The 10 modifier cards EVERYONE is using

These cards are in your deck RIGHT NOW!

February 19, 2026 by Hattie Hayes

Modifier cards! You know them. You love them. Or, you’ve never noticed them before, don't know what they are, and you have opened this blog post hoping that a great mystery will be revealed to you.

Today, the Hidden Door blog is going all-in on modifier cards. Simply put, when you apply modifier cards in a story world, they change the narrative. When you read fanfiction, you might sort stories on a fanfic site using tags that describe relationships and alternate universes, or AUs. So, if you’ve ever searched for the terms rivals to lovers, modern AU or everyone is vampires, you already know how to use modifier cards!

I have modifier cards???

When you begin playing Hidden Door, you get a “starter deck” of cards in each world. Your starter deck includes your own character, central locations, items that are essential to your story…and these 10 modifier cards. That way, you don’t have to wait to begin remixing and reinventing. Of course, the more you play, the more cards you add to your deck. This expands the range of options when you modify and customize stories. The more you play the game, the more ways you can play the game!

You can make your stories unique from the very first turn by applying any—or all!—of these 10 starter modifier cards. For example, add the vampires and Brooklyn modifiers to Pride & Prejudice, and you might get something like this:

Back to School

For fans of: Never Been Kissed, Gossip Girl, Winx Club, The Dead Poets Society, The Secret History, Babel, all dark academia, Billy Madison.

What to expect:

  • Schools, universities, academies (yay!)
  • Friendships, rivalries, academic politics (aaahhh!)
  • Campus life in all its messy glory
  • Did you remember to do your homework?????

Action Hero

For fans of: Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, any of the Die Hard movies, really; The Fast and the Furious, Kill Bill, Point Break.

What to expect:

  • One-liners at peak coolness
  • Slow-mo cinematic action
  • Plot armor in full effect
  • Everything is conveniently explosive!

Brooklyn

For fans of: PIZZA. Also for fans of: When Harry Met Sally…, Enchanted, Moonstruck, Bored to Death, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, King of Queens, White Collar, High Fidelity (the TV show), bagels.

What to expect:

  • Welcome to NYC!
  • Take the train! Yell at a taxi!
  • Inspired by our HQ’s real-life neighborhood
  • Singing rats?!

Vampires

For fans of: What We Do in The Shadows, Dracula, Twilight, Anne Rice, Olivia Rodrigo.

What to expect:

  • Vampires, and those who hunt them, stalk the night
  • Undead seduction on the menu
  • High-stakes obstacles and disconcerting scenarios
  • Have you heard Paul F. Tompkins cover “Vampire”? It’s so good

Wizardry & Potioncraft

For fans of: Percy Jackson, The Magicians, Death Becomes Her, Kiki's Delivery Service, The Craft, the Wizard of Oz, Practical Magic. Also for fans of a certain wizard-centric series, who want a queer-friendly, inclusive space that welcomes their magical fantasies. Hi!!! We’re happy you found us!

What to expect:

  • Magic through study and arcane research
  • Wands! Spellbooks! Bubbling potions!
  • Magical familiars at your side
  • Use your powers for good and/or sow chaos

Saturday Morning Cartoons

For fans of: Looney Tunes, Captain Planet, talking dogs, G.I. Joe, this video of Lou Bega singing a Mambo No. 5 about Kids WB shows, He-Man, She-Ra, DuckTales, cereal.

What to expect:

  • Always lighthearted, always silly
  • Cartoon physics
  • Ghosts are probably someone in a mask!
  • Goofy ensemble of human and animal pals

Rivals to Lovers

For fans of: Heated Rivalry, A LOT of Emily Henry books, You've Got Mail, The Proposal, Pride & Prejudice (actually...a LOT of Jane Austen!), Red, White & Royal Blue, SteveTony Avengers fanfic.

What to expect:

  • Competition masks attraction
  • Do you want to be them? Be WITH them? Both?
  • Forced cooperation, unexpected chemistry
  • It’s a slow burn, until it’s NOT

Modern Day

For fans of: Bridget Jones Diary, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, O Brother Whereart Thou—any media that takes an old-timey story and makes it NOW!

What to expect:

  • Oh no it's 2026 how did that happen
  • Contemporary technologies
  • Smartphones, influencers, algorithms, cryptocurrency
  • Choose this one if you want your characters to suffer!
  • At least there's Tumblr

Celebrity Romance

For fans of: Notting Hill, Music & Lyrics, Love Actually (a lot of the Hugh Grant oeuvre!), The Idea of You, Nora Goes Off Script (Annabel Monaghan), Set Piece (Lana Schwartz), One Direction fanfic as a genre.

What to expect:

  • Fame meets ordinary life, and it is inconvenient
  • Paparazzi! Tabloids! ZERO privacy!
  • Cinderella vibes, lots of parties
  • Love across the fame gap

Modern Dating Sensibilities

For fans of: Love Island, To All the Boys I Loved Before, The Circle, Love is Blind, Overcompensating, Euphoria.

What to expect:

  • Flirting and dating, regardless of setting
  • Romance drives every story
  • No era-based romantic restrictions
  • We should probably add a Thirst Trap Mr. Darcy character card

Mix, match and mashup every modifier to your heart's content. Find your new favorite story by combining these characters, those tropes, and your own original choices in-game.