man card "The Competent Man", presenting Indiana Jones, James Bond, MacGyver, and Ethan Hunt as examples.
• Agent Peacock: Represented as an Archetype Man card "The Dandy", presenting Percy Blakeny and Howl as examples.
• Ancient Tomb: The Tomb keyword, which symbolizes Death, Curse, and Nobility.
• Becoming the Mask: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Repentant Traitor", presenting Paul of Tarsus and Darth Vader as examples…who actually fit The Atoner trope.
• Blackmail: One of the Keywords, which also symbolizes Control.
• Blindness: One of the Keywords, which also symbolizes Keenness and Justice.
• Body Paint/This Means Warpaint: The Body Painting Keyword implies either one of these, as it symbolizes War, Honor, or Mating.
• The Casanova: Represented as an Archetype Man card "The Rake", presenting Casanova himself, James Bond, and Howl as examples.
• Childhood Marriage Promise/Arranged Marriage: What the Betrothal Keyword likely represents, symbolizing Allegiance and Promise.
• The Chosen One: An Archetype Hero card, presenting Harry Potter and Anakin Skywalker (before his Start of Darkness) as examples.
• The Church: A Keyword card, symbolizing Grandeur and Faith.
• Color-Coded Stones: The Diamond is a Keyword card symbolizing Wealth, Elegance, and Greed.
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Bureaucrat", presenting Rufus Shinra and Lex Luthor as examples.
• Curse: One of the Keywords, which symbolizes Binding and Revenge.
• Dark and Troubled Past/: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Haunted Hero", presenting Batman, Van Helsing, and Chou Hakkai as examples. Its description is as follows: "The Haunted Hero is a character that must deal with a traumatic past, or possibly a curse before being able to fulfill the role of hero."
• Dragon Tropes: The Dragon Keyword covers this, symbolizing Power and Fortune.
• Evil Overlord: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Dark Lord", presenting Emperor Palpatine and Lord Voldemort as examples.
• Fallen Hero: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Corrupted Hero", presenting Anakin Skywalker and Warp Darkmatter (erroneously, since he's actually The Mole) as examples.
• The Fagin/The Corrupter/The Svengali: All three tropes are mixed to represent an Archetype Villain card "The Pied Piper", presenting The Pied Piper of Hamelin himself, the Witch from Hansel and Gretel, and Uncle Alfred from Chrestomanci as examples. The description of the card is "a character that lures innocent victims, usually children, to do what they want, or to do their dirty work; often in exchange for a certain reward".
• Femme Fatale/The Vamp: Both tropes are represented as an Archetype Woman card "The Siren", presenting Cleopatra, Poison Ivy, and Naga the White Serpent as examples.
• Fantastic Caste System: The Social Class Keyword, which symbolizes Rank and Boundaries.
• Genres: The Genre cards obviously have these. The following are available in the basic set: Romance, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Gothic, Historical, Sci-Fi, Adventure, and Fantasy.
• Good Luck Charm: The Amulet Keyword, which symbolizes Protection.
• Great Escape: The Escape Plotline, though the card can also imply escape from metaphorical confinement.
• Helicopter Parents: Represented as an Archetype Man card "The Wrathful Father", presenting King Triton, Simba in the second movie, and most fathers in Philippine legends.
• Heroic Sacrifice/Friend-or-Idol Decision: The Sacrifice Plotline covers this.
• Indexitis: The Disease Keyword, which symbolizes Challenge and Sorrow.
• The Ingenue: Represented as an Archetype Woman card, presenting Belldandy and Aerith Gainsborough as examples.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Reluctant Hero, presenting Frodo Baggins, Liz Sherman, and Rogue as examples.
• Index on the Moon: The Moon Keyword symbolizes Femininity and Lunacy.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Reclusive Genius", presenting Mycroft Holmes and Wade Load (at least in the first two seasons) as examples. However, its description also says that the Reclusive Genius "is portrayed as one who likes to antagonize the Hero, but arrives as a big help at the climax of the story".
• Jekyll & Hyde: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Reluctant Villain", presenting Dr. Henry Jekyll and Green Goblin (the Tobey Maguire films interpretation at least) as examples.
• Literature: The Book Keyword, which symbolizes Knowledge and Gateways.
• Loveable Rogue: Represented as an Archetype Hero card, presenting Robin Hood and Kenshin Himura as examples.
• Master Plots: The Plotline cards have the following from the trope's list: Transformation, Escape, Revenge, Sacrifice, Discovery, Pursuit, Rivalry, Riddle, Rescue, and Forbidden Love.
• Messianic Archetype: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Christ Figure", presenting Aslan and Ed as examples. Oddly, the card also includes characters for Redemption Equals Death or Death Equals Redemption in its definition.
• Nostalgic Musicbox: The Music Box Keyword covers this, symbolizing Memories and Childhood.
• Outlaw: Represented as an Archetype Hero card "The Outlaw", presenting Hiei and Aoshi as examples.
• Please Reflect on This Index: The Mirror Keyword covers this, symbolizing Self and Reflection.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Psychopath", presenting Gogo Yubari and Soujiro Seta as examples.
• Shapeshifting: The Transformation Plotline refers to this, or Character Development.
• A Slave to the Index: The Slavery Keyword, which symbolizes Servitude and (strangely) Humility.
• Split Personality: A Keyword symbolizing Dualism and escape.
• Seaborne and Submersible Vehicles: The Ship Keyword covers the "Seaborne" half of this trope, symbolizing Travel and Trade.
• Test and Trial Tropes: The Test Keyword covers this, symbolizing Challenge.
• The Tease: Represented as an Archetype Woman card "The Coquette", presenting Rosalind and Megumi as examples.
• This Index Meows: The Cat Keyword covers this, symbolizing Treason, Deceit, and Cunning.
• Time Machine: A Keyword card that symbolizes Limitlessness, Restlessness, and Journey.
• Tomboy: Represented as an Archetype Woman card "The Tomboy", presenting Holly Short, Sailor Jupiter, and Utena Tenjou as examples.
• Twin Tropes: The Twins Keyword covers this, symbolizing Dualism and Mischief.
• Tyke Bomb: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Monstrous Adolescent", presenting Ace, Alia Atreides, and Tetsuo Shima as examples. Also sort of mixed with Teens Are Monsters, Enfant Terrible, Goo-Goo-Godlike, and Power Incontinence.
• Vigilante Man: Represented as an Archetype Villain card "The Vigilante", presenting V, Hannibal Lecter, and Gabriel as examples.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Archetype Villain card "The Evil Albino", presenting Silas, Kunzite, and Lucius Malfoy as examples.
• Winged Tropes: The Wings Keyword covers this, and symbolizes Freedom and Sending.

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