TLDR

Funding Amount: 12 ETH

Deliverable: 60 unique pieces of card art, commissioned from multiple artists

Disbursement Interval: 100% upon proposal passing

Funding Allocation: 100% to artists

DAO Revenue kickback: 50% of all Runes NFT sales until refunded, 5% in perpetuity after

Benefits for the cult: FRWC on-ramp, DAO revenue stream

Timeline: November 1st, 2022

Also, if you haven’t given the Runes beta a try, head to runes-tcg.com to mint your free beginner cards & play games with fellow cult members!

Also give us a follow on twitter @runes_tcg to get the latest news & announcements, or join our discord here.

Summary/Context

What is Runes?

Runes is a trading card game set in the Runiverse, the world being realized by the Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult team & community.

Runes is game with fun, easy to grasp, yet engaging gameplay that has a major focus on co-authoring & storytelling. We want to be a platform that allows people to be able to create the experiences they want to create, for themselves and others. We draw heavily on years & years of Magic The Gathering experiences where some of the most fulfilling and rewarding aspects were assembling the perfect deck from cards, to sleeves, to playmat, to custom art. This is also very much the mantra of Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult, where derivatives are held in high esteem and the community is not only given the freedom to, but encouraged to tell their own stories and help create the world around them.

At its most basic level - Runes is a 1v1 card game where players will use cards, represented as NFTs, that they’ve collected through playing the game or exclusive gifts.

At its most advanced level - Runes is a complete multimedia experience where social, gameplay, and creator cultures collide. It is a malleable portal that gives players the tools they need to transport themselves & friends (or strangers) into a setting of their choosing.

Here is a lore reading given by giveahoot at a 2021 Wizard Wednesday.

What is a “Core Set” in Runes?

Runes is going to have 3 modes of delivering cards to the player base:

Starter Cards

These are cards that all players will be able to mint for free for as long as Runes is running. This allows unfettered access to the Runes experience and allows players to try the game before deciding whether the want to commit more time & money to the game!

Core Sets

These are cards that will make up the bulk of the Runes experience. Core sets will be sets of ~60 cards that will be released at once. We are still working on the launch mechanics - but are working on a booster pack model that is both affordable & fun.

Eventually, core sets will rotate - breathing new life into the current meta. The plan is to rotate sets every few months but that will only be reasonable once we hit a certain threshold of engagement, activity, and recurring revenue.

Booster packs in core sets are able to be minted/purchased to ∞ while they are in rotation. Once they are out of rotation, players will no longer be able to purchase them.

Limited Edition

These cards will be released as part of raffles, special events, achievements, etc.

Where is Runes today?

Runes entered a Public Beta on June 15, 2022 where the team launched its product with a beginner set of 12 cards.

The tweet announcing the public beta launch garnered some decent engagement on twitter, signaling at least a base level of interest from members of FRWC & those around it.

Since launch we’ve seen a steady stream of activity and even more amazing feedback from those who have tried the game.

Recently, Runes co-founder giveahoot streamed some casual gameplay with Jitcy. In this video you can see some light gameplay and also get an idea of some of the things that are on the Runes roadmap.

About the Runes team

Runes is the creation of giveahoot and leo.

Giveahoot has been an active FRWC cult member since the day of mint, although sadly he missed the actual mint. Outside of the cult, giveahoot is a software engineer with 10 years of experience working at various consumer-facing Silicon Valley tech companies.

Leo is a full-stack engineer who has been tinkering in web3/blockchain/frontier technology for the past 5 years and recently made the switch to a full time smart contract career.

Together, outside of their day jobs, they work at Adventure Networks, a company that has been experimenting and building with frontier technology for the past 5 years.

What kind of investment has Runes taken so far?

Runes has not taken any outside funding to this date, and the team has only needed to pay 1 ETH total for all of the commissioned art you see within the app.

Giveahoot & Leo have been building this application all themselves on nights & weekends and will continue to do so.

So, needless to say, all funding is being used very thoughtfully and we are only asking for the bare minimum that we need in order to achieve the milestone that we have set for ourselves, which is profitability.

The Ask

In order for Runes to take the next step in its development, it needs a full set of cards. However, in order to create more cards we need art.. and art costs money!

The team would like to request funds from the HoW to fulfill the commission for the core set card art.

The commission will be for 60 unique pieces of card art. The Runes team already has experience working with an artist (ozzz) on the initial set and can leverage that experience to make sure that the core set commission goes as smoothly as possible.

Funding

The Runes team is requesting 12 ETH in order to fund the art needed to create our first Core Set.

100% of funds will be used to commission the core set card art.

With at least 4 artists contributing to the set, each artist will receive .2 ETH per card.

We will also be giving the artists royalties for sales of the card set, although these are WIP.

Timeline

As mentioned in the TLDR, The team expects to have the card set done no later than November 1st, 2022. Ideally it’s earlier but in order to set expectations, we are giving a conservative estimate.

The Justification

So.. why should anyone vote in favor of the Runes proposal?

FRWC On-Ramp

Runes adopts many FRWC principles this one included, Runes is for everyone!

Nothing about Runes is gate-kept by a collection NFT. Whether you own a wizard, warrior, or none of the above you are allowed to play Runes to the same capacity as anyone else.

The gameplay is simple enough for just about anyone to pick up the game and enjoy themselves - but complex enough where people who want to get better 100% can.

Runes is incredibly affordable, with core set card NFTs ranging from $2-$10. And core set cards are mintable to infinity - ensuring that they will always cost this much. This will make entering the game affordable for players regardless of when they find us.

And all roads lead to FRWC! Runes heavily borrows from & contributes to the Runiverse. Anyone who finds Runes & decides to get involved with the project won’t be able to ignore the fact that Runes would be nothing with FRWC, the Runiverse, the community, and the unparalleled creative platform that allowed us to achieve what we have today.

Revenue Model

Runes has multiple ways that it plans on bringing in revenue.

Core to these strategies is the fact that we are building Runes on the Polygon blockchain, a layer 2 blockchain built on the Ethereum blockchain. No gas fees allow us to do things not possible on Ethereum.

Below are the various paths to revenue.

Core Set Marketplace

As mentioned in a previous section, the cards that are being commissioned as a part of this proposal will go on sale to the public.

The mechanics are still TBD but we are working on a booster pack model that keeps affordability high while also making it fun.

Mint NFT Cards

One of the most excited parts about Runes is giving people the ability to mint card versions of their NFTs!

The Runes team is actually in the middle of building out the wizard→card mapping algorithm & technology to facilitate the minting of the NFTs.

The plan is to allow players to mint a singular card version of their wizard NFT for .02 ETH each.

More to come...

Raffles & Auctions

This portion of the revenue model isn’t super flushed out yet because the team is focusing on the core experience. Therefore, I’m going to leave this out of the projections - but I wanted the community to know that this is part of the roadmap.

Revenue Projections

Ok so strategies are great, but what about numbers?

Disclaimer: We’re still finalizing some of the numbers in regards to pricing - so all projections are subject to change. For this reason my projections include rather conservative estimates.

Some premises:

• To purchase one copy of each card in the set will cost .3 ETH (~$300)
• These projections are expected to come to fruition within the next 3-6 months as we launch the various revenue streams mentioned above

Optimistic (People freaking love Runes)

Runes launches its core set & people go bananas. They also can’t wait to get their hands on a card version of their wizard. We achieve world peace & the biggest debate is whether cucumdogs should be eaten raw or grilled.

The average rate at which customers pay for things like mobile app in-app purchases is about 5% according to google. While I have no idea if this can be used as a parallel to our situation, it can be a ridiculously rough starting point. Let’s say that the initial userbase of Runes is 3000, the number of unique holders of FRWC. If 5% of the userbase, 150 wallets, purchases the entire core card set that will total 45 ETH.

Let’s then say that 15% of the userbase, 450 holders, buy ~10 cards because the art is amazing & they want to tinker with the game. That is 22.5 ETH.

Let’s also say that people are super excited to mint cards of their wizards (the first collection we will launch this feature for). If 2500 wizard cards are minted at .02 ETH each, that is 50 ETH.

That leaves us at a predictable total of 117.5 ETH. This isn’t counting any type of raffle or auction for rare, scarce assets. These methods can also have extra %’s that are kicked back to either the HoW and/or other charity organizations of the cult’s choosing.

This also isn’t taking into account the user base possibly expanding outside of the cult, allowing players to mint more FRWC NFTs, and partnering with other projects outside of FRWC.

Moderate (People enjoy Runes)

Runes launches and the reception is solid. It doesn’t achieve virality but the cult is pleased and Runes is enjoyed by all. Enough so that people are motivated to purchase some cards in order to play the game a bit more. Also the art is killer.

2% of the userbase, 60 wallets, purchases a full set which totals for 18 ETH.

6% of the userbase, 180 wallets, purchase 10 cards for a total of 9 ETH.

1000 wizard cards are minted at .02 ETH each for 20 ETH.

Total = 48 ETH

Pessimistic (People tolerate Runes)

1% of the userbase, 30 wallets, purchases a full set for a total of 9 ETH.

3% of the userbase, 90 wallets, purchase 10 cards for a total of 4.5 ETH.

500 wizard cards are minted at .02 ETH each for 10 ETH

Total = 23.5 ETH

Summary

Here are the revenue projection totals summarized.

Outcome, Total ETH, % of Initial Funding Returned, HoW Royalties (Initially)

In all of the cases, the HoW is repaid the full 12 ETH that the Runes team requested AND the FRWC community has a super fun game to play casually while waiting for Wizard Wednesday to start.

And even then, I like to think that it’s likely a matter of when not if in terms of growth that we expect.

Conclusion

If you’ve made it to the end - thank you! Runes looks forward to serving the FRWC community & brand. We hope we can be a unique way to bring the Runiverse to life through art and lore, while also being an ambassador for the community by giving non-FRWC holders a very affordable (and fun) entry point into the Runiverse.

If this proposal is missing any information you think would provide more clarity or help our case please feel free to reach out to giveahoot on twitter or discord (giveahoot#3595).