Trader’s Journey:
A hand-crafted adventure
While the many kingdoms and villages of Arden’s civilized regions are kept relatively safe, the vast wilderness forming the ‘in-between’ of these regions remains dangerous and untamed, brimming with monsters, witches, and foul fiends—in other words, the areas no one but the traders are willing to traverse.
As one of these traders, you are battle-hardened, carrying out the task of delivering goods and services across the land to the people of the kingdoms, no matter the cost. Do you have what it takes to complete your ‘trader’s journey’ and fulfill your purpose? Or will you fall to the wilds of Arden, forgotten to time?
For a complete look at the current rulebook, click here!
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Play a test version of Trader’s Journey now on Tabletopia!
Desktop only right now!
Enjoy fantastical pieces of pixelated artwork, each made by hand—without the use of AI. We at Coffeemill believe in the value of hand-crafted artwork, and will never use artificially generated art in our designs.
In other news, we also now have a 3-D model of the game box that you can view here!
First Official Prototype
We can’t wait to continue this journey even further by playtesting, perfecting, and getting ready for the big day on Kickstarter. Until then, stay tuned by signing up for email to receive the latest news on Trader’s Journey, or become a VIP Cafe member for only $1 to reserve a copy of the game for yourself!
1 Game Box
1 Game Board 1 Trader’s Guide
2 ‘Hit’ Dice
2 ‘Trader Piece’ Pawns
2 Flag Tokens 4 Player Mats
Game Contents Include:
20 Damage Counters (3-5)
20 Damage Counters (5-10)
20 Upgrade Tokens
20 Turn Counters
20 Action Counters
54 Coin Tokens
27 Companion Cards
15 Treasure Cards
27 Enemy Cards
9 Boss Cards
9 Final Boss Cards
43 Journey Cards
9 Dungeon Cards
18 Status Tokens (6 of each)
19 Player Cards
27 Weapon Cards
27 Armor Cards
27 Spell Cards
27 Item Cards
Gameplay Overview:
The wilds of Arden are largely untamed, and the people of the civilized kingdoms scattered across the land rely on you and your guild—the traders.
1. Collect Coins, Buy Cards
At the start of each trade round, each player draws 9 coins from the stash on the board, which they can use to buy whatever caravan cards they desire; armor, weapons, spells, items, or companions.
2. Move Your Trader, Decide Your Fate
After each trade round, the players move a trader piece pawn forward one space on the journey compass track, which will always result in either a journey card, or a boss card.
3. Drawing a Journey Card
If the trader piece lands on a journey space, a journey card is drawn and played out. Journey cards have several different categories, and are events that happen to players that may see them: battling enemies, shopping around towns, exploring old dungeons, or making meaningful choices that will affect different elements of the game.
4. Entering Combat
Now is the time to use all of those caravan cards you bought, because it’s life or death out in the wilds of Arden! There are at least 3 battles every game in the form of boss fights (and plenty more in journey cards), so you’ll need to use your loot to your advantage—because each enemy has a unique ability of its own. And don’t forget to keep track of the coins in your pocket, you can still buy more loot mid-battle if you run out!
5. Rinse & Repeat
This is the core gameplay loop; collect your coins in trade rounds, buy caravan cards that match your desired playstyle, draw journey cards that will put you through tests and hard decisions, then battle it out with Arden’s toughest in the form of boss battles. You’ll do this until the trader piece reaches the final space—the final boss. This will be one of the toughest fights in the game. Keep your wits about you though, and you’ll be Lord of Trade in no time…if you’re the player with the most coins. (Sabotage is valid—claim your victory through any means necessary). What? Who said that?
Trader’s Journey is a game of endless replayability, so I encourage everyone to try out different playstyles with every new game! There are so many ways you can use your collected cards to overcome both foes and journeys alike, and I’m excited for everyone to find out their favorite builds!
Videos on how to play and more coming soon!
They’ll be posted right here and on YouTube (coffeemillgames), so stay tuned!
Who Will You Choose?
With over 15 unique characters to choose from, you can tailor your game to a specific playstyle, or create a style of your own by playing as a “blank slate” Trader!
The Traders!
Battle, Trade, Survive!
Travel winding roads and foggy woods, underground caves and haunted tombs—all to complete your Trader’s Journey, an ancient and perilous tradition only the best of traders can accomplish!
Trader’s Journey light adventure tabletop card game with RPG elements that focuses primarily on combat, coin management, player experience, and variety from playthrough to playthrough. With simple rules and easy-to-understand numbers, Trader’s Journey aims to recapture the spirit of past video games with a modern twist, bringing to life a fresh new world full of dangerous monsters, powerful relics, and quirky characters.
Ages 13+
60 - 90 Min.
1 - 4 Players
Manage Your Coins, Collect Valuable Loot
Collect weapons, armor, spells, items, and companions to help fend off the creatures of the night! With over 250 uniquely-designed cards, no two adventures are ever the same!
Intense Turn-Based Combat
Battles are quick and decisive with immediate attacks and optional chance rolls. Strategize and spend your actions wisely to overcome your foes…
Make Meaningful Decisions
With journey cards, make decisions with lasting consequences and delve into the many different tales of Arden that form the main ‘story’ of the game. Relax in hot springs far atop the mountains, battle dangerous enemies to survive, or risk it all to delve into a spooky dungeon—with 52 unique journey cards, no two games are ever the same.
How to Play:
For those looking for a more in-depth summary of Trader’s Journey, look no further!
For a full rundown of the rulebook, click here!
Gameplay Mechanics & Specifics (Cont.):
Players move a pawn across the board as they progress which both keeps track of how far players have come, and details what’s to come (a trade round, journey card, or boss card).
Progression is round-based, and determined by the amount of journey cards completed and / or bosses defeated.
Combat is turn-based with an ‘immediate’ (non-RNG) system of attacking from both players and enemies (with dice usable as ‘chance’ attacks), making for faster but deadlier battles where strategy is a necessity. During battles, the game does not progress forward until the battle is completed, though coins are still drawn each turn. A minimum of 2 bosses and 1 final boss will be drawn each game, whereas the number of regular enemy cards may vary anywhere from 0 to 20 depending on your playstyle, or your luck with drawing journey cards.
Most effects are stackable, making for some powerful combos if performed correctly—especially if players are willing to work together.
To complete the game, one of 9 unique final bosses must be defeated. Then, players must count their coins to see who’s crowned the winner, and ‘Lord of Traders.’ Solo players try to reach a coin-count high score!
With an easy-to-learn and malleable ruleset, Trader’s Journey can be modified to fit almost anyone’s preferences, whether you’d like to make the game a bit easier by drawing more coins each turn, harder by drawing more enemies, or shorter by lowering the amount of trade rounds, the possibilities are endless!
START HERE: Gameplay Mechanics & Specifics:
Trader’s Journey is playable solo, or with up to 3 other friends semi-competitively, ‘PvE’ style.
Collect and manage coins to buy useful cards that will aid you on your journey—and make sure to have the most by the end of the game to win! Players draw coins every round, and can use them to barter with other players or to buy their own cards in ‘trade rounds.’
Each player can choose from 1 of 16 unique character cards, each with their own special abilities and stats.
On a player’s turn, they may use action points determined by their character card to trade cards, attack enemies, use abilities, and more.
Make decisions with lasting consequences with ‘journey cards,’ the main form of ‘story’ for the game. Relax in hot springs far atop the mountains, or risk it all to delve into spooky dungeons—with 52 unique journey cards (6 drawn per game), no two games are ever the same. Each journey card acts as a sort of ‘event’ that plays out, with each card belonging to one of several different categories, including ‘shop,’ ‘battle,’ ‘choice,’ and ‘dungeon.’
Purchasable ‘caravan’ cards are split into 5 categories and 5 different decks for each: Weapons, Armor, Spells, Items, and Companions, all of which function differently from one another.