Thursday, October 30, 2008

Card Game Guidelines

For your information.

Index

1) The Game
2) Deck Construction
3) Card Elements
4) Card Types
5) The Playing Field
6) Pre-game Prep
7) Turn Order
8) Combat
9) Winning the Game
10) Miscellaneous


1 - The Game

Based on an Open-world concept, where no limitations are imposed upon the styles or influences used in design production of the cards. The basic overarching theme of the game is War, a massive conflict where the line between good and evil is blurred.

The objective of the game is Domination. This is achieved by seizing and maintaining control of the battlefield, and the destruction of the opposing base. Domination is currently the only victory type available, more might be introduced with further expansion of the game.


2 - Deck Construction

The basic rules for construction of a standard deck are :
- 60 cards in the deck
- 3 seperate Location cards
- 1 Base card
- Maximum of 3 of each individual card (except for Uniques - only 1 in a deck)
- Maximum 5 Hero type cards

And also required are small counters, used for indication of resources, damage e.t.c.


3 - Card Elements

An overview of the card elements. (Picture reference to be added soon.)

a. LEFT BAR - INFO

- Name : The name of the card.
- Title : Heroes, Units, and Equipment only. Has no effect on gameplay.
- Type : The type of card.
- Cost : Heroes, Units, and Equipment only. The cost of playing the card to the table. From left to right, the 3 costs are Manpower, Magical, and Material.

b. RIGHT BAR - STATS

Heroes and Units only.

- Combat Strength : A base score of attack and defence capability. Combat Strength governs how much base damage a unit deals in combat.
- Agility : Speed, reflexes, perception. Determines who moves first in combat, and also affects the outcome of certain abilities and bonuses.
- Armor : Gives a reduction to damage taken.
- Health : Base hit points.
- Leadership : Heroes only. Command ability of the Hero. Only Heroes possess this stat, and this stat is only applied if a hero is played as a Leader rather than a combatant.

c. CENTRAL BOX - ABILITIES AND BACKSTORY

- Abilities : The name of the ability, and it's effect. Abilities come in many kinds, some have a passive, ongoing effect, some are used during combat, some during your opponent's turn e.t.c.
- Leadership effect : Heroes only. Determines which stat a Hero affects when played as a Leader.
- Backstory : Not compulsory. A short description or story of the card. Helps makes things more interesting, and could even lead to a full-blown storyline. (Could look into that sometime.)
- Logo : A small logo for our card game. (Not done yet, will do it at one of the gatherings.)
- Illustrator's name : You drew it, so put your name on it.
- Serial number : Self-explanatory.
- Rarity : Cards are either Common (CMN), Uncommon (UCM), or Rare (RAR).


4 - Card Types

There are 7 card types, more might be introduced in further expansion.

a. HERO

- Heroes are the leaders of your army, either by example, or by command.
- They typically possess higher stats and better abilities as compared to Units.
- All Heroes are unique.
- Can be played to the table either as a combatant, or a leader.
- As a combatant, Heroes are played like Units. Equipment can be attached, and Events played on the Hero. Affected by Location bonuses.
- As a leader, Heroes are played onto Units. The attached leader grants leadership bonus, but cannot participate in combat, nor can the Hero use abilities. If the Unit the Hero is attached to is defeated, the Hero is discarded along with the Unit.
- Requires a Cost to play the Hero onto the table, either as a combatant or as a leader.

b. UNIT

- The backbone of your army. Can be anything from a squad of grunts, a hulking beast, to a mammoth battleship.
- Have the 4 basic stats.
- Some Units are unique.
- Can have Equipment attached, and is affected by Events and Location bonuses.
- Requires a Cost to play the Unit onto the table.

c. EQUIPMENT

- Special Items that gives stat bonuses and/or special abilities.
- Can only be played on Heroes and Units, although some specify either Hero or Unit.
- Once attached, the Eqiupment may not be removed unless via an ability.
- When the Hero/Unit the Equipment is attached to is defeated, the Equipment is discarded along with the Hero/Unit.
- Requires a Cost to play the Equipment onto the table.

d. EVENT

- 'Decider' cards. Can sway the momentum of the game if properly used.
- Each Event card is played at a specific phase of the game, and should generally be listed on the card itself.
- Events have NO cost.

e. LOCATION

- Battlegrounds. Control over these leads to Victory.
- Both sides decide on their 3 location cards at the start of the game.
- There can be no 2 similar Locations in both sides.
- Grants special bonuses or negations.
- Locations have their own unique attributes that determine whether a Hero/Unit is affected by the bonus/negation.
- When a player wins in combat, that player gets control of the Location, which is shown by moving the Location card to your side.
- Anytime a player controls all 6 Locations, he is then able to attack the opposing Base.

f. RESOURCE

- Provides you with the resources necessary for your war effort.
- Each Resource card provides either Manpower, Mana, or Materials. Some provide more than one resource.
- Counters are used to determine the amount of resources.
- Resource cards are untouchable, unless via certain abilities or events.
- Certain Resources require a Cost to play onto the table.

g. BASE

- Your base of operations.
- Can only be attacked when all 6 Locations are held.
- Base come with base points. (shown using counters) The amount of base points is decided pre-game.
- Loss of the base results in defeat.


5 - The Playing Field

Photobucket

- The deck is placed right in front of you, on the right.
- To the right of the deck is the discard pile.
- To the left of the deck is where Resource cards are placed.
- The base is placed left of the Resources.
- Above the resources, are the Units and Heroes.
- And further above the Units and Heroes, are the Locations.


6 - Pre-game Prep

Before the start of the game, the two players have to go through some pre-game preparation.

- Discuss the amount of Base-points to be played. The amount can be anywhere from 3-10, or more, depending on how long of a game you decide to play. Recommended amount is 8. Place counters on the Base card to signify the Base points.
- Decide on the Locations. There cannot be 2 similar locations.
- Determine who starts first. Flip a coin, or any other method decided upon.

Once these are done, they may then proceed to:

- Shuffle the decks. You may choose to cut each other's decks, in the interest of fairness.
- Place the deck, the Base card, and the Location cards in their respective positions.
- Draw 5 cards for your starting hand.

Now you are ready to play the game.


7 - Turn Order

There are several phases during each new turn that occur in order.

a. Recovery Phase - Draw 1 card. Must be drawn every turn unless your deck is depleted. Restore one point of health to all Units and Heroes, not exceeding their base Health stat.
b. Resource Phase - Calculate the total resources you gain this turn and add accordingly.
c. Deploy Phase - Heroes, Units, Equipments, and Resources can only be played to the table during this phase.
d. Abilities/Events Phase - Non-combat Abilities or Events are played during this phase.
e. Combat Phase - Refer to the section on Combat.
f. End of Turn.


8 - Combat

A player can only initiate combat on the Combat phase of his turn. Before actual combat begins, the 2 players have to decide on several key factors :

- Size of the Battle : The attacker will choose how many units he decides to bring into the battle, to a maximum of 3. The defender can choose to defend with the same number, or less.
- Location : The attacker chooses the location. He can only attack a location under his opponent's control, not one under his control.
- Order of Battle : The Hero/Unit with the highest Agility goes first, and so on. In the event of a draw, the one with a lower Armor rating gets to go first.

When these have been decided, the battle may commence. One by one, each Hero/Unit goes through their turns in the order decided upon before the battle. The phases in a turn consist of :

a. Untap phase - Rotate the Hero/Unit back to normal, to indicate that this card is active.

b. 1st Abilities/Events phase - The Hero/Unit can use its ability during this phase. Event cards can also be played during this phase.

c. Attack phase - Choose an enemy Hero/Unit you wish to attack. Calculate your Hero/Unit's total Combat Strength (+ Equip, Event, Location, Hero Bonuses), and then calculate and minus off the total Armor of the opposing Hero/Unit you wish to attack (+ Equip, Event, Location, Hero Bonuses). The resulting amount is dealt to the opponent as damage. Place one counter for each point of damage on the Hero/Unit, until the number of counters is equal to the Hero/Unit's Health, at which point the Hero/Unit is considered defeated, and is discarded. Note that some event cards can be played during the course of an Attack phase.

d. Tap phase - Rotate the Hero/Unit 90 degrees clockwise, to indicate this unit is inactive.

The players carry on with each Hero/Units turn in sequence, until one side is utterly defeated, or the Attacker chooses to withdraw. If the Attacker wins, he gains control of the Location, and the Location card must be put onto his side of the table. If the Defender wins, he maintains control of the Location.

Note that during the pre-battle, the defender may choose not to defend the target Location, allowing the Attacker to claim the Location unchallenged.

When a player controls all 6 Locations, that player can then begin to attack the opposing Base. Battles over a Base are fought similarly, except for several differences :
- If the Attacker wins, he can then deal damage to the enemies base. The damage dealt is equal to the number of undefeated Attackers left at the end of that battle. Remove counters from the base card equivalent to the damage recieved.
- The defender MUST defend the Base if he has Heroes/Units available. If he has none, then the Attacker deals damage to his base.
- Bases grant bonuses only to the Defenders. They have no negations, and no attributes.
- The Base is not a Location, and thus the Attacker does not control it after a Victory.
- The Base falls when all Base points have been consumed.


9 - Winning the Game

The game is won via Domination. The requirements for Victory are :

a. Control of all 6 Locations.
b. Destruction of the Enemy Base.

Note that there are certain cards that allow you to deal Base Damage without requiring control of all 6 Locations. In the event where a player who does not control all 6 Locations manages to destroy the opposing base, the opposing base regains half of the original amount of base points.


10 - Miscellaneous

Nothing here yet.

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That's about what i have thought out so far. The main elements of it were mostly taken from other card games, Mechwarrior and Pokemon being my main inspirations.

Opinions? Critique? Comment on this post.

Isaac

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