Story Family Fantasy : The game

In the universe of Story Family Fantasy, the old world has vanished, swallowed up by the excesses of the past. In its place remain the Paradigm Isles. These fragmented lands float above an endless Maelstrom, a primordial storm where raw creation and chaotic destruction are forever intermingled. On each island, a community strives to preserve a fragile balance against the turbulence of the void.

These societies do not seek to conquer their neighbours, but to grow and rise. Each of them reaches towards a harmonious end, a point of perfect fulfilment embodied by the Apocalypse card, which does not mean the end of the world, but accomplishment and ultimate revelation. Against this vital impulse stand the Chimeras, predatory entities born of the Maelstrom’s entropy, drawn to the energy of the communities in order to dissolve everything into nothingness.

The material heart of SFF rests on a simple, evocative structure, immediately understandable from the very first hands-on try.

Four great families make up the game. Each gathers thirteen members ranked by age and experience, from the youngest, bearing the number 1, to the venerable elder marked with the number 13. Each generation brings its own value: the spontaneous energy of the youngest answers to the wisdom and protective authority of the elders.

Four evolution cards per family make it possible to transform these lineages and to help their community grow through the trials ahead.

Two founding cards dictate the fate of the table: Genesis, which kindles the spark of life and the unfolding of the islands, and Apocalypse, the horizon towards which the community’s efforts converge to seal its balance.

Four Chimeras complete the set. Monsters of entropy and embodiments of chaos, they represent the common threat that the families will have to face to safeguard their home.

Unlike traditional card games where you try to strip your neighbour bare, Story Family Fantasy puts mutual help at the centre of the table. The game is split into two high points.

The first phase is one of gathering and solidarity. The people around the table trade their cards, agree on the combinations to form and bring together the members of a single family to prepare the future of their island. It is a convivial moment of discussion and negotiation where selfishness has no place: if one community weakens, the whole archipelago tips over.

The second phase is the hour of adventure. Strengthened by the alliances they have made and the generations they have reunited, the participants set out on an expedition to face one of the fearsome Chimeras that threaten the Paradigm Isles. Each card played combines the courage of the young with the mastery of the elders to push back the monster’s assaults.

At the end of the fight, victory is necessarily collective: either the table triumphs together, or the community is swept away by the Maelstrom. Yet at the heart of this shared victory, legend always remembers one outstanding figure: the person who has generated the most Brilliance through their actions receives the title of Hero of the adventure. It is not a crushing victory over their companions, but the spotlight on the one whose exploits will inspire the songs by the fireside.

We designed Story Family Fantasy to accompany the table over time, through a modular progression in three tiers.

Stage 1 · the card game

The first stage offers the pure card game described above. The rules can be explained in a few minutes to children, grandparents or friends who do not usually play. Games are quick, dynamic and immediately rewarding.

Stage 2 · tactics

The second stage adds a real tactical dimension. It introduces action cards, equipment, spells and special abilities for the families, but also gives the Chimeras a wider range of destructive powers. New creatures appear, turning expeditions into tighter clashes where team coordination becomes essential.

Stage 3 · role-playing

The third stage builds the final bridge to role-playing. The notion of the Hero comes to life through a dedicated character sheet. Participants choose a classic, stimulating archetype — mage, witch, paladin, bard —, gain heroic talents and face legendary Chimeras with very simple narrative rules. This stage comes with a campaign of six complete adventures, letting you explore the secrets of the Maelstrom in depth and making the whole table want to carry on towards role-playing without the slightest apprehension.

Beyond its main adventure, Story Family Fantasy is also, physically, a versatile deck of cards. With its four families of thirteen members completed by its mythical figures, it can simply replace your ordinary decks for your traditional games of poker, tarot, rummy or other family games.

To bring a little extra soul to these familiar moments, we have imagined an alternative use, light and entirely optional. Small themed tables and dialogue prompts let you spice up your games: when a specific card appears on the table, a line can be declaimed, along with a slight adjustment to the turn order. These small narrative touches surprise the table, subtly change the deal and add a dose of humour and imagination to the heart of your tried-and-true board games. It is not the beating heart of the game, but a playful way to bring the SFF characters to life in your everyday rituals.

Paradigm Isles: Habitable fragments of land suspended in the void, born of the breaking up of the old world and sheltering the communities of survivors.

Maelstrom: A storm of chaotic energy surrounding the islands, in which the forces of creation and the forces of destruction clash without pause.

Apocalypse: In the cosmology of Story Family Fantasy, this term does not mean annihilation, but the point of perfect balance and the final revelation towards which each community reaches.

Chimera: A colossal creature born of the Maelstrom’s entropy, seeking to devour the vitality of the islands and embodying the adversity the families must overcome together.

Brilliance: A measure of the bravery and ingenuity shown by a participant during the adventure phases, used to name the Hero of the game without breaking collective solidarity.

Play bridge: A creative method specific to Obhéa Éditions, which consists in using a familiar, accessible medium to naturally guide participants towards the joys of shared storytelling and role-playing.