An Open-source, Generic card game system

[theylive]

I had a crazy idea today, after realizing that many CCG's (and card games in general), tend to revolve around Physical Conflict. I suddenly began thinking about rules to a Giallo (Film genre consisting of Italian Thrillers from the 1970's) themed card game, focusing on mechanics that included Mental and Social Conflicts as well as Physical. Then, I began brainstorming...

What if there was a system of generic, themeless rules that players and amateur game designers could use to create "cinematic" (possibly customizable/collectible) card games. Essentially, the rules would act as a backbone, and would come in varying degrees of complexity, so that the specific game's creator can fill in the thematic details. It is meant to fit most themes; from Drama to Comedy; from Romance to Horror; from Sci-fi to Fantasy; from Action to Adventure; and beyond.

Note, I am not talking about Dvorak or 1000 Blank White Cards. This is more complex and involves serious involvement in creating the flesh of the game. This system will give the creator many options to choose from for each mechanic, yet he/she is not limited to those set in the system's "Guidelines" (That sounds like a better word than rules). This will also be open to the public, so anyone can make a game once they've downloaded the rules.

Just to be clear, I don't have that much yet, I just wanted to know if you guys liked the idea of a Generic/themeless card game rule system.

[Ascent]

You might want to look into the Creative Commons license for your game.

[theylive]

Thanks, I'll definitely check that out!

[yudencow]

Do you want it to be like UFS or the VS system or on a more vast scale?

You can do that there is a scene deck, where every player has to fufill its requirements to move to the next scene. And to have another deck of plot devices like characters, items, locations, twists, dialogues and on and on. First play to get through his/hers scene deck wins.

To be frank I see card games in 3 catagories: combat, challenges and questing. Combat-attacking, Chalanges-opposing an enemy of a challange of any kind and questing-completion of missions.

[theylive]

I like your ideas, but I think I'm heading in a slightly different direction.

I want this system to be as generic as possible, but leave many options for cinematic conflict. I know that it won't be able to support certain adaptations of stories such as "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. Yet I want it to support a game adaptation of, let's say, "A Few Good Men" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, "you can't handle the truth!" *hint*) as well as something like "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". If you look at those two films, you can see that the Characters are fighting for extremely distinct goals (A Few Good Men - Acquit/Convict the two Marines, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Survive from the Cannibal Family/Kill the Teenagers).

So, I don't want to set an objective to win the game. I would rather the individual game creator to come up with a creative objective.

Now, I know I'm probably going to upset some people with the following: I plan to have this rules system function like a hybrid between a Card Game, a Board Game, and a Tabletop Roleplaying Game. However, I know there are people who will think that would be too complex, so I will make sure I create a simplified system which will make it easier to create less "convoluted" games.

I know this sounds like I'm just posting a bunch of random ideas, but I am currently writing down the ruleset this moment, and I hope you all will like it.

Thanks!

[yudencow]

You can do 2 simple things: create a long list of keywords and give each one a value for how strong it is, and write a guide on how to make a cinematic card game.

[theylive]

I didn't think of keywords, but that sounds like a good idea. I think my system is somewhat more structured than just a guide, but it can be as loosely followed as possible (almost all of the rules in the system are optional)

[Fian]

The game that springs to mind when I read this is the B Movie games by Z-man Games, Each deck is set in a particular genre "Bell bottomed Bad asses on the mean streets of Funk" or "Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom" etc. You have locations, actors, special fx and the like that you use to try and finish your film, of course the other players are trying to sabotage you all the way.

Check it out.

[najevi]

I do have a purpose for necromancing this thread...

Should any reader be aware of somebody who might have explored this type of project idea .. would you please introduce me to them?

I am speculating somethng similar but with scope limited to board/table games. A trusted daemon that serves as synchronizer among several humans playing (after having legitimately purchased) a common boardgame.

No game engine per se, just a hybrid majordomo+timekeeper role for despatching to humans such information as randomized card draws & di(c)e rolls; board state {either as incremental changes, the norm;  or as a universal state, for the hopefully rarer rebuild case} 

The fundamental goals being to keep human players:

• honest,
• synchronized and
• accountable for any pre-agreed time limits for various phases of game play.

This majordomo would most likely behave as a 'bot present on the text channel of a video conference shared by the humans. The 'bot might receive gameplay input from humans and subsequently broadcast card/dice event outcomes to humans via the text channel of such a video conference which might be on any of numerous available platforms.
Successfully handling timekeeping in a way that keeps gameplay flowing and engaging for humans may prove rather tricky. I imagine the presumption must be that each human is at the keyboard and 100%-engaged in the game, not multitasking, taking a non-sanctioned bio-break or otherwise AWOL.

It is very early days ... I'm just searching for like-minded individuals at this stage.

This would be an open source project most likely licensed using one of the Creative Commons copyleft categories.

Regards,