Captivatio

Captivatio is a wild and intense tactical card game, for two-players.

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The two players embody wizards engaged in combat within the Orb, a magical arena  represented by the cards laid out on the table. Each two-sided card adds to the Orb one of its twin sigils, a set of symbols with multidimensional effects that together determine, for each turn, the actual rules of the Orb.

For the Orb is both the battlefield and the battle itself. The wizards are trapped within it until one of them is defeated. They take turns attacking, and each of their actions both respects and transforms the Orb.

The Orb is endowed with a spirit named Aagano. It is represented by a pawn occupying one of the Orb's sigils, just like the players. They can control Aagano to defeat an attack, reconfigure the Orb, or hinder their opponent.

The sigils of the Orb also impose their runes which, different every turn, must be strictly obeyed. And so the wizards fight under severe obligations... But the law of the Orb is fragmented, and its runes can be composed in different ways. The wizards abide by the Orb with malice, and will take advantage of its instability to steer the evolution of the battle.

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Captivatio is a combinatorial game with perfect information, meaning that chance plays no role, and players have access to all elements of the game at every moment. Each player knows the cards of their opponent and can try to anticipate their future actions.

The initial inspiration for Captivatio was this challenge: 'Design a kind of chess game, rich, replayable, and fun, with a material consisting of just a few cards.'

In the end, eleven cards it is. 

Captivatio is rich and replayable. Is it fun? That's for you to decide !