Bliss Stage CCG (unofficial)

[masterage]

Yes, there is an official game in the works. This isn't it. I understand that I will not be able to sell this idea and it will likely end up in my portfolio.

And wow, this forum is intimidating. Ah well...

Anyways, Bliss Stage is an RP designed to be played by persons 18 and older. The basic plot is pretty much Evangelion meets Inception meets Persona 3 (or 4). By playing, you will very likely become uncomfortable, as there is what is likely underage sex, horrible gory violence, and other squicky stuff. A game typically takes a few nights to play out.

My goal for the CCG was to make it "Bliss Stage lite". The card game I'm designing is recommended 13+ with allusions to everything that would make it 18+. The game's mechanics are actually pretty close to the original RP. The average game in early playtesting is 25 to 35 minutes.

Current ruleset is not final. Feedback would be appreciated.

You, the player, are the Authority Leader.

The following cards exist outside of the deck:
1 Pilot
3 Anchors
1 Stage

Cards that go into the deck:
Threats
Events (Regular, Ongoing, Support)

Deck Size: 60
Hand Size: 6

Golden Rule is in effect (What the card says supersedes any listed rules)

---Turn
- Potential Phase: Draw a Card. Represents the unknown future.
- Interlude Phase: The Main Phase, play Events and Supports here. Usually the Authority Leader activates here as well, if he or she is around.
- Threat Phase: Your opponent plays the turn's threat (the Alien) card against you, and you must try to defeat it if possible. Combat against the aliens is (Intimacy level + Event Additions = rolls on a d6 = total damage to alien threat dealt, then modified by previous Events, Authority Leaders, Stages, and other assorted cards). If total damage dealt is equal to or greater than it's Threat level, it's destroyed and you claim a goal. If your opponent does not play a Threat, it's considered a pass (the aliens are not attacking currently). Not defeating an alien (a certainty early game) keeps it on the field, and only in extreme circumstances may there be more than one attacking a player at any time. No other cards are allowed to be played in the Threat Phase, though abilities may be used.
- Aftermath Phase: A second Interlude phase, though in this phase certain Events may be used for cheaper or with different effects (Aftermath Effects, will be easy to spot). The point is that it's a second Interlude Phase; Anything that would work in the first Interlude phase will work here, unless it says otherwise, and certain cards change when played after battle.
- End Phase: All stats are recalculated at this time, and the end of turn Terror and Stress checks are taken, if applicable. Few cards if any will be playable at this time, though certain abilities may activate.

---Win Condition
Lose Last. If on teams, the last player's teammate also wins as well if their partner is still standing.

---Lose Conditions
Pilot Reaches Six (6) Trauma.
Player reaches 108 Bliss.
All Three Anchors die. (though, to be honest, this one a rarity in the initial playtesting, as an anchor dying gives one Trauma and Intimacy * 3 Bliss. It's there for the lossless Anchor cards)

---Stats
Anchor's Stats: Trust, Stress, and Intimacy
-Trust is a positive score. Making it reach two higher than your current stress score gives you the option to auto-level your intimacy by one, though the Trust score will reset to one afterward. If Trust hits zero for any reason, the Anchor will enter the Break state. In Break State, you may not use that Anchor's Intimacy Values in your attack, though certain Anchors abilities only function in this mode; Break State automatically ends when you raise it's Trust to one at the end of your next turn after the Break (or earlier through Events or abilities). Max Trust is 6.
-Stress is a negative score. If it's higher than Trust, at the end of turn you must perform a stress check. You must beat the difference (If Stress is 4 and Trust is two, for example, you must roll higher than a two as 4-2=2) after modifiers on a single D6. On success, nothing happens (unless stated otherwise) and on fail, lose one intimacy. Max Stress is 6. *Some cards/abilities raise Stress as a cost*
-Intimacy is how you'll primarily fight, and is handled by the Anchors. Events and high Trust raises this stat, and you want it high. If, for any reason, an Anchor hits zero intimacy, they "die", through an actual death or leaving the story otherwise (though that matters only to the RP section of this). Anchors have their own Intimacy values that add up to form the basis of your attack step, and tend to go up rather than down. At max intimacy for each Anchor (assuming sexuality, see below), the usual max is 15 Intimacy, though this total can certainly be raised temporarily.

Pilot/Player's Stats: Terror, Trauma, and Bliss
-Terror is a negative score. Making it one higher than your total Trauma auto levels it by one, though the terror score resets to zero immediately afterward. Terror is gained through Threats and Events, and can be taken away by Event and Anchor abilities, though usually only in the end phase. A Terror check occurs during the end step if your Terror stat is higher than your highest Trust stat. Roll to beat the difference of the two; on pass, reduce Terror by one. On fail, increase it by one. *Some cards/abilities may raise Terror as a cost* Max Terror is 6.
-Trauma is a negative/positive score. As stated, reaching six Trauma causes you to lose, but at the same time you have access to more powerful cards the higher Trauma you are. Can be gained directly through events and some Threats, and taken away through Events and some Anchor abilities. max Trauma is 6.
-Bliss is a negative score. Always rising, each player adds one Bliss to their total at the start of their turn. Active Threats may change the amount gained, though never into the negative or to zero. No way to lower stat. At 108 Bliss, you lose. *Some cards/abilities raise Bliss as a cost* Bliss starts at 13 and maxes at 108 (so 95 points)

---Card Specifics (A general guideline to the cards basic abilities and rules that I design by)
Anchors may not have no more than two and no fewer than one abilities.
Anchors are tied to a specific slot. One Anchor will be in the + slot, one in the 0 slot, and one in the - slot. These slots determine which Anchor is hit by a random ability.
Anchors may not die as the direct cause of an Event, Threat, or any other effect, but they CAN be connected to those in some way (no insta-kill cards).
Pilots have three abilities listed, activating when they say. Usually occurs at a certain total intimacy level (get ability at level 7, for example) with Cost : Effect
Anchors and Pilots have a listed gender, and both have their Sexuality printed.
- HeteroSexual may reach max intimacy with opposite gendered pilots, but caps at three for same gendered pilots.
- HomoSexual may reach max intimacy with same gendered pilots, but caps at three for oppositely gendered pilots.
- BiSexual may reach max intimacy with both genders, but usually has a drawback. (Mind, strictly for game balance, can be negated through careful play)
- ASexual caps at three intimacy for both genders, but usually has a benefit. (Again, strictly for game balance. Can be negated due to sloppy play)
-- Caps take president over max (So a female Heterosexual may not reach max intimacy with a male homosexual no matter who is the Anchor and who is the Pilot), unless the card says so. *There are cards that temporarily change your gender and/or sexuality, that can affect both you and/or your opponent(s). These card refer to one's Self-Image, which is the correct title for all of this*
Events typically leave the field once played. Events that stay are marked as Ongoing Events, and stay until they resolve.
Only one Support Event may be played per turn, and only on your turn. They have powerful effects, and are never Ongoing Events.
Stages exist primarily during the Threat Phase only. Does not change. Always has two abilities.

+ ( Roll of 5 or 6)
0 (Roll of 3 or 4)
- (Roll of 1 or 2)

Cards may use this dice system for other uses as well.

---Problems I'm aware of
Lots of stats to follow, though it's the same three stats three times. Maybe lackey would be able to help.
Current state of game is hard to do sealed tournaments of.
loss conditions are unoriginal.

[Tokimo]

Nice and professional looking card layout. I wasn't personally moved by the content, but I'm sure others will be. It looks like you have a good start.

[masterage]

Nice and professional looking card layout. I wasn't personally moved by the content, but I'm sure others will be. It looks like you have a good start.

Thanks! The posted image is actually V4... I've refined it further since then, though I haven't posted it.

Now, I'm hoping yours (and a few others) tune will change once I get some completed cards up, but I'm holding off on inputting the game into MSE until I can get the card design finalized and learn a new thing or two about MSE (like, larger-but-still-prints-normally cards). If not, ah well.

Exporting to lackey after MSE looks to be easy, though.

[masterage]

posting as:

1. the game is still alive
and
2. the game is about to be playable in a beta-ish type of way

I've updated the card design and rules.

Working templates! I've had to abandon MSE as it won't export properly.

Rules:
Clicky this so I don't have to re-format it again