Card levels idea

[Kalin]

Standard Disclaimer:
I'm posting this in case anyone else finds my ideas interesting. I enjoy thinking about game mechanics, but I'm worthless at making creative content. So it is highly unlikely that any of my games will ever be completed, so feel free to "steal" any of my ideas you like.

For a long time I've been playing with the idea of cards with variable power. Originally they would get a boost if you played multiple copies together, but that wasn't a very good idea. Later I tried boosting them by adding mana, which sounds much more useful (you'll see that idea when I post my thoughts on mana systems).

Then last month I discovered SolForge where each card has three versions: your deck starts with just the level 1 versions, then each card you play puts the next level version into your discard pile and every four turns your discard is shuffled into your deck. I love this idea, because it ensures that you get your most powerful late in the game, and you know what your opponent's best cards will be because you already saw the weak versions.

I also love RPGs, especially ones that have skills that improve when you use them. So I thought I'd make a CCG/RPG where cards get XP when you play them, and that causes them to level up and become stronger. The Hero cards are inspired by many games: Berserk the Cataclysm, Hearthstone, BloodRealm, War of Omens, and CardHunter.

So this is my Card Levels idea:

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Card Levels

Single player CCG/RPG where every battle you play makes your collection slightly more powerful. For this reason, it will not have any sort of multiplayer modes. Deck building starts with choosing a Hero card, which determines max health, hand size, min/max deck size, and other deck building restrictions (I love deck building restrictions). This would be a computer game to help keep track of each card's XP and level as well as enforcing the deck building rules.

New players start with a very boring and generic Hero card (Human Adventurer, maybe?) that has poor stats and no deck building restrictions. They also start with enough Common cards (no duplicates) to make a deck.

Win conditions:
1. Reduce opponent's Hero's Health to 0.
2. Run opponent out of cards.
3. Satisfy your Hero's Victory Condition.
4. Satisfy opponent's Hero's Loss Condition.
(Not all Heroes will have Victory or Loss Conditions.)

When you win a battle, you get to choose one card used by opponent (reduced to level 0), including Hero card (Hero displayed first, then highest rarity to lowest, "!" on cards you don't own yet).

Rarities:
Common: can have any number of copies in a deck
Rare: can have up to 4 copies in a deck
Epic: can only have one copy in a deck
Legendary: can have only one Legendary total in a deck

Card XP/Level shown as a row of 8 stars below Card Name. Black outline for levels not yet reached, filled in with silver (left to right) for current level. After each game (including losses), your Hero and all cards you played gain 1 XP (2 if high priority). For each XP gained, leftmost silver star is changed to gold; if no silver stars, the card levels up and leftmost outline filled with silver and all gold stars changed to silver. So it takes L XP to reach level L from L-1.

If a deck contains a card that is higher level than the Hero, that card will be temporarily de-leveled to match the Hero when played.

Both players start with a full hand, AI goes first. Each player may play one card at any time during the main phase of their turn.

Play Areas: each player has a Keep, Perimeter, and Battlefield

Cards have three states: Rested, Tired, and Exhausted.

Creatures are summoned tired in the Keep and their "On Summon" effect resolves immediately. Walls are summoned rested in the Perimeter and "On Summon" effects resolve immediately. Only Walls are allowed in the Perimeter.

Only rested Creatures can move (between Keep and Battlefield), attack, defend, or use their Action. Moving or defending causes Creatures to become tired; attacking or using an Action causes them to become exhausted. Only rested Walls can defend or use Actions (Walls never move or attack). Using an Action causes a Wall to become exhausted, but Walls remained rested even after defending.

What this means: Creatures cannot attack until 2 turns after they are summoned (first turn they're tired from summoning, second turn they're tired from moving to the Battlefield). Creatures that attack or use an Action cannot defend during opponent's next turn, but can attack or use an Action on their own next turn. Creatures can only defend once per turn, Walls can defend multiple times. Moving to the Battlefield does not prevent defending against opponent's next attack and defending does not prevent attacking next round.

At end of turn:
If current player did not play a card or use their Hero ability, they discard a random card from hand. Check if current player meets their victory condition, then check loss condition, then opponent's victory and loss conditions. Current player draws up to Hand Size; if they can't draw because deck is empty, they lose. All "At End of Turn" effects resolve. All "This Turn" effects wear off. All tired Creatures (both players) become rested and all exhausted Creatures become tired.

Attacking:
Choose a rested Creature you control in the Battlefield to make it an attacker. Choose a rested Creature opponent controls in the Battlefield. If opponent has no rested Creatures in the Battlefield, choose a rested Wall (*Walls remain rested after defending!*). If no rested Walls, choose a rested Creature in the Keep. If no rested Creatures in the Keep, then attacking creature targets opponent's Hero. If target has a Trick card attached, it is revealed and resolved now. Attacking Creature deals damage equal to its Attack stat to its target, and target deals its Attack stat to attacking Creature; these damages are applied simultaneously. Any Creature or Wall that has received more damage than its current Health resolves its "On Death" effect and is placed in the discard pile. If the attacking Creature survives, it becomes exhausted. If the defending Creature survives, it becomes tired (Walls remain rested!). If a Hero dies, that player loses the game.

Basically, you have to destroy the Walls and have your attackers outnumber the rested defenders in order to injure your opponent's Hero.

Creature Stats:
Type
Element
Faction
Trait(s)
Action
Armor (absorbs first N damage each turn)
Attack
Health

Hero Cards:
Name
Gender (different art, otherwise identical)
Faction
Max Health
Hand Size
Special ability (usable once per turn by discarding a random card)
Victory Condition
Loss Condition
Min/Max Deck Size

Deckbuilding Restrictions: (High/Medium/Low Priority | Exclusions)
H:   A B
M:  C
L:   D E
      ----
E:   X Y Z
Deck cannot contain any cards with keywords X, Y, or Z. Deck must have at least one card with both keywords D and E. Deck must have more cards with keyword C than cards with either D or E. Deck must have more cards with both keywords A and B than cards with C. Low priority Creatures get 0/+1; medium and high get +1/+1. All high priority cards gain a second XP when played. Priority bonuses do not stack: if a card matches more than one level, just the highest bonus applies.

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While I like this combat system, I'm not sure it's the right one for this game. I've also toyed with having full turn-based-strategy combat with Creatures and Heroes moving around a hex grid (Ranged attacks with actual ranges! Walls that block line-of-sight!). Or I could go the opposite direction and have really simple combat like in Hearthstone. It depends on how long I want the battles to last.