The Tea Dragon Society and Game Adaptation

Instead of an animated series or video game or live-action film, the stories, themes, and world-building of The Tea Dragon Society found transmediation success in an unlikely form that merits deeper consideration: a deck-building card game. #teadragonsociety 1/11

The Tea Dragon Society Card Game was released by Renegade Studio in 2018, designed by Steve Ellis and Tyler Tinsley. It became an instant success and won the Origins Award in the category of best family game. A sequel followed in 2020. 2/11

Scholar Mel Gibson describes the card game as emblematic of effective transmedia storytelling, noting that “The world grows through both the narratives and activities across media and via practices intended to cement audience integration.” 3/11

Perhaps the easiest aspect to adapt from O’Neill’s story is the artwork. This carries into the game the visual aesthetic and tone, especially for previous readers of the book who will already be acquainted with the narrative connotations imbued through the visual style. 4/11

A good example of this same visual transmediation might be a different card game: Matthew Inman’s “Exploding Kittens” which uses Inman’s uniquely famous comedic style from “The Oatmeal” to lend an air of irreverence to a more chaotic and combative card game. 5/11

Structure is also somewhat built-in to the deck-building game, which uses the same seasonal structure employed by O’Neill to pace her story and to ground it in a naturalist theme. The card game likewise has 4 seasons, corresponding to 4 rounds of play. 6/11

The mechanics of self-cultivation also translate well to the rhetoric of the game. Where the book focuses on enriching oneself through craft and relationships, the game focuses on building one’s deck in the interest of future success. Both media support a long-haul strategy over immediate gain. 7/11

Somewhat relatedly, self-care is also built into the game with key mechanics focused around grooming, sleeping, feeding, and entertaining. Maximizing these qualities is actually the key to advancing and succeeding. 8/11

Community is also represented in the game in the form of a communal marketplace through which characters can acquire items to help them advance, but also “memories.” Though both have value, but it’s the memories that mean the most and represent the highest form of success. 9/11

Finally, at the most fundamental possible level, the manner in which the player plays as the host of one particular tea dragon ably mimics the special individual relationship between character and dragon from the book leading to an immersive bit of adorable relationship-cultivation. 10/11

Deck-building games are many, but the success of The Tea Dragon Society game may speak to the unique manner in which the game aligns so perfectly with the ambitions, aims, and aesthetic of O’Neill’s iconic story. 11/11