Meta Monday: Duel Masters

The Duel Masters franchise is one that I would honestly say I've been a fan of for a long time, but I've really never dug in very deep.  That may be slowly changing as it catches more and more of my attention as a decidedly meta take on a fantasy world.

It all started with a manga more than 20 years ago.  If the story I read was correct...and I'm remembering it correctly...creator Shigenobu Matsumoto was supposed to make a comic based on Magic: The Gathering.  The intention was for him to tell a story set among the fantastic planes of MTG.  What he delivered, though, was a tale of a young boy (Shobu) striving to become a Magic: The Gathering champion...

From Wikipedia

It wouldn't be until later in the series that the manga would lend its name to a completely new card game, clearly inspired by the mechanics and the five-color cosmology of MTG but operating as its own entity.  There's definitely a sort of MTG meets Yu-Gi-Oh! aura about it, and it seems to have been a pretty smart move by Wizards of the Coast.  (I realize that last statement doesn't get written very much in our hobby these days...)

From the Duel Masters Wiki

I was just observing from the sidelines as the game made its way to the States and gained a reasonable amount of popularity.  And when I saw that the second set was called "Evo-Crushinators of Doom," I could tell that there might be something interestingly self-aware about the property.  I would eventually pick up one of the GBA games, and Fr. Josh and I split a set of mega-discounted starter decks at Dragon Con one year.  (In fact, my favorite experience with the game itself is probably the time my friend John wanted to get in a lunchtime game of MTG at Georgia State, and while I found myself without a Magic deck, I did happen to have a Duel Masters deck on me.  John graciously allowed me to play the Duel Masters deck in a game of Magic...dividing combat values by 1000, of course...and it worked pretty darn well!)

While the game seems to still be going strong in Japan, it hasn't had an English release in almost 20 years.  There was an attempt to reboot/reinterpret it as Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, but this didn't last very long.  And so, in 2025, there doesn't seem to be much of a push for the IP in North America.

Thankfully, the animated series is readily available via streaming, and the property's meta bona fides really come out in these episodes.  We eventually realize that as a Kaijudo Master in training (Kaijudo being "the way of the monster," the dueling that takes place between...duel masters), Shobu is actually capable of summoning creatures from their own realms into ours.  Before long, Shobu and his friends make their way into these fantastic worlds (referred to as "Civilizations" and bearing great similarity to the five colors of MTG).

It's also worth noting that the English dub of the anime takes the multiversal nature of the storyline to even another level, as the characters often seem to be aware that they are characters in an animated show.  And while I haven't watched a ton of it, what I've seen has been a lot of fun.  It's clear that the team localizing the show for North America really enjoyed what they were doing with it, as the dialogue is often a rapid-fire series of pop culture references, fourth wall acknowledgments, nods to genre clichés, and good old dad jokes.  It won't all land for everyone, but I'll admit that I have laughed out loud on more than one occasion (not full-bodied guffaws, but definitely audible chuckles...).

I really think I have to incorporate something along the lines of Duel Masters into the Monstrous Matters universe.  The idea of being connected to fantastic realms via a card game is just too cool to ignore for someone like me who, gaming-wise, might be a cardflopper at heart above all else.  I did write up a Card-caster class for OSR gaming way back when in connection with the Tenkar's Landing crowdsourced hexcrawl project...so maybe I need to dust that off and see if I can work it into something that will fit into my fantasy (monstrous) heartbreaker...

Oh man, I love that art by my bud J.R. Mounts...!

A work-in-progress Elemental Color Wheel

I spend a fair amount of time...a lot more than anyone probably should, to be honest...thinking about elemental philosophies in games, beliefs, and esoteric pursuits.  I am certainly no expert (far from it!), but I think my history as a tabletop gamer has naturally led to this as a sort of obsession.  After all, I was pulled into gaming by the Pokémon TCG, have become a hopeless lifetime devotee of Magic: The Gathering (even during stretches where I don't get to play it at all), and lately have put a lot of thought into traveling around in a fantasy cosmology.

Plus, I'm a functional scientist myself.  It kind of feels like I'm meant to ponder such things.  In fact, the appeal of working out a sensible and symmetrical elemental system in my mind is probably similar to the drive a lot of physicists have in their search for a theory of everything.  If I were smart enough to fully comprehend both general relativity and quantum mechanics, I might spend my showers trying to merge them in my brain.  But I'm not, so that shower time is spent thinking about how MTG's colors interact with Pokémon's types.  And the result, so far, is this work in progress...

I'm thinking this is a broad overview of the Inner Planes, the sources of elements and energy that give rise to the physical world.  There are still Outer Planes of various philosophical persuasions that are filtered through these elements to create our experience of the universe.  On the wheel so far, you'll find the colors of MTG, some Pokémon types (video games and card game may be represented separately, since they do differ in a way that reduces the number of types for the TCG), most of the Duel Masters civilizations, a couple of World of Warcraft classes (using their Hearthstone icons), and one stray aspect from the Star Wars: Unlimited TCG.  The Ravnican guilds whose color combinations fit the wheel are also represented, in part because I think it's cool how the Boros logo echos Pokémon's Fighting symbol, and how Dimir and Psychic share an eye in their icons (plus the colors kind of work!).

Also, I stole that color wheel in the middle from here; let me know if it seems like gratuitous theft, please.  I do think I like the hexagonal RGB+CMY skeleton for the wheel!

Okay, enough blabbing.  If you have thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions, please throw 'em my way!

Look, Dad, all those philosophy classes are paying off!

The Card-caster class (for OSR games)

On Monday, I posted a few of the beasts that JR Mounts drew for me to use as summoned creatures for a class that performs magic from a deck of cards.  The Card-caster class is part of my contribution to the Tenkar's Landing crowdsourced hexcrawl project...a part of the contribution that is probably so superfluous to the point of the project that it will never be used by anyone, but a part of it nonetheless.

As I actually did put some effort into making the class balanced and suitable for dueling (once a sufficient number of cards are created), though, I wanted to also share it here.  Any and all feedback is welcomed, of course...I love the idea of turning this into its own little minigame within a campaign, and I'm sure there are a lot of possibilities I failed to consider!

New class:  Card-caster

Card-casters are students of the art of card battling, known in the local Hobgoblin tongue as vrakkig.  They are capable of harnessing magic using a deck of specially crafted playing cards.  While many scholars mock these arcane warriors as incapable of “true” magic, they have been known to hold their own against those who wield the powers of many other traditions.

Hit Dice and saves: as Cleric.

Advancement, combat, weapons and armor: as Magic-user.

Card-casters maintain a collection of playing cards that enable them to cast spells and summon creatures from beyond the realm.  This collection may include any cards found, bought, or traded for by the character.  Each morning, they will prepare a deck from among the cards in their collection and shuffle this deck well.

Card-casters must have a number of cards in their deck equal to three times their Card-caster level.  By choice or necessity, any number of these cards may be copies of the card “Next!”  It is a Level 1 Spell that simply reads “Draw a card,” and is known among Card-casters and collectors as a super-ultra-basic-common…that is, there are tons of them around, and no one would really mind if a Card-caster just made their own copies anyway.  Other than “Next!”, all cards in a Card-caster’s deck must have unique names.  All but ONE (at maximum) card must have a Card Level equal to or less than the Card-caster’s level.

At the point in the day in which a Card-caster wishes to initiate card battling, they immediately draw an opening hand equal to ½ their Card-caster level, rounded down (minimum of 1 card).  At the beginning of each subsequent round, they draw one card from the top of the deck and are then able to take their action or actions for the round.  Attempting to cast a card takes one round of action.  A Card-caster may, in place of attempting to cast a card, discard as many cards as desired and draw that many.

Those casting a card (including other adventurers who come into possession of magical cards) have a casting power = 10 + their Card-caster level.  Cards have a Level equal to Hit Dice of the monster or the number indicated in the upper left corner of a spell card.  When a card is cast, roll 1d20 and add the card’s Level.  If the result is higher than the caster’s casting power, the card fizzles.  Once a casting attempt is carried out, whether or not it is successful, the card is sent to the “discard pile,” an interdimensional pocket that keeps cards in near-mint condition until they are accessed again the next morning.  (All cards discarded for any other reason also go here.)  The one exception to this is when a monster is returned to its realm of origin, in which case the monster’s card returns to the hand of its summoner.

When the deck is depleted, the character cannot cast any more cards unless something happens to put discarded cards back into the deck.  Summoned monsters return to their realm, and all spell effects end, 1 hour after last card is drawn from the deck.

As a general rule, summoned monsters deal 1d6 damage and have d6 Hit Dice.  Damage on all cards is listed in terms of d6.  (These can be changed to d8’s for games of a basic or advanced nature.)

Cards used by Card-casters may have a back that looks something like this, although characters are known to be able to change the appearance of their cardbacks by all sorts of magical means.  (Icon on cardback made by Lorc.  Available on http://game-icons.net.)

(Oh, and here are a couple of the non-monster cards featuring JR's art...I'll keep sharing them over the course of the next couple of weeks...!)