His Dark Materials, Book I: The Golden Compass

[lem0nhead]

Wow what a reply, all your points are well made so fair enough!

[FM]

Btw, OMG that was some quick review!
Thanks for helping to point out Roger's abusability, though, I myself had forgotten he can be turned into a pincushion for Lyra as a protagonist, so I had to lower his resistance. Now, the only thing I'm not sue is wether a 5-vitality pincushion is worth the companion slot, because if it is, I may have to change him after all. But I think it won't. Of course, you can still DRAW him, but then you would play him only after drawing him, which means you might not get much use out of his ability, and playing 4 copies of him wouldn't help a lot, since discarding only heals, it does not remove burdens.

[DáinIronfoot]

Finally, some actual DCs!

•Lyra Belacqua, Insolent Rascal
Companion • Human
Strength: 4
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 10
Protagonist. Child.
Lyra is strength +1 for each scholar you can spot.
Response: If Lyra is about to take a wound, add 2 burdens instead.
S

You CAN choose to ignore protagonist and use her as a normal companion, right? Not that I think you would in this case (though with enough scholars around and her response ability that works whether she's the protag or not, I guess she'd make a decent distraction to protect the actual protag), but you CAN, right?

•Roger Parslow, Kitchen Servant
Companion • Human
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Protagonist. Child.
Lyra is twilight cost -1.
While you can spot Lyra, Roger is strength +2.
Skirmish: If Roger or Lyra is about to take a wound, add a burden instead.
S

Personally, I'd probably use Roger as the protag and start Lyra as insulation to protect him, but I could see the case being made for switching them, too. Unless you can start with lots of scholars somehow, Lyra as the protag and Roger as early protection is probably a little safer.

These seem fine, though this particular version of Roger seems pretty worthless without Lyra around. I suppose that's the point, though.

[Thranduil]

Obviously Roger's ability needs to be a response. I might also make it apply only in the skirmish phase to have some more contrast between Lyra's and Roger's abilities.

Thranduil

[FM]

Yeah, it actually is, in the story, Roger is pretty much a deadweight numbskull without Lyra by his side, and this is what I'm depicting, since this is a protagonist version of him, he'd probably only make it to the end of his quest with Lyra by his side. He'll get slightly better versions, though, but probably non-protagonist ones.
Yes, you can use a protagonist as a normal companion, they ARE regular companions, actually. Having protagonist only means that they can be started as ARB can.
I'd want to point out that Lyra's ability only protects her, she can't soak up wounds from Roger, but yeah, she can be tanked up and she IS a "free" starting companion, but there are not that many great Scholars, so expect to spot some to make her strong, yeah, but do not count THEY will be strong as well, which makes the strategy of "going for a tanked up protagonist" kind of a double-edged blade. More of a "hey, look, I can actually spot TWO scholars! neat, strength +2!" kind of thing.
I actually mean to have this Roger paired up with another version of Lyra, you'll get to see her eventually.

[FM]

Obviously Roger's ability needs to be a response. I might also make it apply only in the skirmish phase to have some more contrast between Lyra's and Roger's abilities.

Thranduil

I see your point, that's actually what I went for, but I think it's clearer if worded your way, I'll change it right now.

[FM]

Well, the two Starter cards are already posted, so now I think I'll move on to doing a single culture at a time. Should I start with sites, or with the huge culture?

[DáinIronfoot]

culture. I think it would be easier to understand sites AFTER we saw a culture or two rather than the other way around.

[sickofpalantirs]

ditto dain the dwarf.

[FM]

I figured as much. I'll post the Culture breakdown ASAP, then, so I can start posting the culture.

[FM]

Ok, here's how The Golden Compass will end up, at first (I might have to tweak these numbers at some point, although I strongly believe it won't be necessary):

Total number of cards: 362
Rares: 120
Uncommons: 120
Commons: 120
Starters: 2
The Witch Culture – : 40
The Panserbjorne (Armored Bears) Culture – : 40
The Tartar Culture – : 40
The Bolvangar Culture – : 50
The Cliff Ghast Culture – : 40
The Gyptian Culture – : 50
The Daemon Culture – : 72
Sites: 30

And here's what the culture will look like:

The Daemon Culture – : 72 cards

13 Companions
18 Minions
10 Events
6 Possessions
3 Artifacts
6 Conditions
10 Daemons
2 Allies
4 Followers

Also, since this culture will be hybrid, and you won't have actual physical cards to look if the card is meant as a Shadow or Free Peoples card, and this matters when talking about Followers, Conditions and some Possessions and Artifacts, I'll state when necessary. Also, keep in mind that some cards will be considered Free Peoples cards, but WILL be able to be played as Shadow cards (like some events). When that happens, the Shadow player simply removes the amount of twilight listed as cost, as it normally would work.
I'll drop by later to post the name of the cards (which then might be tweaked afterwards with your feedback).

[sickofpalantirs]

I see...this could get rather confusing rather fast...

[FM]

Virtually, maybe, but not on actual cards, if I ever get to put it into lackey!

[Elrohir]

It looks quite impressing - let me know, if you have finished!

[Gate Troll]

And here are the first two cards!
The two starter decks from the block will be Lyra and Roger. As such, this will ALSO be the first contact with the protagonist keyword, as they are both protagonists in their decks (btw, this is something I want to add, most free-peoples-themed decks are gonna have protagonist versions of their theme characters).

•Lyra Belacqua, Insolent Rascal
Companion • Human
Strength: 4
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 10
Protagonist. Child.
Lyra is strength +1 for each scholar you can spot.
Response: If Lyra is about to take a wound, add 2 burdens instead.
S

Not bad.

•Roger Parslow, Kitchen Servant
Companion • Human
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Protagonist. Child.
Lyra is twilight cost -1.
While you can spot Lyra, Roger is strength +2.
Response: If Roger or Lyra is about to take a wound in a skirmish, add a burden instead.
S

I'd change 'Lyra is twilight cost -1.' to If Lyra is in your starting fellowship she is twilight cost -1'.
Other than that it's pretty good.