Space Theme Card Game

[Malagar]

Sounds good, just a minor change that could tidy things up:

Science - Just draw a card.

Intrigue - Your opponent discards a card.

You could also come up with variable actions that happen when a conflict is won. I have a few more ideas for the different topics:

Intrigue (Alternative) - Your opponents mills the top 2 cards from his deck.

Science (Alternative) - Gain additional resources.

Other thoughts:

Maybe remove non-military vessels completely from the game. So all spaceships are only for fighting.

instead you could have a new card type: buildings. these would be always non-military. that could be embassies or science buildings etc.

but this depends on your personal taste and the rest of the rules.

That "jutsu" stuff sounds good. In the Babylon 5 CCG they had "Aftermath" cards that could create special effects when a conflict of some sort was either won or lost. adds interesting stuff to the game.

Its good to see that you are still working on this. And its quite true to the roots of the old community project.

[r0cknes]

As I have mentioned before I have been reading rulebooks and playing new card games to me, most of them under the catagory of sci fi. One of those games was eve ccg. I noticed some great ideas in that game, but it didn't work for multiplayer very well and they tried to do too much. I think I will lump ships and characters into one category. Ships would be more militaristic in nature with a few exceptions such as  a stealth vessel for intrigue, or some science vessels for science.

I think if i simplify the battle system enough then there will be limited down time which will lead to more enjoyable multiplayer games.

@ Malagar

Thanks for the extra ideas. What does "milling" mean though?

I think before I can nail these battles down I need to figure out what the victory conditions will be for sure. There are games where you complete missions or objectives. You could complete a set number of missions or missions are worth more or less points based on the effects or difficulty of the mission. These could also be regions that you must explore or conquer. Regions or locations would require more ships in the game though.

The new starwars card game has you just destroying enemy objectives. That is not my favorite mechanic, because it kind of feels like you are not "doing" anything. You are simply winning be defense. I love the game, but that is not a mechanic I want in mine. Stargate has a very solid mission completion mechanic, but it does not work for multiplayer at all.

Although I have never played it Game of thrones lcg has a simple victory condition where one of your "conflicts" earn you "power" or you can take power from another player. That leads to great mutiplayer and it fits the theme of that game well, but I love feeling like I am doing something, so if missions and the power idea could be fused that would be awesome! What would it be like?

Thoughts?

I love the idea of creating my own universe for this game and maybe I will, but that is a ton of work. What do you think about a game based on the hit video game series of mass effect? I understand that there is a copyright issue here, of course, but that universe seems tailor made for a card game. I don't plan on selling this idea unless it is amazing. Then I would obviously need to contact a publisher and ea games for permission.


****************EDIT****************

Another edit because I thought of something else. I want this universe whether based off of a vidio game or not to feel like it was already their and active for a long time. That being said, I don't feel resources or currency fit that theme, but maybe something like currency called influence. You are influencing the cards in your deck too join your cause. I guess it is not much different than currency or resources, but i feel it fits the theme better. It also allows for more flexibility in deck building, because now you are not bound by a particular resource type, but you can base your deck on your specific strategy.

I am thinking of making my first 8 starter decks based on races rather than alliances. I like the idea of these races working to complete their own goals while struggling control over the galaxy. By the end of the game I do not want the winner to feel as though he controls the galaxy, but that he has the greatest influence in the ever changing galaxy.

A bunch more races would be considered neutral that you could also influence to join your cause. Maybe some of these neutral races could give you an advantage in one area but a disadvantage in another area. and depending on your style of play or deck they may be useful but they also may not work for other decks.

I was also thinking of having a mutual enemy of every race, and these would be seen in event cards or obstacle cards you may attach to another players missions. I am sold on the event thing, but depending on how long the mission is in play that would determine the effectiveness of obstacles. Obstacles would be special event cards that could be played only during a progress conflict to hinder an opponent from completing it. Maybe adding difficulty or adding a failure text, or even card destruction.

[Malagar]

ah sorry, too much old MTG slang: to mill means to take the X top cards from your deck and put it into your graveyard.

there was (still is?) a millstone in MTG, the term "to mill" evolved from it :-)

cheers
-Malagar (Tobias)

[r0cknes]

OK I understand now. I never played magic. I assumed it was a term from that genre. That is nice option to have.

I was thinking last night about my previous post. I mentioned the desire to have the players actually accomplishing something, as opposed to destroying others goals. I also talked about game of thrones power mechanic. What if instead of power you may place progression on your own missions. The rules would need to balance the difficulty of this. I want everyone involved in every turn. I don't want people just sitting at the table while 2 people battle it out.

**********EDIT**************

Alright so I just thought of something.

Military - Destroy a card in play

Science - Opponent must discard

Espionage or intrigue - Remove progress from an opponent's mission card.

Progress (Need a better word) - Place progress on your own mission. I could also not have this as a skill and instead have you put progress on your mission if you win any type of conflict. I think I like the progress skill though. I like 3 skills better than 4 but I think 4 fits well here.

Couple of questions though. Should I have multiple missions in play for each player or just one. If it is just one should I have just one mission per round with the exception of some card effects? or should they remain until they are completed? I think completing a mission within a certain time frame fits the theme pretty well, but what do you guys think?

[Malagar]

well, i like the progression counter idea. i think we did have something like that for the community card game? cant remember...

even better: it gives you an additional component to play with when designing cards. cards can target progression counters (add/remove) or have conditions tied to them (if there are x progression counters on this card etc.)

i guess the old idea was to have missions as a card type of its own. you mix them into your deck and can play various of them at once, it just depends if you manage to complete them. and: some missions "target" your opponents missions, so having too many in play could be a bad idea.

PS: traffic on the boards is really low, where have they all gone?

[r0cknes]

Yes traffic is very low! It is stunting my creativeness!

Yea I don't want there to be missions that effect each other. I want them to be a separate small deck you make to go along with your playing deck. The question is how long should they be available to complete? Either I keep them on until completed, or I have a limited time. One turn seems to be low. I could have a card turning mechanic like in eve CCG. A mission could last from 1 to 4 rounds. Depending on that and the difficulty of the mission I could include failure or success text on the mission. Failing a mission is great and I want to be able to take advantage of failure text.

As far as the failure text or success text goes, it will all be temporary advantages or disadvantages. Here are some examples I can think of:

Failure: You lose 2 influence.
Failure: Each opponent gains one progress on their current mission. (This would be for an easier mission, because the failure is so drastic.

Success: Search your mission deck for one mission. Reshuffle the deck and place that one mission on top of the deck.
Success: Select unit and ready it.
Success: Gain 2 influence

Other missions could have an effect as soon as it is put in play, good or bad for you:

Effect: All players draw one card.
Effect: All players ready a unit.
Effect: Each opponent readies a military unit.

All of these texts will be determined by the time and difficulty of each mission. That will require some balancing on my part.

[Trevor]

Oops I forgot the file 

The symbols and fonts are the wrong size ratio to the card. Scale the card down to 200 pixels wide, and if something looks too small, you need to change the ratios.

[r0cknes]

Thanks for the advice Trevor. My card is going to change considerably from the beginning of this topic though. I will use your advice on my next template though.

I am about half way done with writing the core rule book. It is nothing like the beginning of this topic, and I may even start a new topic eventually. In the meantime I will keep everyone updated on this topic.

Overall I have decided to go with the Mass effect theme, and I have decided to have the following conflicts.

Combat - Target a card in play to destroy.

Science - Opponent discards equal to difference.

Espionage - Take progress off of another players mission card. Every 2 points of difference take one progress off of the mission rounded up. So, 1,2 take off one. 3,4 take off two. 5,6 take off three and so on. (play testing will determine if this system works or if it needs to be scaled back or even increased.)

Progress - This is the only conflict not contested so every point of progress earns one progress. However reaction cards can be played by any player.

Next update will be the rule book, and then at least one template. Woohoo!

[r0cknes]

OK here it is... I still need to finish the Glossary. Do you see any obvious issues? The core is set. I don't want to here about preferences at this point, but I am welcoming helpful criticism. I am concerned with down time, foreseeing issues of run away leaders and the such. Any help is embraced.


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[Dan55]

I get nothing but a blank page when I download the pdf.

[r0cknes]

Thanks for letting me know. The PDF writers don't like the fonts I was using. Here is the file...


*******EDIT************

After further thought, I don't think I need to restrict people to a certain race. Instead, You are an "illusive man" so to speak and your deck may take on any form it likes. Much like the game your deck can take the side of the good or the renegade type. Thus allowing an even greater amount of deck variety. This fits the theme of the game quite well, because in the game you recruit allies based on your light or dark type decisions. You are not like Shephard, but more like the puppet master "Illusive Man". The danger I fear is some cards becoming obsolete more easily this way. Does anyone else see that and have any advice in that area?

I will update the rule book shortly to reflect this minor change shortly.

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[r0cknes]

Small update... It seemed that having a time difference between some missions and a difficulty seemed redundant. I am going to change it so every mission will be available for four turns. I will have other cards that will turn mission cards reducing the time remaining.

Here is an example of a mission I have worked on. I am not an artist, so don't expect to be wowed...

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[Dan55]

If you're keeping it available for 4 turns, you could rotate the card to track the turns - and have different text for each of the orientations.

[r0cknes]

Yes that was my plan, to rotate once per turn unless a card said otherwise. Once it is upright again time is up and the mission is failed. Some units or events may turn a mission card, thus increasing or decreasing time left on the mission. I don't plan on adding text to each turn at the moment for the sake of simplicity, however that is a great idea. It adds a strategy as to when you want to complete your mission, but I don't think I will add it to make balancing easier. That is why i simplified the mission time.

The previous card is a test run. I would like to get the metal darker. And the numbers and words are place holders really. The top left is difficulty and top right is supremacy. Obviously the numbers are wrong.

[r0cknes]

Here is another card template. This is of a unit. I plan on having the tab that says unit move to the center for enhancements and to the right for event. The number to the mid right is for skill strength much like in Game of Thrones. On the bottom is the skill place holders. Each unit will have only the symbols of skills of which they are actually proficient. Any advice from the artists out there? From left to right the symbols are: Combat, Science, Espionage, and Progress.

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