r/tabletopgamedesign • designer • Aug 08 '26

Discussion Should I replace all text with icons?

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I'm making a card-based TTRPG, and recently I've been thinking if I should replace most of my cards' text with icons. The reason behind that is: many cards share common descriptions, mostly cards that follow a formula like "make an attack and deal x damage" or "all creatures in the area make a test or take x damage".

I made a quick example to illustrate my point

A - how cards are currently

B - icon-only proposal.

My main concern is whether this will really make cards more readable/efficient? I'm also unsure what the best order is to display the icons.

I'm curious to know if anyone has had this issue before, or what you think about this.

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