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Specialty Deck - input please

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 18:53
questccg
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Hi all,

I have a bit of a "pet project". I am trying to design a "Specialty Deck" to be used for "Trick Taking" games like Hearts (for example). Each card is like a standard casino-style 52 card deck with the exception that cards have special abilities on the bottom.

Abilities are in pairs and so based on color.

Like take for example:

-2 Black: Bonus +1 becomes a three (3).
-2 Red: Penalty -1 becomes an Ace.

I don't want to have to write rules for every game you use the deck with - but suffice to say, these abilities really make you THINK when you are playing a game of Hearts (for example). It's no longer about worrying if you are going to score a point for a Heart card, as much as it is about "Do I want to keep this card because of it's ability!"

I have been mostly basing myself on the game "Crazy 8s" and so the effects are similar to that game. I'd like to know if someone has other ideas that could work with this sort of deck.

In terms of simplicity well there are only 52 cards, no rules or instructions, use as you want to use the deck...

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 19:10
#1
questccg
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Where I need input...

Okay so let me post up the deck abilities (again based on Crazy 8s mostly) and see if people can come up with BETTER ideas:

  • 2 Black = Bonus +1 becomes a three (3).
  • 2 Red = Penalty -1 becomes an Ace.
  • 3 Black = Give one (1) card to the player on the right.
  • 3 Red = Give one (1) card to the player on the left.
  • 4 Black = Draw two (2) cards into your hand.
  • 4 Red = Discard two (2) cards from your hand.
  • 5 Black = Change suit to Diamonds.
  • 5 Red = Change suit to Clubs.
  • 6 Black = Reverse the order of play.
  • 6 Red = You play again (take another turn).
  • 7 Black = Take one (1) card randomly from the player on the right.
  • 7 Red = Take one (1) card randomly from the player on the left.
  • 8 Black = Change this card to any value below eight (8).
  • 8 Red = Change this card to any value above eight (8).
  • 9 Black = Swap one (1) card randomly from your hand with the player on the right.
  • 9 Red = Swap one (1) card randomly from your hand with the player on the left.
  • 10 Black = Change suit to Hearts.
  • 10 Red = Change suit to Spades.
  • J Black = Next player skips his turn.
  • J Red = Next player plays twice (in a row).
  • Q Black = Enable Red suit (Hearts & Diamonds).
  • Q Red = Enable Black suit (Spades & Clubs).
  • K Black = Play two (2) cards on your turn, highest first.
  • K Red = Play two (2) cards on your turn, lowest first.
  • A Black = Treat as 13.
  • A Red = Treat as 1.

That's what I have right now. I like some better than others. But perhaps someone may have input with regards to the "special abilities"...

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 19:30
#2
questccg
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Victory Points

I am also toying with the addition of Victory Points (VPs).

But I'm not certain HOW to implement this. However I would associate VPs with a color of crystals like these:

Soulfinger brought this piece in another thread (which I won't mention here) however I think this might lend well to the theme of my "Specialty Deck".

Sort of good for "Trick Taking" games like Hearts where you could use "X" crystals to either go UP or DOWN in the value of a hand (for the taking)... So say someone plays the Jack of Spades and you play the Queen. Normally you would lose - but because you have 2 crystals your Queen is now a TEN!

Maybe this might be of greater interest!

Just another idea ... I've been using this "pet project" to see what can be designed to work with normal card games. And another comment is that not all of these abilities must work for a game. Some may not make sense and cannot be used...

Would modify:

  • 6 Black = The player of your choice must pay you two (2) crystal points.
  • 6 Red = You earn two (2) Crystals.

Something like that...?!?!

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 19:54
#3
questccg
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Giving credit where it is deserved

This is sort of in the vein of this thread:

http://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-creation/theme-design/theme-art-review-an...

I'm not pursuing this *seriously*. It's not for another game - so it's really not a game within a game. My interest was a "specialty" deck that could be used with regular "Trick Taking" games.

I don't believe Nicholas was going in that direction. I believe he had a western-themed game. I just had some *ideas* I wanted to explore further.

@markgrafn: Feel free to use any of these ideas... I'm just exploring the ideas to see how "Trick Taking" games can be affected.

But I can see how you could use VPs as chips in a more "western" type of game! Keep us posted on your progress!!!

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 21:18
#4
markgrafn
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questccg wrote: I don't

questccg wrote:

I don't believe Nicholas was going in that direction. I believe he had a western-themed game. I just had some *ideas* I wanted to explore further.

@markgrafn: Feel free to use any of these ideas... I'm just exploring the ideas to see how "Trick Taking" games can be affected.

But I can see how you could use VPs as chips in a more "western" type of game! Keep us posted on your progress!!!

Thanks for the shout out! I enjoy trick-taking games and maybe with the large amount of testing and fine tuning this games needs for polish I may stumble on a way for the effects in Smoking Aces to work in a trick-taking style game. Would be kind of tricky as one of the effects at the moment is "Players cannot win with a straight."

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 21:26
#5
questccg
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Me and my roles...

markgrafn wrote:
...Would be kind of tricky as one of the effects at the moment is "Players cannot win with a straight."

Oh okay... You could "move" that over to a character/role card. Like "Royal Harry": "Player cannot win with a straight!" BUT on the positive side "Get +5 poker chips per victorious hand".

Okay the character name is sucky - but you get what your role card could do... Exactly what you wanted. I think blending characters into your game could give it an even MORE thematic Western experience...

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Thu, 04/30/2015 - 21:53
#6
questccg
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The Nugget suit

One suit could be the "Nuggets" suit. As with regular poker, if you WIN the hand, each "Nuggets" suit card earn you BONUS chips. So cards 1 (Ace) to 10 can earn you extra chips.

So if I play three-of-a-kind 10 Nuggets and WIN, I earn +30 Chips! AWESOME!

Adding a push-your-luck mechanic could make the game more engaging!... Making the "Ace of Spades" the "Sheriff" card that busts everyone could also be cool too! You may not win the hand - but everyone else is BUSTED!

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