December 2025 Update

Ok, this is quite a big one! This update includes a total overhaul of the color identities, rules updates, and a brand new 300 card Alpha set!

The New Colors

One of my biggest issues with the original design of Rune Masters was that the different card groupings, or colors, were far too close to the color identities of Magic: The Gathering.

My first attempt to fix this was to link the colors to the sources of the power in the setting, Runes. Since Runes are the fundamental language of the universe, the different color identities could be tied to the different languages of Runes: Giants, Dragons, Celestials, Nature, Magic, and Aberrations. Ultimately, I felt this setup was a bit restrictive, and that there would be too many outliers that didn't fit into any one color.

Next, I considered perhaps tying the colors more closely to the world the game takes place in. I am at my core a writer, after all. My world even contains six main gods I could tie the colors to, with the associated powers of Time, Space, Life, Magic, Creation, and Destruction. These themes could lead to some really cool and unique archetypes, but ultimately fell through, as similar to the previous concept, things here were just a bit too specific. Also, it felt a bit self-aggrandising to have the colors so closely tied to my book mythology.

Finally, I sat down and really thought about the mechanical identity I wanted for each color. I ignored all other games, and even ignored how many I wanted total. All I considered was the gameplay I wanted from each type. Once I had that, I could worry about giving them a unifying lore and theme identity. Which actually came quite naturally, actually. Instead of linking the color's themes to types of energy or anything like that, I tied it to how the energy is used. There's only two sources of energy in the world (which became the two main resources, Rune Energy and Mana). What differentiates the colors is how each one uses said energies. So without further ado, allow me to introduce Rune Master's new Archetypes!

The Archetype

Harmony: Represented by the color Gold, the Harmony Archetype is the color most focused on units. They represent the method of channeling Rune Energy into each other, growing stronger by working together. A lot of Harmony units grow stronger when fighting together, and their spells focus on getting their units to perform additional tasks.

Mystic: Represented by the color Teal, the Mystic Archetype are Rune Master's spellcasters. They are focused on channeling runes in the most literal sense, seeing as they are still the language of magic. They have the widest spell variety and a lot of units with high Mana pools, at the expense of combat prowess.

Artifice: Represented by the color Silver, the Artifice Archetype is all about Gear spells. They channel the power of runes into items and robots, giving them a token subtheme. Gear and special spells you can attach to units to give them powerful buffs, although each unit can only hold so many.

Internal: Represented by the color Orange, the Internal Archetype covers both large creatures, as well as Blessing spells. Followers of this archetype focus on channeling Rune Energy into themselves to grow stronger. Like Gear, Blessings are spells that attach to units to provide buffs; while individually weaker than Gear, a unit can have as many Blessings as you want.

External: Represented by the color Green (as hard as I tried to come up with a different one), the External Archetype is all about using Rune Energy to manipulate the environment. External is the color of elemental magic and Field spells, cards that manipulate the very battlefield. They also have access to damage over time and other debuffs.

Corruption: Represented by the color Purple, the Corruption Archetype represents those that seek to steal the Rune Energy of others and use it for themselves. It has a lot of undead and tokens, and is the color most focused on the graveyard. It wants to kill its own units almost as much as those of the opponent.

Consequences

Of course, doing a full overhaul of the different color identities meant most of the old cards I made for the original Alpha set had to be scrapped. I saved what I could, but I had to start mostly from scratch. The addition of a sixth color also meant I needed even more this time. I ended up doing 300 cards this time, 50 for each color. With these new cards came new rules refinements that needed to be reflected in the rulebook, so I ended up redoing that from mostly scratch as well in order to fix up the layout.

With all that said, I now find myself back in the original situation that caused me to stop actively developing Rune Masters in 2022: I'm uncertain how to properly start testing the game. I do have some ideas, such as creating a mod for Tabletop Simulator, but that would take a while, so for now, this is probably where Rune Masters ends until I can figure that out.