ABOUT OBSIDIAN

ON THE WAR-TORN FIELDS OF HELLES, TAKE UP YOUR HEROIC PATH AND FULFILL YOUR DESTINY.

Obsidian started as the passion project of two hobbyist game designers in early 2024. It’s the product of our love of dark-fantasy and card battlers (Magic the Gathering, SorceryTCG, Netrunner, and others). We sought to apply a fresh perspective to the well established TCG battler design space.

The game is offered as a free-to-play pre-alpha version as we assess the immense task of funding original art. The game leverages archival paintings and etchings to provide a visual experience for playtesting, without using AI art.

What makes Obsidian compelling:

  • A rich, immersive lore-based world and mechanical flavour

  • A dedicated “Hero” card that represents the player and guides deck-building

  • A unique, location-based approach to resource accumulation that doesn’t use a restrictive grid

  • A Time mechanic, that drives a compelling narrative arch from start to finish

  • Fast-paced, snappy gameplay that creates exciting swings without compromising momentum

If this sounds like fun, you can download the game files for physical print or TableTop Simulator and watch our How to Play videos linked from our Play page.

THE LORE OF OBSIDIAN

In the years leading up to the current era, the people of Helles have lived in a constant state of war and unrest. Rival factions and families have divided the region, with the city of Helles (for which the region is named) as a central battleground.

The ancient walls around the city have crumbled and the various factions have been able to move in and out of it, establishing their own borders within the ruins. Commerce and religion exist alongside this state of war. In the far reaches beyond the walls, life of all kinds thrives despite the harsh climate and landscape.

Only at the beginning of this era did a new central power emerge: the ambitious general Arden usurped the last king of Helles and unified the region under his iron rule and fanatical devotion to his religion. Now, a deadly plague in the eastern district of the city threatens this stability, as it seeps from the sewers beneath the church quarter.

THE HEROES OF HELLES

  • Arden, a general in the former king’s army, rose through the ranks by his military conquest of the Helles peninsula, which consolidated enough power in his hands to eventually organize a blood coup. Backed by the church, he is using his resources to erect a great tower of glass and marble at the center of the Helles palace grounds. The common people of the city don’t know much about what lies within the enclave, but there are rumours of greenhouses where fruit trees are grown with light redirected by the tower’s structure. Fools say the tower is built to warm an inner chamber where an angel is kept sleeping.

  • A former priest of the church of Helles, Elaine became interested in the forbidden arts of necromancy after discovering manuscripts within the city’s ancient library. Elaine obsessed over a particular, wormlike creature found in the marshes of the city port, which she found had the ability to possess and control its host. Over the years she practiced her art in secret, growing increasingly alienated from her order. She now has taken up refuge in a dilapidated chapel on the outskirts of the church district, compelled by a dark whisper in the depths of her mind.

  • Sila’s desperate upbringing pushed her into the role of farmer’s wife, residing on a pitiful plot of land in the Meadlands to the south east of Helles. Some years into their desperation, Sila came into tragedy and fortune: the death of her husband and the inheritance of unexpected wealth. Neighbours pitied her and guessed the wealth came from a distant relative.

    She used this wealth to acquire a nearby meadery, which she ran successfully. Sila’s wealth continued to grow, as she acquired more lands and spread her influence. Now those who know her respect her, but also speak of a dark cloud that hangs over her, which seems to run deeper than her tragic loss.

  • A renowned huntmaster, Harl lead a fierce pack of grisled trappers on sanctioned hunts for local nobles, as well as some unsanctioned expeditions of his own. His modest keep abutted the Blackwood, far to the north of the capital.

    As the years passed, his clout with the nobles degraded—gossip about his abusive and sometimes frightful behaviour spread. His keep fell into disrepair and his men disbanded one by one until only a small group of his most loyal remained.

    Those who venture near his camp now tell tales of howling and wild beasts, captured in the Blackwood and kept as mongrel pets.