About Dark Days (Role-Playing Card Battles)

Enter the grim and mysterious world of Dark Days, where your destiny is shaped by your choices, your strategy, and the cards you wield. This unique tabletop RPG blends the deep narrative elements of traditional role-playing games with the strategic intensity of card battles. Set on the isolated island continent of Lathen, players are free to carve out their own path in a land filled with ancient secrets, powerful factions, and untold dangers.

Will you become a legendary hero, a cunning merchant, or a feared mercenary? Dark Days offers limitless possibilities, allowing players to create custom characters or choose from a roster of pre-made mercenaries. As you navigate the richly detailed world, your decisions will influence the overarching story—or allow you to forge your own legend outside of it.

Combat is dynamic and unpredictable, with a card-based system that relies on your character's skills, equipment, and magical abilities. Whether you are dueling in the streets of Al’Vie Al’Viet or hunting down the monstrous Ratlas Leviathan, every battle will test your strategy and luck.

For fans of tabletop role playing games who crave more tactical depth, and card game players looking for a richer narrative experience, Dark Days offers an immersive hybrid experience that will challenge and thrill in equal measure. Embrace the darkness, draw your cards, and let the Dark Days begin.

The Vision

I'm really hoping that this game becomes something special that groups of friends can genuinely enjoy together. Right now, it's just me working on it, and there's a TON to do, including:

  • - Bringing the world of Lathen to life, starting with the Island Continent and all its intriguing spots.

  • - Expanding and finishing a main campaign that’s packed with unique allies and enemies, designed to keep both players and Narrators hooked while letting them forge their own path.

  • - Creating hundreds of cards for characters, gear, skills, and magic, so players can tweak and tailor their party in countless ways.

  • - Getting all this documented on the website, making it easier for Narrators and players to dive into the world and its lore.

  • - Developing resources that help Narrators and players take it even further, with tools to create their own items and characters for deeper immersion.

I know it’s a massive undertaking, and I might be taking on more than I should, but I’m fully committed to making this game the best it can be. Just to be completely transparent, I’m using AI art to create the images for these cards. I’m not an artist, and I can’t afford to commission individual pieces for each card. That said, I’m not charging any money for these cards right now, and I don’t plan to in their current form. Maybe down the road, if people really get into this game, I’ll explore other options, but for now, it’s early days, and I’m just seeing where this project goes. Should you be interest in what services I am using - I generate the art using Leonardo.AI, and then enhance them using KREA.

The Constraints

Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day, and most of mine are already spoken for by my full-time job. But I'm squeezing in a couple of hours each evening and as much time as I can on weekends to keep this project moving forward.

One challenge is that playtesting will require having the physical cards on hand. I've already ordered draft 3 of the cards, along with a custom play mat, so that's in the works. While I’m waiting for those to arrive, I'm resisting the urge to tinker too much with the current versions.

Another hurdle is my trusty, but ancient, computer, which tends to sound like it's about to take off when I have too many Photoshop files open! So, if you’ve come across this project, like what you see, and are eager to play, please bear with me as I continue to piece everything together. Your patience is truly appreciated!