Cyberwar CCG Mechanics

[Malagar]

hey,
its been a long time since my last post. maybe some of you remember my ideas for collectible card games i was working on. I got time to work on one of my games again, and the core rules are almost finished. before i move on i like to discuss the key mechanics of the game, maybe you have some more input to offer. I just copy and paste some parts of the rulebook:

DARKNET

Darknet is a collectible card game surrounding computer specialists, hacker groups and corporations in their journey to plot agendas and secret objectives. The story is inspired by R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk roleplaying game, as well as other Sci-Fi related novels and settings.

Players represent hackers in the cyberspace, trying to achieve their objective as fast as possible. The core of the game is, that there is none: players decide wich resource systems, victory conditions and mechanics are used by putting the right cards into their decks.

This is cyber warfare - and you decide how the battlefield looks: first create, then break and bend the rules to your liking. the more codes the players bring into play - the thicker the maze of mechanics and endgame conditions becomes until one of them triggers.

OVERVIEW

So every player builds a deck of 60 cards, there are several card types (all cybernet related, including Agenda, Module, Program, Resource, Hack, Upgrade and so on). You draw 7 cards each and decide randomly who starts.

At the beginning of your turn, you always have the option to A.) draw a card or B.) gain one bit (the currency of the game). During the main phase of the game you can bring cards from your hand into play or activate abilities of cards already in play.

THE DETAILS

the thing is, that there are no victory conditions in this game and large part of the resource system (besides the option to gain one bit during the beginning of your turn) are completely variable. this also offers new freedom in deck design, because you can choose your own victory conditions and the way how to get there. let me go a bit into detail about this:

Resources - The resource cards enable you to add other forms of income to the game. this is similar to the lands in M:TG but offers much more possibilities. In fact, the resource cards let you decide how income is generated in your deck.

Agendas - More important are the agendas, the centerpiece of the whole game. each agenda card represents a victory condition. This way, players are able to set up ways to win the game that suit their deck best (like: Destroy 12 opponent cards, gather 40 bits, deplete your opponents deck etc.).

Clusters - cards you bring into play must be attached to other cards you already have in play. the center of such a "cluster" is an agenda card. you can create multiply clusters if you want (wich also means that you can have multiply victory conditions active as the same time). if the agenda card "dies", all the cards attached to it are also removed from play.

Raids - Attacks in this game are called "raids", where you send your computer programs, Bots and Spiders after your opponents cards in order to destroy them. Each raid must target a single cluster of your opponent. Although raids are not critical to win the game, they are the best way to stop your opponent from winning - by destroying his agenda (victory condition).

SYNOPSIS

In this game, every player strives to set up his own agenda and add resources and upgrades to it in order to achieve it. In addition, you do everything you can to prevent your opponent from reaching his goal. In this symmetrical ccg both players have to play the roles of both Aggressor (to prevent the opponent from winning the game) and Defender (in order to achieve your own victory condition).

Phew - this was a long text, hopefully you gained a few insights about the game. Now, what do you think? Might it work? is it worth developing a base set around this idea? Just reply and post your thoughts, thanks!

[BrotherM]

I think you have some interesting and pretty fresh ideas for mechanics there.  The clusters around agendas are a new concept to me and i like it, but it seems tricky to design right.  Since losing an agenda means they lose all the resource generation attached to it, if players have too few clusters (like 1-2 each) then losing one would be devastating.  If they have like 5+ each it wouldn't be as big of a deal, but then the number of possible victory conditions seems like it would get too complex.  Also, I think you might want to have a decking end game condition or some similar timer, for lockdown positions.  Just some things to consider.  Good luck with this one, i think it has real promise.

[snowyy]

I like the idea, seems cool. One problem i see i what if you don't draw your agenda card? You can't really o much can you? Would having each player start with an agenda card in play to start with be a problem?

[yudencow]

How about taking the agendas out of the deck. Every agenda has a difficulty value and they start with all of them on the field. Players need to agree on a difficulty number. First player to fulfill all of his/hers agenda(s) wins.

[Malagar]

hey, thank you for your replies! I answer them first and like to give a few more details about the game:

@BrotherM

Clusters where planned to make it really dangerous loosing an agenda. but on the other hand, clusters can be used to attach upgrades to the agenda to protect it. players will have like 1-5 clusters in play at max. also, many effects are limited to the cards within a cluster. but you are right, loosing agendas could destroy a players chances to win the game.

@snowyy

Thanks, my target was to create a game that is just "different". But yes you are right about "no agenda in hand". players will have at least one agenda in their deck (multiply copies), but i could also imagine decks with 3, 4 or 5 agendas to open up as many victory conditions as possible. but, with 4 copies of 5 agendas thats 20 cards - but still a player could start without any agendas in his/her starting hand. i really dont want players to start with an agenda in play. there has to be another solution to the problem.

@yudencow

thanks for the feedback. but i really like to keep all cards in the deck like in classic TCGs. so no extra cards, no starting cards, no side-boards or side-decks.

Some more insights about the game concept:

NODES

One idea I had was that instead of Agendas, players can also use a card type called Node as centerpieces of a cluster. Nodes do not win the game for you, but can have various effects and abilities. this way, a player could begin building clusters even if he has no agenda in hand. later on, special effects or cards could replace the node with an agenda.

RAIDS / COMBAT

Instead of Attack/Defense, all cards just have a attribute called "level". when attacking, you compare the level of the attacking and the defending card, the one with the lower score looses the battle and is discarded. agendas work a little different as damage done to them is permanent and marked by using counters.

cards called "programs" represent bots and spiders that are able to defend your agenda against attacks. they stand between the attacker and your agenda and soak up damage equal to their level. there are special abilities wich allow or disallow a card to attack/block certain other cards (like flying in M:TG).

Last Thoughts

Im still working on fleshing out the combat system a bit more. also i am working on blending the different parts of the game together. right now I wonder if it is really necessary to have clusters around your agendas. but there are so many possibilities tied to it, that i just dont want to take it out completely.

More feedback appreciated.

[snowyy]

I really like your ideas, feels like you are coming up with somthing that is different. I have an idea about the agenda. basically, if you don't have an agenda in your opening hand you reveal cards fro te top of your deck until you reveal 1. You then put that in your hand, discard another card and put the other revealed cards in your discard pile aswell.