Contract of Terms

I've bitten the bullet and moved to completely designing my cards in Gimp for OS X. You should notice a change in the quality of the image.

Let me know if anything else stands out to you that needs improvement!

This card is a bit vanilla, so judge away on that as well!

The purpose of moving to Gimp is to be able to design new icons that should make for more interesting new cards, which I'll be working on right away.

Keep the comments coming!

The Arkenstone

I wanted to do something very special for The Arkenstone, and also try out a new mechanic. I thought the idea of wildly expensive cards, that were much cheaper if you were lucky enough to get them in your starting hand was an interesting idea.

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Lindir, Elven Minstrel

Sorry for the delay between posts! I had used pretty much all the templates I had, so I needed to start making new ones for new card types, like Followers. If you want the templates, just leave a comment and let me know. 

Gundabad Hunter

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Treasures of Erebor

What do you think of the choice of image on this one? I thought it looked gorgeous in the film, but I feel like this image doesn't quite capture the majesty of Erebor.

The flavor text is also made-up, so if anyone has a better suggestion, I'm all ears. Leave a comment!

Bag End

I thought it was time for another site. This one has the same title as a Lord of the Rings TCG card, but unlike Goblin Bowman, it has different text.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Elven Hunting Group

If anyone wants to suggest better flavor text here, please leave a comment!

I'm also playing around with my font sizes to see which ones look and feel better. Take a look at this and compare it to Elrond to see which one seems right to you.

Gandalf's Staff, Staff of Power

More frequent updates are coming! Please keep the comments coming, they're an inspiration for me!

Going on an Adventure!

My first Shire card to be spoiled! Let me know what you think!

Gandalf's Pipe, Toy of Fire and Smoke

It took me a while to come up with this as it's getting harder for me to find images to go with the cards we've designed.

This card brings back the pipeweed mechanism that was popular in the Fellowship of the Rings block. Maarten and I were trying to figure out how to make decks less cluttered with both pipes and pipeweed conditions, so I went with using tokens.

Let us know what you think!

Outnumbered

I'll move on to some non-Moria spoilers next, I promise.

Keep the comments coming and let us know what you think about the cards so far! Is there anything you'd like to see that you haven't seen yet?

Goblin Bowman

There are some cards that were so classic and well-balanced in the Lord of the Rings TCG that they appeared in multiple sets: Hobbit Sword, Elven Bow, Uruk-hai Raiding Party to name a few.

There will be a few familiar titles carrying over to The Hobbit TCG as well, though they'll come with fresh images and lore, and here is the first.

We're finishing up the card list now, but there is still room for some familiar cards; which card would you like to see reprinted for The Hobbit TCG? Leave a comment!

The Great Goblin, King of Moria

Today's card continues down the Moria theme. We will most likely be replacing the word "Horde" with the word "Swarm"

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

Goblin Hacker

Today we get our first look at the new face of the Moria culture and a new keyword, Horde. Goblins return, angry and swarmy as they were in The Lord of the Rings TCG and the Horde keyword allows them to call back their friends from the dead.

With such a powerful ability, it will be important to balance these Orcs with low power and vitality. But we want the Goblin King and his minions to be a force to be reckoned with!

Let us know what you think in the comments.

If He Loses

The counterpart to yesterday's If I Win card.

Take a look at Maarten's Blog for a peek at Sméagol, who we've cast as a Follower for now. 

Keep checking back for what Gollum looks like!

If I Win

We're making great progress on the set, and while the final text isn't finished I want to keep posting card ideas so everyone can give us their feedback on them.

Today I venture into Gollum culture, where you can see we'll be showcasing both a Sméagol and a Gollum card. Can you guess what the next card is?

Keep the comments coming!

Growl of the Warg

I wanted to throw up a card before the weekend to get feedback on a replacement for the burden mechanic that we have been working on.

Simply put, replace the word "resistance" with the word "courage" and replace the word "burden" with the word "doubt".

Story-wise I think this makes much more sense. The journey of Thorin's company is at risk of failing if they lose their courage. They lose their courage as they begin to doubt themselves, their leader, their tasks.

Let me know what you think! 

A special thanks to Maarten who has been a phenomenal collaborator. I look forward to working on this set with him more!

Balin, Son of Fundin

Today's card introduces one of the new mechanics in The Hobbit TCG: Loyalty.

Loyalty 

When the Leader of the company is about to take a wound, you may sacrifice a companion with Loyalty to prevent that wound by placing the companion in the dead pile.

(Note that we have replaced the keyword Key-Bearer with Leader)

Let me know what you think of the new mechanic!

Bower of the Council

I am going to be pausing cards for a bit as I want to come up with a full set list and fleshed out card texts before creating new cards, but while I do that I needed to complete my site template anyway, so I created this site. 

What do you think of how it looks? (I'm less concerned about the text as it will most likely change, but leave your thoughts on it if you feel compelled!) 

I know that the collector box still needs to be removed/changed.

Key to Erebor, Thorin's Birthright

The new One Ring! In another departure from the rule of the Lord of the Rings, I've removed the concept of burdens. I alluded to how resistance doesn't make sense in prior posts, and neither do burdens since Thorin isn't at risk of being corrupted by any means. 

Instead, the focus of Thorin's journey will be on the loyalty of the company, and how his companions are willing to put their lives on the line for him.

On a side note, I'm particularly proud of this dream card as it's the first time I used GIMP to edit images for creating the card. Let me know what you think!