The Forest Dragon is a charming card game designed by a nine-year-old

Crowdfunding continues to bring to life ideas by people from all walks of life, and one of the latest projects to hit Kickstarter is a game invented by a budding designer at very beginning of his journey.

The Forest Dragon is the creation of Rory, a nine-year-old fan of games whose dad is Jon Hodgson, the creative director for British RPG and games publisher Cubicle 7.

According to Jon, Rory first decided he wanted to be a games designer when he was a mere seven years old, and pitched The Forest Dragon in its entirety from “the back seat of the car, practically in one breath”.

Jon helped Rory put together a prototype of the fantasy card game, which Rory describes in the adorable Kickstarter video as being initially inspired by Snap and Minecraft, and decided to bring the project to the wider world.

In the game, players leave their home base, collect resources, avoid monsters and search for treasure by drawing cards. The entire 53-card deck and its various creatures, items and events (such as ‘Hungry Ghost’, ‘Ghost Milk’, ‘Sinister Cloaked Gentleman’, ‘Useful Log’ and ‘Friend’) have been invented and illustrated by Rory and his even younger brother Ben, who is just six.

Jon adds that Rory already has plans for expansions and extra card sets, and the game has already tripled its £1,000 campaign target with three weeks left to run, unlocking the first Quest Giver expansion.

What’s especially charming about the campaign is that Jon highlights the benefits of helping his kids make a card game, saying: “Making a game with them has been a way to show them a creative path, and how the whole world around them is someone's idea put into practice.”

It really is a lovely thing, and might just give you a bit of warmth during an especially cold year – go take a look on Kickstarter.