Karmaka and the Karmic Ladder

Posted by on Mar 9, 2015 in Karmaka | No Comments

This is the first in a series of three short posts that delve into the mechanics of our upcoming card game, Karmaka. The game has some unique and juicy mechanics that strongly reflect its karmic “what goes around comes around” theme, and we’re excited to start sharing them with you. Today we’ll start with the overall game structure: multiple lives and the Karmic Ladder!

Karmaka is a competitive card game for 2-4 players. Each player begins the game as a Dung Beetle, working its way up the Karmic Ladder to Transcendence. The first player to achieve Transcendence wins! So what does that mean? Well, there is an actual Karmic Ladder component in the game – a score tracker of sorts.

The Karmic Ladder
 

At the start of the game, each player places their token at the bottom of Ladder, on the Dung Beetle level. They are also dealt a hand of cards. That hand represents their life. When a player runs out of cards, their current life ends and they are Reincarnated. One of the things players can do in the game is score points (described in a future post); if a player scores enough points by the time they Reincarnate, success! – they move up to the next level of the Ladder.  As shown in the image above, a Dung Beetle player must score at least 4 points in a life to ascend to Snake. 5 points are needed to ascend from Snake to Wolf; 6 to ascend from Wolf to Ape, and 7 to ascend from Ape to Transcendence.  Ultimately, the game is a race – first player to Transcendence is the winner!

If a player fails to achieve the requisite number of points, they do not ascend and instead must live another life at their current level. However, as a consolation prize, they receive a Karmic Ring token, which can be “cashed in” during a future Reincarnation for one point apiece – thereby making a future ascension easier to achieve.

And that’s it – the overarching structure of Karmaka! We’ve also touched on all of the game’s components: the cards, the Ladder, the player tokens, and Karmic Rings. These, along with the rules and the box, will be what’s included in the game.

Next time we’ll dive into details on the cards. Karmaka is first and foremost a card game, and that’s where the real meat of the action takes place!

Any thoughts or questions on the above? Does it seem clear and simple enough? Please let us know! The way we will present this information (in the game rules, on our future Kickstarter page, etc.) will be heavily influenced by your feedback. Thanks!