The Story Engine: Lore Master's Deck

Created by The Story Engine

Lore Master's Deck is the ultimate creative jumpstarter for writers, game masters, and worldbuilders who want to fill their stories with rich, interconnected lore.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Oh sh*t we didn’t prepare for our next D&D set!
11 months ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 10:59:26 AM

True story, earlier this week, between underpreparing for a D&D home game and a last-minute change to player availability, Peter scrapped his session notes at 1 hour to game time 😱 WHAT TO DO?

It was time to truly test the mettle of Lore Master's Deck, and see if it could live up to the promises we've made that it will help Dungeon Masters with their campaigns.

And it did! Peter used the alpha copy of the deck to write some new lore and HOOOOOO GOLLY did it save his bacon 🥓

Don't just take our word for it though. IN ONE HOUR at 3PM ET, we'll be going live to create a D&D setting together using Lore Master's Deck.


What's more? We're taking that setting and playing it next Wednesday, July 5th at 11AM ET with a band of misfits, to see if what we created stands up to the test (no pressure at all). Did we also mention it's going to be Miroki's Very. First. Campaign. Ever? 👀👀👀


With Peter at the helm as our DM overlord, our band of adventurers will also include Jasmine Minoza, award-winning writer and cartoonist Alina Pete and writer (and official Lore Master's Deck contributor) Jordan Shiveley.

What's next?

Our campaign is still going strong - and recently passed the $275,000 stretch goal! There are more writers, cards, and other extras to unlock, so spread the world to help us get there! Forward this update to a friend, or share the campaign from the main page!

See you all today at 3PM ET!

What makes me cringe more than puns? Making mistakes 🫣
11 months ago – Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 04:49:27 PM

Guys, with so many events in our schedule, it was only a matter of time before before I messed up one of our updates (eek!)

Yesterday, I announced that we were having a Twitter Party to answer any burning questions about Lore Master's Deck, maybe even unveil some yet-to-be-announced upcoming stretch tiers, but I got the date wrong. So to confirm, our party is happening TOMORROW, June 29th at 6:30PM ET on Twitter. Use #LoreMasters and tag @storyenginedeck to join in!


If you have any questions you'd like for us to answer, whether it is about the deck, using BackerKit, or how to get creative, throw them into the comments and we'll bring them up during the Twitter Party tomorrow!

To make this correction update worth your while, I also had Peter share some Lore puns for your amusement *shudder*. Vote for your favourite, or share some of your own! *double shudder*😅 Maybe you'll give me some ideas to fire back to Peter and team, who all love their puns far more than myself!

That's it for now! See you tomorrow on the Twitterverse! 🐦🐦🐦

Update: 350% Funded! Ready for MORE bonus content to be unveiled?
11 months ago – Tue, Jun 27, 2023 at 11:20:24 AM

Hey! It's Miroki, the Project Director for Lore Master's Deck! (Do Lore Masters need directors? 🤔)

It's been a week since we launched Lore Master's Deck and we've already blown past 11 stretch goals!

At a whopping 284 double-sided cards (2,272 cues), Lore Master's Deck is our biggest and most remixable deck to date, and it's only getting bigger and better with each stretch goal.
 
Here's what we cover in today's update:

  • Loving our deck? Share the good word!
  • Stretch goal progress
  • Livestream schedule and Twitter Party
  • Meet the writers!
 

We need your help to unlock all our goals! 

The more backers we get, the more stretch goals we unlock - and we need your help to get there! So what can you do?

If you're reading this update, you already know about Lore Master's Deck. However, you can help us reach people who don't. All you have to do is forward this update to a friend, a family member, or anyone else who might want to know more about a massive deck of lore prompts!

Stretch Goal Progress

Tri-Pin Powers Activate!  From adding extra cards to every deck, guest writers, and new add-ons and expansions, we have also unlocked our very first enamel pin set. Yea, I know pins aren't our core competency, but the pin collector in me is super stoked at this new accessory! (Plus, who doesn't love the set design?)



Next up: we're full steam ahead toward adding 3 more guest writers to the project to bring a wider range of interesting, evocative, imaginative cues to the deck! You can learn more about their work at the end of this update!


Check out our livestreams!

Want to get hyped for Lore Master's Deck? We'll be hosting livestreams on our campaign page twice a week until the end of the campaign, and we're kicking things off with a Creature Card showcase on Wed. June 28 at 11am ET! 👉🏼 Visit our page for our full schedule.


A creature can be a symbol, a resource, or even a namesake, so tune in on our pledge page for some tips for incorporating animals into your lore!

And for those of you on the bird app, we are having our first-ever Twitter Party this Friday at 6:30PM ET. Use #LoreMasters and tag @storyenginedeck to join the convo.

Meet the 3 guest writers from our next stretch goal

We're very close to unlocking our stretch tier to invite 3 more phenomenal guest writers, who will add many more creative facets to our deck than even our wildest imaginations!

Find Athar Fikry's The Dragon and the Djinn here.

Find Betsy Aoki at betsyaoki.com!

Find Brandon Crilly here.
 

Whew! I think that's it for now!

We've loved reading your messages of encouragement, your ideas and feedback! Thank you for your enthusiasm for this project, and helping us bring it to life! 

$200,000 unlocked + FAQ + expansion preview + storage update + guest writers
12 months ago – Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 08:37:12 PM

Hi backers!

I'm excited to celebrate a phenomenal day 2 of the campaign with you! Here's what we cover in today's update:

  • Stretch goal progress
  • Expanded FAQ
  • Updated expansion sneak peek
  • Storage update
  • Meet the guest writers from our next stretch goal!

Let's get into it!

Stretch Goal Progress


We've just smashed through the $200,000 stretch goal, adding 16 cards to Lore Master's Deck for a total of 284 cards.



Next up: we're full steam ahead toward adding 3 guest writers to the project to bring a wider range of interesting, evocative, imaginative cues to the deck! You can learn more about their work at the end of this update!



We're also thrilled to share that the pledge reached a campaign high of 1200 last night, and as promised, we hosted a livestream demo-ing the deck with a twist: wine pairings! The Story Engine's CEO Miroki Tong is a wine expert who runs an Instagram account called @9ouncesplease.

We created a faction, a pair of edible creatures, and a vineyard location, and Miroki paired wines for each of them. We talked about how food and drink are essential components of lore and culture, with threads to climate, industry, lifestyle, and more.


Want to know what kind of wine to pair with an iridescent-scaled crocodile garnished with a rare flaming-hot seaweed that grows every 100 years and seeds itself through salt crystals? You can catch the livestream recording.

Follow us on YouTube to catch future livestreams!

Expanded FAQ

We've been expanding our FAQ as your questions roll in! For now, you can learn more about storage, delivery timelines, and our decision to make a digital version of the early bird promo pack cards available as a PDF. If you have any questions you'd like us to add, let us know in the comments!

Updated expansion sneak peek

I've added a little more material about the expansions to the campaign page! Check out the Expansions section of our campaign page to take a look! For now, here's a look at a sample drawing using the Master of Names: Namesakes Expansion.

These card types operate in the same way Wildcards from the main Lore Master's Deck do, but instead are paired with the primary cue to create a unique nickname.


Example: The Faction on the left is named the Chantry of the Sheathed Blade. Perhaps they are pacifists or mages who only resort to steel as a last resort? The creature on the right is named the Frost Raptor. Perhaps it is an arctic hawk or a dinosaur capable of surviving cold climates or ice ages.

Storage update

We've received a lot of helpful feedback about storage solutions, especially from our fans who own the complete Story Engine and Deck of Worlds deck systems and adding the new Lore Master's Deck cards to their collection.

We are currently preparing designs for a new stretch goal featuring a new storage box design intended for larger collections. It likely won't be a one-box-to-hold-them-all design, because we wouldn't want to render it obsolete as we continue to release decks, but it will be much better suited to holding large collections (including sleeved cards). We'll release those details as we confirm them.

For now, here are some updates about storage:

  • We've updated our collection size calculator: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/
  • We've also released a storage calculator: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/storage.html
  • We've updated our add-ons to indicate how many cards each box holds.
  • We've renamed our "Collector's Storage Box" so it's now called the "Tray Storage Box." We acknowledge the original name was confusing for folks who thought it could hold the whole collection.
  • We've added our basic Folding Storage Boxes to the pledge manager, and also updated the capacity estimate to 540 cards as this is a more comfortable fit when you account for the included card dividers and saving wiggle room for easily getting cards in and out.

If you're new to the card system and you're just picking up the Lore Master's Deck and/or The Story Engine/Deck of Worlds main decks, don't worry—you don't need any storage boxes. The main deck boxes each have some extra room. Even enough to fit sleeved cards.

If you're also picking up the Lore Mastery expansions, you can keep the extra cards in their tuck boxes or get the optional Lore Mastery Expansion Collector's Box. If you're also getting the Bridge Expansions, keep in mind those expansions only feature cards of existing card types, so they can easily be stored in with those matching card types.

Meet the 3 guest writers from our next stretch goal

We're thrilled to be approaching our first contributors' stretch goal: bringing in 3 writers to punch up the deck with a range of additional imaginative and creative prompts. We worked with many of these writers on Deck of Worlds and their contributions were phenomenal!


Find Brendon at https://www.brendonalekseii.me

Find A.Z Louise at https://www.azlouise.com and preorder their new novella OFF-TIME JIVE here

Find Jordan at https://www.jordanshiveley.com

That's all for now!

You continue to inspire us with your enthusiasm and suggestions for the campaign! Thanks for all your helping in making this project happen!

FULLY FUNDED IN 4 HOURS!
12 months ago – Tue, Jun 20, 2023 at 01:59:04 PM

We're still reeling from excitement and gratitude!

We launched our livestream this morning planning to stream for 90 minutes to kick things off. But the pledge train just kept chugging along (the BackerKit train is a chain counter that keeps growing as long as each new backer joins within 10 minutes of the last one), and we decided to keep things going for 4+ hours until we hit full funding!



We're getting caught up on your questions in the comments and FAQ, and we'll be unveiling further details about the storage boxes and opening new tiers for the Bridge Expansions soon.

For now, let me say thank you to all of our backers, to the BackerKit team, and to all of our collaborators for making today a smashing success.

We're so excited to see how far the pledge train chugs along and to see which achievements we can unlock together!