During achromacon back in May, I had the pleasure of meeting Achroma Team Member, Troy Bennetton, and even managed to get in a few games against him (he had the dubious privilege of being one of the first ever players to play against Rayders).

Since the first few Snow Dragons cards were spoiled, he’s had a larger presence on the Achroma discord, answering questions about rules and design. However, while I feel like most of the community are aware of lead designer Chris Hillman, the contribution of Troy to the Achroma project has been largely unsung. As such, I reached out to him recently, and he kindly answered a few of my questions. So, without further ado, here you go:

How long have you been involved with achroma and how did you get involved?
I’ve been involved in achroma for a long time, probably around 4-5 years. Back then it was in its earliest stages in terms of the card game, obviously the lore dates back before I was born! One of my best mates Ethan who also works for achroma is the son of Jack (CEO), so we would often play the game when I saw them. Some years went by and after witnessing them improve the game and backing their first kickstarter, I was interested in helping out. In mid 2022 I started picking and packing cards in the unit next door to the shop, and after a couple of months of that, I was offered the opportunity to become a Realm Runner by the team. Ethan and I became realm runners together and helped paint and design the shop, now 5 Realms Gaming Lounge. Frankie also joined us and from then on it was us 3 best mates working together on achroma.

What aspects of the game are you involved with? Is it just design, or are you involved in other aspects of the game?
In terms of what I do for the game, it’s a little bit of everything. My main skills lie with designing card abilities and game mechanics. The Last Snow Dragons of Altari is a set I’ve had a lot of influence on with regards to designing the gameplay and key words. I also worked on the Rise of the Realm Runners expansion with the others, and as we speak I am working on Spirata chapter 2. Whilst game design is my favourite thing to do at Realm Runner Studios, I also enjoy travelling the country to sell the game at events such as comicon or visiting gaming shops all over the UK. I also used to be an employee at the achroma store, and then 5 Realms before I transitioned to solely achroma work. Some other things I do are manage orders, pack cards to make stock, and help establish business relationships. There isn’t a lot I’m not involved with in terms of achroma!

How does the design process work at Realm Runner Studios?
The design process starts out with an initial concepting session where we get together and present our ideas, usually we already have some idea of what we want as Rachel [Constantine] has her visions. Once we have decided on a concept, we make sure it aligns with the lore and which side (Achrom or chroma) is winning the battle. Previously Rachel has come up with characters and location names and written a brief summary of what they would look like etc. but we all have an input of what we would like to see in the set. From there we just create cards, abilities, and key words and everything else that comprises a set. Obviously the community is also a consideration when designing a new set; we make sure that the community is getting what it wants and that we retain the ‘evolving card game’ aspect. We sometimes all design together and sometimes separately, but we always share ideas and go with what’s best.

What are your main considerations when designing cards? Is it balance, fun, originality, theme, ease of playability, or something else?
There is no 1 main consideration when designing new cards. The main 3 would be: making sure it fits our vision of achroma and aligns with the lore that we have created and the world we’ve designed; secondly making sure we have appealed to the community’s wants and needs; and thirdly putting all our effort into making the game simple and balanced. As a card game we love to appeal to new, unexperienced players at the same time as making it fun for the more experienced competitive fans. It’s all about finding the balance between all of these aspects.

What sort of cards do you enjoy designing the most?
Personally my favourite realm is Draco planum, so designing cards for that realm has been particularly fun. Whilst I can appreciate the competitive scene I love a fun play style that I can enjoy playing with friends, so I tend to not use the meta cards as such. Therefore my favourite cards to design would definitely be fun cards that have unique abilities, not just the strongest cards in the set.

How much does the lore guide the design process? Does it fully inform the mechanics of each set, or do you make the card mechanics fit the lore?
The lore and card mechanics go hand in hand. Some of the lore is created and then we expand it when coming up with the card ideas. We like to create key words and mechanics based on the traits of that faction, so the lore is essential when creating a themed deck. To sum it up, I would say the lore starts as an initial template that we expand on at the same time as developing the cards. We have an overarching story in mind but it develops during the process.

What’s the biggest challenge in design?
The biggest challenge is making sure the cards function well within the new set and also with existing sets. As we’ve seen with Rayders there is always going to be some combinations that will go under the radar and then cause trouble. We are really grateful for our playtest team for helping us nip some of these problems in the bud early on before the release, but the more cards we release the harder this will become to monitor. However with an expanding fan base, our playtest capabilities will grow and we will be able to keep up with the growth of the game.

And finally, what is your favourite card from The Last Snow Dragons of Altari?
Hularla, I actually came up with the idea of Hularla a long time ago (type of character and ability) and then Rachel helped bring it into existence and Vinnie nailed the artwork!

Thank you so much to Troy for answering my questions.

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