Horsefame Rules · 3:37pm Feb 12th, 2023
Horsefame
The Official Unofficial Fimfiction Card Game
Rules v0.1
Welcome to Horsefame! Horsefame is a trading card game based on Fimfiction, Fimfiction authors, and their stories. This document outlines the basics of how to play. Horsefame is still early in development, so this is an evolving document, and rules are subject to change.
You can find the list of Horsefame cards here.
Have fun!
What You Will Need to Play
You will need at least two players, one deck of Horsefame cards for each player, a set of at least seven six-sided dice (though one set of different coloured dice for each player may be preferrable), and some way to represent a player's energy (for instance, pencil and paper, or a set of small items to act as tokens).
Deck Composition
Horsefame is played using decks of author and effect cards. The minimum size of a deck is forty cards, and you can only have up to three copies of cards with the same name in your deck.
You will also need story cards to go in your story pile. These are kept separate from your deck, and you may have at most fifteen of them in your pile. You cannot have more than one copy of any story card in your story pile.
The Goal of the Game
The end goal of the game is to amass a total of twenty Energy. Once a player does, the game immediately ends and they are the winner.
The Playing Field
The playing field is split up into several areas, called zones. These are outlined below.
Library
The Library is where your deck goes. It sits face down. You may not look through your Library unless directed to by a card. You draw one card from your Library each turn in your draw step. Card abilities may interact with your Library in various ways.
The Hand
The hand is where your playable cards reside. You start the game with a hand of five cards, and cards that are drawn from the Library go into your Hand. The hand has a maximum size of seven cards; if you enter your cleanup step at the end of your turn with more than seven cards in your hand, you must discard until you have only seven. Your opponent cannot see the cards in your hand unless instructed to by a card ability.
The Story Pile
Stories are kept in the Story Pile. The Story Pile has a max starting size of fifteen. The story pile remains face down, but you may look through it at any time. When a story is retired or leaves the Feature Box, it is returned to the Story Pile.
The Discard Pile
Cards that are not stories go into the Discard Pile when they are discarded or retired. Effect cards go into the Discard Pile after their effects have resolved.
Exile
Cards may only be sent here by card effects. Cards may only be returned from exile by card effects. You cannot interact with cards in exile, and their abilities do nothing. They are essentially removed from play.
Play Zones
Each player has two Play Zones. Authors and some Effects are played into the Play Zone.
Each Play Zone has several slots into which cards can be played. For each Play Zone, there is one Writer slot and three Editor slots. Cards may have different abilities depending on what slot they are played into. In general, cards in Editor slots will provide bonuses to the card in the Writer slot of that Play Zone. Cards in Editor slots can be 'rotated' into a Writer slot at any time during your main phase on your turn.
The Feature Box
Stories are played into a special zone on the field called the Feature Box. The Feature Box has seven slots which can hold cards (if you are playing with more than two players, the Feature Box has ten slots instead). Cards in the Feature Box are ordered according to their heat score, with the story with the most Heat in slot number one and the story with the least Heat in slot number seven. If two stories have the same amount of Heat, the newer story goes on top. Whenever a story in the Feature Box loses or gains Heat, the Feature Box is re-ordered.
Stories in the Feature Box generate one Energy for their controller at the beginning of that player's turn, and generate one additional energy if they are in slot one. Immediately after all that player's stories have generated their energy for the turn, they all simultaneously lose one heat unless otherwise specified on the story's card.
A story leaves the Feature Box once its Heat drops to zero or it is pushed out past the last slot by other stories. A story that enters the Feature Box with zero Heat does still trigger "enter the Feature Box" effects, but is removed immediately afterwards. The Feature Box is not reordered when this occurs.
Types of Cards
There are three types of cards: Authors, Stories, and Effects.
Author Cards
Author cards are played into either your Writer or Editor slots in one of your Play Zones. You may play one Author card for free on your turn; additional Author cards may be played, but cost two Energy each.
An Author card may have effects that are specified as either "Editor" or "Writer". These abilities are only active or activatable when the Author is in the proper slot on the field. An author cannot activate its Writer abilities on the same turn it entered an Writer slot, but Editor abilities take effect immediately after the Author is played into an Editor slot.
Effect Cards
Effect cards have a variety of abilities and effects. They must be paid for in Energy; their energy cost is specified on the card. There are four types of effect cards; the type of an effect controls when and how it may be played.
Regular effects with no type may be played only during the main phase of your turn. They go into the discard pile after their effect resolves.
Oneshot effects may be played on your turn and during your opponent's turn. They go into the discard pile after their effect resolves.
Longfic effects are played into your own editor slots. They typically have long-lasting continuous effects, and only go to the discard pile after they are removed from that slot, either by a card ability or by paying two energy.
Blog effects are played into the feature box. Like story cards, they have a heat score specified on the card which is decreased by one at the beginning of your turn during your heat step. Unlike stories, they do not generate energy. Blog effects remain in the feature box until they are pushed out or their heat decreases to zero, after which they go into your discard pile.
Story Cards
Story cards are special cards. They do not go into your main deck, and are instead kept in your Story Pile. Stories are played into the Feature Box; doing this is called 'posting'. Stories may only be posted when another card effect says they can be posted. Posting a story costs energy equal to the amount specified on the card. Stories enter the feature box with a certain amount of Heat specified on the card, plus any bonuses granted to it by Author or Effect cards. Heat is represented by a six-sided die which may be placed on top of the card. The maximum heat a story can have, unless otherwise specified, is six.
Stories also have genre tags. Stories can have a maximum of two genres. Other card effects may interact with a story based on its genres.
The Stack
When you play an effect or activate an ability, it doesn't resolve immediately ("resolving" just meaning that its effect happens). Instead, it goes on the stack. Triggered abilities also go on the stack.
The stack is shared by all players. When a card ability or effect goes on the stack, other players may choose to respond (if they can) with their own effects or abilities. These go on top of the stack, above the original effect or ability.
When no players wish to place anything more on the stack, the stack begins to resolve. The stack resolves in reverse order to the effects or abilities played; the ability on the top of the stack resolves, then the one below it, then the one below it, etc., until there is nothing left on the stack. Players may still activate abilities or play effects as the stack is resolving; these still go on top of the stack.
Targeting
Some cards will have abilities that "target" something. Targeting is a requirement; if a card says "target author", and there are no authors in play, then you may not play that card. Targets are chosen before that card effect goes on the stack. You may not change targets after they have been chosen. If a chosen target is no longer legal when a targeted card effect resolves, then the card does nothing to that target.
Parts of a Turn
A turn is borken up into several phases. These phases are outlined below in order. Phases can be divided into steps. The game moves to the next step once all players decline to act and the stack is empty.
Beginning Phase
Collection Step: Your stories in the Feature Box generate Energy, which you collect. You also gain 1 Energy automatically.
Heat Step: Your stories in the Feature Box all lose one heat, unless otherwise specified.
Upkeep Step: Stories that trigger "at the beginning of your upkeep" go on the stack.
Draw Step: You must draw one card from your Library. If your library is empty and you cannot draw a card, you lose the game. In a two-player game, the person who goes first skips this step on their first turn.
Main Phase
During this phase, you may play Authors and Effects, activate abilities of cards in play, and post stories. Your opponent may play Effects that have the Oneshot keyword and activate abilities of their cards.
End Phase
End Step: Abilities that trigger "at the beginning of your end step" go on the stack.
Cleanup Step: If you have more than seven cards in your hand, discard cards until you only have seven.
Starting the Game
Before the game begins, decide the turn order (this may be done by each player rolling a die; the player with the highest number goes first and turn order goes clockwise from there).
All players draw five cards. Starting with the player going first, each player in turn order may choose to mulligan; they shuffle their hand into their library and then draw the same number of cards they shuffled in minus one. This continues until all players have selected their hand. The game now begins.
The player who goes first skips their draw step. Subsequent players do not.
On Your Turn
At the beginning of your turn, you enter into your collection step. Give yourself 1 Energy, then gather energy from your stories in the Feature Box. Once you have done so, enter your heat step. Decrease the heat score of each of your stories in the Feature Box by one. Your heat step is now over, and you enter into your draw step. If this is not the first turn of the game, draw a card. Once you have done so, your draw step ends and you enter into your main phase.
During your main phase, you may play authors and effects and activate the abilities of cards. You may play one author for free each turn; subsequent authors will cost two energy to play. Effects may be played, but you must pay their energy cost to do so. The abilities of cards in your author and editor slots may also be activated according to the rules text on the cards in question. Remember, editor effects may only be applied when a card is in an Editor slot, and writer effects may only be applied when a card is in a Writer slot.
Once you are finished, and your opponent finishes playing cards or activating the abilities of their cards (that they may play during an opponent's turn), and there is nothing left on the stack, your main phase ends. You now go into your end phase. At the end of your end phase, during your cleanup step, if you have more than your maximum hand size of seven cards, you must select and discard cards until you are back to your maximum hand size.
Glossary of Terms
Draw — Take the card on top of your Library and add it to your hand.
Retire — put a card from the field into its owner's Discard Pile if the card is an author or an effect; if it is a story, it goes to its owner's Story Pile.
Discard — put a card from your hand into its owner's Discard Pile.
Exile — put a card into Exile.
Instruction unclear, I en passanted pawn on f6
Oh, this is delightful. Thanks for bringing it to full fruition.
I legit wonder if this could in any way be marketed to people who don't read fanfiction, aren't into ponies, or both >.>