What is the Core Set all about? The Core Set has a huge amount of re-playability and you will get to learn all the unique combinations you can create. There will be future Core Sets to boost card sets and expansions (10 expansions already designed).
The cards included are designed to give players a grand tour of some of the lore of Thargos and a feel that there is much more to delve into. Indeed the Cursed Empire TTRPG has 10 books in print and over 2000 pages of material published already from which to draw from plus new material under development to expand the card game. The Core Set also has some of the building blocks to design your own Heroes of Thargos Stories (See Story Mode further down). The System allows players to develop their own play styles through the cards chosen to construct their decks without having to compete with a rarity system built into many collectible card games but the game also allows for casual play out of the box. The players choose how invested they wish to be in their decks through regular card pack releases timed with the optional tie-in with the Cursed Empire TTRPG and can construct their decks based on a variety of different play styles to achieve victory. Solo play and Cooperative play are also options: Solo play uses a combination of basic AI and dice, Cooperative play pits a Player Team against either a Gamesmaster (Or Master of Tales) the opposition if used in conjunction with the Role Playing Game or the Solo opponent against the players if played as the standalone Card Game. Story Mode is an exciting gameplay mode that enables you to build your own adventures using the cards just as a gamesmaster would for a roleplaying game and "frees" players from the 4 track system.
Indeed, players can use their Mission Cards to build the Story. A Story will have a dedicated Deck Build list with exclusions (if you wish to adhere to the Thargos setting, otherwise without limitation if you wish) and dedicated rules explained per Story. For example, some Action Cards that feature certain creatures cannot be played as an Action Card but only as a Played as Modifier Card as the creatures would not be found where the story takes place. All cards are numbered in the bottom right corner with the M, L, A and C prefixes for Mission, Lasting, Action and Character Cards respectively which are used to construct the Story Mode decks and identify exclusions and specific Mission Cards. The Story Mode means that some Mission Cards can be completed in any order, others have to be linear in order of completion or a mix of both the above, others unlock secret Mission Cards and potentially lock out competing players for subsequent linear Mission Cards. Story Mode also allows for cooperative play.