Here's the problem I see, though. A rebooted second edition would undoubtedly start with a Fellowship of the Ring themed block
Why would it?
I think the game should start as a full game. We will need to make all decisions before releasing anything anyway, so that everything works together and no ad hoc fixes need to be made in later "sets". And if we have everything prepared, why not release it all together.
People play various formats because they want to play cards which are unplayable in some formats (either too weak, or overpowered and X-listed). I feel we should aim at a game that needs no X-list and every card is playable (though of course some are played more often, just there's no completely dead cards). Such a game should not need various formats, as the default one (all cards allowed) will contain all the other ones.
It still may need variants. Difference: a format is a change of cards pool. Formats with small card pool are appealing when they allow some cool cards banned in formats with broader card pool (note that the only Block format popular on Gemp is FotR - it's the only format where lots of interesting cards are allowed (ones banned after TTT set came out). A variant is a bit different ruleset, if possible (I hope so) allowing exactly the same cards. I think LotR 2nd Edition should be done as a full game right from the start, with first site path supporting expanded format, let's say the "half freedom" version (fixed region, non-fixed site number). This will be already highly interesting and replayable game, designed to have a lot more viable decktypes than Movie. Maybe no variants would be needed at all. But if looking for them, the natural way to make them is to leave the cards and add a new site path, maybe changing game rules a bit. There are various ways to do it, starting from "full freedom" and "zero freedom"
paths, maybe some "long adventure" with 15-18 sites long path to show the journey from Shire to Mordor in more detail and give a longer game. But those things are far. I think one "Expanded" format is the only thing we should think about now. And templates are perfect way to start this work.
And, when it comes to templates. The game will eventually have to be printed. If I was to start such project, I'd probably try to find an efficient way to print on those:
http://www.spielematerial.de/en/game-components/playing-cards/playing-cards.html - but those are white. Did you try the templates with white borders instead of black? On a home printer you'd never print right till the border, so making it white will definitely look to better looking cards.
Topic: Custom Templates (Read 68162 times)
