The Way Into Mordor - Dwarves (7/18: Warfare That Suits a Dwarf)

[Thranduil]

•Gimli's Pipe, Carved In the North
Possession • Pipe
Bearer must be a Dwarf.
Each time a pipeweed is about to be discarded by another Free Peoples card, you may stack that pipeweed on a condition that already has a pipeweed stacked on it instead.
Regroup: Discard a pipeweed stacked on a condition to reinforce a token.
"‘Gimli re-filled his pipe...he lit it with his flint and tinder....'"

I like it much better. You don't need to say 'another Free Peoples card' because the default meaning of 'discard' is from play and the regroup ability does not discard them from play, but from conditions. And also how are you going to get the pipeweed on there in the first place? I think it would be fine if it stacked pipeweeds on a condition that has a card stacked on it, not just a pipeweed.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

And also how are you going to get the pipeweed on there in the first place? I think it would be fine if it stacked pipeweeds on a condition that has a card stacked on it, not just a pipeweed.

Whoops. That's what I meant to do. Fixed now. Thanks!

[FM]

I liked the Pipe a lot, makes playing with pipes all that much more attractive, since you can actually get more than 1 use off a Pipeweed. I have a generic issue, however, that I wanted to have explained, and since you guys mess around with DCs a lot, who better, right?
If it's a specific character's card, like Gimli's Pipe, Frodo's Cloak, etc, I CAN understand it being able to be borne by other characters, as to increase its playability. However, shouldn't it have AT LEAST some kind of link to the rightful owner? An ability, a bonus, anything? Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, it could simply be named Dwarven Pipe, or •Dwarven Pipe, Carved In the North, it doesn't need to be GIMLI'S pipe. And as I said, of course, it's not an issue with the particular card, but generically speaking, Thorin's Helm, for instance, should have some kind of relation to Thorin. For the Pipe specifically, for instance, you could simply add a "To play, spot Gimli" line. IMO, there oughta be SOME kind of relation between the possession and the rightful owner.

[DáinIronfoot]

If it's a specific character's card, like Gimli's Pipe, Frodo's Cloak, etc, I CAN understand it being able to be borne by other characters, as to increase its playability. However, shouldn't it have AT LEAST some kind of link to the rightful owner? An ability, a bonus, anything? Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, it could simply be named Dwarven Pipe, or •Dwarven Pipe, Carved In the North, it doesn't need to be GIMLI'S pipe. And as I said, of course, it's not an issue with the particular card, but generically speaking, Thorin's Helm, for instance, should have some kind of relation to Thorin. For the Pipe specifically, for instance, you could simply add a "To play, spot Gimli" line. IMO, there oughta be SOME kind of relation between the possession and the rightful owner.

A good and fair question.

Normally, I agree with you 100%: specific possessions/artifacts should have a connection to their (normal) owner. If you look back just a little further from the pipe, you'll see I posted new versions of Gimli's Helm and Gimli's Armor. They too can be borne by any ol' Dwarf, but have Gimli-specific abilities, so they're not nearly as useful on any Dwarf but Gimli. I try to do this for all such possessions/artifacts, either by limiting them to being borne by a specific character or having certain text/bonuses/abilities that are only "unlocked" when in use by that specific character.

Every now and then, however, I break with that pattern. Sometimes it's because extra text just wouldn't fit, sometimes it's because it's used by more than one character in the storyline, and sometimes (as in the pipe's case) it's because I simply don't see the need. Trying to tie together Dwarves, pipes, pipeweeds, stacking, AND tokens in the same deck would be hard enough as it is, so limiting it further to being Gimli-exclusive would make it even less viable. So the new version of Gimli's Pipe is the rare exception to the "rule".

Does that help at all?

[DáinIronfoot]

Well with lem0nhead AND Thranduil both on vacation for the next two weeks (I'm telling you, they ran off to plot something together!), things will be a little different around here for the next two weeks as well:

1.) I will passing out gold for each useful review I get while the boys are away. This will hopefully entice some of you capabale reviewers and DCers out there (you know who you are! ) into using your hidden talents. And hey, maybe you'll actually find yourself having fun and stick around this forum, eh?

2.) I will likely not be posting new DCs as regularly as usual. Don't fret, though...I'll still be doing lots of DCing in the background. In truth, this is a great opportunity for me to build my "reserves" back up. See, normally, I have a good-sized list of completed DCs that I pull cards from to post each day. This lets me pick and choose what to post without feeling pressure to create them on the spot (though I still do from time to time) while constantly working to keep those reserves refilled. This also helps me to keep up with demand () during the times where I'm having writer's block, as I can just fall back on cards I've already made in the past and post from that list until my creativity returns. And when it does, I just fill up my reserves again. With schooling sucking up LOTS of my time lately, my reserves are almost dry. So now that school's over, it's time to build them back up...which I'll be doing the next couple weeks. So it'll be a short term conservation in posting to build up big things for the future. Follow all that?

3.) Did I mention GOLD? :hey: That's right...each review will earn you gold. I know it ain't useful yet, but it will be as soon as we get that shop up and running. Trust me, if you don't have a lot of gold then, you'll be wishing you'd jumped on chances for it while you could. Hint, hint: this is one of those golden (eheh ) opportunities.

Alright, time to get back to dream cards. If you're new to this thread, welcome! I'm currently working through the middle of my five DC sets, The Way Into Mordor, focused around events from The Two Towers. This here is the culture, which means it's (mostly) all about Gimli and the old-school Towers block strategies (big skirmishing and card stacking), mixed with some newer stuff (tokens and hunters).

If you ARE new, I'd recommend going back real quick and skimming through this thread to get a "feel" for the overall culture thus far. And if you have any questions about this set or any of my others, please feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can and bring you up to speed. Don't be shy!

Right now, I've been focusing on Gimli at Helm's Deep. Eventually, I'll go backwards to Gimli as part of The Three Hunters and focus on that side for a while. For now, though, here are new Helm's Deep-related cards. Enjoy!

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a skirmish, you may exert him to choose one: reinforce a token; or stack a card from hand here or on another condition that has a card already stacked on it.
If this condition is discarded from play or from a condition it is stacked on, you may heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"

As I mentioned, the culture in this set goes back to a good amount of card stacking, and mixes in tokens. My goal is to bring the two together a bit so you could potentially build a deck around both, and this is one card intended to do that. If nothing else, at least it offers some good healing. And Dwarves could always use more healing, right?

Speaking of which....

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Choose one: spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it and add to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"

A pretty good healing card on its own, but get this on a tale condition (two of which I posted back on page 2), and it becomes the ULTIMATE healer.

[MR. Lurtzy]

Anything for gold.

Well with lem0nhead AND Thranduil both on vacation for the next two weeks (I'm telling you, they ran off to plot something together!), things will be a little different around here for the next two weeks as well:

1.) I will passing out gold for each useful review I get while the boys are away. This will hopefully entice some of you capabale reviewers and DCers out there (you know who you are! ) into using your hidden talents. And hey, maybe you'll actually find yourself having fun and stick around this forum, eh?

2.) I will likely not be posting new DCs as regularly as usual. Don't fret, though...I'll still be doing lots of DCing in the background. In truth, this is a great opportunity for me to build my "reserves" back up. See, normally, I have a good-sized list of completed DCs that I pull cards from to post each day. This lets me pick and choose what to post without feeling pressure to create them on the spot (though I still do from time to time) while constantly working to keep those reserves refilled. This also helps me to keep up with demand () during the times where I'm having writer's block, as I can just fall back on cards I've already made in the past and post from that list until my creativity returns. And when it does, I just fill up my reserves again. With schooling sucking up LOTS of my time lately, my reserves are almost dry. So now that school's over, it's time to build them back up...which I'll be doing the next couple weeks. So it'll be a short term conservation in posting to build up big things for the future. Follow all that?

3.) Did I mention GOLD? :hey: That's right...each review will earn you gold. I know it ain't useful yet, but it will be as soon as we get that shop up and running. Trust me, if you don't have a lot of gold then, you'll be wishing you'd jumped on chances for it while you could. Hint, hint: this is one of those golden (eheh ) opportunities.

Alright, time to get back to dream cards. If you're new to this thread, welcome! I'm currently working through the middle of my five DC sets, The Way Into Mordor, focused around events from The Two Towers. This here is the culture, which means it's (mostly) all about Gimli and the old-school Towers block strategies (big skirmishing and card stacking), mixed with some newer stuff (tokens and hunters).

If you ARE new, I'd recommend going back real quick and skimming through this thread to get a "feel" for the overall culture thus far. And if you have any questions about this set or any of my others, please feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can and bring you up to speed. Don't be shy!

Right now, I've been focusing on Gimli at Helm's Deep. Eventually, I'll go backwards to Gimli as part of The Three Hunters and focus on that side for a while. For now, though, here are new Helm's Deep-related cards. Enjoy!

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a fierce skirmish, you may exert that Dwarf to reinforce a token or stack a card from hand on a condition that has a card already stacked on it.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"
Good card.
As I mentioned, the culture in this set goes back to a good amount of card stacking, and mixes in tokens. My goal is to bring the two together a bit so you could potentially build a deck around both, and this is one card intended to do that. If nothing else, at least it offers some good healing. And Dwarves could always use more healing, right?

Speaking of which....

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"
Should cost or have less of a wonderful ability.
A pretty good healing card on its own, but get this on a tale condition (two of which I posted back on page 2), and it becomes the ULTIMATE healer.

[sickofpalantirs]

I disagree...both are fine.

[MR. Lurtzy]

It's too easy to instantly heal a dwarf.

[FM]

Yeah, that about does it, even though I'd just go and call it Dwarven Pipe, if it was me.
Ok, let's get to reviewing, since I promised I'd skulk around.

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a fierce skirmish, you may exert that Dwarf to reinforce a token or stack a card from hand on a condition that has a card already stacked on it.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"

I'd lose the second ability and the exertion cost, leaving room for OTHER cards to discard the tales for benefits, making the FP player think through when building a deck: "Do I pack 4 of these and risk getting stuck with some in my hand? Do I pack 1-2 for the bonus? Should I pack stuff that let me discard some tales for benefit? What other tales, then, could I pack into the deck?". Stuff like this. It's fine as it is, though, it'd just be a designing option.
Or perhaps you could abuse triggered effects, to make them combo together, for instance:
If this condition is discarded from play, you may heal each (exhausted) Dwarf.
This kind of thing (again, not necessarily on THIS card, of course) would open up a lot of room for creative designing, not to mention messing around with the Shadow player's head every now and then.

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"

Truly awesome. I like how it can be played outside dedicated decks, as well, like a hybrid Pipeweed deck.
I don't know about text-space issues, but I think this card, which is already awesome, would be truly unique if you added a line like: Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card, you may discard that tale to repeat this, perhaps upping the cost a bit.
Also, since the second part is part of the text, does it mean you can only do it in the Regroup Phase? Like you would be basically playing the event from a different place for a different effect? And does that mean you have to pay the cost? Because if not, then the ability should be in a new sentence, I think.
This card specifically made me remember some MtG cards with a mechanic called Entwine. Some cards give you 2 choices, and if you paid the Entwine cost on them, you got to do both. Now, it won't work with this specific card, because it keys off "playing" the event from two different places, but I think it's a thought you might want to consider, getting some 2-way cards to give you BOTH benefits for an added (usually pretty steep, though) cost.

[DáinIronfoot]

Yeah, that about does it, even though I'd just go and call it Dwarven Pipe, if it was me.

Problem is I've already got one of those from my Fellowship of the Ring-centric set, The Road Ahead.

http://lotrtcgwiki.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=4717 - down near the bottom of the page

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a fierce skirmish, you may exert that Dwarf to reinforce a token or stack a card from hand on a condition that has a card already stacked on it.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"

I'd lose the second ability and the exertion cost, leaving room for OTHER cards to discard the tales for benefits, making the FP player think through when building a deck: "Do I pack 4 of these and risk getting stuck with some in my hand? Do I pack 1-2 for the bonus? Should I pack stuff that let me discard some tales for benefit? What other tales, then, could I pack into the deck?". Stuff like this. It's fine as it is, though, it'd just be a designing option.
Or perhaps you could abuse triggered effects, to make them combo together, for instance:
If this condition is discarded from play, you may heal each (exhausted) Dwarf.
This kind of thing (again, not necessarily on THIS card, of course) would open up a lot of room for creative designing, not to mention messing around with the Shadow player's head every now and then.

LOVE that idea. I've replaced the regroup ability with text very similiar to your suggestion. How do you like it now?

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"

Truly awesome. I like how it can be played outside dedicated decks, as well, like a hybrid Pipeweed deck.
I don't know about text-space issues, but I think this card, which is already awesome, would be truly unique if you added a line like: Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card, you may discard that tale to repeat this, perhaps upping the cost a bit.
Also, since the second part is part of the text, does it mean you can only do it in the Regroup Phase? Like you would be basically playing the event from a different place for a different effect? And does that mean you have to pay the cost? Because if not, then the ability should be in a new sentence, I think.
This card specifically made me remember some MtG cards with a mechanic called Entwine. Some cards give you 2 choices, and if you paid the Entwine cost on them, you got to do both. Now, it won't work with this specific card, because it keys off "playing" the event from two different places, but I think it's a thought you might want to consider, getting some 2-way cards to give you BOTH benefits for an added (usually pretty steep, though) cost.

My goal was for this (and much of the culture in this set, really) to be good with a Dwarf heavy deck OR with just one or two Dwarves splashed in with other companions. Glad I pulled it off.

The text is actually VERY similiar to this card's older "cousin", Slaked Thirsts (and based around the same events, even). Like that card, this is basically two cards in one: you can choose to spot the tale and heal once and draw once, OR choose to discard this card from a tale it is stacked on and heal (up to) 3 times. You can't do both, but you can do either one during regroup, and the second one CAN be done with sneakily avoiding the cost if you managed to stack it. Should I add in the requirement of adding or for the second bit?

Once again, big fan of your idea about discarding the tale to repeat the effect. I think I'll leave it off this card, but I WILL create at least one card that does that, especially since it ties in so nicely with my Not Left Behind rewrite.


Both cards have been tweaked a bit, so once they meet approval of the crowd, we'll move on to some new stuff. Oh, and as promised, all three of you reviewers earned yourself some .

[FM]

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a fierce skirmish, you may choose one: exert that Dwarf to reinforce a token; or stack a card from hand here or on another condition that has a card already stacked on it.
If this condition is discarded from play or from a condition it is stacked on, you may heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"

Right now I've got mixed feelings with either healing each exhausted Dwarf or simply healing A Dwarf. Or even healing each Dwarf. It's unique... But then again, it's pretty easy to just play 4, since you benefit from stacking it. But then again, it requires discarding it from the stacked condition... Right now I think I'd go with a simple "you may heal a Dwarf" line.

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it and add to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"

Right now, the text seems to imply you pay the cost and respect the phase to play it. I'd leave it as:
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card.
Regroup: If this card is stacked on a tale, discard it and add to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
This way, you CLEARLY turn one card in two in "feeling", it's an event in the first case, and something like a condition in the second, all respecting the regroup phase, and with the second one clearly having no tie to the event's original twilight cost. Not to mention, again, it opens up creative design by giving phase-tied abilities to events, so they can be used as different cards while stacked anywhere for any reason.

[DáinIronfoot]

•Not Left Behind
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a Dwarf wins a fierce skirmish, you may choose one: exert that Dwarf to reinforce a token; or stack a card from hand here or on another condition that has a card already stacked on it.
If this condition is discarded from play or from a condition it is stacked on, you may heal each exhausted Dwarf.
"‘It was only a feeble blow and the cap turned it. It would take more than such an orc-scratch to keep me back.'"

Right now I've got mixed feelings with either healing each exhausted Dwarf or simply healing A Dwarf. Or even healing each Dwarf. It's unique... But then again, it's pretty easy to just play 4, since you benefit from stacking it. But then again, it requires discarding it from the stacked condition... Right now I think I'd go with a simple "you may heal a Dwarf" line.

The new card I design and will post in the near future will pretty much do just that. So unless you see this one as being overpowered or underpowered, I'll leave it as is.

The Score Is Reduced
Event • Regroup
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card; or, if this card is stacked on a tale, discard it and add to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
"‘You truants might make amends by finding us some of the plunder that you spoke of. Food and drink would pay off some of my score against you.'"

Right now, the text seems to imply you pay the cost and respect the phase to play it. I'd leave it as:
Spot a tale and a Dwarf companion to heal that Dwarf and draw a card.
Regroup: If this card is stacked on a tale, discard it and add to heal a Dwarf up to 3 times.
This way, you CLEARLY turn one card in two in "feeling", it's an event in the first case, and something like a condition in the second, all respecting the regroup phase, and with the second one clearly having no twilight cost. Not to mention, again, it opens up creative design by giving phase-tied abilities to events, so they can be used as different cards while stacked anywhere for any reason.

Hmmm. That would certainly work, but I prefer to stick with Big D's wording most of the time (with the exception of some of their poorly-written cards near the end). I noticed one key phrase that was missing from this that WAS on Slaked Thirsts, though: "Choose one" at the beginning of the text. I've fixed that, so now it reads exactly as Slaked Thirsts does. I think that's nice and clear.

I DO have a couple events I've posted through my sets so far that do different things depending on which phase you play them in, so your idea is one we share. I just don't think it's necessary in this particular case.

[FM]

The first one looks fine, without having to exert to stack a card. Much better. Also, you get to heal an exhausted Dwarf (which the Shadow player might have taken for dead) out of the blue, since you can stack it and discard the condition it's stacked on pretty much during a skirmish, catching them red-handed. It's fine. Healing ANOTHER Exhausted Dwarf would just be a bonus.
With the secon card, though, the problem is, is still suggests you pay for the second ability.
But that might be because I play MtG now, and wording is more of an issue there, so for LotR players it may be clear that you don't pay the twilight cost in the second case. Otherwise, well, just lose the extra there, on the regroup for a triple healing is still nice, I think. Or even lower the event's cost to .

[DáinIronfoot]

With the secon card, though, the problem is, is still suggests you pay for the second ability.
But that might be because I play MtG now, and wording is more of an issue there, so for LotR players it may be clear that you don't pay the twilight cost in the second case. Otherwise, well, just lose the extra there, on the regroup for a triple healing is still nice, I think. Or even lower the event's cost to .

Ah, okay. NOW I understand the confusion.

A card's twilight cost is only paid when it is actually PLAYED. Stacking does not count as playing, so if you stack an event (or any other card) from your hand, discard pile, draw deck, etc. (as you would have to do when stacking this card), you would NOT pay its cost, since it is not technically entering "play" and therefore not being played.

So, in a nutshell, the wording is very much in line with LOTR TCG rules, and you would pay ONLY the for the second option in the text, and not the additional to play it, since you never really DO play it. Does that make sense?

[FM]

Kinda. But makes it easier on my eyes, yes.