Glossary

This is a basic glossary list for the game of Dvorak, although you're encouraged to make up your own jargon, for your own games. It's just useful to have a consistent shorthand for "remove a card from play, but not from someone's hand", rather than picking a verb like "kill" and not being sure how to apply it once the game gets going.

Action

An Action is a card which, when played, has a one-off effect and is then placed in the discard pile.

Action: (Effect)

Some Things say "Action: [do something]" - this is simply shorthand for "Instead of playing an Action, the player who controls this card may [do something]." (The Thing card remains in play.)

Note that this counts as an Action for all relevant purposes - a card which negated Actions could also negate an "instead-of" effect.

Example: If a Thing said "Action: Draw two cards.", then so long as that card remained in play, the player who controlled it could choose to skip their Action for a turn, and draw two cards instead.

card

The bits of (possibly virtual) cardboard that you use to play Dvorak. All cards in the game are either Actions or Things.

control / controller

Each Thing has a controller; when a Thing comes into play, its controller is the Player who played it. For clarity, cards controlled by a Player should be placed in front of them on the table. Control of a Thing may change during the course of a game.

destroy

If a Thing is "destroyed", it is moved from in play to the discard pile. A Thing that's still in someone's hand can't be destroyed.

discard

Typically if you're told to "discard" a card, it means to discard it from your hand to the discard pile. (Things in play are destroyed, not discarded.) Unless a discard is specifically stated as random, the player discarding may choose which card or cards to discard.

discard pile

Played Actions, destroyed Things and discarded cards end up in a single discard pile, which is placed face-up in view of all players. Anyone may dig through it at any time.

draw pile

When players draw cards, they draw them from the draw pile, a face-down pile of cards. Players may only dig through the draw pile if a card specifically permits them to. If the draw pile is empty when someone tries to draw a card, the discard pile should be shuffled and turned over to form a new draw pile.

hand

A player's hand of cards. Players may only view each others' hands when cards permit them to.

opponent

A player other than yourself (or a player not on your team, if playing a team game).

target / targeted

When an action refers to a "target something", the player who played that action must choose among the somethings available. The chosen item is then "targeted" by that action.

Example: "Destroy target Thing." means that you should choose a Thing, and destroy it. If another card happened to say "Whenever a Thing you control is targeted by Action, draw a card.", then somebody would get to draw a card.

Thing

A Thing is a card which, when played, is placed on the table in front of the player who played it. When a Thing is destroyed, it goes to the discard pile.

you / your

If a card refers to "you" it means "the controller of this card". (eg. "You are immune to poison.", "Your Things may not be destroyed.")

Round

Usually, a round starts at the player that has the first turn of the game. Counting from this player, when the last player has ended her turn, a new round begins. Cards can use the term 'round' more loosely: here rounds are relevant only temporarily and start at a designated turn. Card example: "All blue cards are disabled for 1 round." In this case, the round starts when player A plays this card and ends at the beginning of player A's next turn. After this, it's not necessary to count rounds any more.