Primordial Greek Mythology Playing Cards

[synedrionmg]

Hey everyone,

I've only just joined the forum, after collecting cards for a fair amount of time I finally decided to bite the bullet and go for a crowd funder in the coming months with what I hope will be the first in a series of Greek mythology based playing cards. Although I have several other ideas to paper that I can put to use as well for any given project this one is the one I was most keen to get off the ground so I've decided to go for this specific deck first which is based around the primordial deities in Greek mythology (the first gods and goddesses born from the void of Chaos). There will be two variations of the cards as you can see on the image below, standard (Ivory/Gold) and (Black/Red) and there will also be a limited run of gilded versions of both editions as well.

Design and illustration is by Charles Adi (Blackout Brother).

Thoughts, comments or any feedback would be highly appreciated

[aznh]

Hey Costa, nice deck. I like them!

I like the white more then the black but that's my opinion. I'd like to see more of the court cards, the aces always interest me more then the kings or queens.

Gilded you say, I'd back it providing the number of gilded decks aren't limited to 3,500 decks like some campaigns currently running cough, cough mint, cough.

Cheers,

[synedrionmg]

Thank you, glad you like them.

The other court cards are being worked on now so when a few more are done I'll pick a some out and post an update on the above. Aces on these you'll like once done as there is a really neat idea for them as well based around the theme.

Gilded decks, I haven't got the exact number just yet but on paper I'm looking to have around 500-750 of each of the above two, the white with gold edges and the black with red.

haha well I assume Mint has a much much bigger following then most by the looks of it so I guess they can do much higher numbers and call them limited as the demand is certainly there. I'm backing the recent campaign as well

[RichK]

Art is good but why a one way card? The Queen is in profile and face forward, I say pick one aspect and make it a true two way.

White is better than black. Not a fan of the back design on the face card either. I hope you can come up with better idea.

Hope this helps.

[Räpylätassu]

Reminds me of the Hercules deck, but the difference is that this one is better. I like what I see so far.

[PipChick]

Reminds me of the Hercules deck, but the difference is that this one is better. I like what I see so far.

yea, the colors strongly remind me of the Hercules deck as well.

Art is good but why a one way card? The Queen is in profile and face forward, I say pick one aspect and make it a true two way.

White is better than black. Not a fan of the back design on the face card either. I hope you can come up with better idea..

The one-way design doesn't bother me much but I can understand the appeal it has for others.

As for the background details behind the focal artwork; I personally think the beige on white is a subtle enough contrast to not distract from and/or busy the overall design. However, I'm not too sure with the grey on black combination - the current tone of grey looks to me to have a too stark of contrast to the background and, because of such, appears to almost compete with the design a teensy-tiny bit IMHO.

I'd also be interested to see how the design on the court as well as the tuck might benefit from an ever so slightly bolder black outline around the focal artwork and/or some slightly darkened up areas of shadows to show depth (particularly on the tuck to distinguish the foreground of her hands in front from the rest of her in the middleground). I think either of these minor adjustments could really help in makin' the design 'pop' and stand stronger on it's own (although, honestly, the artwork is pretty good as is now and these are only my own thoughts for possible improvement).

At the moment, of the two decks, I much prefer the white edition over the black one.

Just my 2 cents

Thanks for sharing - I'm very much looking forward to seeing more

[Bradius]

You are a talented artist, but the deck isn't really sticking out enough for me to want to back. I think the designs I have seen so far would make best sense as a complete two-way design rather than one way. I too much prefer the white to the dark version. I do get the feeling that the artwork is a bit crowded in not a good way. I wish I could give some more detailed feedback. I do like that you are going for USPCC. If so, you might consider Bicycle branding as that can bring in other collectors.

[JuFiN]

If you go Kickstarter for this I suggest funding one deck as the main goal with the second as a stretch it can be hard for new faces to get funded and two decks at once is ambitious. I’ll be there to back when the time comes though

[synedrionmg]

Thanks everyone for the comment so far. I'd say the one thing that's really amde my day reading all the above is going by what I'm reading the standard design (white/gold) sees to be more appealing as originally given the theme of the deck the alternate darker version seemed more suited so I thought it would appeal more overall (my personal taste included).

RichK; personal preference really, it's just a style that appeals to me personally. No reason other then that, but I was expecting mixed response for this so all good.

PipChick; we did try various colours for the backing (grey areas) on the black cards and out of all of them the one you see above was actually the best. We had variations in much lighter grey, white, red etc but in the end it made the artwork overall look very crowded. This was a hard one but a darker backing image we felt keeps more focus on the character in the center as it dosen't distract from it in a major way. I'll update a few more designs here and there for you and everyone later down the line

Bradius; Yeah, originally it was suggested to me elsewhere do do a branded version with Bicycle as well but I was hesitant originally but for the reason you stated it is a good idea as well so in all likelyhood I just might. Only thing to factor in here is slight additional cost for branding which would push any target amount up slightly on the campaign.

JuFiN; Being a new face is the only concern with this project and possible, what Bradius suggested can help with this re: Bicycle branding for slight wider appeal. The original gameplan on paper is to have both decks (possible Bicycle branded with them which added would take it from two to four) but the gilded versions as a stretch goal and a few 'novelty' items available such as coins, dice, maybe some avaiable from the start and some as add-ons and subject to certain target amounts being reached as normal. Plenty of options to play with

[theCapraAegagrus]

These do look good. I prefer the white/gold face, but the black/red back just looks better. Both tucks look great.

I also LOVE the "1-way" courts.

[MTdesigns]

I have always loved Greek Mythology! The artwork & design style is super.

I like the interesting twist on the Queen. Not sure if all the face cards have the same one way design but it would make for a a unique look.

For the colors, I immediately prefered the lighter version of the deck. It just seems to fit the theme better. This is of course a personal preference but it is definately the version I would purchase given a choice.

I'm curious about the Aces now...

[Merlebird]

I have to admit I passed this thread up a couple times before stopping in to have a look - Greco-Roman mythology feels like it's been done to death lately - but I'm glad I finally did. The quality of the artwork is very promising and I'm excited to see more.

I understand why some prefer the white deck - the figure "pops" from the background a little better - but for the pre-Olympian gods of Greek mythology, who generally have a sinister cast to them, the darker deck feels more thematically appropriate. (Also I'm a sucker for non-white decks.)

If you change anything about the Queen of Spade's lineart I will mail you a handwritten letter of excoriating disapproval.

[synedrionmg]

Little update...

[synedrionmg]

I have to admit I passed this thread up a couple times before stopping in to have a look - Greco-Roman mythology feels like it's been done to death lately - but I'm glad I finally did. The quality of the artwork is very promising and I'm excited to see more.

I understand why some prefer the white deck - the figure "pops" from the background a little better - but for the pre-Olympian gods of Greek mythology, who generally have a sinister cast to them, the darker deck feels more thematically appropriate. (Also I'm a sucker for non-white decks.)

If you change anything about the Queen of Spade's lineart I will mail you a handwritten letter of excoriating disapproval.

Totally get this as well as I'm the same and you described it in the same way I would have as being the reason for two variations. A lot of the designs I wanted to cover as well as new ideas have been done before but hopefully I can repeat some of them much later down the line in this specific artwork style so as to offer something new to the themes as well but will probably do those much later, depends how the first couple of campaigns go really and depending on the end results can hopefully build off those.

Queen of Spades design is the final and won't change, I've updated a couple more in as well.

[Magic Tapp]

Beautiful deck - I am definitely in. The only thing to consider is whether it would be possible to do the full bleed backs.

[synedrionmg]

Little update...

[Magic Tapp]

Is there an ETA for the launch of this deck?

[synedrionmg]

Is there an ETA for the launch of this deck?

Mid-late October as it stands. I'm looking into getting a few special items done for this campaign as add ons and just need to allow a little extra time to arrange everything but the actual deck design will be completed in the next few weeks. If it moves forward in any way from this period I'll update

[hsbc]

I like how the court cards are two-way, but slightly different!

[synedrionmg]

... couple of Jacks

[synedrionmg]

Little Update...

[Magic Tapp]

These are really nice and it looks like you are getting closer to launch. The others here and I have already commented on the tuck and the cards themselves but I think that you also need to be mindful of the timing of the launch here.

The thing is that with the Black Friday coming up next week followed by the Christmas shopping period, many people would be very selective with their pledges and you may lose some of the backers as a result which would be a real shame as the deck is very nice and deserve to be funded. I am sure others will chip in with their thoughts.

[synedrionmg]

These are really nice and it looks like you are getting closer to launch. The others here and I have already commented on the tuck and the cards themselves but I think that you also need to be mindful of the timing of the launch here.

The thing is that with the Black Friday coming up next week followed by the Christmas shopping period, many people would be very selective with their pledges and you may lose some of the backers as a result which would be a real shame as the deck is very nice and deserve to be funded. I am sure others will chip in with their thoughts.

Yes, that's correct but no plans to launch this year now due to cutting too close to the periods you mention so higher risk to go for it between now and new year. Original plan was to launch a few months back but due to some minor delays in the design process and a few other areas I'd rather wait now till mid-late January earliest as everything will be finished (near enough is now) and good to go.

[synedrionmg]

Well, it took a while but everything is finally good to go. Aplogies for being very quiet on the forum as I've been a bit tied ensuring this campaign runs as smoothly as possible and making sure everything is in pace for afterwards. It will be going live on Kickstarter on 27th January at 12pm GST / 3pm EST

[Räpylätassu]

This looks like to be a rather nice looking deck! Good luck on the upcoming campaign

[chicken_ql]

Art is great! Just not a big fan of the front of the tuck. Seems to have a little too much going on...