Ryan Cahill is funding The Bound and The Broken Trading Card Game himself, with Sean Fletcher and David Freeman designing the adaptation of his fantasy series. The author opened a call for artists on September 23 and said the following day that he had already received more than 500 submissions.
Fletcher’s previous work includes Magic: The Gathering’s Shadowmoor expansion and leading the design teams for Disney Lorcana’s Whispers in the Well and Wilds Unknown sets. He and Freeman are working directly with Cahill, and testing is now focused on refining the game’s cards and demo decks.
The project was originally called Dragonbound. Cahill confirmed the change to The Bound and The Broken Trading Card Game in April, following a supporter poll. It is a separate project from the Bound and Broken board game and tarot deck he has also discussed.
The cards draw on the world of Epheria, the setting of Cahill’s novels beginning with Of Blood and Fire. The series also has companion stories, including The Truth and The Exile, whose release updates we covered earlier this month.
The Patreon collectible cards
Readers can already collect illustrated cards through Cahill’s Patreon. These art cards do not carry the full rules and statistics needed to play the forthcoming game. Cahill plans for them to serve as special alternatives to the playable versions once those are released.
The current Patreon memberships with physical-card rewards start at US$10 per month for the Dracurïn tier, which includes one random card each quarter. Druid costs US$15 for two random cards per quarter, while the US$20 Vandasera tier adds one guaranteed new card to those two random draws.
Those prices are monthly; card allocations are quarterly. Random draws can produce duplicates, and the membership description promises at least three new cards added to the pool each quarter. Higher tiers offer more cards, with signed copies at the Druidic God and Enkaran God levels.
Cahill reported on August 6 that the quarter’s cards had been dispatched. US orders were going through Carly at Dragonwoodshop for onward shipping, with other orders sent directly. The custom booster packaging he revealed in November 2025 was also for these Patreon collectibles.
New artwork and release plans
Cahill’s September 24 reveal features Varthear against storm clouds and violet lightning, illustrated by Vincent Taslim and Divebound Studio. Taslim has also created artwork of Calen and Valerys, as well as Falmin.
Other commissioned pieces include Nithrandír by Álvaro Jiménez, Baby Valerys by Karolina “ISVOC” Plutowska and Baldon Stormseeker by Brian Adriel. In his September artist announcement, Cahill said he would not knowingly work with artists using generative AI.
Reinaldo Indrajaya’s Asius illustration was also revealed on Patreon, with both full-art and framed versions announced.
The official updates reviewed for this article do not give a retail release date, game prices or preorder details as of September 24. A commercial publisher, distribution partner, and retail deck and booster contents also remain unconfirmed.
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