Harborlight Game Card Template
by ShuffleKit
A free game card template for a board game of your own, with character, event, resource and role cards that share one back. The character card template has a 4:3 picture, a tag for the character's job, a box for what they can do and Strength and Speed badges. An event card adds a line of flavour in italics, a resource card a gold coin for what it is worth, and a role card a secret goal with a reminder to keep it hidden. A card's type colours its header and badges, teal, red, ochre or plum, and sends it to its own front, so the whole deck lives in one sheet. Comes with a twelve-card sample game about brass automatons trading timber, salt and fish to relight a harbour's lighthouse.
- Designs
- 5
- Sample cards
- 12
- Card size
- Poker — 2.5 × 3.5 in
- 63.5 × 88.9 mm · 750 × 1050 px at 300 DPI
- Card fields
- Name
- Card Type
- Artwork
- Subtitle
- Description
- Strength
- Speed
- Flavor Text
- Value
Adding a template copies its designs, fields, and sample cards into your own project. Your copy is yours, and later changes by the author never touch it.
Part of board game card templates
What’s in Harborlight Game Card Template
Five designs: Character Card, Event Card, Resource Card, Role Card and Card Back.
Your cards live in a sheet, one row each, with a column for every field the designs read: Name, Card Type, Artwork, Subtitle, Description, Strength, Speed, Flavor Text and Value. Twelve of those rows arrive filled in, so there is something on the design before you type a word.
Read the twelve sample cards
| Name | Card Type | Subtitle | Description | Strength | Speed | Flavor Text | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brassbeam | Character | Navigator | Once per turn, move your boat one extra island. If you start next to fog, you may sail through it. | 2 | 4 | ||
| Ladle | Character | Cook | When you spend Fish, every crew card you have gains 1 Strength until the end of your turn. | 3 | 2 | ||
| Sprocket | Character | Engineer | Repairs cost you 1 less Timber. You may repair another player's boat for 1 coin from them. | 4 | 1 | ||
| Gullsight | Character | Lookout | At the start of your turn, look at the top 2 Event cards and put them back in any order. | 1 | 3 | ||
| Squall | Event | Weather | Every boat at sea loses 1 cargo. No boat may leave the harbour until your next turn. | The bell on the breakwater rang all night. | |||
| Lantern Night | Event | Festival | Every player draws 1 Resource. The player with the most crew in the harbour draws 2. | A thousand small lights, and one big one still dark. | |||
| Ebb Tide | Event | Tide | Boats in the harbour cannot move this round. The first crew to dig in the sand finds 2 coins. | ||||
| Timber | Resource | Building material | Spend 2 to repair a boat, or 3 to add a floor to the lighthouse. | 2 | |||
| Salt | Resource | Trade good | Worth double on the island of Pellmoor. Keeps Fish from spoiling at the end of the round. | 3 | |||
| Fish | Resource | Food | Feed your crew. At the end of the round, discard any Fish you cannot pair with Salt. | 1 | |||
| Smuggler | Role | Secret goal | You win if you end the game with 6 Salt or more, whether or not the lighthouse is lit. | ||||
| Harbourmaster | Role | Secret goal | You win if the lighthouse is lit and every boat is back in the harbour when it happens. |
How to make game cards for a board game with this template
- Add the template to a project. It brings the Character, Event, Resource and Role fronts, the back, a column for every field and the twelve sample cards.
- Decide which kinds of card your game needs. Delete a front you will never use, or keep all four: a card goes to the front named in its Card Type column.
- Type your cards into the sheet, one row each, or import them from a spreadsheet. Name, Subtitle and Description are on every card; Strength and Speed are for characters, Value for resources and Flavor Text for events.
- Rename the card types, or pick new colours for them, in the Card Type column's options. Every card of that type changes on its front at once.
- Playtest the deck online before you print it, then export a print PDF with the backs lined up, or send it to be printed and boxed.
Printing at poker size
Poker: 2.5 × 3.5 in, 63.5 × 88.9 mm, 750 × 1050 pixels at 300 DPI.
On the Hobby plan, export a print-ready PDF with bleed and cut lines. PNG and SVG come out at the same size, which is what Tabletop Simulator wants. On Indie, send it to a print-on-demand partner through Print & Ship.
A printer asks for an eighth of an inch of bleed on every edge on top of those numbers, so this card goes out as 825 × 1125. The export adds it. Let the artwork run into the bleed and keep the text inside the cut line, and nothing arrives trimmed.
Questions about Harborlight Game Card Template
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Still have questions? Contact us
Is there a character card template in this set?
Yes, it is the Character front: a picture, the character's name on a coloured header, a tag for their job or class, a box for what they can do, and two numbered badges in the foot called Strength and Speed. Rename either badge's column to Health, Moves or anything your game counts, and the badge's label is ordinary text you can retype to match.
What goes on an event, resource or role card?
An event card is drawn and does something to everyone, so it has a picture, the effect and an optional line of flavour. A resource card is spent, so it has a gold coin for what it is worth and a box for how it is used. A role card is dealt face down at the start, so it has a secret goal and a reminder to keep it hidden.
Can I add a fifth kind of card?
Yes. Add an option to the Card Type column, say Location, and give it a colour. Its cards land on the Character front in that colour; duplicate a front and set its rule to the new type when you want it to look different.
What happens when I add Harborlight Game Card Template to a project?
The five designs, the nine fields and the twelve sample cards are copied into a project of yours, with the fields already pointed at the design. Nothing stays linked to this page afterwards, so the author's later edits never reach your copy.
What size does Harborlight Game Card Template print at?
Poker size: 2.5 × 3.5 in, 63.5 × 88.9 mm, 750 × 1050 pixels at 300 DPI. Those are the numbers to hand a print shop, and the ones to check a sleeve against.
Is Harborlight Game Card Template free?
Yes. Adding it, editing it, filling it with your own cards and playtesting it online are all free. Exporting print files starts on the Hobby plan, and Print & Ship through The Game Crafter is on Indie. No template sits behind a paid plan.
Can I change the designs?
Yes. They land in your project as ordinary layouts, so you can drag an element somewhere else, put your own art behind the frame, restyle the type or rename a field. Edit a design once and every card on it follows.
Can I use my own cards instead of the samples?
Yes — the samples are rows in a sheet, and they are there to be overwritten. Type over them, add rows of your own, or bring a CSV and match its headers to the fields.
Can I sell a game made with Harborlight Game Card Template?
Yes. This one is ours, and you keep commercial rights to what you build from it, crowdfunding and retail included.
Ready to build your card game?
This template is free, and so is the editor it opens in.