Play As A Demon And Fight Exorcists In Upcoming Card Game DEMONIAC!

Already loving the VHS clamshell case. (Photo: Avery Brunkus)

When it comes to the eternal battle between good and evil, demons just have more fun.  This is the conceit of the upcoming tabletop card game, “Demoniac” by Steven Tartick.  For the uninitiated, a demoniac is a person possessed by demons.  Your Reagans, your Emily Roses, your…everyone from “The Evil Dead.” Tartick sat down with me to discuss staying creative during the pandemic,, his love of possession movies and tabletop games, collaborating with local game creators, and the time I watched him do a magic trick that made someone run out the room.

Just kidding.  I didn’t ask because I never want to know the secret behind it.  He might be a demoniac, himself.  Did I mention we went to college together?

Macabre Daily:  Many would-be game creators out there would want to know: what made you try to make one yourself?

Steven Tartick: It started like many creative endeavors did, during the pandemic.  I fell hardcore back in love with tabletop gaming and Magic the Gathering.  I started reading Mark Rosewater’s blog.  He’s the creator of MTG, and he gives you a peek under the hood about the game’s mechanics and concepts.  He also talks about how every set of the game that comes out has a resonant theme that connects with pop culture or societal constructs people love.  There’s a wild west set, an eldritch horror set, even a fairy tale set.  He described how sometimes when building a set,  they start with mechanics and build a theme around them, or start with a theme and build mechanics around it.  That’s called “top-down design,” and it got me thinking about designing a game.  I’m not mechanically-minded.  I’m at first creative and resonant-minded, so I thought “what resonant theme can I build a game around?”  Immediately, I wondered what “The Exorcist” would be like as a game.  It’s my favorite movie of all time and I love the possession genre. 

There are so many [game] mechanics built into possession.  There’s a battle between 3 forces: a victim, an exorcist, and a demon.  There are phases [of play], which culminate in a showdown.  So that kind of set me on this journey.  My first “ah-ha” moment was when I thought “battling demons?  What's the fun in that?” [Laughs].  The real fun is to flip the switch and BE the demon fighting the exorcist. In almost every possession story, the victim is sort of falling away and the exorcist is having a crisis of faith.  That’s not fun [Laughs]!  I want to be the possessor.  As soon as I had the idea, I re-watched “The Exorcist” and I realized Pazuzu, the demon, is having the time of his life possessing this girl.  THAT’s where the fun is.  So that started the process and it’s been 2 years to get where we are now.

Describe the game itself and the gameplay.

In “Demoniac,” the player is ademon.  You will pick a victim, infiltrate them, and possess their body and mind until you’ve converted them into a demoniac.  Then you have to attack the exorcist, and the first player to defeat them wins.  The exorcist has spiritual weaknesses, which you have to discover, and you have to repossess the victim to match their spiritual weaknesses.  In doing so, you’re going to unleash their divinity, which is going to cause all sorts of problems for you.  So throughout the game, you’re building up your demoniac, attacking the exorcist, and avoiding the disturbances the other players are causing.  That’s the overview.

The characters on the cards all reference different possession films.  Besides “The Exorcist,” there’s “Jennifer’s Body,” “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Conjuring,” and “Abby” to name a few.  The victim cards are double-sided to represent the states they’re in based on their mind and body scores.  Another card type is the exorcist, and depending on which one you attack, you’ll face their different holy powers.  They have divinity cards like “Family Prayer” and “Youth Pastor Playing Guitar,” which surround them and mess with your demon opponents.  The main deck is made up of bodily possessions like stigmata and contortions.  Those are physical, but there are also mind possessions.  My research for these came from movies, but also from reading about “actual” possession cases.  So each card has flavor text with the demon that causes that particular affliction.  Finally, you can also cast disturbances, which are effects like letters appearing on skin.

Gameplay progresses as an inverted cross. (Photo: Avery Brunkus)

As you can see from the cards, the  tone of the game was really important to me because you’re kind of doing these awful things to poor victims.  It’s very campy and playful while still being sinister.

How did you get together with Evangeline Gallagher to make the card art?

She’s the best.  I discovered her work on Instagram on my “for you” page at one point.  I’d been collecting artists who had exciting vibes for the project, and hers was that perfect blend of spooky, playful, and arty.  She immediately got it.  Her work has a color story to it and I wanted the cards to have colored themes.  The art itself is based on VHS cases and old school paperbacks.

Like “Paperbacks from Hell?”

Exactly.  My copy of that book is filled with post-it notes on the typography, which informed my font choices. Gabriel Cooper’s graphic design and Evangeline’s illustrations merged perfectly. 

What’s your ultimate goal for the game?  Do you want to make expansions or maybe have it sold in stores?

I’m hoping it’s accessible to both horror movie fans and board game fans.  I designed it to be a lightweight game that takes 5 minutes to teach and 20-45 minutes to play.  Building this version of the game was so much fun because I got to go into the lore of it all.  As far as next steps, I think there’s more to the “Demoniac '' world than this specific game. There are some ideas floating around about a sequel within the same world, but with different mechanics.  I’m also kicking around the idea of a “Demoniac” playing card deck.

Little Linda would like a word. (Photo: Avery Brunkus)

Were there certain horror games that influenced you?

Two really come to mind.  “Gloom,” which is casual and macabre, but playful.  The idea you’re inflicting harm on your family, but having fun doing it was a real north star for me.  I also loved “Side Effects,” made by a Brooklyn game publisher called Pillbox Games.  It’s another game where you have ailments that you’re taking drugs for, but they have side effects other players can control.  Both games are beautifully designed and have high production value, but are very accessible.  In fact, I reached out to the team that made “Side Effects” and one of the designers eventually created the card backs of “Demoniac.”  Another fun part of the process is realizing how collaborative the game designer community is.  Everyone I’ve reached out to has taken a call or given advice.  They’ve been really lovely.

What’s your second-favorite exorcism movie beyond, you know, “The Exorcist?”  

I’m going with “The Last Exorcism.”  I love the found footage genre.  The minute I saw “The Blair Witch Project,” I knew they had to make a possession version of that.  It creeps the fuck out of me, and it has a wild and campy ending.  But there are so many.  I consider “The Evil Dead” a possession film, “The Taking of Deborah Logan” was great, too.  I also like the bad ones.  That’s the fun part of the genre.

A closer look, along with a pesky exorcist and some unholy dice. (Photo: Avery Brunkus)

Interview edited for length and clarity.  Demoniac” hits Kickstarter at the end of the month.  For more on the game and the upcoming Kickstarter, check out the official site, including a designer diary at Demoniacgame.com.   

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