Welcome to the Basic TCG Jam!

We're making a community-driven and created trading card game for everyone to play! With very simple base rules and an emphasis on filling in the blanks of rulings during play, Basic TCG has a lot of potentials and is very open-ended for just about anyone interested in TCGs to get into, regardless of skill level! The goal of the jam is to try and get a bunch of content within the first month of the game's life, maybe try out various platforms, get some games going and, who knows... have a tournament??

Resources

Basic TCG can be found here where you can download its base files to start making your own stuff, but more importantly, you can find the Community Forum here, where the Living Rules, Card Catalog, Scenario Catalog, and Deck Catalog are! Even more helpful, @wereoctopus created some Affinity templates for easy creation here!

As you can see, Basic TCG already has some really cool stuff created for it and a very lovely and respectful community is forming! I wanted to keep that spirit up and create a formal game jam to get people interested in the game and taking the game even further!

Theme

To get us going for the start of Basic TCG, the vague theme of this first of hopefully many jams is START! Take that direction in whatever way you want, wherever you want to go or ignore it entirely! Some ideas can be:

• Starter Decks
• Starter Formats
• Tools to get started with creating cards

Jam Content

People are already making really rad stuff for Basic TCG and we should keep that train going! Some things you can create for the Basic TCG Jam are:

• Loose cards for the Card Catalog!
• Scenarios for the Scenario Catalog!
• Full decks for the Deck Catalog!
• Art Packs for people to use and get inspired to create cards for!
• Alternate Card Templates for different types of cards and game modes!
• Creation Resources or Game Resources like card creators, deck builders, card pullers, even play spaces, or other web-based things I can't begin to fathom!
• Entire hacks of the game that are taking it further than just a Scenario would but are still compatible or adjacent to Basic TCG!

As you can see, the jam is pretty open-ended much like the game itself! There's room for a lot of different kinds of design to converge, not just making cards that synergize but also rule formats in the form of Scenarios or creating art assets and seeing who gets inspired! All I ask is that you keep things compatible and optional for Basic TCG.

Submission Guidelines

I have two goals with this game jam: To keep up the open and free community creation structure established with Basic TCG AND to allow creators to direct people to their work and to leave the option for others to pay them! So to achieve this, submitting to this jam maybe a little weird. Here are my suggestions:

• If you just want to submit cards and scenarios to the Catalogs as normal, do so! No pressure or worry to submit something specific as a game page to the jam!
• If you create CARDS, DECKS, SCENARIOS and would like to package them together, create an itch page of the work and submit it to the jam AND make a post linking to the page in the corresponding Basic TCG Community Forum page. 
  • For the sake of easily grabbing cards to put into play platforms ALSO consider posting them as images on your itch page itself or the Basic TCG Community Forum you've posted in. For platforms like playingcards.io, it is currently very easy to grab an image URL and put it into a deck, I would love to keep that option available!
• If you make any other form of content for Basic TCG (art packs, card templates, creation resources, web-tools, etc) submit to this jam as you would normally. I'd highly recommend then posting a link to it in the Basic TCG Community as well, but all the submissions for the jam will be collected there at the end!
• It is not required but highly encouraged to set your work at least to Donation/Pay What You Want. I would like to keep all playable content for Basic TCG free for the player base but I also really want contributors to leave the door open for others to tip for your work. The Basic TCG community should be built off an understanding of supporting and encouraging each other.
  • If you create art packs or other non-gameable content, please include ways that card creators can credit you! You are also more than welcome to have your up for a cost.

If your product declares compatibility with Basic TCG you must state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Viditya Voleti.” You do not need to put this on every card you make or on every post in the forums, only if you choose to make an itch page, a robust hack, or tools.

Community Standards

The Basic TCG Community is run and upholds the SWORDDREAM Principles, shown below:

1. *DREAM stands against hate & prejudice in all forms. We seek to actively oppose bigotry & harassment in gaming communities. We create kind spaces.
2. *DREAM works to be radically inclusive. We seek to support and encourage creators, GMs, players, and organizers from marginalized groups. And we seek to get better at this all the time.
3. *DREAM encourages the use of sensible tools for communication and consent. This includes both conversational consent (in community spaces) and safety tools (at the table).
4. *DREAM opposes harassment and strives for non-toxic discourse. We value best intentions, we call in before calling out, and we start discussions before we make accusations. We seek to empower everyone to curate their space. Above all, we engage sincerely.
5. *DREAM values creators & their work. We support equitable pay for professional creators and fair treatment for hobbyists.
6. *DREAM values a DIY approach to creation. We question gatekeeping, we take alternative approaches when traditional publishing models fail, and we believe anyone can make great games.
7. *DREAM values experimentation in game design & worldbuilding.
8. *DREAM isn't defined by, but is interested in: anti-canons, emergent story, generative worlds, kitbashing, non-violent play options, and more. And it's fine if some of these things contradict each other!
9. There is no one *DREAM. Anyone who commits to these principles is *DREAMing 

Entries may not contain racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or other hate speech. They will be deleted.

I want to avoid the common issues with TCG Communities of them breeding gatekeeping and bigoted. There will be no shaming others for the content they make, there is no standard of play, no concept of balance, there is nothing wrong with broken or underpowered cards, no one singular creator's work is better than another. Basic TCG is about having fun first and creating room for others at the table! If you wish to play the game a certain way, create a Scenario and find others who want to play that way as well! 

If you have any questions, feel free to post in the Community Forums or you can @ me/DM me on Twitter (@vidityavoleti)!