BE: Bella Elementorum

BE: Bella Elementorum, or "BE", was an Expandable Card Game set in the world of immortals, with cards featuring various creatures and characters from the world, as well as various well known mythological beasts.

The Starter game is available through purchase on The Game Crafter, as well as a few free, yet incomplete downloadable expansions for Tabletop Simulator.

Please Note...
As of Summer 2017, the game has been replaced by Immortals XCG, with many cards, characters and mechanics carried over from the old game to the new one. As this game is no longer being developed, no new cards will be produced for it.

Basics
The object of the game is to either exhaust the opponent's deck or health before they can do the same to you.

Players start by retrieving a "Start" card from the deck, usually about 40 cards, and placing it on the play surface. The deck is shuffled, and play begins.

Play
A hand of seven cards is drawn, setting one of the seven aside to begin a resource pile. Resources are used to play other cards from the hand.

At the beginning of each turn, players draw a card and have the option to create an additional resource after their draw.

Resources are spent in order to pay for the summoning of creatures and equipment, and the casting of spells. Resources are also used to activate some creature abilities.

After all of the cards that the player wishes to play have been paid for, the attack phase starts. During this phase, you may either target the enemy directly, or their creatures. If the player is targeted, they can use creatures under their control to defend themselves.

After this, any creatures that died during the combat phase are discarded, and the next player takes their turn.

End
The game ends when the aforementioned conditions have been met. Either when a player cannot draw at the start of their turn, or during the combat phase, if the opponent was killed by your creatures.

Breakdown
The current card face has several bits on information scattered around its surface, mostly delegated to the edges.

Name
The title of the card. Some cards share names, but may have different effects, which causes a bump in card number, or a different set, which causes a "-A" to be added.

Code
The card number. In Era 1, or "BE1E", there are 170 unique cards. The lowest card number is "1E001" and the highest is "1E170"

"C"
"C" will be replaced by a number that represents the amount of resources that must be spent in order to play the card.

Art
A visual representation of the creature, equipment or spell that the card represents. Serves no functional purpose. (Yet)

Ability
This bar lists the abilities that the card possesses. The largest number to appear on a card as of 1E is 3.

Types
This smaller bar lists the species, affiliation, and other categorizing keywords that a card falls into. The largest number to appear on a card as of 1E is 3.

Description
This describes the effects that the abilities cause, whether they require activation or just a specific set of circumstances.

Type
This is a faded symbol behind the description box. One of 10 (11 in 2E and Booster Packs) colored symbols that identifies a card type at a glance.

"P"
"P" will be replaced by a number that represents a fluid number referred to as "Power". Power has two states. The "Attacking" state, and the "Defending" state. Creatures are in "Attacking" state when you are causing them to attack, and in Defending state when being attacked, or defending you.

Flavor
A small sentence of in-universe lore or a quote. Serves no purpose other than to reveal lore bits.

"BE1E"
BE1E will change based on the set that the card belongs to.

First Era cards have "BE1E" in black text with a thin gray outline.

Second Era cards will have "2E" in black text with a thin gray outline.

Booster cards have the word "Booster" in black with a gray outline.

Evolution
Despite only being in serious development since August 2016, the faces of BE cards have undergone a few major changes to their design, but not so much the layout.

Version 0
The very first original cards were made from cream colored file folders. The rules did not differ much from how it is played today, with only a couple of major differences. Other prototypes more closely resembled V1 cards, given their "Element Bars" along the sides of the art.
 * 1) There were only 5 elements as opposed to 8.
 * 2) The resource system was not in place, instead replaced with a "One creature per turn" system, with the number in the upper corner representing the number of turns that must have passed in order for it to be played.
 * 3) Equipment cards (then called "ITEM" cards) were free, but only 1 could be played per turn.

They had no flavor text, and all art was hand drawn, text was written in pen.

On lower left, the cards were numbered according to the order in which they were made.

Lower center was the card ID, or the number assigned to the card when it was thought up. If there was two of the same card, they could have different card numbers, but the same ID.

Lower right is the creators initials followed by the year they were made. SMM2013.

Version 1
Created as a quick way to get good looking cards out early, they only stayed around for 5 days. Original black bordered V1 cards are now impossible to obtain, and have only 60 physical examples in existence, the original creators testing deck.

Only 24 cards were ever made using this face, as the starter pack it was featured in contained multiples of nearly all of its cards.

The faces were intended to look like torn/singed paper written on using calligraphy.

Version 2
Created especially for the Blood Seekers Expansion deck (See Canceled Sets), it was intended to resemble a tombstone, with the entire frame colored instead of just beside the image.

The font was changed from Whitewater to Century in order to aid in legibility, and a realistic paper background was added in place of the mottled texture the previous version used.

Only 5 cards were made using this face, as a switch of computers caused the original template to be left behind.

Version 2.5
A refined version of the V2 card face. The bevel became larger, and the font was changed from Century to Centaur. This was initially an accident, but the font has become standard. Card codes were introduced during this version.

Set text in the lower left had not been introduced, as the game was still using pre-built decks as opposed to large box sets.

Version 3
Version 3 is the second face intended for use in BE: First Era. Differences between it and 2.5 included a thinner bevel on the marble texture and a more diffuse shadow below it, as well as the Types bar below the ability bar and the set text panel in the lower left.

Version 3.5
Version 3.5 was intended to be used for BE Second Era, as can be seen on its set text. It featured improved shadows from the marble, a new paper texture, and a generally more open design. It never saw any cards made with it, as it was near immediately replaced by Version 4. A repeat of V2 overtaking V1.

Version 4
Version 4 was created in an attempt to make special cards that could not be found in the normal box sets. An extended art card, specifically created for the Booster Packs.

The ability and type bar were moved to the top, and the paper texture was practically removed in favor of a transparent black background for the description and flavor text

The card code was moved to the lower left, beside the Set panel, a change carried over from 3.5.

Version 4.1
4.1 was a minute change, raising the bottom border, and having the copyright and card code on the border. It cleans the face of the card, and makes it feel less cluttered. The font on the copyright and the code was changed to Calibri from Centaur to aid in the clean feeling.

The corners of the power and Set plates have been rounded off as well.

Version 5
The V5 card is a significant change from V4.1. All unnecessary parts of the card have been removed, such as the granite texture around the edges of the card. The name text was centered, the Power Plate has been reduced in size, and the text box has become larger, making room for more text.

The set text or symbol has been moved to the bottom center, similarly to the extremely old prototypes of 2013. A Celtic styled golden border was added to the frame, after the Celtic inspired Eldrow race that is the dominant species of the WoI main focus area.

Vintage


Vintage are found in amounts of 2 inside First Era booster packs. They are V1 and V2 cards with a gold border instead of black. There is a total of 24 Vintage cards. 20 of the Starter Pack cards, and 5 cards intended for the Blood Seekers Expansion. This is the only way to obtain V1 and V2 cards.

Booster
Booster cards are V4, 4.1 and 5 cards with a transparent description box and white borders. All card codes on Booster cards are followed by "-A"

The set text on V4/4.1 Booster cards reads "Booster", while the V5 text is simply the letter B.

Classic
The classic card face is an update to the V1 card face created to see if it could be done. No cards are planned to be made with it, but may be used in the future.

Obtaining Cards by Version
(If a card type is not listed, it is not available now or in the future.)
 * 1) Version 1 Cards can be obtained in First Era booster packs in Gold Border. Pain black bordered V1s are not available.
 * 2) Version 2 Cards can be obtained in First Era booster packs in Gold Border. Plain black bordered V2s are not available.
 * 3) Version 2.5 cards will be available in Second Era booster packs in Silver Border. Plain black bordered V2.5s are not available.
 * 4) Version 3 Cards will be available in Second Era booster packs in Silver Border. Plain black bordered V3s are not available.
 * 5) Version 4.1 Cards can be obtained in First Era booster packs.
 * 6) Version 5 Cards will be available in the First and Second Era Complete Sets, as well as their variants.

Backs
The back features the logo, as well as a magic circle on Version 2 and further.



Tabletop Simulator Edition
While the physical version is delayed every time a card changes design, the TTS version has cards as old as V2.5 that have not been updated for V5 card faces. It includes 1 of every card in the game that can be copy-pasted to build whatever deck you can imagine.

Sets
First Era Box Set

Second Era Box Set

Booster Packs

Essef Revolution Expansion

Canceled Sets
Starter Pack

Blood Seekers

Lost Golems

Fire and Ice