''Heresy: Kingdom Come'' is an out-of-print

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

(CCG) developed and published by

Last Unicorn Games Last Unicorn Games (LUG) was a game publisher owned by Christian Moore that was eventually purchased by Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primaril ...

(LUG) in September 1995. The game was based on

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

-themed

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

in a

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

setting.

Publication history

The base set, released in 1995, consisted of 374 cards. An expansion called ''Project Demiurge'' with 90 cards was planned for a June 1996 release, but as a result of poor sales, no expansion sets were ever published. The company delayed the release dependent upon "sufficient orders from distributors."

Setting

The theme of ''Heresy'' was the continuation of the

War in Heaven In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the Book of Revelation describes a future war in heaven between angels led by the Archangel Michael against those led by "the dragon", identified as the devil or Satan, who will be defeated and throw ...

between

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

s and

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s in a futuristic

setting. The premise is that the barriers (known in the game as the Mirror, Shroud, or Veil) between the physical realm (the Wilds), the digital realm (the Matrix), and the spiritual realm (

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

) have grown thin, and

fallen angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said R ...

s on Earth are trying to use the Matrix (

cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...

) to open a portal to

ascend ASCEND is an open source, mathematical modelling chemical process modelling system developed at Carnegie Mellon University since late 1978. ASCEND is an acronym which stands for Advanced System for Computations in Engineering Design. Its main us ...

back into Heaven. Meanwhile, Earth is torn by conflict between not just the aforementioned angels and demons, but also human governments, corporations,

criminal organization Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

s, and

cybernetically Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

-enhanced humans.

Gameplay

Players alternate turns. Each type of card is associated with one of eight ''convictions'': ''Acquisition'', ''Devotion'', ''Evolution'', ''Preservation'', ''Rebellion'', ''Stagnation'', ''Technology'', and ''Tradition''. There are six types of cards: * ''Location'' cards can be turned sideways to generate either aura or tau: ** ''Aura'' is always associated with one of the eight convictions, and it is used to play non-Location cards of the same conviction. ** ''Tau'' is collected to make progress toward winning the game. * ''Character'' cards represent individuals. They remain on the board after being played and can engage in combat. * ''Aleph'' cards represent artifacts. Like characters, alephs remain on the board after being played. * ''Enhancement'' cards attach to other cards, most often characters, for various effects. * ''Celestial Power'' cards are one-time effects. They can only be played during the player's turn and are discarded after being played. * ''Miracle'' cards are one-time effects like celestial powers, but can be played at any time, not just during the player's turn. A player wins once he or she has generated enough tau to open a portal with which to ascend to Heaven.

Card size

While the vast majority of CCGs adhered to the standard

ISO 216 ISO 216 is an international standard for paper sizes, used around the world except in North America and parts of Latin America. The standard defines the "A", "B" and "C" series of paper sizes, including A4, the most commonly available paper size ...

B8 card size of 2.5" x 3.5", popularized by

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

and the pioneering CCG ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a tabletop and digital collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro), ''Magic'' was the first ...

'', ''Heresy'' was notable for instead using oversized cards with a much greater height. The similarity of the height to that of

tarot cards The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

emphasized the magical and mystical themes of the card game. The greater card size also allowed for larger art. On the other hand, the greater size was criticized for rendering the cards unable to fit in standard-sized card sleeves, as well as making

shuffling Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Overha ...

difficult.

Art

The larger card size showcased art by such well-known artists as

Tim Bradstreet Tim Bradstreet (born on February 16, 1967)is an American artist and illustrator, best known for his work on comic books, book covers, movie posters, roleplaying games and trading cards. Early life Tim Bradstreet was born February 16, 1967, in C ...

Gerald Brom Gerald Brom (born March 9, 1965), known professionally as Brom, is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics. Early life Brom was born March 9, 1965, in Albany, Georgia. As t ...

, Michael W. Kaluta, Tom Kidd,

James O'Barr James O'Barr (born January 1, 1960) is an American comics artist, writer and graphic artist, best known as the creator of the comic book series ''The Crow''. Early life O'Barr, an orphan, was raised in the foster care system. Career In 1978, O' ...

, Andrew Robinson,

Barclay Shaw Barclay Shaw (born 1949) is an American professional artist best known for his fantasy and science fiction artwork. He has been nominated five times for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist and has earned a top ten ranking six times in th ...

, John K. Snyder III,

Karl Waller Karl Waller is an American artist whose work has appeared in comic books and roleplaying game, roleplaying and collectible card games. Early life and education He graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Pennsylvania School of Ar ...

, and

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

Reception

Steve Faragher reviewed ''Heresy'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it an 8 out of 10 overall. Faragher comments that "''Heresy'' is a wonderful game that proves that startlingly original atmosphere is just as important as innovative mechanics in CCG."

Reviews

Review
in

Shadis ''Shadis'' is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games. Publication history Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn as an indepen ...

#23

References

External links

''Heresy: Kingdom Come'' BoardGameGeek Reviews

''Heresy: Kingdom Come'' SFKO Website

''Heresy: Kingdom Come''
in

Google Group Google Groups is a service from Google that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests. The Groups service also provides a gateway to Usenet newsgroups via a shared user interface. Google Groups became operational in February ...

''Heresy: Kingdom Come'' Virtual Spud Website
{{italic title Card games introduced in 1995 Collectible card games Last Unicorn Games games War in Heaven Angels in popular culture Demons in popular culture