Darlene the Artist

PURCHASE GAME from ORIGINAL run   $123.00 ea.

JASMINE: The Battle for The Mid-Realm™ Collector Card Game

 

In August of 1982, Jasmine: The Battle for The Mid-Realm™ collector card game was published late summer–just in time for Gen Con XV. The packaging describes it as a “fun and challenging card game for two to four players, based upon The Story of Jasmine™ illustrated Fantasy adventure(1). A unique set of rules combines magic, intrigue, strategy and heroic battles into Fantasy’s most exciting card game.

When The Dragon editors failed to renew the Jasmine™ saga for another year, DARLENE developed it into a game. Her card game sprang directly from the interactions of her characters. She sorted the main characters into four factions, each possessing different and sometimes unique strengths and attributes. Since the card game was initially character-driven, it is natural for players to ad lib and assume the personae and traits of their faction during play.

DARLENE created Jasmine Publications to publish Jasmine: The Battle for The Mid-Realm™ collector card game. The year 1982 officially marks the first appearance of a role-playing game using playing cards and a game-related collector card game that is heavily illustrated.

The card game system Darlene was the first to develop defines three types of playing cards: ”faction cards, event cards, and special cards” each with unique actions which can change depending upon what other cards are in play or which factions are holding them. This is unique, then and now.

In 1985, DARLENE received the Strategist’s Club Award for “The Most Outstanding New Game in a New Category.” As the RPG industry was relatively small at that point, it seems likely that DARLENE’s game was not unknown.The first appearance of Magic the Gathering wasn’t until 1993, over ten years later and, curiously, it borrows many ideas that closely resemble DARLENE’s collector card game.

Some of the Two-Color Event Cards:

Five of 40 Faction Card Paintings:

GAME REVIEWS:

In his review of the game (2), in 1983, Merle Rasmussen wrote: “As with many games, experience is the best teacher and I quickly saw the whys and hows of the game system. The game may be a bit much for beginning fantasy gamers but strategists will love it. It plays quickly and combat is relatively simple to resolve. Two-, three- and four-player games each have a different twist depending upon which Factions are controlled by active players and which Factions begin the game as Neutrals.” Rasmussen concludes his review, “Persons familiar with Darlene’s art will want to get a copy of Jasmine as will card-game collectors. Players of Nuclear War, Sqwurm, or Power Play will see that JASMINE incorporates a few old ideas with many new ones to create a fresh approach in card-gaming.”

Another positive review appeared in Avalon Hill’s GamePlay Magazine. 

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(1) From May 1980 to May 1981, twelve episodes (17 panels) of DARLENE’s illustrated fantasy-adventure, “The Story of Jasmine™” saga ran in The Dragon Magazine beginning with Issue #37.

(2) Merle Rasmussen, “Fun Is In The Cards With JASMINE,” THE DRAGON Magazine, TSR Periodicals (Lake Geneva, WI) January 1983.