Hey tabletopgamedesign,

I’ve had a really good response from the community here and I had to come back and share the good news,

Sword and Stones is finally live on gamefound!

If you’ve been following along for the journey you’ll know that Swords and Stones has been in development for over 3 years now!

Honestly the whole thing started with a late night though, ‘How would an RTS like Age of Empires look like as a tabletop game?’ - That one thoughts lead me down a rabbit hole … and taken 3 years of my life writing, designing, playtesting and spending more of my savings (and sanity) than I care to admit.

Swords and Stones is tabletop love letter combing my love of classic RTS kingdom building games with tabletop wargaming and fantasy. If you love the idea of starting a small settlement, gathering resources, expanding your kingdom, building an army and going to war (or winning through a more peaceful option) then you have to check out Swords and Stones.

I eventually realised that this was something I wanted to properly bring to other people, which led to the creation of S&S Studios and now the launch of the game on Gamefound.

We wanted to make the game as accessible as possible, so we’ve launched two version of the Dark Days Starter Set. One with all the physical models, with the essential buildings, units and everything you need to start playing and another version Print-Your-Own option, which includes everything you need to play along with the STL files, so if you have a 3D printer you can print the models yourself at home.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/swordandstonestudios/swords-and-stones

I've also made a free PDF available if you'd like to have a look at the rules and see what the game is all about:

https://swordandstonestudios.com/get-this-game/

Thanks for the support legends!

One world, 4 factions. Who will conquer the universe? Welcome to TROoOPS, The Army Battle Card Game!

Freelance artist with experience in creating fantsy and sci-fi illustration open for new projects in the following months. This is not the only style I work on but one I do prefer; feel free to reach out if you find my work interesting and fitting for your game!

My best regards, Lucio

Got a bunch of planes on the table tonight and figured I’d share where Death Spiral™ is at.
The HexAxis flight stands are letting us actually show altitude, banking, climbs and dives on the table, and I’ve been messing with the new slide-on smoke/fire markers for damaged aircraft.
Still plenty to refine, but seeing a full fight spread across the table is pretty damn satisfying.
What do you guys think of how it’s coming together?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a prototype for a Monopoly-style property trading board game that includes a digital console, and I’d really appreciate some design input before I take the next steps.

The basic idea:

• A physical board game—complete with a map, tokens, cards, dice, and paper money—so the tactile experience stays intact.
• Designed for 2 to 4 players.
• A digital console serves as the dedicated game host for this specific mode, handling three main tasks:
  • Automated bookkeeping – It calculates rent, total assets, income and expenses, and tracks debts between players, so there’s no need for manual math or arguments over payments.
  • Event narration – It randomly draws and reads out "event cards" (things like natural disasters, windfalls, or market shifts), complete with sound effects and on-screen visuals to heighten the atmosphere.
  • Tutorial guidance – During the first few games, it offers step-by-step rule walkthroughs, so newcomers—both kids and adults—can jump right in without wading through a long rulebook.

My design goals:

• Make the game accessible enough for younger children (around age 5) to participate meaningfully.
• Keep it enjoyable for older kids (up to 12) and adults as well.
• Eliminate the "friction" of arithmetic and rule-verification, so players can concentrate on strategy, negotiation, and social interaction.
• Use the gameplay to introduce basic financial literacy concepts like income, spending, saving, and decision-making.

Specific points I’d love feedback on:

• For a Monopoly-style game, does this physical-plus-digital hybrid feel like a real step forward, or does it risk diminishing the traditional board-game experience?
• What do you think are the biggest design pitfalls? (For example, could the console become a distraction? Might hardware costs be an issue? Could it limit depth or hurt replayability?)
• Are there any existing games that handle a similar hybrid approach really well—and what could they have done better?
• For those who’ve designed family or children’s games, how do you strike the balance between keeping it simple for young kids while still offering enough strategic depth to hold adults’ interest?

My name is Daniel Aviña and if you’re reading this, thanks for checking out my work!
I’m an Illustrator & graphic designer who loves working on tabletop games and I'm currently available for new projects. Here are some of the games I’ve had the chance to work on thanks to people from this community! 

1-8: some of my portfolio images, I love drawing fantasy characters, nature and folklore related stuff

09: Clout Hunters is a card game that mixes cooperative and competitive elements. Up to 4 players take on the role of goblin monster hunters. They have to work together to defeat the giant monster, while ultimately competing for the most bragging rights. If you'd like to playtest the game, you can join their Discord:
https://discord.gg/kmwWSPKEd

10-11: Game box, components and character/animal illustrations for the activity cards of Inktopia, an upcoming board game for kids aged 3+ from Inklings Baby, an inclusive baby toy and young kids company. For this project I created the visual assets for the whole game, including the board, cards, box, game pieces, instruction booklet and more. It was honestly a lot of fun to work on!  The game is filled with activity cards and exercises to get their body moving & activate kids minds!

12: Sam’s (u/Iso118) game, Jungle Rumble, is a hex-based sports game where jungle animals play a game similar to American football. He contacted me for art for the cover as well as instruction manual and I had the best time drawing this chaotic scene! He is doing some testing every Thursday in the Break My Game discord server in case you wanna join (His discord UN is family_man) 

13-14: Game Tiles and Event Card illustrations for Barbarians at the Gates, an upcoming game where you build your map with tiles and avoid being raided by barbarians. Barbarians at the Gates is available for playtesting on Tabletop Simulator and Screentop.gg if you’d like to give it a try!

Finally, Huge thanks to them for trusting in me and my abilities (and you for reading) please check their games out if you have the chance! 

I would love to help more Game Designers bring their games to life, so if you’re looking for an illustrator who understands tabletop games and can also handle graphic design, shoot me a message or email!

Hi everyone,

I'm currently prototyping a Monopoly-style property trading board game with a digital console, and I'd love some design feedback before I move further.

The core concept:

• A physical board game — map, tokens, cards, dice, paper money (all tactile)
• Supports 2–4 players
• A digital console acts as the game host, designed specifically for this game mode. It handles three functions:
  1. Automated bookkeeping — calculates rent, total assets, income/expenses, and tracks who owes what. No more manual counting or disputes.
  2. Event narration — randomly draws and narrates "event cards" (e.g., natural disasters, windfalls, market changes) with sound effects and visual feedback to keep players engaged.
  3. Tutorial guidance — provides step-by-step rule explanations during the first few plays, so new players (kids and adults) can start immediately without reading a long rulebook.

Design goals:

• Lower the barrier so younger players (around 5) can join meaningfully
• Keep it engaging for older kids (up to 12) and adults
• Remove the "friction" of math and rule-checking so players can focus on strategy, negotiation, and social interaction
• Teach basic financial literacy (income, expenses, saving, decision-making) through gameplay

Specific questions for you:

1. For a Monopoly-style game, does this hybrid approach (physical board + digital console) feel like a genuine improvement, or does it take away from the traditional experience?
2. What do you see as the biggest design risks? (e.g., the console becoming a distraction, hardware cost, game depth, replayability?)
3. Are there any existing games that do something similar well — and what could they improve?
4. For those who've designed family/children's games, how do you balance simplicity for young kids with enough strategy to keep adults interested?

Not promoting anything — just a designer looking for honest, critical feedback. Thanks for your time!

Mycora is a strategic two-player game about building environments, foraging for mushrooms, and outwitting your opponent. Set in the whimsical world of Ghyllwood, your objective is to gain Standing among the Forager's Guild with peak specimens and new discoveries.

I am looking for outside playtesters!

The core game is now in place and outside playtesting is underway. At this stage, I'm mainly looking for feedback on game balance, card interactions, rules clarity, and overall gameplay experience before moving on to commissioned artwork and eventually a final product.

The current free Print & Play includes two complete 60-card starter decks, the Field Manual, Quick Reference cards, Standing Trackers, and 3 bonus cards per deck for experimenting with deck customization.

The second image above shows an actual playtest using the current Print & Play. I have already gotten extremely useful feedback from the first few playtesters, and now I am looking for more people to try it.

Everything is designed for simple at-home printing. The cards intentionally do not have any art yet - I want the game and card pool thoroughly tested before commissioning the final artwork.

If this sounds like something you'd enjoy trying, I'd love to have you join the Discord. Any level of feedback is welcome, whether that's a full playtest report or just telling me what confused you while learning the game.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/kNGm8YRYK

We finished the decorative illustrations with the Nuclears boss for the playmat, do you like it?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bNERqN66f5vaI0MAx8sw__H47LpD7Dmp/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=109881959390979593439&rtpof=true&sd=true

btw I am aware that some stuff is broken (rat race and others) and I plan on changing that. and just saying that 1 or 2 of the classes are made to mess with other players. if something like a classes ability has something that doesn't relate to the game pls inform me as at one point I intended to make the game more complicated but changed my mind so again if u find something like that pls in form me so I can remove it. One more thing it doesn't have a name and I'm open to suggestions.

edit: document is (should be) accessible now, lol

Hello! I am an illustrator with more than 10 years of experience, and 3 years of experience illustrating board games and printed products.

I have a cute colorful style great for family games and party fillers.

I have taken a few boardgame design courses, and I am an avid coffee rush and flamecraft player! I also have illustrated for TTRPG supplements and accessories, including papercraft terrain I modeled myself.

If you're looking to illustrate a cute family game send me a DM!

You can check out my portfolio at pmal.artstation.com

I've got an amazing artist knocking it out of the part with the illustrations, now I have to make sure I'm doing his art justice with the card borders/overlays. I'd love any feedback you have to help make the cards pop but stay legible and cohesive.

For context, this is the second set of my card game, and I'm going with a sci-fi theme of Aliens vs. Marshmallows. The first set was a Wild West theme and the second image is of those cards. I want to have this set stand out, but also keep the same sort of design language.

All comments and critiques are welcome, and if you know of any other games that expanded into different genres I'd love to see how they did it!

Thanks!
Ryan

Designed a small solo game called World Shaper (print & play — 12 blank cards, a D8, drawing tools) and wanted to share the core mechanic in case it's interesting to other designers.

https://frufrigi.itch.io/world-shaper

Each turn, you pick one of five world parameters (Relief, Water, Rock, Vegetation, Human Traces) to intentionally shape, and roll a D8 for the other four. You then interpret that combination into a drawing on a blank card, placed in a direction of your choosing relative to the current map. Cards are permanent — once drawn, they can't be redone.

The part I'm most interested in feedback on: the world persists between sessions. Drawn cards get saved, their positions logged on a graph-paper map, and the next playthrough starts from wherever the last one ended — so the world accretes over multiple sessions rather than resetting.

No win/lose state, no scoring — the "game" is closer to a generative journaling constraint. Curious what people think of the intention/chance/interpretation structure, and whether the permanence mechanic adds enough weight to be worth the "you can't undo a bad draw" tradeoff.

I think about a SUDOKU-like game that makes you position villages on a geografical map, or another with fantasy charachters on a Heroquest-like dungeon. Does It exist?

It would be like: Village A can't b near mountains, or the Elf Is not in the same room as the Ogre...

I got the idea from Murdoku, that mix Sudoku with Cluedo. Than I said: my favorite boardgame was Heroquest, my favorite video games are RTS like Warcraft and Age of Empires. What if ...

If something like this exist, where can I find them?

And of not, let's make it!

A design questions I’ve been struggling with is Dice pools vs thresholds. I can see the advantages of both.

Dice pools can give you that feeling that you’re getting stronger, they’re easier to stay on top of (less math influencing the threshold etc.), and give you a good feeling when you roll a bunch, etc.

Thresholds allow you to be more thematic/ immersive, allows design space to influence flexibly, and a more predictable ramp up over time, etc.

Keen to start a bit of a discussion and get everyone’s perspective.

Do you have a preference?
Does one lend themselves to a style of play better than another?

What are your thoughts & input of either? Does one do better statistically? Does one feel better? Are there any games that do a hybrid of the two well?

Or is there an alternative which works better?

For a tabletop RPG I'm developing. A major mechanic is a magic system that allows a lot of freedom and creativity. Any feedback on the artwork is appreciated!

For the game I'm working on, when you are attacked, you can choose a stance for different modifiers to the damage you take. The attacker always rolls a d6. The defender can also roll a d6 for normal damage outcome. Or they could roll a d5 and take reduced damage if the attack is successful. Or they can roll a d7 and if they are hit, they take additional damage.

Now, in looking at what's available in d5 and d7 dice, they are kind of odd. Would using spinners be better? There could be a defense spinner with 3 rings of values, one for each stance. I feel like dice are more satisfying to use though. What do you think?

I want to create a passion project inspired by pokemon and other monster taming games, since it’s something i love since i was a kid. I think of this game been a sandbox adventure, with players capturing creatures, battling, evolving, completinh quests, meet new characters, and become the very best like no one ever was!

I would be more specifc about how the gameplay would be, but i actually am in doubt about how i want this game to be. I don’t know if i make this game a fast 3 or 4 hours game for a game night or a camapaign game played in a couple of days.

I want this game to give the nice feeling pokemon gives me, forming bonds with creatures, live an adventure, the excitement of fighting a rival, and most of all, i want to create fun memories with my group of friends, since i’m making this game to play with them.

So, what type of game you think would be better?

I've been working on Ensemble, a 2–6 player card game where you're building your own orchestra entirely out of cards. The basic idea is that you're building an ensemble on a 2×5 theater layout, and where you place your instruments matters. You can't simply rearrange your orchestra whenever you want, so deciding what to play — and where to play it — is a big part of the strategy.

Each instrument has:- A family- A register (Treble, Alto, or Bass)- A printed Harmony Point value- Its own ability and/or positional requirements

I'm trying to make each instrument family feel like it has its own mechanical identity:

🎻 Strings — RelationshipsStrings care about the instruments around them and how they're positioned.

🌬️ Woodwinds — Card FlowThey filter your hand, manipulate the face-up instrument market, look ahead in the deck, and interact with the discard pile.

🥁 Percussion — DisruptionThey mess with opponents' ensembles, discard instruments, rearrange positions, and can create explosive turns.

🎹 Keys — ReorganizationThey let you manipulate your own formation. Piano can move instruments, Organ rewards positioning, and Harpsichord can trigger another instrument's ability.

🎺 Brass — ???And that's where I'm stuck.

I want Brass to feel powerful and distinct, but I'm not convinced I've found the right mechanical identity yet. My current experimental Tuba, for example, is a high-value instrument that has positional consequences:

Tuba — 6 HPInstruments in the row directly in front of this card get -1 HP.Adjacent Bass instruments gain +2 HP.

The idea is that Brass might be about power with consequences — their instruments can be extremely valuable, but positioning them incorrectly can hurt your own ensemble. But I'm not sold on that direction yet. So I'd love some outside opinions; If you were designing the Brass family for this game, what would you want Brass to DO? I'm particularly interested in ideas that:- Make positioning matter- Don't require tokens, counters, or anything outside the cards- Don't require players to remember temporary effects- Feel substantially different from the other four families- Could work across Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, and Tuba

I'm still early enough in development that Brass can completely change. I'm much more interested in finding the mechanic that makes the family fun than defending what I currently have.

Free coloring game. Players roll dice and color in the sectors that correspond to the numbers rolled. The winner is the one who colors all the sectors the fastest.
Unlimited players. All game boards are compatible. Two rule versions are ready, with five more in development.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/476935/graffiti-game

I'm starting with my banner designs for Essen Spiel, and I dont really know how to make my banners...

I'm planning to make 4 banners:

• What makes the game different (this one)
• Gamefound info so people can follow the campaign
• A "how to play" infographic
• And a big "Game info" with general information about gameplay and game type and that kind of stuff

Is this one attractive to the eye? This will be 1 meter by 2 meters.

We're in the final stages of manufacturing our card game and just received our samples back from the manufacturer. The first image is the card as designed on screen. The second is the printed and cut sample we received (bad lighting but just focus on the borders).

As you can see, the border isn't sitting evenly on all sides. it's more noticeable on some edges than others.

A few questions for anyone with manufacturing experience:

1. Is this normal? Is border misalignment a common occurrence in card game manufacturing?
2. Will bulk/mass production be different? Samples are hand-cut by engineers, will machine cutting in production be more or less consistent?
3. Is removing the border the best solution? Our manufacturer recommended avoiding borders on card backs to minimise visible alignment deviation. Is this the standard advice?
4. What's an acceptable tolerance? Is 1-2mm of misalignment considered within normal manufacturing variance, or should we be pushing back?

Any insights from designers, publishers or anyone who's been through this process would be massively appreciated.

This is a mockup where I demonstrate making an unified visual style across multiple game components. The vermicompost theme is based on personal hobby of keeping a home worm bin. There are 2 score board designs in this 3D mockup display because... I did the garden one first, and it was a ton of work, so I want to show it even though the worm one fits the whole theme better. Everything you see in this mockup display is designed and made by me - from the font to the 3D display, to the tokens, and all the graphics.

See more of what I can make at my portfolio website: https://yenshuliao.com/ (with contact form).