Philosophy Deck - Finally Completed

 So I'm finally drawing this 10 year project to a close. Ha. A lot has changed since the last post:

- Updated the art to a higher quality look

- Fixed typos

- Changed out some philosophers (removed Euclid, Paul Kripke, Jacques Derrida)

- Have a "2 thoughts" format for the deck, one for each direction of the card.

- Provided new art for G. E. M. Anscombe and Margaret Cavendish

- Reworked art on card back

- Revised tuckbox

 - Updated Joker symbol with a *

 

You can see the results below:

I am pretty excited about them in their finished state -- good to get something off of my back at least!

I've listed the cards to purchase over on Etsy.

Prototype for Philosophy Themed Deck Completed

I have finished the prototype for my philosophy themed playing cards and am ready to go to press with a POD to see how they turn out in the flesh. I will keep you posted on the end result. I am thinking of kickstarting a project on these cards to have a nicer print and finish done by the USPC. Here are some previews of the finished product. I "watermarked" the sheets somewhat, so ignore the crosshatching. You should notice that I upgraded the art quality on almost all of the philosophers.

1. Tuckbox.

2. Card Sheets.

3. Card Back Design.

4. Individual Card Examples.

5. Art Progression. This shows the progression from the original art portraying the philosopher (whether a sculpture, drawing, photo, or painting) to the hand drawn sketch to the altered vectorized sketch to the finished digitally painted piece.

6. Alternate Designs. Some other possibilities for card faces that have two-way orientations.

Undecided Quotes for Philosophy Themed Deck

So, I have decided to include on each card face for a philosopher the art, his name, his birth/date dates, and a short quote. However, on a couple of the philosophers, I am debating on what quotes to use for them. Your input would be very helpful in reaching a decision! The difficulty is mostly on deciding which quote is more characteristic or unique to that philosopher, or deciding between a funny or more philosophical quote.

Friedrich Nietzsche: 1. "I know my fate. One day my name will be associated with the memory of something tremendous... I am no man, I am dynamite."

2. "Whatever has value in our world now does not have value in itself… it was we who gave and bestowed it."

Blaise Pascal: 1. "All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling."

2. "Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false?"

Bertrand Russell: 1. "The rules of logic are to mathematics what those of structure are to architecture."

2. "There is no logical impossibility… that the world sprang into being five minutes ago... with a population that 'remembered' a wholly unreal past."

Karl Popper: 1. "No matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white."

2. "Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one... [then] you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve."

Jean Paul Sartre: 1. "Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does."

2. "If I became a philosopher… it's all been to seduce women basically."

Arthur Schopenhauer: 1. "If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it."

2. "The will to live everywhere preys upon itself… the human race… reveals in itself with most terrible distinctness this variance of the will with itself."

Baruch Spinoza: 1. "Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature."

2. "Mind and body are one and the same individual which is conceived now under the attribute of thought, and now under extension."

Ludwig Wittgenstein: 1. "The meaning of a question is the method of answering it... Tell me how you are searching, and I will tell you what you are searching for."

2. “The aim... is to set a limit to thought, or rather — not to thought, but to the expression of thoughts.”

3. "It's only by thinking even more crazily than philosophers do that you can solve their problems."

4. "Logic takes care of itself; all we have to do is to look and see how it does it."

Please leave a comment that states the quote number for each philosopher that you prefer. Thanks!

Philosophy Themed Card Deck: Card Face Content

As I have been working on the philosophy-themed card deck (see a post on the art here), I have struggled to determine the exact content of the card faces. Besides the art, the name of the philosopher, and the reversible suit and value in opposite corners what should be included (if anything)? Some possibilities are as follows:

(1) Birth and death dates to help contextualize the philosopher in history.

(2) Quotes. I thought it could be fun to include a quote from each philosophy that either typifies one of their philosophical ideas or says something funny. The difficulty with the former is that it is hard to gain a direct quote from some of the pre-socratics. Of course, I can borrow from later sources, but it isn't the same, and there is some questions of authenticity. Oh well, it isn't a breaker. I also am concerned about sharing an obscure quote that may seem to ridicule the philosopher as being nonsensical, even if it is somewhat fun to do so. The problem with the latter is that I don't want to be suggesting that they do not have anything interesting to contribute, especially if the joke is not philosophically related. I have thought that perhaps if I choose a funny quote that I should try to pick a short one and then have a more serious line included with it. Perhaps some examples will be helpful.

Picturesque quotes: "The condition of man...is a condition of war of everyone against everyone." - Thomas Hobbes

"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

"There is no inner man, man is in the world, and only in the world does he know himself." - Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Quotes that could ridicule the philosopher: "The nothing itself nothings." - Martin Heidegger

"Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is." - Jean Paul Sartre

"Until philosophers are kings... cities [and the human race] will never have rest from their evils and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day." - Plato

Funny quote (not philosophically related): "A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine." - Thomas Aquinas

"Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." - Augustine of Hippo

"If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.” - Alfred North Whitehead

Funny quote (somewhat philosophically related): "If I became a philosopher… it's all been to seduce women basically." - Jean Paul Sartre

"I know my fate. One day my name will be associated with the memory of something tremendous... I am no man, I am dynamite." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Any suggestions on how to do quotes (if you think they should be done)? Should quotes not be done?

(3) Notable ideas and contributions. Instead of quoting a philosopher, I could give a short list of their notable ideas. This is somewhat difficult for philosophers that did not have as many novel ideas or for whom we know little about (little of their work has survived), but not all philosophers are equal. Here would be some ideas:

Peter Abelard: truth-functional propositional logic, intentionalistic deontology, moral luck, moral theory of atonement, nominalism, direct reference, adverbial theory of thought, supervenience of form on matter.

Jacques Derrida: deconstruction, post-structuralism, Différance, metaphysics of presence.

Euclid: Euclidian axiomatic geometry, number theory, optical perspective.

David Hume: reason as slave to passions, Hume's Fork, sentimental basis of morals (moral sense), constant conjunction, impossibility of miracles, association of ideas, bundle theory of the self, compatibilism.

Saul Kripke: Modality and modal logic, deontic logic, rigid designators, necessary a posteriori, admissible ordinals, Strong Kleene valuation scheme.

Is this a good alternative to the quotes? Is it better or worse?


I know that I should make sure the cards are not too busy, but it seems useful to have more than just the names and pictures of the philosophers. Any other suggestions for content?

Jolly Pirates: A Lengthy Exposé of a Board Game in “Dump Phase” Part 1

As some of you may know, I have been working on designing my own board game for a few months now. The project began back when I was working on expansions to the BANG! Card Game, and has evolved a lot since then. I enjoyed the strong theme in BANG!, the variable player powers, and roleplaying elements, but was dissatisfied with the large number of chaotic elements in the game that made it far less strategic (amongst other things). I decided to create my own game to solve the problems I saw inherent in BANG!, as well as incorporate elements I have noted in other games that I really like. The result has been the creation of a pirate-themed strategy game with RPG elements. Right now, the game is in sort of a “dump” phase with far too many elements. I plan on pruning a good number of them, while still allowing enough complication for both "basic" and "advanced" modes of play. This will help introduce new players to the game, and accommodate more casual versus hardcore board game players. Anyway, I hope that you will help me out with pruning; I would love feedback! The name for the game is still not decided: I have thought of "Arrr!", "Jolly Pirates," "Filthy Pirates," and "Raiders of the 7 Seas." Perhaps you could help me pick a name or suggest one yourself! For the purpose of the current discussion, I will adopt the name Jolly Pirates (JP, my personal favorite for the amusing tone I want in the game) to refer to the game. I recognize that this project is probably a gamer’s game, and will not make money, but I hope it will be fun!


This first part in the series explaining Jolly Pirates will focus on player-team setups and possible gameplay scenarios.

Player and Cooperative Team Setups. Differing from mainstream strategy games (say Risk or even Small World), players in Jolly Pirates do not control vast armies and gather resources to sustain or grow them. Rather each player controls 1 or more characters depending on the number of players in the game, and players are often teamed up with others to augment the amount of forces playing against another sizeable force.


In 2-player, each player controls 3 characters and is on his own team. In 3-player, each player controls 2 characters and is on his own team. In 4-player, each player controls 1 (perhaps 2, haven't decided) character and 2 players are on a team. In 5-player, each player controls 1 character and 2 players on a team, while 1 player is on his own team. He is known as the "Hand of the Black Admiral" ("of the Black" is a term used to refer to pirates in the past; the Black Admiral or "Admiral of the Black" was often seen as the leader of the groups of pirates) and is there to punish both of the opposing teams for their disobedience. His victory conditions are different from the other teams. Alternatively, if the Hand ends up being just too complicated, a player on a 2-player team could control an additional character. In 6-player, each player controls 1 character and 3 players are on a team. In addition, there is 1 6-player mode in a scenario where each player controls 1 character and 2 players are on a team. When 1 team is beaten, its players are subjugated, with 1 player getting absorbed into each of the remaining teams. Then 1 of 3-player teams must beat the other.

Scenarios. Jolly Pirates is composed of various scenarios (I am planning on 3 main scenarios) that have generally unique player objectives. The scenarios are in place to both encourage variety in gameplay (and thus enhance replayability), encourage strategic thought, as well as provide more flexibility for number of players. Certain scenarios fit a larger or smaller amount of players better than others do. Thus, at the beginning of the game, players decide which scenario they will do. While I have not picked exactly which scenarios I will include, the following 5 are being considered:


(1) Elimination Match. Objective: All the original characters on the other players' teams are eliminated OR 3 (2 characters a team) /4 (2 characters a team + the Hand of the Black)/5 (3 characters a team) characters on the other players’ teams. Hand of the Black Admiral’s Objective: Kill 3 characters, with at least 1 character being from each of the rival pirate teams. For 2 - 6 players. This is the basic “kill them all” scenario, but adjusted to accommodate respawning characters. There are 2 possible victory conditions: (a) Kill all of the other teams’ original characters. This means that all of the characters controlled by that team’s players at the beginning of the game are eliminated. (b) Kill 3/4/5 characters on the other players’ teams. These 2 conditions balance out the respawning, so that a remaining character does not simply run away and hide for the rest of the game in a corner to help his team achieve victory. However, victory cannot be achieved by killing the same player’s characters a couple of times. It is to your advantage to attack the other player characters.

(2) Base Destruction. Objective: Destroy the Enemy Pirate Ship OR their 2 Campsites. For 2, 4, or 6 players. Instead of having to kill player characters, in this game you have to kill non-player units (NPUs), namely either the enemy’s pirate ship or 2 of their base site tokens. Players of DOTA should be familiar with this idea, although in this scenario you have to defend more than your ancient (the ship), but also your campsites. Needing to defend the 2 NPUs keeps your forces from camping in one spot. Any player characters that die in this scenario can respawn infinitely until the conditions are met.

(3) Kill the Player with the Keys. Objective: Kill the player character on the enemy team who holds the keys, acquire the keys and then take them back to your campsite. For 2, 4, or 6 players. This scenario plans to add a twist on the typical kill the leader (like BANG!’s kill the Sheriff) and capture the flag arrangements; the “leader” is the player character who holds the keys (the flag), a card placed next to the character card and that is visible to all. Each team chooses which of their characters holds the keys first. Once the character holds the keys, he must hold on to them for at least 2 rounds at a time. After that, he can pass on the keys to another character on his team, so that the “leader” to eliminate shifts around. Passing is done by occupying the same space as a team mate. If the keyholder is eliminated, his killer immediately gains the keys (perhaps even if the killer is on his own team?). He then must take the keys to his campsite for his team to win. Player characters infinitely respawn until this condition is met. I am not exactly sure what the item should be –a flag, keys, a map for buried treasure, scandalous letters, or some silly amusing object like an ornate bath brush. Suggestions?

(4) Acquire the Buried Treasure/Medical Supplies. Objective: Teams vie to acquire the most buried treasure; those with the most at the end of the game win. For 2, 3, 4, or 6 players. This is an area control scenario. There are 2 tiles with buried treasure spaces marked on them which will be in the scenario by default. By occupying one of these spaces at the beginning of his turn, a player gains a buried treasure token for his team. There are a finite number of these tokens, which are odd in number. As soon as one team possesses a majority of the tokens, that team wins. If by the end there is a tie (as might be the case in 3-player), the game moves to a quasi-sudden death mode. Tokens are earned until 1 team has more tokens than the others. Player characters infinitely respawn until these conditions are met. I am not certain whether the teams should be trying to get buried treasure (the traditional pirate fiction plot) or medical supplies that had washed up on the island after a ship was taken down (a more historically accurate plot for pirates). What do you think?

(5) Marooned Captain’s Escape. Objective: Team 1--Extract the Captain to your ship. Team 2--Kill the marooned captain. For 2, 4, or 6 players. This scenario is more unusual in that teams have different goals. Team 1 starts on one side of the board and has to get to the other side to extract the marooned captain (a NPU). The ship will arrive in 10 rounds, so they have to survive that long and then get the captain to the ship. Team 2 starts in the center of the board and their goal is to kill the marooned captain before he can get away. Player characters infinitely respawn until one of these conditions is met.

Once a scenario is selected, there is a map diagram provided showing how the tiles should be arranged as a whole (the map’s shape), but not in any particular order (not the map’s content). It also notes each team’s territory. There is also a “recommended map” that tries to arrange terrain features in a more interesting way for the scenario. Players are free to choose to arrange the map however they wish; they make their choice and lay down the map tiles. 


Look forward to part 2!

Another religious phenomenon worth consideration

At church today, I was struck again and again by the structure, power, and significance of the prayers we offer in public settings. Their ability to set a mood or structure a gathering is incredible. They have all the makings of a focal practice as outlined by Borgmann. Pretty nifty!

I suggest that you add that to your list of religious things to devote further thought to, Marty.

Even More Art for the Philosophy Themed Deck

UPDATED 07/20/2012: Started proofing the prototype and asked the POD a few printing questions. Improved some of the artwork. My wife thinks that my tuck box art is better than the Flammarion colored engraving and so I should just use it for the back as well. What do you think? I have it in the card back format below.
UPDATED 07/19/2012: Finished the tuck box art! The original part of the School of Athens that inspired this work is also posted here, so you can see how I tried to model the "new school" on the old one. I also placed the art in a rough template to get an idea of the look I am going for. Take a look below.
UPDATED 07/18/2012: Finished a good chunk of the tuck box art coloring. Finished placing cards in templates. All backgrounds completed (samples below).
UPDATED 07/17/2012: Finished sketch for tuck box art. I chose to recreate the School of Athens by Raphael. I only kept Aristotle, Plato, and Hypatia from the ancient Greeks, and added in Kant, Wittgenstein, Descartes, Husserl, Russell, Nietzsche, Thomas Aquinas, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, and Hume. I tried to pose them mostly correctly into the piece, and studied some clothing from the different time periods to place them in it. You will have to tell me what you think. Now, I need to vectorize and color it. Ugh, another 10 hours, here we come!
UPDATED 07/11/2012: Started putting art into card templates. Decided on quotes. Created card face backgrounds for ancient/medieval, modern, and analytic philosophers. Progress shown below.
UPDATED 07/10/2012: Added Hypatia and G. E. M. Anscombe. Replaced Austin with William James. Although I originally did not include James due to being unable to easily identify him in one of the camps, I compared his novel ideas and philosophical contributions and saw that they far outweighed J. L. Austin. It felt wrong to include Austin comparatively speaking, and so I stuck James in the analytic camp as his replacement. IMO, while James has definitely had influence in Continental philosophy, and his pragmatism is often a middle road, his scientific background makes him fit more in the analytic camp anyway. This concludes the portraits for philosophers! Now there is just color formatting, standardization, and creating the cards themselves. I also plan on doing an art for a tuckbox.
UPDATED 07/09/2012: Adjusted Card Back art (Flammarion engraving).
UPDATED 07/08/2012: Added the Brain in a Vat and Plato.
UPDATED 07/05/2012: Added new Merleau-Ponty. Worked on card content.
UPDATED 07/02/2012: Added Thales and Parmenides. Revised Aristotle.
UPDATED 07/01/2012: Further cleaning up and revision of continentals.
UPDATED 06/30/2012: Further cleaning up and revision of continentals.
UPDATED 06/29/2012: Added Peter Abelard.
UPDATED 06/28/2012: Further cleaning up and revision of continentals.
UPDATED 06/27/2012: Added Chrysippus and Euclid.
UPDATED 06/26/2012: Cleaned up line work and coloring on lots of philosophers. Also improved the quality of older artwork; the greeks and medievals were looking too good comparitively speaking! More will have to be done in the future.
UPDATED 06/25/2012: Added Anaximander and Augustine.
UPDATED 06/22/2012: Added Rudolf Carnap and Socrates.

This post I will continue to update with art work as I finish more drawings of philosophers, as mentioned in the prior post.