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Quest Adventure Cards(tm): What's New!

Just for reference, Quest AC v2 has been on and off of design for the better part of six (6) years. Not that I have always been active, I've had ideas surface and did some designing only to figure out "this is NOT the game that I want to design"...

I've really struggled to design an EPIC game for Quest AC v2. I wanted the game to be "challenging" but FUN to play. I've had many ideas for systems and engines for the game. However a couple of days ago I finally figured out one "piece to the puzzle"!

In the game there are two (2) types of cards:

  • Heroisms
  • Terrors

I've know this for a while. But I recently "cemented" that idea with the colors of the "cardbacks": Light Brown and Mauve!

Why is this important you ask??? Because I didn't yet have a concept for the cardbacks. Now I do!

I also have three (3) Basic resources: Riches, Fame and Influence.

And several Card resources: Equipment, Champions, Boons, Nobles, Treasures, Creatures, Lore and Underlings.

Each deck is comprised of fourty (40) cards. So a game requires eighty (80) cards in total: fourty (40) light and shadow cards.

Those two are split into to two (2) separate decks, one used by one player the other used by Player #2 (in a duel) or the AI (when playing solitaire).

So far that's what I got... Really excited about the "colors" because it gives me a basic understanding about HOW the cards will be played on the table...

Quick Introduction to the game:

"Travel the land under the Light of the Sun... but beware of the Terrors that lie in the Shadows or beneath the Midnight of the Moon!"

Cheers!

Note: A long time ago, I had a vision of the game and the only source of inspiration that I had was that the cards would be "light brown"... I pictured this game having those cards and now when I thought of adding the "mauve" color for the "Terrors", everything just seems to make sense (that initial vision of the "light brown" cards...)

Comments

No secrets

I've seen many games that are "campaign"-oriented. And my interest in this is HUGE at the moment. My "business" model is something like a CCG (Collectible Card Game) with a "Adventure Pack"...

So the plan at the moment is to offer a box with eighty (80) "core" cards. Each "core" comes with randomized cards that are not specific to the "Campaign" but are more "general". In addition, various setups can be chosen to change the difficulty of the scenario.

Each 40 card deck is good for one (1) player (or the AI player if playing solo). There are two (2) Decks per "core".

I'm still working on the "design". I have some ideas ... but the design is still in a state of flux. Will provide more details as I work through the various ideas that I have for this version of the game!

Cheers.

Customizable "core" + "Adventure Pack(s)"

While still exploring the "Collectible Card Game" (CCG) genre, my ideas for "Quest AC v2" are something like this:

  • A box comes with two (2) 40 card Decks for the first "Adventure Pack". This is a "starter kit" and contains the default cards and bits required by the game.

  • The "Adventure Pack" comes with cards that are required for that campaign. Each "Adventure Pack" would contain eighteen (18) cards, eight (8) Light cards, eight (8) Shadow cards and two (2) setup cards (for two levels of difficulty)!

  • "Singles Aftermarket". Deck-Construction and customization can occur with all the other cards that are NOT part of a "Adventure Pack". Cards may be individually purchased "online" as per each card's availability.

I'm still thinking about the "business-model" and understanding how I could "market" the game... But these are some rough ideas!

Balancing between "building" and "conquering" (Re-Visit)

As most designers have "echoed" that one major factor in most "Engines" is the conversion from "accumulating" Resources to "scoring" Victory Points (VPs).

In my engine, there is a greater balance to walk. You can "build" but at some point you need to decide to start "conquering". How effectively you "conquer" will determine how well you "score" in the last phase.

For example: if you lose two (2) units in "combat", you may well decide to pay that "cost" by discarding BOTH cubes from your "Legendary Sword". The problem with this is that you are left with 0 cubes for the final "scoring" phase and therefore this card gets flipped over – meaning you "scratched" that card and lost the possibility to earn Victory Points (VPs).

The game's three (3) Resources are: Riches, Fame and Influence.

There is also a "basic" scoring system for these cards too:

  • Riches: is worth +1 VP.
  • Fame: is worth +2 VPs.
  • Influence: is worth +3 VPs.

So sacrificing some of the "weaker" resources in favorable of "Influence" is another way of "Playing the game" (or perhaps another consideration when playing the game...)

The point I am trying to make is IF you "waste" all your resources on defeating the opponent, you might land up with very few Victory Points... This may not be true for all games played ... but it increases the probably of having lower score (if conquering is the primary focus of a game).

Build YOUR "Storyline" (OLD)

This is from an earlier post and is no longer "valid". Please see the following thread for the NEW card size and format:

New Sample Layout

Cheers!

The NEW "Combat" mechanic

Here is an updated version of the combat mechanic which will be used in this game:

  1. The attacking player decides which "Champion" will attack what "Creature".
    The "Champion" places X "White" tokens into the grey bag according to his Level.
    Next the "Creature" places Y "Black" tokens into the grey bag according to his Level too.
    This sets up some odds usually more favorable for the "attacker".

  2. Each player chooses three cards to be involved in combat. Each marker has a unique value from one (1) to three (3). Multiple markers can be placed on the same cards — provided that those cards have sufficient Levels.

    If for say the "attacking" player wants to use an "Equipment" to boost his attack, he would need need to place one of three markers on that card to allow it to be a part of combat in addition to placing one on his "Champion" too. He would have a third marker, he could say put it on his "Champion" too (meaning that his "Champion" may lose up to two Levels) or choose another card.

  3. We compare Attack vs. Defense where all Equipment/modifier cards are used to compute the Total Attack vs. Total Defense. So "Total Attack" - "Total Defense" = result.

    If the "result" is positive, we ADD that many "White" tokens into the grey bag.
    If the "result" is negative, we ADD that many "Black" tokens into the grey bag.
    (Ex. -3 = +3 Black tokens)

  4. Next the attacking player draws three (3) tokens from the grey bag.

  5. Lastly we determine the losing cards from the tokens drawn.

    Suppose the draw was: White, White and Black.

    This would mean that Marker #1 and #2 of the defender lose one (1) Level each. Or two (2) Levels if the both markers are on the same card. And lastly Marker #3 of the attacking player loses one (1) Level as well.

Usually the battle will NOT be a "blow-out" where one player dominates his opponent. It is all odds-based and therefore normally winners are determined according to probabilities based on what cards are involved in the combat round.

"Core", Basic and Advanced Resources

The game has two (2) "Core" Resources. They are:

1. Heroims = the "Light" side of the realm [6 Points/12 Points]
2. Terrors = the "Shadow" side of the realm [6 Points/12 Points]

Next the game has three (3) Basic Resources. They are:

3. Riches = Income/Bounty [1 Point]
4. Fame = Renown/Infamy [2 Points]
5. Influence = Favor/Servitude [3 Points]

Lastly there are three (3) Advanced Resources. They are:

6. Artisans = Generosity/Greed [3 Points]
7. Clergy = Honesty/Deception [4 Points]
8. Nobility = Humility/Egotism [5 Points]

The Noble abilities

http://www.bgdf.com/blog/quest-adventure-cardstm-whats-new#comment-97302

Here is a "preview" of the Nobles and their "abilities". The link provides a reference to an updated comment. This is still very much a WIP (Work-In-Progress) so things may change between now and a prototype... But for now this is the latest and greatest news concerning the game.

Cheers!

How to compartmentalize

It seems like a "Starter Deck" is the first component or product that is required to introduce players to a Game. What better than a 80 card deck for two (2) Players. Each player plays one side of the Realm and it is divided into Light and Shadow. Each Player therefore gets a Deck of 40 cards (Light/Shadow).

The next component once your players have a Deck is the "Adventure Pack" or "Quest"... This is a 18 card "Fixed" Booster to be added as the second component or product. This also includes a couple cards for selecting a standard setup vs. a hard to master setup.

The last component to this mix is the Singles Market. This allows you to customize your two (2) 40 card Decks. Obviously this is after you've played the game and experience the results first hand of your deck. Can certain cards help you to better your engine? Could you benefit from more of a specific card?? Or are your decks not sufficiently balanced where one side wins more often than the other???

These are the components of "Quest Adventure Cards(tm) – 2nd Edition".

I can release NEW "Adventure Packs" (Quests) and I can introduce NEW Singles to the game too. This would make for a "Collectible Card Game" (CCG) with a bit of a mix of components: "core" Game, Boosters and Singles. And hopefully all that at a reasonable price.

That's what I am hoping to achieve with Quest AC v2. I have experience with boosters from Quest AC v1 ... and have learned a lot of lessons about what to do and not to do. I wish I could RE-DO "Quest AC v1"... But I can't. It's done and it was "nice" but much too simple and just a bad "business model".

Bad mistakes about the "LCG" model... Insufficient experience in designs, knowledge about other games, a repertoire of mechanics, research other game genres (how they work), no knowledge about offshore manufacturing, no experience in crowdfunding, etc... The list goes on and it is long.

I have a definite penchant towards Card Games and also a strong interest in "Collectible" games.

I still think "TCGs" are mostly bullsh!t too. How much trading really happens? Whereas "CCGs" are very often collected for the art and rarity of cards. So I guess my interest lie in designing something EPIC in that vein.

We'll see where this all leads me to. For now I have working ideas that I need to flesh-out some more.

Cheers.

Is that enough cards for a

Is that enough cards for a card game? 30 per player, no chance to modify the deck or anything? 20 card booster (sold separately) would be a tough sell I’d think.

Some precisions

The 18 Card Boosters (sold separately) are "Adventure Packs" (think Quests). They change dramatically HOW a game is to be played. My original 1st Edition came in ten (10) distinct "Quests" and I made it a point to VARY the types of quests... But really it was purely "Set Collection" and the sets would vary. So that's why I'm thinking "boosters".

They are going to be made in "limited" runs and my hope is to garner support for 1,000 "boosters" per "Adventure Pack". The goal will be to eventually design all ten (10) Quests...

The 40 cards per player is a deck format that allows players to experience the game given a "Starter Deck" and then learn and adapt play with the "core" cards. Each player has his own cards and there are two (2) sides to the Realm.

The GOAL is to have an online store where you can BUY SINGLES. You can order any card in the game, in any amount of multiples. So if you see a Card "A" and think: "Hmm... Maybe I could use four (4) of those..." Well you can order Card "A" and set the quantity to 4. You pay for each card that you buy and only pay for the cards that YOU want.

This way you can customize your decks as much as you like, you can design decks for different "Quests" and instead of having ONE (1) Deck "Z", you could have a Deck for EACH "Adventure Pack". Why would you do this? Because it's easier maintaining ONE (1) connected deck than have to manage all kind of cards for different quests. So you could have ten (10) distinct Decks each configured slightly different according to both your preference for play-style and the quest you must conquer.

And you have two (2) sides: Light and Shadow.

To add more variability into the effectiveness of each Deck (40 cards)...

So there is method to my "madness". You wouldn't just have ONE (1) Deck... You'd have like ten (10) of them for different quests ("Adventure Packs"). I'm no fool in not understanding that the SINGLE market is a way to actually SELL cards... And that the "Fixed" boosters help promote the sale of more cards too.

It's also cool because things like the "Ultimate Guard Arkhive 400+ Xenoskin" could be usable to keep your library of cards within reach. So you bring your "Arkhive" and it could store "4" quests and decks (100 cards each). Just figuring out the accessories part of the equation... How to transport sets around in an organized and playable fashion...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LjL01gq5wc

But this is just "dreamy" thinking ... far from reality at this point!

What EXCITES me!

Well I've been thinking more about "Gameplay"... And it comes to me that some of what people have been saying about "Engine" games (eg. that you build your engine and then... the game ends!) and I truly want to make a real DISTINCTION:

  • Once you've build your "engine" and are about to be DONE... The BATTLES ensue!

So it will be about taking your "carefully crafted engine" and slowly break it apart as the battles occur... This will be "heart-breaking" because you've invested time in making the "engine" JUST RIGHT... And now OMG, you lose a Noble or one of your Champions dies! Stuff will happen. And I think this LAST step or concluding step is what is missing from MOST light-medium Euros.

But the plan is for this apocalyptic phase to occur and give real meaning to the game and how well your "engine" was designed!

Equipment

Equipment Color Level Ability Total Type
Fairy Dust Orange 1 Grants Flying 0 Common
Flask of Strength Red 3 +1 Atk (each) 3 Common
Protective Medallion Blue 2 +1 Dfs 1 Common
Potion of Revival Green 1 Restore 1 Common
Sacred Pendant White 3 Sacrifice 3 Common
Holy Shield White 2 +2 Dfs 2 Uncommon
Iron Crossbow Red 2 Grants Ranged 0 Uncommon
Spiked Gauntlet Purple 1 +2 Atk (Melee only) 2 Uncommon
Poisonous Blowgun Black 3 +2 Atk (Ranged only) 2 Uncommon
Ceremonial Dagger Orange 1 +1 Atk & +1 Dfs 2 Rare
Falling Explosives Black 2 +2 Atk (each) 2 Rare
Brass Knuckles Red 2 Grants Melee 0 Rare
Royal Armor Blue 2 +3 Dfs 3 Mythic
Runic Warhammer Purple 2 +2 Atk & +1 Dfs 3 Mythic
Legendary Sword White 3 +3 Atk 3 Legendary

Here is the "Equipment" for the light realm. They can be given to "Champions" to increase their combat effectiveness (according to each one and its ability).

Learned something NEW!

While using "The Game Crafter's" (TGC) online game portal, I was thinking about how to implement 1 out of 10 Booster packs get a "Legendary" Card.

Anyways to make a long story short, JT happened to be online and explained how to "trick" the randomization process for my "Legendary" Card Class. I finally understood what JT was suggesting and it goes something like this:

  • The purpose would be to have 1 in 10 Booster packs replace a "Rare" Card with a "Legendary" one.

  • To do so, lower the "Rare" Class from 2 to 1 (to preserve 10 cards).

  • Add 1 to the "Legendary" Class (which means one Legendary card will be selected each Booster made).

  • In the Card definition, add NINE (9) "Rare" Cards and mark them as "Legendary" plus ONE (1) REAL "Legendary" Card. Sort of like diluting the pool of Legendary cards with Rare cards.

This way the randomizer on average, selects 1 out of 10 Booster packs which has a "Legendary" Card. Otherwise buyers get an additional "Rare" Card.

SUPER COOL! Thanks JT!!!

Note: My distribution is 4 Common, 3 Uncommon, 2 Rare and 1 Mythic.

In the case of a "Legendary" pack, only 1 Rare and 1 Legendary!

New NOBLES list

Here are the fifteen (15) Nobles each with their respective class.

Description Color Level Res. Ability #1 Ability #2 Class
Tax Collector Yellow 5 5-0-0 Stockpile Upgrade Common
The Barkeep Green 3 1-1-1 Convert Deliver Common
The Hero Blue 3 0-3-0 Garrison Upgrade Common
The Blacksmith Green 3 1-2-0 Upgrade Deliver Common
The Guild Red 4 2-2-0 Broker Stockpile Common
The Sheriff Purple 3 0-2-1 Stockpile Garrison Uncommon
Holy Church Orange 4 2-0-2 Stockpile Convert Uncommon
Trading Company Yellow 3 2-1-0 Stockpile Deliver Uncommon
The Shopkeeper Green 5 3-2-0 Broker Upgrade Uncommon
Her Royal Majesty Purple 3 1-0-2 Upgrade Convert Rare
The Warlord Red 3 0-1-2 Garrison Deliver Rare
The Pawnshop Green 4 0-2-2 Broker Convert Rare
Long Live the King Purple 4 0-0-4 Garrison Convert Mythic
Travelling Peddler Yellow 4 1-2-1 Broker Deliver Mythic
The Diplomat White 3 2-0-1 Broker Garrison Legendary

New SAMPLE Layout

That's the NEW "sample" layout. It's only for one Landmark/Lair. But there could be several locations per player. Still very "experimental"... But this format takes LESS space than the previous one. Note that I have also decided to go back to "Poker"-sized cards (2.5" x 3.5"). This is for reasons that those cards just "handle" better while in a hand...

The First Quest will have 3 locations per side.

This new layout makes more "sense"... Champions should be at the forefront of the lines and Nobles should be kept safely in the background (like support)... So that's why I came up with this NEW layout.

Preview of Champions

Champion Color Level Ability Total Attack Type
Advanced Bowman Green 2 +4 Atk and +1 Dfs 5 Ranged Common
Long Swordsman Blue 2 +3 Atk and +2 Dfs 5 Melee Common
Elite Ranger Orange 2 +4 Atk and +2 Dfs 6 Ranged Common
Brawling Warrior Red 2 +2 Atk and +4 Dfs 6 Melee Common
Gliding Paratrooper Purple 2 +2 Atk and +3 Dfs 5 Flying Common
Assassin Thug Black 3 +4 Atk and +2 Dfs 6 Ranged Uncommon
Military Zepplin Purple 3 +1 Atk and +4 Dfs 5 Flying Uncommon
Mercenary Fighter Yellow 3 +3 Atk and +3 Dfs 6 Melee Uncommon
Hatchet Soldier Red 3 +2 Atk and +3 Dfs 5 Melee Uncommon
Winged Stallion White 4 +2 Atk and +4 Dfs 6 Flying Rare
Templar Knight Orange 4 +4 Atk and +3 Dfs 7 Melee Rare
Hidden Sharpshooter Black 4 +5 Atk and +1 Dfs 6 Ranged Rare
Magistral Wizard Purple 3 +5 Atk and +2 Dfs 7 Ranged Mythic
Mechanical Warplane Blue 3 +3 Atk and +4 Dfs 7 Flying Mythic
Royal Guardman Purple 3 +3 Atk and +5 Dfs 8 Melee Legendary

Here are the "Champions" for the light realm. They will be useful in combat by improving the landmark's effectiveness (according to each Champion and his/her stats).

New subdivision of cards

The game has changed in card counts from thirty (30) per side (Mini-Deck) to FORTY (40 — Regular Deck). This means that a game contains 98 cards (almost 100). So let's list out the new division of cards:

  1. Boons: items used by Nobles to affect the "resource" engine.
  2. Nobles: the producers of "resources" on the light side.
  3. Equipment: items used by Champions in battles to improve odds of winning.
  4. Champions: the characters who will battle the shadow side forces.
  5. Shadow Lore: knowledge used by the "shadow" sides engine.
  6. Underlings: the producers of "resources" on the shadow side.
  7. Treasures: items used by Creatures in battle to improve odds of winning.
  8. Creatures: the characters who will battle the light side forces.

This means that there are now eight (8) random "booster" packs for the "core" game...

Updated the layout chart

The NEW layout chart looks better with the different types of cards ... which vary from Light side or Shadow side. It just seems more "interesting" that the Underlings use "Shadow Lore" (Dark Arts) to spread darkness across the land...

And of course we know that "Treasures" are always hoarded by "Creatures" in their lairs/dens... So it's natural that those treasures affect them and make them do all kinds of "bad stuff" to the Heroes who are trying to conquer them!

Cheers!

Special thanks to Fri!

Okay so it's been decided, some cards will have a "Conquest" Icon (double swords). These icons when added together for BOTH sides will determine when the "Conquest" Phase begins. Although building may continue, either side is allowed to attack his/her opponent...

Likewise when the game's objective is met, so ends the game and the "Scoring" phase is next — where each player computes his/her score to see who is the winner.

New direction for Card Types

So after re-thinking the fact that each player had four (4) different cards types (per side — Light & Shadow), I ran into the issue that I did not have sufficient colors or more so that I wanted to keep the colors down to three (3) SECONDARY colors.

This meant that BEFORE this post, all Champions would be Purple, all Nobles would be Orange and all Boons were supposed to be Green. But now that I had to ADD "Equipment" as a type of card for Champions, everything seemed in disarray.

And so I thought, IF I could redesign those three (3) secondary colors to other meanings and NOT card types, maybe then I could use the SAME color for different types of cards. That was like: "Blow my mind!"

All of a sudden, I went from three (3) colors of cards to EIGHT (8) different types of cards!!! That's right all eight (8) colors. And so I reached out to the BGDF designer community to help me with troubles with the COLORS.

@Corsaire came up with the PRIMARY "Traits" of those three (3) secondary cards and all of a sudden things started making sense! I pushed forwards with other SECONDARY "Traits" which could help in defining ALL eight (8) colors to determine if a card is Black or Purple (for example).

Let's examine that a bit closer:

  • Black stands for "Terrors" and "Death".
  • Purple stands for "Egotism" and "Ambition".

So in practice, "Black" sounds like it would be something tied to death or dying or damage. Where "Purple" is all about the advancement of self... The definite distinction can be made "is the card about SELF or the inevitability that all things must DIE?"

That's going to be the debate between all of the card colors (all 8)... and it will make the game MORE VARIABLE.

I'm super excited about this CHANGE!!! It makes me want to run around in my apartment yelling for "Glory"! LOL

Why all this about Colors and Traits???

As you all probably know, Magic: The Gathering has it's own color wheel with the feel for each color and what is signifies.

I really like this idea. Although I'm not trying to copy the colors, Magic has 5 colors, I have 8 colors... I wanted something similar that made sense why one card was "Green" and another was "Yellow" (For example). That there were some kind of "Traits" or characteristic that gave each card an explanation for its own color.

I do have my own "chart" which is more like a pie chart which will eventually explain the various "Traits" per color and the meanings behind the colors. I really feel this will add a lot of "texture" to the game... instead of having one card type of a single color (as I had before).

It also will demonstrate more of a difference among the cards on the table...

And that's another reason I like going with a specific color for each card: the table will look different instead of it being more or less of the same cards because Orange was supposed to be nobles... Well now you could have "The Hero" which is a Noble and he could be "White" or "Yellow"! Depending on that card...

And this also could indicate that a "White Hero" may be different from a "Yellow Hero"!!! Mouhahaha... The possibilities are "endless"... And make for more interesting cards and stats. The "White Hero" has more "Defense" and is a Rare card; while the "Yellow Hero" is your average Common card.

Something along those lines... Could definitely be "more" interesting!

Quest Adventure Cards(tm) — 2nd Edition Color Chart

Figured I'd ADD the "Color Chart" to the Blog about what's new in the 2nd Edition... You can click on the image and a new tab will open up with a larger image which is more readable.

Updated the Combat mechanic

It's now only five (5) easy steps to follow to describe the "Combat" mechanic. See the new Combat mechanic at:

https://www.bgdf.com/blog/quest-adventure-cardstm-whats-new#comment-96644

New Noble Boons

Boon Color Level Ability Total Type
Gryphon Saddle Blue 2 Deliver 2 Common
Spirited Steed Purple 2 Broker 2 Common
Desert Caravan Orange 2 Convert 2 Common
Loan Restitution Green 2 +[Level] Income 2 Common
Farmer's Scythe Green 2 +[Level] Generosity 3 Common
Famous Painting Blue 3 +[Level] Renown 3 Uncommon
Fall Harvest Red 3 Upgrade 3 Uncommon
Purse of Holding Yellow 3 Stockpile 3 Uncommon
Honorable Donation Orange 3 +[Level] Honesty 4 Uncommon
Magistrate's Letter White 4 +[Level] Favor 4 Rare
Society Invitation Red 2 +[Level] Income & Favor 4 Rare
Secret Plans Purple 3 +[Level] Humility 5 Rare
Horn of Plenty White 3 +[Level] Any Primary 5 Mythic
Hamlet Provisions Green 2 +[Level] Any Secondary 5 Mythic
Reinforcements Black 4 Garrison 5 Legendary

Here are the "Boons" for the light realm. They can be given to "Nobles" to increase their production effectiveness (according to each one and its ability). This is still a work-in-progress and not yet final.

New Champion Cards — Alpha 0.1

This version of the "card template" is more inline for a prototype...

I removed the "watermark" and added a "icon button" + the Attack Type (Melee, Ranged or Flight).

To briefly "describe" the card:

  • The Top-Left value is the "Maximum Power Level". All cards start at a minimum of 1 Power and with a build can increase their Power until they reach the maximum. This is also the "Victory Points" for the third phase.

  • To the right is the "Name of the card". In this case the various "Champions" you can put into play.

  • In the middle, you have the "Card Type" (All Champions - for now), the "Color" (Eventually the cards will be the correct color) and lastly the "Type of Attack".

  • To the right of those is the "Dragon Icon" which indicates that when put into play, this increases the odds of starting the "Conquest" phase.

  • In the "Actions" area, there are two (2) stages identified: build (with cubes and colors) and conquest (with attack/defense values). They now display the "Attack" Type which indicates bonuses towards other types. For example: the "Advanced Bowman" is a Ranged unit and causes a Bonus +1 Atk against Flying units (so 5 Attack instead of 4).

  • Lastly on the bottom is room for the artist's name and the card identification number (which is sort of like a "barcode").

First Noble cards — Alpha 0.1

Here are the first few samples of the Noble cards:

Everything has been "iconified" and I pretty much agreed that this version is better looking than the "Champion" cards (which still need a review because they are a bit out-dated).

I have decided that the "Power" levels are the Victory Points in the last phase of the game (Scoring Phase).

Just wrapped up the last 6 Nobles

It's taken a while to get the last six (6) Nobles to be completed... But now they are finally done!

One thing that is great about this game is the card classifications: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic and Legendary.

The classification helps in the "randomization" process in building a player's deck of cards. Without this classification, it would be possible to build/manufacture decks that are not playable. And that would be something really bad... You want to ensure that players have the cards necessary to be able to PLAY!

So the "common" cards which are just "common" are necessary for playing the game. Sure a Legendary card may offer a small, specific type of "boost" in some instances... But for the most part, "common" cards are very useful in building a player's deck...

Common cards are the only useful cards?

questccg wrote:
The classification helps in the "randomization" process in building a player's deck of cards. Without this classification, it would be possible to build/manufacture decks that are not playable. And that would be something really bad... You want to ensure that players have the cards necessary to be able to PLAY!

So the "common" cards which are just "common" are necessary for playing the game. Sure a Legendary card may offer a small, specific type of "boost" in some instances... But for the most part, "common" cards are very useful in building a player's deck...

Shouldn’t all cards be useful or necessary to build a deck? Why is it only the common cards? If you could elaborate more on this, that would be great!

Thank you!

Sample "Tax Collector" using First Edition Artwork

This is the "template" for the first prototype (Alpha 0.1).

Sample "The King" using First Edition Artwork

Just to get a better feel for the first prototype (Alpha 0.1).

How useful are "Common" cards in Magic?

I think the important or "key" factor is that "Common" cards can be equally and sometime even more useful than their more "Rare" counterparts. Because of the card distribution (Common:4, Uncommon: 3, Rare: 2, Mythic: 1 = 10 in Total per booster pack)... This means that most of your deck will be comprised of "Common" and "Uncommon" cards (70%).

In other games such as Magic: the Gathering, it's a bit of a "Pay-To-Play" scenario where rare cards are A> More Costly to purchase B> Harder to Find. Aside from finding a "Black Lotus" in your Booster... Singles and aftermarket purchasing to build custom/specific decks requires more rare cards to be used for playing.

And IF you get ten (10) "Common" cards in a Magic Booster, most of these are not useful for building a worthy deck for competition. As per the Wiki for Magic:

Quote:
Common cards rarely sell for more than a few cents and are usually sold in bulk.

And why is that? Because they aren't very interesting to PLAY with... I'm just saying that 70% of my cards are VERY useful in playing the game. Furthermore, the more "rare" cards can sometimes give a player an "advantage" in some manner... But may not be your "work-horse" engine component ... to getting your engine up to speed.

Cheers!

Sample "The Hero" using First Edition Artwork

Just banging out a few illustrations to give more examples (Alpha 0.1).

Sample "The Shopkeeper" using First Edition Artwork

Another sample which was formerly called "The Merchant" (Alpha 0.1).

questccg wrote:Quote:Common

questccg wrote:
Quote:
Common cards rarely sell for more than a few cents and are usually sold in bulk.

And why is that? Because they aren't very interesting to PLAY with...


Well, also because anyone who needs one almost certainly already has 20 of them. :)

Seems like a LOT of "Waste"

That's why my project/product will ONLY be "borrowing" the "Booster Pack" for randomization. The goal is to produce (more or less) unique content for each person who buys a copy of the game. I'm not expecting people to continue to buy "Booster Packs" only when the "core" product is bought, will that format be used.

It's like a RANDOM "Starter Deck" with the right amount of packs to start off any player... And make them "unique" for each individual person.

The basic idea is this is for creating a unique offer for each player as a starting point for "playing the game".

I will NOT be re-selling "Booster Packs" afterwards. It's a one-shot deal.

Afterwards, I intend to at some time open up a "Singles" on-line store. All cards except "Legendary" cards will be available to purchase at a preset price point PER CARD. The lowest price point for a card will be most probably at $1. Having FULL CONTROL over your deck, will allow you to have the exact deck YOU WANT, after having played the game several times with your "Starter Decks".

Absolutely NO WASTE in terms of cards and the business model.

Sample "The Queen" using First Edition Artwork

Another sample containing artwork from the first edition (Alpha 0.1).

Sample "The Blacksmith" using First Edition Artwork

Finishing up the batch of artwork "compatible" with the new edition (Alpha 0.1).

That's the LAST of the samples

Unfortunately, I have RAN OUT of artwork from the First Edition which could be "compatible" with the Second Edition. Well in truth this is not 100% accurate, seeing as I have two others (The Thief and The Assassin) ... but those can be used for the "Shadow" sides "Underlings".

But I feel that the artwork does justice to the game. I know some people are super critical about artwork... This does have a "comic-book-esque" vibe ... and that was intentional.

Now that each card has a PURPOSE, I can sell cards based on FUNCTION as opposed to the quality of artwork.

I know that some people will say that the art isn't the most amazing artwork, they have seen better... However this is all custom artwork and there are going to be many additional pieces. In order for the budget to be right, I need to be sure my artist is happy with the rate and can pull off the right quantity of cards.

Note that for me, I LOVE the artwork. I've been amazed with Geof's talent since we worked on "Quest"... And the style is to my liking. And with Geof's capabilities, this would be a much smoother journey in producing all said artwork.

Cheers... And I hope you all enjoy the SAMPLES!

Some NEW progress

Attempting to continue the design of this Second (2nd) Edition of Quest, I have recently thought about HOW to "include" Set Collection as a part of the game. Now while the First (1st) Edition was mainly Set Collection as the overall game mechanic, in this NEW Edition it is more a part of how players may WIN the game.

Oddly enough my first few attempts at ADDING Set Collection did not really work very well. They were a bit at odds. But today I got a final breakthrough and penned down some ideas ... that seem interesting.

It's a rough draft that includes cards that MUST be in-play in order to win the game. So far the adding of the Set Collection mechanic seems INTERESTING... We'll see if it is feasible during playtesting.

Cheers!

Note: The addition of Set Collection was purely a play on the fact that the First (1st) Edition was all about Set Collection. I wanted to "re-introduce" Set Collection but within the framework of a more sophisticated game... So far it's proven to be interesting!

Adventure Pack #001: Dwarven Miner

Light Side

Qty Description Setup Req To Win Type Qualifier
1 Scenario Card N/A
3 Underground Mine Level 1 N/A
1 Runic Warden 1 Yes Champion Victory
1 The Hero 2 No Noble
1 Lantern Yes Equipment Collectible
1 Mine Map 3 Yes Boon Collectible
1 Mine Cart Yes Boon Collectible

Shadow Side

Qty Description Setup Req To Win Type Qualifier
1 Scenario Card N/A
3 Underground Mine Level 1 N/A
1 Giant Spider 1 Yes Creature
1 Elderly Dwarf 1 Yes Underling Victory
3 Spider Army 2,3 No Creature

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blog | by Dr. Radut