Tails of Mischief 2 - Art Playing Cards

質問があれば、お気軽に問い合わせてください。日本語で、できるかぎり返事をします！
All content is hand-drawn/written by me (no AI) and supports animal welfare.

こんにちは、I'm Jack and I'm a nonsense writer and illustrator based in Japan. It is my pleasure to welcome you back into the scurrying forest bed–to invite you to explore the Tails of Mischief 2.

• Inventive hidden holographic foiling on card faces
• Playing cards that connect to reveal a tapestry, a journey.
• Four versions that interact to create a whole story–transforming into a game.
• Limited Edition print run of each version

Every card hides in plain sight, just like the stick and leaf insects hidden across them. 

An inventive use of holographic foiling underneath colour-balanced full-bleed artwork creates pips that shimmer brightly in the light and then disappear into the undergrowth.

Each deck is a story, where cards slowly reveal the winding journey of our field mouse as he tries to piece his farmstead back together. 

But he is not alone, and different journeys cross and combine to form a web of paths. 

After the first chapter of the Tails of Mischief (when all the mice clashed in a conflict of philosophies) the field mice returned to their, well, fields. But the bees they kept for honey had scattered, and their ladybird companions had gone gallivanting.

Inspired by the Japanese game Sugoroku, similar to the western 'snakes and ladders', once you have puzzled the board together you can then relive the journeys in a fun game of chance–who will collect all their missing rabbles and roosts of insect livestock and complete the hike first?

Tails of Mischief II
BUTTERFLY

• 52 playing cards / 2 jokers / 2 bonus cards
• Moss green foiled tuck box and gilded cards
• Holographic foiled card faces
• Overgrown court card artwork and full-bleed pips
• Limited Edition print run
  
  This is the journey of the butterfly farmer. The butterflies have fluttered far from their subtle liquorice scented daffodils. Hike across the lush green fields and wade through the chirping pond to find them!

Tails of Mischief II
LADYBIRD

• 52 playing cards / 2 jokers / 2 bonus cards
• Magenta foiled tuck box and gilded cards
• Holographic foiled card faces
• Overgrown court card artwork and full-bleed pips
• Limited Edition print run
  
  This is the journey of the ladybird farmer. The ladybirds have flown away from the pink cherry tree. Trek through the safflower farms, field mouse village and mills to shepherd them home.

Tails of Mischief II
DRAGONFLY

• 52 playing cards / 2 jokers / 2 bonus cards
• Midnight blue foiled tuck box and gilded cards
• Holographic foiled card faces
• Clean court card artwork and dragonfly pips
• Limited Edition print run
  
  This is the start and end of all journeys, and hidden paths between. Special pips show the first steps of the journeys and the 'ladders' connecting the routes. For the rest, look up to see the dragonflies darting mid-air across the pips.

Tails of Mischief II
BUMBLEBEE

• 52 playing cards / 2 jokers / 2 bonus cards
• Gold foiled tuck box and gilded cards
• Holographic foiled card faces
• Clean court card artwork and bumblebee pips
• Limited Edition print run
  
  This is the end and start of all journeys, and less-travelled roads between. Special pips show the first steps of the journeys and the 'ladders' connecting the routes. For the rest, look up to see the bumblebees buzzing mid-air through the pips.

The Farmstead Set includes one of each of the four Tails of Mischief 2 decks. When aligned, the tuck boxes reveal a seamless wrap-around scene.

And all the journeys within the cards thread together to reveal all trails through the fields–creating a game board for an adapted game of Japanese sugoroku (snakes and ladders/race).

The Table-Top Game Rules (3 Games in One Puzzle)

There are three versions of rules to first try your paws at!

The Journey, The Adventure, and The Hidden Garden

Start with the Journey and build up from there! Or dive right into the Hidden Garden, what do I know? You’re the mouse out seeking Adventure.

But one thing I do know is that a jaunt is far more fun when played with whimsy and exploration in mind! You’re a field mouse, for crumbs sake! Put those paws on, straighten your whiskers and get into character!

The road sometimes offers a quicker way through the countryside. But you have to find the entrance yourself. If you walk past it, the opportunity is gone. Each player enters the world of a field mouse with one task - to journey across the fields. But it is an auspicious day! Children’s Day is here and we want to be first to celebrate it - so let’s get our paws on and scurry!

• Lay the cards out to create the board.
• Everyone places their playing piece at the start. 
(Top left in the daffodil, or bottom left in the grape hyacinth)
• On your turn, roll the die and move forward that many spaces. (One per card)
• If you land directly on a shortcut card, take the shortcut. If you pass over it or land elsewhere, you must continue along the normal route.
• The first player to reach the end wins.
(If you started top left, your goal is the bottom right Children’s Day helmet. If you started bottom left, your goal is the top right Children’s Day helmet).

But that is just the beginning, just the simple journey. 

Download the full rule set here! FREE PDF

Oh, and the tuck boxes are all wrap around images (so three of the same together create a full display image), which also merge together with one of each...

And continue to merge if you have x2 of each deck...(ah, well, sort of).

The Wooden Farmstead includes the full Farmstead Set, housed in a carved wooden box made in Japan. 

Crafted from Walnut, Japanese Wild Cherry, Japanese Cypress (the smell of Japanese hot-springs) and Zelkova. The wood materials were selected for their distinct colours and smells. These makers are a subsidiary of an environmentally-friendly home-building company that use the cut-off (and otherwise discarded) pieces of top-quality wood materials.

The set includes ten carved wooden blocks (the large pieces act as reference for the wood with the species engraved on them and each have a smaller triangular counterpart that is your 'player piece'), as well as a large engraved wooden die. 

The pieces double as a traditional Japanese game for children! 'Wooden building blocks' for balancing and building shapes whilst experiencing the qualities of natural materials.

Add-Ons:

Four beautifully crafted metal player pieces–a blackberry, sunflower seed, acorn and clover–made by a specialist board-game maker. 

Each solid piece was designed with weight to give the sense of the tactile journey across the fields. Each set comes nestled in a Japanese washi-inspired thick fibrous paper box.

Tails of Mischief is the original limited-edition, full-bleed, art poker playing card deck that uses the canvas to reveal the impactful moment as natures clash. 

Inspired by Japanese ukiyoe wood-block printing, historical culture, and Buddhist and taoist philosophies, it tells the story of four mischiefs of mice that each approach nature from a different perspective. 

• Four versions: The Whey of the Woods, The Whey of the House, The Whey of the Fields, and The Whey of the Islands
• Limited Edition print run (limited remaining stock available)
• Intricate laser cutting and clear holographic foiling on tuck boxes 
• Intricate printed card edges

In the Tails of Mischief, all cards combine to create a huge, intricate scene. And some cards even lay over the scene to change the story–and change the tides of battle.

The Whey of the Woods 

Rooted in acceptance - that there is a natural flow and it is our own nature to scuttle and fall with it. The spirits of the forest guide their scouts, the flow of the whey pulls their hunters’ bow-strings. 

The Whey of the House

Founded in order. The house mice, living beneath the floorboards of the Nazo Nazo guest house and dreaded Nenya cats, need structure for the safety of all, and the command of nature itself. 

The Whey of the Fields 

Stemmed from adaptation. The field mice understand, live together with and shape the fields. They grow cotton bolls to dye clothes and pad roofing, and clovers for tiling, but only when the season permits.

The Whey of the Islands 

Flowing from knowledge. The Ryukyu mice have travelled further than any other, merchants and sailors all, and know that there is a natural ebb and flow to both nature and order.

Whimsical Novella

Follow the adventure of Tesso, a young wood mouse hunter, as he leaves the woods for the first time in this limited edition novella!

• 35,000-word whimsical novella
• Textured hard cover with gold foil stamp and embossing
• Limited Edition print run (limited remaining stock available)

Explore the lives and philosophies of the field mice during their festivals, the Ryukyu island mice while bartering for goods, and the orderly house mice under the great Nazo Nazo guest house. And perhaps, as Tesso realises that there are different ways to interpret life and how one lives in harmony with nature, you might also find yourself musing on your own beliefs of control and balance.

An original adult colouring book

• Original concept orihon colouring book
• 24 Page, full-colour original line artwork
• Textured hard cover with gold foil stamp
• Limited Edition print run of 250 (limited remaining stock available)

In the first campaign I created a limited original adult colouring book that integrates traditional Japanese culture in the form of an orihon - an accordion-folded sheet book with concertina binding. 

With this structure, each page can be coloured independently, but also extends to the next to reveal a seamless canvas scene!

A miniature deck of cards

• The full Whey of the Woods cards in miniature form
• Limited Edition print run (limited remaining stock available)

This was the first project I made a miniature deck–it felt so fitting as we explore the littles lives of creatures hidden in the forest bed. A limited memento approx 1/4 the size of a standard deck (approx 3.5x4.5cm)

Carry a little story in your pocket. All the cards puzzle together just like their larger counter-parts. A miniature window into a grander narrative.

As in my last Kickstarter campaigns Culturae Animalis and Sensu, I will put intense attention into the environmental impact of this project, the use of sustainable materials, and dedication of all my work to animal rescue activities. (For more details, please read the environmental commitments sections below).

See my website for more information on my usual packaging practices, which include repurposed, recycled and recyclable materials (such as recyclable paper stock made through FSC certified sustainable forestry processes, thin biodegradable cellophane for the cards, locally sourced putiputi bubble-wrapping made from sugarcane extracts, recyclable Japanese washi paper for print and stickers, masking tape derived from recycled plastic bottles, and envelopes for postage made from recyclable paper materials and up-cycled run-off plastic bubble-wrapping, also locally sourced).

In additional, this project will once again be dedicated to the support of animal welfare. Though funds cannot be raised for charitable purposes on Kickstarter, a portion of profit up to 10% (decided on profit figures) AFTER funding is used to achieve these ethical goals. In Culturae Animalis, we helped plant trees in Tanzania, helped fight the fires in the Amazon (with the World Wildlife Fund), symbolically adopted a critically endangered mountain gorilla, helped wild lobster populations in the UK via a hatchery and more. In Sensu, we again symbolically adopted a critically endangered Amur Leopard through the WWF, planted trees, helped the fight against illegal poaching, and more.

Most importantly, we used the projects to promote the activities of Animal Refuge Kansai (ARK), and dedicated a portion of all charitable donations made here to help rescue and rehouse abandoned and displaced cats and dogs in Japan (where I live). ARK is an NPO that I vetted and from which adopted my own rescue cat, Galahad. They will use the money properly to help improve the lives of abandoned animals, find them new homes, promote spaying, reduce mass stray gassing, and educate people on proper animal treatment.

I fully intend to achieve just as much with this new campaign project, and I will again donate a portion of all profit after the campaign to ARK to continue the efforts to support abandoned animals across Japan.

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