I’ve hit a milestone with Nobles & Glory: the rules are at the point where only more playtesting will decide what changes next.
After years of designing, rewriting, pruning and layering in the theme, the core rulebook, flavour text and Foreword feel complete. Everything essential is there. From here on, the work is tightening what’s already there, and I expect only minor tweaks as testing turns things up. A couple of new rules still haven’t been playtested and may need balancing, but the overall structure is set.
Playtesting will run over the next few weeks. I’ll be playing mock games against myself on PlayingCards.io (highly recommended for prototyping card games), plus a handful of real games with my wife, who is brilliant at games and ruthless at finding the edges of a ruleset.
I’m also glad I didn’t call it “done” sooner. Months ago there were times I thought it was finished, but every time I took a break and came back, I spotted a big chance to improve it. Some of the best features in the game only exist because I stopped, re-read, and let myself change my mind. That’s been humbling.
There have been moments of doubt too. Reading the whole rulebook front to back can be overwhelming, and there’s always a flicker of uncertainty. Have I made something too strange, or too complicated? Is this just a big, well-meaning misstep? It’s easy to start second-guessing when there’s nothing quite like it out there.
In the end, though, I keep coming back to the fact that I love it. The systems are rewarding, and I’m confident that players who enjoy deep, strategic card games will connect with it.
It isn’t built for everyone, and it was never meant to be. It’s a very specific thing, made with care. The fact that it only needs a standard deck of cards makes it more interesting to me, because it shows there’s room for ambitious ideas within simple materials.
Next comes the final layout, which I’ll be filling with authentic medieval artwork, and after that, self-publishing. When I get there, I want to be able to say I finished it properly.
Thanks for following the journey.
– Jonathan
