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January 19, 2020, 10:58:47 PM
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menace64

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Doorways.
« on: January 19, 2020, 10:58:47 PM »
Star Trek has a card type called Doorway. It's always been my favorite card type across every card game I've played or not played. Doorways enable entire decks to expand and alter their performance, and so I'd like to take a stab at adapting the concept to LotR.

Doorways would play on sites. I figure each site would be restricted to 1 Doorway at a time... but maybe not. There's lots of wiggle-room for how/when Doorways come into play, and if you have any inklings on the matter I'd love to hear it!

(0) •Smial at Bag End [Shire]
Doorway • Dwelling
To play, exert a Hobbit ally.
Each time you play Gandalf or a [Gandalf] tale, you may play a Hobbit from your draw deck.

This card requires cross-pollination from Hobbit allies, but greatly increases your Hobbit-count as you play Gandalf or [Gandalf] tales.

[3] •The Doors of Durin [Dwarven]
Doorway • Mountain
To play, exert an Elf ally.
Each time the fellowship moves to a mountain or underground site, you may exert a Dwarf to play an [Elven] possession or artifact from your draw deck, or exert an Elf to play a [Dwarven] possession or artifact from your draw deck.

[4] •Mountains of Shadow [Sauron]
Doorway • Mountain
To play, discard a [Sauron] minion.
Each time the fellowship moves to a mountain site, add [1] for each wounded Ring-bound companion.
Regroup: Return this Doorway to your hand to add [1] for each wound on each Ring-bound companion.

I haven't put much thought into the game text of these cards - my emphasis is on the card type itself. Let me know what you think!
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 03:04:42 AM by menace64 »

January 20, 2020, 12:50:27 PM
Reply #1

menace64

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Re: Doorways.
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2020, 12:50:27 PM »
Okay, so far these Doorways don't really feel like their own card type. I'd like to try workshopping something a bit more radical. Feel free to toss ideas into the pot!

[2] •Helm's Deep Doorway [Rohan]
Doorway
When you play Helm's Deep Doorway, stack a battleground from your adventure deck here.
Response: If a Shadow player is about to take control of a site, discard Helm's Deep Doorway instead.

This doesn't make any sense. Stacking a site onto a Doorway works thematically but what happens when it's your turn to play Site 4 and Site 4 is stacked on the Doorway? Let's try...

[2] •Helm's Deep Fastness [Rohan]
Doorway • Fortress
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, each character bearing a [Rohan] weapon wins skirmish ties for strength.
If any Shadow player takes control of a battleground site, that Shadow player may discard his or her minion to discard this doorway.

I added Fortress as a sub-identifier, presuming the existence of other doorway keywords - maybe Home, Hidden, Lair, etc.
The game text makes slightly more sense now but the wording on winning strength-ties was written without precedent from other cards. It can probably be worded better. I like the idea of the opponent having the power to voluntarily destroy your doorways and maybe it could work elsewhere, too.

[2] •Window of the Sunset [Gondor]
Doorway • Hidden
Each time a Shadow player plays a [Raider] or [Sauron] minion at a forest site, you may reveal a Ring-bound ranger from hand and add [1] to exert that minion.
If any Shadow player takes control of a forest site or kills your companion, that Shadow player may remove [3] to discard this doorway.

But it still doesn't feel like its own card type. And where does a doorway even play to? I don't want them in the support area since at that point they're just fancy conditions.

So... what if.

[2] •Window of the Sunset [Gondor]
Doorway • Region 2[T] • Hidden
Each time a Shadow player plays a [Raider] or [Sauron] minion at a forest site, you may reveal a Ring-bound ranger from hand and add [1] to exert that minion.
If any Shadow player takes control of a forest site or kills your companion, that Shadow player may remove [3] to discard this doorway.

Hmm. So now this doorway plays onto site 4[T], 5[T], or 6[T], necessitating the fellowship to have at least gotten that far down the site path before you can play the card. That's certainly different, and it restricts the doorway's effect until half way through the game. Now it feels different from conditions, but maybe it's useless now.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 12:52:22 PM by menace64 »

January 20, 2020, 05:37:27 PM
Reply #2

Phallen Cassidy

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Re: Doorways.
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2020, 05:37:27 PM »
What are Doorways supposed to do, in terms someone who's never played Star Trek can understand? Without knowing that it's hard to say what sort of impact it should have, or how it should be different from other cardtypes. Anyway, here's my stab at it:

Gateway to Edoras [Rohan]
Doorway • (any) Site 3
The twilight cost of each Shadow card is +1. When you can spot more minions than [Rohan] companions, discard this doorway.
Response: If a character is about to exert, the first Shadow player may remove (1) to prevent that.

Protects minions from horses and frustrates certain events and possessions, but will stress the twilight pool. Hurts swarm most, which is also how to get rid of it. Must be played at (any) site 3, I guess? The Free Peoples player decides to play it, but hopefully the response text makes it more interesting than an arbitrary condition? Not for every deck or every matchup, but hopefully it isn't useless either.

January 20, 2020, 08:32:52 PM
Reply #3

menace64

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Re: Doorways.
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2020, 08:32:52 PM »
Doorways in ST are almost always text-heavy, a feature unlikely to carry over to LotR. But that's okay, since the overall rules set in LotR is significantly less than in ST.

Doorways come in all sorts of flavors, but typically they function as engines for including additional cards or strategies in a given deck. Alternate Universe Door was the first Doorway to enter in ST1E - I'll break down how the card works:

In ST, the seed phase is basically the setup phase of each game, before any player takes his or her first turn. Players take turns setting up locations, dilemmas, objectives, etc. Or, in this case, the Alternate Universe Door. By seeding the doorway, your deck is enabled for playing Alternate Universe cards (the red squiggly icon). A neat feature of ST's rules is the OR clause, allowing players to better-customize how they use cards in their deck. AUD has a number of OR effects, making it extremely versatile - you can seed it, or you can shuffle it into your main deck as a counter for a number of potentially-painful cards encountered throughout a game.

My personal favorite Doorway is Airlock. By adding Airlock to your ship or outpost, any character aboard the ship gains the ability to toss enemies into the vacuum of space. It's silly and too narrow an ability to be practical, but heck do I love the design! (And speaking of the vacuum of space, there's even a Black Hole Doorway that plays as a location in space and goes on to devour nearby locations!)

Some Doorways enable entirely new side decks to function, greatly expanding the scope of a game. Battle Bridge Door grants its user access to Tactic cards if you seed it, and you can add additional copies to your deck to grant even more bonuses to the Tactics you go on to use during engagements.

It's an incredibly versatile card type, and I figure with the plethora of locations and barriers present through Middle-earth there's a wealth of potential for adaptation... if we can figure out where to put them :-k It feels right to involve the adventure path but so far all these test-ideas still feel like conditions.

Hmm.

April 28, 2020, 11:36:35 PM
Reply #4

Genoeusa

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Re: Doorways.
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2020, 11:36:35 PM »
Some things I have never known before. Until coming to know from all of you