Exquisite

Biome

A game of speculative biology

by Caro Asercion
with art by Si Sweetman
 “A platypus is a duck designed by committee.”

— attributed to various sources

The Bird’s Eye View

Exquisite Biome is a game about the natural world, the creatures that inhabit it, and the ways
they live alongside each other.

During play, you will generate an ecosystem and use prompts and questions to create and
discover the creatures that live there. You can play it alone, or in a group by building on each
other’s ideas together.

To play, you will need a standard 52-card deck of playing cards with the jokers removed. You
may also want a place to take notes, and writing instruments for everyone at the table.

Preparing to Play
Before you begin, discuss with your fellow players the level of realism you wish to explore. You
may create a science fiction or fantasy setting, encountering aliens or monsters that could never
exist on Earth. On the other hand, you may wish to keep your game quite grounded, and
discover animals that could plausibly exist in the real world. Make sure all players are roughly
on the same page here.

Safety & comfort:

Exquisite Biome is a game that draws inspiration from nature and the natural world. If there are
topics or themes that you do not want to explore in your game, now is an opportunity to address
those. One way to look out for yourself and others is to discuss lines and veils as a table. Lines
are subjects that you don’t want to include in your game; veils are subjects that you might
include, but agree not to discuss in vivid detail. Write these out in a place where everyone can
see them; you can always update these lists throughout the game.

Potential lines and veils might include: snakes, spiders, insect infestations,
cramped or confined spaces, descriptions of violence or gore, animal mimicry.

Some of the prompts in this game delve into territory that your table might have included in your
lines or veils. You may always read the prompts before answering them, and curate your play
experience. If you encounter a prompt you do not want to use, you can change it, sidestep it, or
draw a different card instead. Player safety and enjoyment is always more important than
following the game rules.
The Lay of the Land
You may already know the nature of the environment you wish to explore. Perhaps you are
using these prompts to generate creatures for a preexisting setting, or another ongoing tabletop
game. However, you might wish instead to begin with a completely new environment!

If you need a place to start, begin by drawing two cards from the deck. These are your biome
cards, which you will use to frame the environment in which your creatures dwell.

Compare the rank and suit of these two cards to the tables on this page and the next. The first
card sets up the big picture for your biome, while the second card adds some additional flavor.

The first biome card: the region at a macroscopic level

Rank - environmental focus Suit - the current season

A. Desert Hearts - The season is warm and wet
2. Tundra or wasteland Diamonds - The season is warm and dry
3. Scrub or grassland Clubs - The season is cool and dry
4. Temperate forest Spades - The season is cool and wet
5. Tropical forest, jungle
6. Snow forest, taiga
7. Mountain
8. Glacier or fjord
9. Floodplain
10. Lagoon or cove
J. Shoreline or coast
Q. Stream or river
K. Wetland or marsh
The second biome card: additional context and detail
Rank - a detail about the Suit - the time of day
environment Hearts - Early morning
A. Waterfall Diamonds - Midday
2. Cavern or tunnel Clubs - Afternoon or twilight
3. Canyon or valley Spades - Deep night
4. Flowering plants
5. Island
6. Lake or spring
7. Strong winds
8. Extreme temperature
9. High altitude
10. Low altitude
J. Dormant volcano
Q. Volatile weather patterns
K. Partially or fully submerged

Some of these prompts may overlap, contradict each other, or raise further questions. What
does the dry season look like in this wetland? What is a “high-altitude shoreline”? If you don’t
have an answer, ask your fellow players or make something up.
Discovering Creatures
Draw three cards from the deck and place them in a row. These creature cards will be used to
describe an animal that resides in your biome.

Each card has one or more prompts that correspond to its suit or rank. Starting with the player
who most recently touched an animal, take turns responding to these prompts: add a detail, or
answer the question. For example, for the first creature card, “A general description”, one player
might choose to begin by saying, “these prompts make me think of this particular species of bird
— let’s use that as our starting point.”

You may also wish to look at the prompts for all three cards at once, and pick and choose
prompts to respond to in whichever order you please. That works just as well!

As you proceed, you may wish to ask follow up questions, make suggestions, or jot down
additional details. Be sure to take turns and make space for every player’s voice to be heard.

The first creature card: A general description

Rank - an ecological niche Suit - taxonomy
A. Pollinator or plant spreader Hearts - Mammal (e.g. rodents, big cats,
2. Grain or seed-eater ungulates, marsupials, mustelids, canids,
3. Leaf, shrub, or fruit eater cetaceans)
4. Grass, moss, or algae eater
5. Insect forager Diamonds - Bird or fish (e.g. raptors,
6. Climber or tree-dweller songbirds, flightless birds, corvids, sharks,
7. Burrower or builder eels, rays)
8. Flyer or glider
9. Decomposer or recycler Clubs - Reptile or amphibian (e.g.
10. Scavenger or thief crocodilians, sauropods, lizards, frogs,
J. Generalist omnivore salamanders)
Q. Ambush predator
K. Apex predator Spades - Invertebrate (e.g. insects, squid,
arachnids, molluscs, crustaceans, cnidarians)
The second creature card: A distinctive feature
Red suit - diamonds or hearts Black suit - spades or clubs
A. Long tail. Stiff? Flexible? Prehensile? A. Short tail. Or no tail at all?

2. Broad claws or talons. What are they 2. Small, flat feet. Hooves? Paws? Fins?
used for?
3. Distinctive muzzle or snout. What shape
3. Beak or bill. What tool or object does it is its head?
resemble?
4. Hard carapace. Dull and flat, or shiny and
4. Spines or spikes. How long? Where are reflective?
they placed?
5. Horns or antlers. Or both?
5. Curious jaws, teeth, or tusks. How
many? What shape? 6. Iconic patterns. Spots? Stripes? What
colors? What shapes?
6. More or fewer appendages. How many?
7. Prehensile digits. Fingers? Tentacles?
7. Powerful hind limbs. For jumping? What do they grasp?
Running? Kicking?
8. Broad feathers or scales. Does it molt or
8. Leathery wings or hide. How thick? shed? How often?

9. Captivating eyes. What size? What color? 9. Whiskers or antennae. Spread out or
clustered? Short or long?
10. Specialized diet. What does it eat? What
makes it specialized? 10. Noisy. What does it sound like?

J. Strange gills or lungs. What does it J. Iconic ears. What shape? What purpose?
breathe? How?
Q. Poison or venom sacs. Where are they
Q. Bioluminescence. Where on its body? located?

K. Camouflage or mimicry. What does it K. Vivid coloration. To warn, or entice?

disguise itself as?
The third creature card: Habits and personality

Rank - environmental behavior

A. Invasive species. This creature is not native to this region. What allows it to thrive here?
What does it threaten?
2. Endangered. This creature’s species is at risk of extinction. What forces endanger its
livelihood?
3. Migratory. This creature travels through and beyond this region. What is its final destination?
what does it do there?
4. Endemic. This species is found exclusively in this particular region. what prevents it from
traveling beyond?
5. Dwellings or nests. This creature makes its home of strange material. how does it use its
environment?
6. Offspring. This creature has a distinct method of reproduction or child-rearing. why is it
noteworthy?
7. Folkloric. There is a well-known myth or fable about this animal. how is it characterized?
8. Tool user. This creature can operate crude or makeshift tools. What are they made of? What
are they used for?
9. Courtship displays. This creature has a distinctive mating ritual. What does it encompass?
10. Life cycle. This creature undergoes metamorphosis. How many stages? How do they
differ? What stage is it in now?
J. Sexual dimorphism. This species’ two or more sexes exhibit different characteristics. Size?
Color? Something else?
Q. Hibernating. This creature is dormant during certain times of year. How soon before it retires
again?
K. Sedentary lifestyle. This creature does not move often. What is enough to stir its attention?

Suit - social groupings

Hearts - A solitary species. What happens when two meet?
Diamonds - This species lives in very small groups. Mated pairs, a family unit, or some other
arrangement?
Clubs - This species lives in groups of a dozen or more. What is the social hierarchy? How is
status measured and judged?
Spades - Dozens, hundreds, or thousands of this species live together. What is the collective
noun for these creatures?
Nature in Motion
After you have answered all the prompts associated with these three cards, you should have a
pretty good sense of what this creature looks like and how it behaves. Now you will play out a
brief scene, highlighting those features and traits in more detail.

Establish the frame for this scene. What is the lens through which you’re watching this
creature’s life? Is this a nature documentary, complete with musical underscoring and narration?
Are you field biologists, documenting your research notes in a written or audio journal? Or is this
moment seen from the creature’s point of view, without any human onlookers present? Decide
as a group.

Then, take turns describing the creature

using this frame. In a documentary-themed
Scene prompts
game, one player might play one of these A. Daily routines
creatures, describing its actions, while 2. Child rearing
another narrates for an invisible audience, 3. Rest, leisure, or play
and others play the terrain or weather. 4. A hearty meal
5. What lies beneath
If you need a scene prompt, you can use 6. On the prowl
the table on the right. Draw one additional 7. Who watches whom
card and use the rank as extra inspiration. 8. Biding one’s time
(Don’t worry about the suit). 9. Risk and reward
10. A tough life lesson
Once you feel that the scene has reached a J. Pursuit or defense
satisfying conclusion, jot down any notes or Q. Mates or rivals
details you want to keep written down. if you K. A birth or death
have not already done so, give this species
a name!
Natural Selection
Now, move your left-most creature card to the far right, so that the cards are arranged in a new
order.

These same cards can be used, in their new order, to come up with another creature! Follow the
same process as before, responding to the new prompts to fill in the details about your new
species.

As you create this new animal, consider how it coexists with the previous species. Are they
predator and prey? Do they have a symbiotic relationship? Do they ignore each other, or
compete for territory?

Once you’ve created this next creature, frame another scene with this new species as the
central focus. Be sure to give this species a name as well.

Then, move the left-most card to the far right once again. Repeat this process one more time to
discover a third and final species.

Creature Comforts
Once you have described all three species using your creature cards, frame one final scene of
these creatures coexisting alongside each other. This is your chance to really play with the ways
these creatures interact! As before, take turns adding details.

After this scene, decide whether you want to continue playing, or end the game!

If you decide to continue, use this chance to take a break if needed, then draw two new biome
cards to explore a new environment — or three new creature cards, if you wish to stay in the
same biome.

Ending the game

When you are ready to end the game, thank your fellow players! You might wrap up by sharing
a contribution from another player that delighted or surprised you.
Evolutions
Exquisite Biome has a loose, freeform structure that can be easily hacked or transformed to suit
your table’s needs. If you want to tweak the rules, here are some variations to get you started:

Exquisite+: For a longer game, deal four creature cards, and answer the “distinctive feature”
prompt twice. In addition to making more detailed creatures, this variant game mode will also
result in four species coexisting in the same biome, rather than three.

Microclimates: Explore different parts of the same region — draw two cards for a biome, but
replace the second biome card after each round.

Exquisite Sprints: Instead of dealing three creature cards to the table, deal three creature
cards to each player. Players arrange their cards in whatever order they please, then create one
creature each from the result. Take turns describing your creatures; each player has final say
over their own species.

Survival of the Fittest: Start as Exquisite Sprints, but deal five cards to each player instead of
three. Each round, one player presents a challenge: “show me the creature that would be the
best at…” (e.g. scaring off predators, eating its own weight, surviving in an urban setting). All
other players pick and choose cards from their hand to create a creature that meets the criteria,
then argue their case.

An Animal Out Of Context: Draw two biome cards and three creature cards, as with standard
rules — but once you’ve discovered your creatures, draw up to two new cards and alter or
replace the biome. How do these species adapt to a changing environment?
Touchstones and ephemera
Exquisite Biome takes inspiration from a wide range of speculative biologies and fictional
bestiaries, but I want to shout out a few specific titles in particular:

● Strange Friends (2019), by Shing Yin Khor

● Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine (2018 onward), ed. Jay Eaton and Hye
Mardikian
● No Man’s Sky (2016), by Hello Games
● The Exquisite Beast (2013), by Yuko Ota and Evan Dahm
● Spore (2008), by Maxis

And various television programs broadcast by the Animal Planet circa the early-to-mid 2000’s

Attribution
Exquisite Biome takes inspiration from Voyage by Brendan McLeod https://sulcata.itch.io/

and Alone Among the Stars by Takuma Okada https://noroadhome.itch.io/

Exquisite Biome v1.0 published September 2022

Illustrations by Si F Sweetman: https://sifsweetman.com

Fonts used in the PDF are Sequoia, Iowan Old Style, ITC Benguiat Std
Card suit icons used in the PDF are from Dicier by Speak the Sky https://speakthesky.itch.io/

About the designer

Caro Asercion is a game designer, theatremaker, and interdisciplinary artist who walks on four
legs in the morning and two in the afternoon. You can find more of their work online at
seaexcursion.itch.io.