I will be holding playtests of a Bliss Stage trading card game at Endgame in Oakland, Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm. ...yes, Ben Lehman is aware of the project, and I have if not his actual blessing than his well-wishes.  (Correct me if I'm wrong, Ben?)

In addition, if anyone else wants in? PM me your e-mail, subject line "Bliss Stage TCG," and I'll send you a PDF of every deck in all it's half-assed, ashcan, Wrote This In MS Word glory, as well as a copy of every card in the Zero Hour playtest set (Yup, each of the 117. Woulda been 108 but that don't divide well by 13.), as well as Da Rools and instructions on How To Make Boosters Outta That Printout.

During your turn, you are the Authority Figure of a resistance against an alien occupier: the sole adult survivor of the alien attack known as the Bliss for miles around. You know that you don't have long before the Bliss will take you, too. The object of the game? To give your Resistance enough Hope to carry on without you by completing Objectives, tangible milestones in winning the war against the nightmarish aliens.

During other players turns, you are the alien Nightmares, trying to bring ruin upon the child survivors of the Bliss. If you can push all of your inferior human opponents over 108 points of Bliss, you win the game.

Having playtested this before, while it's not a vehicle for storytelling it's crazy fun, especially in multiplayer when the Nightmares and and screw-you-over Interludes are flying ("Uh, yeah, Josh is having a Twinge Of Jealousy, sucka!") and you have to come up with a totally out-of-your-ass reason why Keenan Caine just made a Romantic Confession to Anna Lin ("What? +2 Int +2 Trust in the Relationship isn't a good enough reason? ...okay fine they broke up and now Keenan is singing a song about how sorry he is he ever dumped her, you happy you damn Narrativist?")."

Each participant will receive an ashcan edition deck of 75 cards (25 cards x 3 copies) for free on the first evening they participate, and 4 packs of 13 on subsequent nights for a 5 dollar entry fee (to cover the cost of printing). Not to mention fame and glory forever in the credits of the actual release.

Who wants to be kick alien ass at Endgame? And who wants to playtest it in the comfort and security of thier own home by PM'ing me their e-mail, subject line "Bliss Stage TCG"?