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Tactics of the Gods

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ZedTheEvilTaco
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Joined: 03/08/2015

I'm not sure this qualifies as new, seeing as I've been working on and off on it for 6 years, but...

Also, be prepared for a wall of words.

BACKSTORY: My friend and I came up with a game called "Tactics of the Gods" when we were learning to play "Magic". I had grown up playing "Yu-Gi-Oh!", so "Magic" was nothing really new to me. He on the other hand had never played any card games at all, and loved the idea. After playing for a while, we came with a story driven trading card game focused more on strategy than luck.

Problem: Trading card game with no luck.

We bounced around ideas for close to five years, and to this day, still search for a better solution. And so I turn this problem to the BGDF community.

THE GAME: Story has always been the leading factor of this game. But just behind that was strategy. We started with the idea that 7 gods, which rule over 7 battlefields, were in a deadly war with one another, trying to take over the home of each of the others territories. 7 "Battlefields". Players would build their decks around these battlefields to try and out play each other in combat. Yes, you could use any combination of battlefields, after all, gods would team to kill each other.

Players would be required to use these battlefields to summon characters, in which they could do battle. Characters would move between battlefields, allowing you to alter your style of play mid-game from offensive to defensive and back. Battle is currently handled through the rolling of d20s, however the roll can be forced to a specific number by the characters (Min-Max range).

Problem: Best way to get characters.

Battlefields are currently placed out from your hand next to another battlefield, in one of four cardinal directions. This allows players to set up a route of battlefields through the board, potentially changing play.
Problem: Playing space is MASSIVE. Also feels very 2 player, no more...

Equipment, Actions, and Reactions don't do anything super important yet, but I have a placeholder for them. I know why I'll need them, but not how to do them yet.

Problem: All of it.

Lastly, currently everything is built off of a specific level. EVERYTHING. Level 1 characters do a lot less damage than a level 5 character. Certain cards can only be played in a battlefield and level to match it. In an attempt to increase strategy and cut out luck (see above), I currently have it set up so each player starts with 1 deck available, but as they level up, so does the deck. As the deck levels up, more powerful cards become available for use. This is achieved by having more than 1 deck.

Oh, almost forgot, players are playing for conquer points right now. If they conquer a battlefield, they gain points. You can conquer a battlefield by being the only person there, or by completing an objective on the card. I don't have a numbered goal yet, but I have the base idea for it.

Thus ends the wall of words. I know what I want this game to be, and where it came from. I can track down every bad idea we've had over the years. But until I can find a way to deal with these problems, I feel at an impasse. Does anyone have any ideas?

Sliverik
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Joined: 02/27/2015
Hi! A personal-deck card game

Hi!

A personal-deck card game with a minimum of luck involved is the dream of many pro-players, I'd say.

An idea that could be interesting for you is for the players to define the order of the top cards of the deck, so that topdecking is no element anymore. For example, you could rearrange the top 5 cards of your deck every 3 turns, or every time a player would draw a card, he could pick one out of 3 instead, and putting the two others on the bottom of the deck. Another solution (quite extreme) would be for the players to put their deck in any order they want without shuffling it at the beginning of the game. This would allow some cards to shuffle the top X cards of the opponent's deck to represent a countered strategy, for example, or a trap.

Concerning the game itself, I can't really figure out how it would work, especially for the battlefields. Do you build the battlefield while playing the battlefield cards to allow the characters to move on it? Does each card represent a single battlefield?

ZedTheEvilTaco
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Joined: 03/08/2015
Battlefields, leveling and input.

We had actually debated stacking your deck before. It was our first idea. However we decided game setup took too long.

There are 5 card types, each broken into the 7 battlefields. One of those is the battlefield type itself, which allows players to play their cards, like mana from "Magic" or energy from "Pokemon". You play them out from your hand and build a playing field mid-game. Each card then has a type, like a color from "Magic" or type from "Pokemon", or even attribute from "Yu-Gi-Oh!", that says where the card is from. You can't play certain cards without playing a battlefield to match it. With the massive field build, characters can only be played in a battlefield of the same level they are.

Leveling anything in the game up is done by playing a card of the next level on top of a card.

I hope I helped solve some of your confusion. I am intrigued by the scry every turn mechanic, and think I'll do a little bit of play testing on that. Thanks for the input.

-Eberhardt-
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Joined: 01/30/2015
Sliverik wrote: An idea that

Sliverik wrote:

An idea that could be interesting for you is for the players to define the order of the top cards of the deck, so that topdecking is no element anymore. For example, you could rearrange the top 5 cards of your deck every 3 turns, or every time a player would draw a card, he could pick one out of 3 instead, and putting the two others on the bottom of the deck. Another solution (quite extreme) would be for the players to put their deck in any order they want without shuffling it at the beginning of the game.

Great ideas!

I've been tweeking a game with a deck mechanic and may modify one of your ideas to fit it. :) Thank you

jamespotter
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Joined: 07/15/2013
Pre-stacked decks

I think that the suggestion of a deck that you stack exactly in the order you want it would be a unique take on a non-random CCG. You could trying implementing it as part of the deck-building process (so I bring my prestacked to our match.)

Sliverik
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Joined: 02/27/2015
The problem in arranging your

The problem in arranging your deck as you want is that it would take some time before each game (or after) to reorder it.
I think that it would be a very good mechanic for a low-number of cards game, with up to 15 cards.

ZedTheEvilTaco
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Joined: 03/08/2015
Problem

That's actually the same problem I encountered. With a tiny deck, its not a problem. Stack away, takes less than a minute, but results in REALLY short games. With a 50+ size deck, it could take 10-15 minutes, but normal sized games. That's when I came up with the 5 deck thought. Each card has 1 of 5 possible backs, declaring how strong a card is. You put it in the deck it belongs too. Luck of draw kicks in, but only so much. After all, your odds of the card you want go up. At the beginning of your turn, when you draw your card, you choose one of the decks available to you.

Still testing the scry mechanic. Seems like it might work, or might be TOO good.

Noimage
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Joined: 04/01/2015
Draft???

One thing you could try is since they are personal decks (I assume from what you say), you should have a majority of what you want in your deck already from what I understand. Have you tried implementing a sort of card draft for example flipping the top 5 cards over and leaving them laid out by the deck and each turn you select one of those cards to add to your hand and replace the one you took with a new one. If you want to keep the cards in the draft a secret you could also have them flipped over and just pick them up to look at it otherwise if they face up you could use that in the strategy of knowing what the other player may get. If you are worried about cards piling up and relying on the next one drawn be cause the other 4 are bad, you could make a rule like if you skip your draw phase you can put all five cards back in and redraft all. If that seems a but too overpowered you could make it so they can redraft some of them for example like 3 of the 5. I think this sort of card draft would add variety to your next turn and allows you to adapt to the battlefields that are being played. I hope this helps or at least sparks some ideas.

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