The Last Homely House
Middle-Earth => Chamber of Mazarbul => Topic started by: menace64 on January 03, 2012, 09:12:24 PM
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(This has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings :mrgreen:)
I randomly decided a few nights back that I'd like to try my hand at designing a Star Wars game that combined the themes of the movies without the complexity found in all-too-many card games already on the market. I have a lot already developed, but I'm posting this now because I'd really appreciate your ideas before I continue this much further.
One element I think all Star Wars games have failed to really implement successfully is the premise of the Force itself. SWCCG and SWTCG used it as money, and the minis game more or less did the same. How might a card game showcase a 'proper' image of a pervading energy field? Any ideas?
Here is what I have written down so far for my new game, Star Wars: The Card Game. (And yes, I know the name is taken, but I like it!)
This card game allows you to take on the persona of one of nine characters from A New Hope. Each persona has a specific goal (called his or her Arc) that must be completed in order for you to win the game. You must call upon your persona's attributes as well as the aid of additional cards in order to win, and delaying your opponent(s) through the clever use of encounter cards is vital. Only one persona is allowed per deck, and it begins the game already in play.
Each persona has three of the following attributes: Corruption, Cunning, Health, Heroism, Influence, Leadership, Power, Sensitivity, Speed. The personas available in this first set are below, along with their given attributes.
Darth Vader - Corruption, Power, Sensitivity
Wilhuff Tarkin - Corruption, Influence, Leadership
Mod Terrik - Corruption, Cunning, Power
Dannik Jerriko - Corruption, Health, Speed
Han Solo - Cunning, Power, Speed
Jabba the Hutt - Corruption, Health, Influence
Leia Organa - Cunning, Heroism, Leadership
Luke Skywalker - Heroism, Power, Sensitivity
Wedge Antilles - Cunning, Heroism, Speed
In addition to all that, each persona has an alignment: Empire, Fringe, or Rebellion. This is extremely simple, and all the cards will easily stand out as one of these alignments. If your persona is aligned to the Empire, you can't use Fringe or Rebellion cards - this works every other way, too (Fringe is not some neutral thing in this game).
Other card types:
Ally - The other characters found in the movie. Allies also have attributes, although generally they'll only have one or two. I'm not too sure what other function allies will serve beyond some hazy notion of fighting for your persona.
Fate - Your typical 'play from hand, discard' card. Some personas rely on fate cards more than others, depending on how attuned to the Force they are. Wedge, for example, really only has one fate card to draw upon, while Vader has four.
Support - These cards stay in play until discarded. Support cards range from items to ships to weapons, but aren't limited to nouns.
Encounter - I really like the idea of dilemmas from STCCG, and most of my custom-made games use a similar card type. The twist here is that each player brings to the game 15 encounters, and then everyone shuffles their encounters together into one Encounter Deck. This means that you can truly never fully-prepare for everything, and you'll never be sure that your cards will work out the way you want them to.
Location - So far these have no clear implementation in the game; I just despised SWTCG for the longest time for not having location cards and I'll be damned if I design a game that doesn't have 'em!
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Now, before I show you the cardlist, I'd like to elaborate on one radical change I've made to the card game structure: collectability. I'm too old to get excited about random packs and potentially wasted money, and in this economy there's a good reason why such games have all but died out. Standardization is in, and I'm all for it.
That is why Star Wars: The Card Game is released in Character Tins. See, each of the nine personas in the game comes prepackaged with all of his or her related cards. The set has 162 cards in it, and each persona has 17 additional cards. A Character Tin would come fully-loaded: rulebook, deckbox, some kind of fancy token, and enough copies of those 17 cards to play the deck right out of the box. (I haven't really determined how many cards must be in a deck.)
The neat twist is one best used as an example: All of the X-wing/Trench Run-themed cards are found in the Wedge Antilles Character Tin, and some of those cards get a boost when used on Luke Skywalker, who - obviously - is only available in his own Tin. And if your friend is playing Wedge, you'll need to get the Tarkin or Vader Tins to really fight him off!
Anywho, enough with all that. Here's the cardlist:
Star Wars: The Card Game
Persona Cards (9 Cards):
1. Darth Vader [Persona/Vader]
2. Mod Terrik [Persona/Terrik]
3. Wilhuff Tarkin [Persona/Tarkin]
4. Dannik Jerriko [Persona/Dannik]
5. Han Solo [Persona/Han]
6. Jabba the Hutt [Persona/Jabba]
7. Leia Organa [Persona/Leia]
8. Luke Skywalker [Persona/Luke]
9. Wedge Antilles [Persona/Wedge]
Empire Cards (27 Cards):
10. Cassio Tagge [Ally/Vader]
11. Wullf Yularen [Ally/Vader]
12. Echoes of the Past [Fate/Vader]
13. Force Choke [Fate/Vader]
14. I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing [Fate/Vader]
15. Slaughter [Fate/Vader]
16. Collaboration [Support/Vader]
17. Darth Vader’s Lightsaber [Support/Vader]
18. Vader’s Custom TIE [Support/Vader]
19. Conan Motti [Ally/Tarkin]
20. Moradmin Bast [Ally/Tarkin]
21. Shann Childsen [Ally/Tarkin]
22. !Fear Will Keep Them In Line [Fate/Tarkin]
23. Set Your Course For Alderaan [Fate/Tarkin]
24. Tractor Beam [Fate/Tarkin]
25. Star Destroyer [Support/Tarkin]
26. TIE Fighter [Support/Tarkin]
27. Turbolaser [Support/Tarkin]
28. Davin Felth [Ally/Terrik]
29. Devin Cant [Ally/Terrik]
30. Fori Tenn [Ally/Terrik]
31. Tajis Durmin [Ally/Terrik]
32. Set For Stun [Fate/Terrik]
33. Dewback [Support/Terrik]
34. Imperial Blaster [Support/Terrik]
35. Reinforcements [Support/Terrik]
36. Stormtrooper !Armor [Support/Terrik]
Fringe Cards (27 Cards):
37. Nabrun Leids [Ally/Dannik]
38. Anzati Appropriation [Fate/Dannik]
39. Chance Meeting [Fate/Dannik]
40. Eater of Luck [Fate/Dannik]
41. Hunger and Lust [Fate/Dannik]
42. Cargo Freighter [Support/Dannik]
43. Mind Probe [Support/Dannik]
44. Palm-knives [Support/Dannik]
45. Spice Pipe [Support/Dannik]
46. BoShek [Ally/Han]
47. Chewbacca [Ally/Han]
48. Wuher [Ally/Han]
49. A Few Maneuvers [Fate/Han]
50. Quick !Escape [Fate/Han]
51. Wookiee Roar [Fate/Han]
52. Han’s Blaster [Support/Han]
53. Millennium Falcon [Support/Han]
54. Quad Laser Battery [Support/Han]
55. Cornelius Evazan [Ally/Jabba]
56. Greedo [Ally/Jabba]
57. Ponda Baba [Ally/Jabba]
58. Tonnika Sisters [Ally/Jabba]
59. Treadwell Droid [Ally/Jabba]
60. Grounded Starship [Fate/Jabba]
61. Hutt’s Influence [Fate/Jabba]
62. Hefty Bounty [Support/Jabba]
63. Hold-Out Blaster [Support/Jabba]
Rebellion Cards (27 Cards):
64. !Jan Dodonna [Ally/Leia]
65. Vanden Willard [Ally/Leia]
66. A Diplomatic Mission [Fate/Leia]
67. Our Most Desperate Hour [Fate/Leia]
68. Taking Charge [Fate/Leia]
69. Blockade Runner [Support/Leia]
70. Death Star Plans [Support/Leia]
71. Sporting Blaster [Support/Leia]
72. Well Paid [Support/Leia]
73. C-3PO [Ally/Luke]
74. R2-D2 [Ally/Luke]
75. !Escape Pod [Fate/Luke]
76. I Got Him! [Fate/Luke]
77. I’m Here to Rescue You [Fate/Luke]
78. The Son of Anakin Skywalker [Fate/Luke]
79. Electrobinoculars [Support/Luke]
80. Old Ben [Support/Luke]
81. Rebel Blaster [Support/Luke]
82. Biggs Darklighter [Ally/Wedge]
83. Bren Quersey [Ally/Wedge]
84. Elyhek Rue [Ally/Wedge]
85. Garven Dreis [Ally/Wedge]
86. Jek Porkins [Ally/Wedge]
87. Full Throttle [Fate/Wedge]
88. Astromech Droid [Support/Wedge]
89. Proton Torpedoes [Support/Wedge]
90. X-wing [Support/Wedge]
Encounter Cards (45 Cards):
91. Collision [Vader]
92. Fled to the Surface [Vader]
93. He is Here [Vader]
94. Rebel Snubfighters [Vader]
95. The Force is Strong With This One [Vader]
96. Exposed Station [Tarkin]
97. Rescue Attempt [Tarkin]
98. Skilled Liar [Tarkin]
99. Split Up [Tarkin]
100. There Is a Danger [Tarkin]
101. Droid !Escape [Terrik]
102. Jawa Bandits [Terrik]
103. Jawa Thieves [Terrik]
104. Suspected Terrorists [Terrik]
105. Tusken Raiders [Terrik]
106. Close to the Luck [Dannik]
107. Identity Revealed [Dannik]
108. Mental Barrier [Dannik]
109. Out of Reach [Dannik]
110. Worthy Vessels [Dannik]
111. Bounty Collection [Han]
112. Dejarik Match [Han]
113. Firefight [Han]
114. Lone Pilot [Han]
115. Scanning Crew [Han]
116. Dumped Cargo [Jabba]
117. Failure to Collect [Jabba]
118. Imperial Entanglements [Jabba]
119. Obstinate Debtor [Jabba]
120. Threatening Bodyguard [Jabba]
121. Besieged [Leia]
122. Intercepted Transmission [Leia]
123. Scheduled For Termination [Leia]
124. Technological Terror [Leia]
125. They’re Tracking Us [Leia]
126. Cantina Brawl [Luke]
127. Dianoga [Luke]
128. Local Trouble [Luke]
129. Tusken Attack [Luke]
130. Wrong Turn [Luke]
131. Attack Run [Wedge]
132. Eject! [Wedge]
133. Heavy Fire Zone [Wedge]
134. Swift Pursuit [Wedge]
135. They Came From Behind [Wedge]
Location Cards (27 Cards):
136. Death Star Hallway [Vader]
137. Death Star War Room [Vader]
138. Interrogation Cell [Vader]
139. Death Star [Tarkin]
140. Death Star Cell Block [Tarkin]
141. Death Star Conference Room [Tarkin]
142. Dune Sea [Terrik]
143. Nomadic Camp [Terrik]
144. Prefect Office [Terrik]
145. Alleyway [Dannik]
146. Anzat [Dannik]
147. Cantina [Dannik]
148. Falcon’s Cockpit [Han]
149. Falcon’s Main Deck [Han]
150. Mos Eisley Docking Bay [Han]
151. Mos Eisley Spaceport [Jabba]
152. Nal Hutta [Jabba]
153. Tatooine [Jabba]
154. Alderaan [Leia]
155. Massassi Rebel Base [Leia]
156. Massassi War Room [Leia]
157. Anchorhead [Luke]
158. Lars’ Moisture Farm [Luke]
159. Tosche Station [Luke]
160. Massassi Briefing Room [Wedge]
161. Massassi Staging Bay [Wedge]
162. Yavin [Wedge]
One more thing I'd like to note before I retire for the night... Encounter and Location cards have no alignment, meaning you can use any of them with any persona (although it would be crazy to do so, in some cases). Encounter cards are paired with a particular persona based on what that persona comes up against in the movie: Luke is attacked by a Dianoga, yes, but he isn't the only one who might end up fighting one in this game!
So yeah. This is what I've been up to. I really want some of your input and ideas. I'll be fleshing out the rest of the gameplay soon - you know, stuff like what cards do and how to win and lose and little stuff like that.
Good night!
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Interesting ideas here. Wedge and Tarkin could have the "Leadership" attribute, just a thought.
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Good one! I now distinguish between Influence and Leadership - the former is the ability to convince others that your position is correct and the latter is just being able to take command of a group. I also added Cunning, bringing the number of attributes to 9 (which is what I wanted in the first place).
I have the next few days off from work, so expect more-or-less a full rulebook to appear here fairly soon. It's all pretty much in my head... I just have to write it down.
EDIT: And I'd like to elaborate that, for the most part, these attributes wont carry any inherent effects. Remember, I'm going for simplicity. So there will be a card that can only be used with your Corrupt Leadership persona (which is only Tarkin right now, but more will come later). Corruption on its own wont do anything.
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Well I caught the flu like right after that last post; I'm fine and healthy again now, and I have most of the rulebook written up. I don't know how many of you are reading this, but here's a little taste to whet your appetite:
Empire) Wilhuff Tarkin (4
Human of Eriadu, Imperial !Moff
Using the awesome might of the Death Star, secure the Imperial Rule of !Fear along the Outer Rim Territories, smashing the enemy's defenses. Thwart the Rebel attempt to infiltrate the Death Star and rescue their comrade.
[1] Move into the Death Star; [2] Destroy an opponent's starship; [3] Kill an opponent's ally; [4] Overcome a Death Star encounter; [5] Overcome a Death Star encounter.
Corruption|Influence|Leadership
[Tarkin](1:3/162)