Studies in Sorcery: An engine building and drafting about earning a degree in the dark arts

[Nick Kopp]

Check out the kickstarter page for more information!

 

In Studies in Sorcery, players are students at the Academy of Dark Arts who are trying to finally finish their thesis statement and get their Master's Degree in the Dark Arts.   Each field of study at the Academy of Dark Arts is different and requires different skills.

 

• Alchemy takes time but can grant you abilities instantly.
• Reanimation requires just the right ingredients if you want to really impress the professors and can help you build future projects even faster.
• Sorcery takes work, but can grant you new abilities depending on the phase of the moon.

On their turn, players can choose to scavenge for ingredients or to go get more projects to work on. At the end of each round, players can commit their ingredients to projects and hopefully finish a project so they can reap the rewards of a job well done. The game ends after four semesters have passed and players present their projects for review.   Choose your thesis and fields of study wisely and even you can get your degree in darkness!

Studies in Sorcery Overview

You are a student at the Academy of the Dark Arts. It's your final semester and it's time to complete some projects, present your thesis, and hopefully become Valedictorian! 

Projects

You will have projects face-up in front of you that you are working on. You start with one project, and you’ll be able to gain more as the game progresses (we’ll get back to that later). All projects require time and materials to complete, represented by icons on the left side of the card. When completed, the projects grant credits and abilities, represented on the right side of the card.

Gaining Materials

Most of the materials you’ll need… can’t exactly be bought in stores. So wait for nightfall, grab your spade, and get ready to go digging. Look through the series of face-down grave piles. If you like what’s in a pile you take all of it; if you don’t, add a face-down card to it and look at the next pile.

 

Eventually you’ll find what you’re looking for, right? Oh wow, this third pile is all worthless, why oh why didn’t you take that first pile when you had the chance? Keep a straight face… maybe no one will notice and you can go back and get that pile on your next turn…

 

Study Hall

After everyone has taken their turn, it’s time to get working on those projects. Match up icons on your materials with to icons on your projects (each material card only counts as one). But time is limited, so you only get to commit 2 cards each turn. ...unless you reanimate a skeletal friend to help out, or drink a sketchy potion.

The Lunar Cycle

You have 4 months to get your projects complete and submit for your final grade. Each turn you’ll advance through the phases of the moon, and in fact some of your projects will grant abilities that depend on the current phase of the moon (I heard that if you complete Sorcery 102 that you can see through solid matter when the moon is full). All told that means you have 16 turns… you better plan your time well! Don’t worry, you can always skip your nightly dig time to instead cram straight through ‘til morning… you did stockpile materials before finals week, didn’t you?

Expand Your Mind

Instead of taking a dig action you can buy projects from the market. All materials have a trade in value, so maybe that dusty old ring you found can fuel your growing educational needs. Early on you’ll primarily be working on 100-level projects, but over time you’ll get access to 200-level and powerful 300-level projects. I hear that Alchemy 322 is a breeze – you can totally skip the lectures and just show up for the final.

 

On Kickstarter October 6th

Check out the kickstarter page for more information!

Edited September 27, 2020 by Nick Kopp