S2V2
Two aliens. One human soul. Thirty Oblos.
Decades ago the United Galactic Federation found a distant planet showing signs of life, and sent a representative to see about inviting its people in. She watched Earth for a year. Her report to the High Council said we were far too primitive to meet the standard.
Nothing like us had come up before, and nobody wanted to turn us away. So the Council invented something new: the whole Federation would help its future friend grow into the standard, by playing a game. They called it S2V2.
Two creatures sit down at a card table and argue over one human soul. They wear faces out of human history, they meet the soul in one real place after another, and they steer it: one toward the saint it could be, the other toward the sinner. Both of them are doing it for that soul. Nobody has explained any of this to it. It only knows that something keeps asking, and that its answers are starting to add up to a life.
The most controversial casino in the galaxy
The tourist planet Slorix L3Q had fallen on hard times, so the Federation sanctioned S2V2 to be played in exactly one venue: the historical Skubuwei Casino. Casual and competitive enthusiasts come from all across the galaxy for it. Not everyone on the High Council was thrilled about settling the worth of a species over a card table, for money, on a planet that needed the tourism, and that is roughly how the Skubuwei got its reputation. You ante Oblos to sit down. The winner takes the pot.
The argument itself happens somewhere on Earth, because the Location card in play is a real place and the place is part of the case you are making. A soup kitchen. A street fighting club. A red carpet gala. The Presidential Tower. Alcoholics Unknown. Each one leans toward a virtue or a vice, and arguing for charity in a soup kitchen is not the same job as arguing for it at the gala.
You cannot show a human soul what you actually look like, so you wear a face it already knows. Your Identity card is a figure humans have long used to put a shape on their own better and worse impulses, and which side you argue is decided separately, by the opening roll. The first deck draws on angels and demons, so Uriel can spend an evening making the case for our worst instincts while Belphegor speaks up for our best. Nobody at the table finds this strange. Later decks bring their own figures.
Your resources are the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues, and every one of them is drawn as an ordinary object. Chastity is a promise ring. Sloth is a pair of silk pyjamas. Pride is a trophy. They look like things you could pick up off the table, which is what a temptation is.
The oldest argument, with Aristotle’s tools
Every case you make runs on one of three Proofs: Logos, Ethos or Pathos. They are Aristotle’s, and they mean what he meant, an appeal to reason, an appeal to character, an appeal to emotion. The soul is leaning on one of them. So is the Location. So is the creature across the table.
Reading which is which is the game. Spend resources that answer the proof in front of you and the same card pays more, and each of the three criteria you meet is two more Oblos on top of the card’s own reward. That is a combo, and spotting one is the difference between playing your cards and playing the table. In Chaos mode the triangle of what beats what inverts, and everything you had learned about reading a room runs backwards.
What you are really being asked, forty-odd cards and thirty Oblos at a time, is whether a person is the sum of their worst impulses or their best ones. Two species who have never been human sit down to work that out on our behalf. It is a strange way to be helped. It is help all the same.
How a match plays
Four kinds of card
Identity, Location, Persuasion, and Ally. One Identity and one Location are in play the whole match.
Earn it or burn it
Activate a Persuasion card for its reward, or burn it for Resources instead. You cannot have both.
Combos reward reading the table
Spend Resources that answer the Location, the soul, and your opponent, and each one you match pays two more Oblos.
Allies act on their own
Attackers, Defenders, and Healers move at the start of every turn, and an opponent’s Ally is the only thing that takes Oblos back off you.
Umbra
Slorix L3QAn employee of the Skubuwei Casino, and the first person you meet. She shows you around, walks you through your first match, answers the help screens, and turns up whenever something goes wrong. Sweet, kind, helpful and accommodating, and so enthusiastic about S2V2 that she tends to run on ahead of you.
S2V2 is unlike any other game that you’ll play! It’s a game where you’ll use your cunning, your allies, your guts, and your luck to persuade the virtue of a human soul!
You see, our friends on Earth just need a bit of help in order to be ready to join the Federation, and that’s where S2V2 comes in!
You’ll help too, won’t you?
The Casino Regulars
Six of them drink at the Skubuwei, and each is earned by beating the one before. A tourist with more wins than she lets on, a veteran with a holiday home two streets away, and somebody who is still working out which way round the cards go.
Azimuth
CetrosieStill trying to get their head around the concepts of this game. But they are hopeful they can figure it out after a few matches.
A major fan of the planet Earth, and the reason they play is to contribute in any way possible to Earth joining the Federation.
Noditi
TacrypsoA tourist from the planet Tacrypso. Although she is a newbie, Noditi has enough wins under her belt to feel confident against a newbie such as yourself.
Leslax
ZestrearusTends to blame his triumphs on "beginner’s luck", but everyone knows that he is not much of a beginner any more.
Helio
YoehiriAlthough Helio is very happy-go-lucky, they are truly a poor loser. Probably because they do not lose very often.
Voide
PlaoliaSilent but deadly. Voide does not talk much. Her communication is usually done through a variety of stabbing glares.
Quiet, but fierce and calculating.
Hyde
EtroreA veteran player who owns a vacation home down the street from the casino.
From the drawing board
Pages from the art team’s sketchbooks and notes, photographed while the game was being made.
Character study, ink and marker 
Line work in progress 
Location study, pen on paper 
The first batch of Saints and Sinners 
Choosing a colour for each sin 
Sketchbook page, characters and notes
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Frequently asked questions
What is S2V2?
S2V2 is a turn-based collectible card game for two players, set in a science-fiction world with a large amount of writing behind it. You play an alien seated at a card table in the Skubuwei Casino, arguing for a human soul against another alien doing the same. Every match is one argument, played out in cards.
Why are aliens arguing about a human soul?
Decades ago the United Galactic Federation found Earth and sent a representative to decide whether to invite us in. She watched for a year and reported that we were far too primitive. Nothing like it had come up before, and nobody wanted to turn us away, so the High Council invented a process: the whole Federation would help its future friend grow into the standard, by playing a game.
What are Saints and Sinners?
They are the two sides of the argument, and an opening roll decides who takes which. Your Identity card is the face the soul sees you wearing, drawn from the figures humans have used for centuries to personify their own better and worse impulses. The first deck uses archangels and demons; later decks draw on other traditions. Resources are the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues, and spending them tips the soul one way while your opponent tips it back.
What do Logos, Ethos and Pathos do?
They are the three Proofs, and they are Aristotle’s, meaning an appeal to reason, to character, and to emotion. The soul leans on one, the Location leans on one, and so does your opponent. Answering the right proof with the right resources is what turns an ordinary card into a good one. In Chaos mode the triangle of what beats what inverts, and everything you knew about the table runs backwards.
How do you win a match?
The objective is to gain a total of thirty Oblos. The first player to reach thirty wins the match, and takes the pot both players anted.
What goes into a deck?
A deck contains thirty-one cards in total, including a single Identity card, and at least five Location cards. The rest are Persuasion and Ally cards. You hold a maximum of seven cards in hand at any time.
What are the four kinds of card?
Your Identity is how the human soul perceives you, and its ability stays active all match. The Location is the place on Earth where the argument happens, and one is always in play. Persuasion cards earn Oblos and act. Ally cards attack, defend, and heal.
What is a combo?
Combos depend on the resources you spend to activate a Persuasion card. There are three criteria, and each one you meet awards two additional Oblos on top of the card’s own reward.
What is the difference between Oblos and Persuasion?
Oblos is the money, and it is the point. You pay fifteen to enter a ranked match, collect Oblos by arguing, and thirty of them wins, with the winner taking the pot. Persuasion is the card type: the cards that earn Oblos. The three Proofs, Logos, Ethos and Pathos, are types of persuasion, which is what they have meant since Aristotle.
When is S2V2 releasing?
S2V2 first released on Android in 2018 and is in development now, being rebuilt from the ground up for iPhone, Android, PC, Mac, and Linux. There is no release date yet.