Looking for different buff mechanics

Hey there Jarec!

Brainstormed a bit on your question and I came up with a few ideas...
Don't know if these will be applicable to your game, but it may get you started.

#1. Damage = Buff
I don't know how/if there are any resources in your game in the sense that players have hp or other such variables, but if players do, you could create buff cards that are played by taking damage or spending some other valuable resource or part. I.e. I have a buff card that states "Take X amount of damage up to Y maximum to increase the power of your attack by the amount of damage taken" OR "Play this card as an upgrade. Whenever you attack, you may spend X damage to double the damage of your attack." Cards like that could be an idea...

#2. Restricting certain actions = Buff
Assuming that players can do multiple different things in the game with actions, maybe players can optionally play a card that buffs one action but disables some other action for an amount of time and or permanently until the action is "repaired". This could also work if there are multiple types of cards. Maybe a player can play one card to buff himself but can't play any cards with the keyword "hyperspace" for X turns and/or until another specific card is played on top of the buff card. Maybe the buff could last as long as the card is uncovered too.

#3. Automatic Buffs
Say a player starts getting attacked. Maybe the player can have a passive buff that allows him to increase the power of his attacks by X for every Y amount of enemies around him to a maximum of Z. Or maybe another one could be if a player takes damage, they gain some other passive benefit.

Anyway, there are a few ideas.
Let me know if they help you!

If I am reading this right you seem to need a way to track the time amount that remains on a buff card? If so, you might be able to put a border around the edge of the card with numbers. Then players could play the card and rotate it around so that the number of turns/uses of the card is whatever number is closest to them. I could show you a picture if this sounds like what you are talking about?

Well I think by narrowing down the TYPE of "Buffs" will lead to a better understanding of HOW(?) to manage them. What I mean is by determining what are the BUFFs, you will get a short-list that will give you CONCRETE information into your game mechanics and the BUFFs themselves.

At that point you will have a better understating about what "Trackers" and "Tokens" and so forth that may be required.

You can't expect DIRECTION if there are no concrete choices as there is too much to design (space-wise) ... You need to narrow down the field of WHAT KIND of BUFFs you want and THEN, you will be able to better understand what you need in terms of how "Tracking" or "Tokens" required to implement them.

We cannot explain GENERIC as you already have examples: "Trackers" and "Tokens" that's about as GENERIC as it comes. If you want more details, you are going to have to describe the BUFFs and their nature so we can see what is required by YOUR selection.

Best of luck with your game.

That could allow you to TRACK from 1 to 8 turns. And if you impose further limits on the number of buffs per player, you can establish the maximum token count (for the entire game).

Something like that could work for you given that they are Tokens/Chits that are 2mm thick and can be available in LIMITED amount so as not to have TOO MANY tokens in your game.

Let me know if this is CLEAR enough.

Best!

Note #1: This is a TWO-SIDED Token... Not 2 separate Tokens. I just wanted to show how both sides are designed. And this is for explanation you can obviously use colors and a better Font, etc. etc. Just to give you a general idea of my explanation in the comment above.

Note #2: Also remember that IF you manage to RESTRICT the amount of BUFFs per player ... Like you said a player can ONLY play 2-BUFF cards per turn... If you kinda re-word that to "A Player may only have 2 BUFFs active at any given time..." This means that if your GAME is for 4-Players (at maximum) that means you only need 4x 2 = 8 Tokens for the ENTIRE GAME.

That's important because the more TOKENS, the heavier your game becomes and that added complexity may NOT be what you WANT. And it's important to THINK(?) about streamlining your game as much as possible to achieve the MVP: Minimal Viable Product. MVP just means that you have taken your game and removed everything that is NON-ESSENTIAL to the "core" of the game's experience.

I often work the opposite direction: I start from a "core" and add layers on top of it to reach more levels of complexity. Sometimes this can be HARD and require more time to reflect and ponder ... Because it's much harder than it actually seems to be (sounds easy). But adding layers does increase the complexity of the game ... But at the same time, you're streamlining the product so that it remains as "tight" as possible.

Hmm... I guess from your image, you were going to have "X" Tokens which means that a BUFF could last "X" amount of time. Am I correct??? And to simply use a turn, you would remove ONE (1) Token from that BUFF. Again am I getting close to what you had in mind???

If so... That's a lot of Tokens TBH. I recently purchased SmallWorld and was a bit taken at back because there are so many TOKENS. It's not like I don't LIKE the game... I just find it a bit... MUCH in terms of tokens and it makes me a bit afraid that the game may be TOO LARGE for my Gamer Group (which is Family).

So what I see from the image is this:

1> If I have a BUFF which lasts 5 TURNS, I put 5 TOKENS on that component.

2> Each TURN, I remove 1 TOKEN and when there is no TOKENS left, the BUFF is exhausted and used to its full maximum.

Again it works... But it's a LOT OF TOKENS. My sample Token where there are numbers around the center allows for ONE (1) TOKEN to last up to 8 TURNS. You could use these for BOTH Defensive AND Offensive BUFFs. It just drops the amount of TOKENS from what I have seen from DOZENS to may a HALF-DOZEN. And you can CUSTOMIZE the TOKENS to have FIVE (5) or THREE (3) VALUES per SIDE and that would mean 6 to 10 TURNS for a Token to expire (or be exhausted).

My Token samples (and you customizing them) would probably cut down on the TOTAL amount of Tokens required by your game. Basically you will have "N" Tokens per player which amounts to the maximum AMOUNT of BUFFs for one (1) Player and then "N" x # of Players.

Please let me know if this is of interest to you or NOT.

Many thanks.

Ah I see... So they remain as an AMOUNT and USED up as they are played by the players themselves, correct?! So if I have 3 Tokens, it means that I can use this Defensive BUFF 3 Times (3x)... Something along those lines...?

Well it depends on how big you make the Tokens. But for your needs, using BOTH sides for 1 and 2 ... Like you said DROPS the amount of Tokens by HALF! Which in a way is a pretty decent saving of COMPONENTS.

Glad we could help you find a way to TRIM your component count just a bit... Well I can't say HALF because it's only for the Tokens... But never the less it is a BIG Savings when it comes to Tokens.

Cheers!

Note #1: And I was thinking you were using TRACKING in terms of TURNS. And now this is NOT TRUE. Instead you SIMPLY "USE" a TOKEN and that allows the Defensive BUFF to be enabled on that player's Turn.

You don't need to have "Ability X LASTS Y Turns"... Gotcha... Makes more sense now. But I'm glad the ideas presented gave you some kind of SOLUTION to improve the number of Tokens you require for each player.

You might also have players attach clips to the cards like in this picture...

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/293041/Baumgartens-Plastic-Paper-...

Players could attach the clip after playing the buff card and then move the clip around the border of the card so that the clip lies on the side of the card boarder depicting the number of uses for the particular buff left.

This would add an extra component though so while it may be good for keeping track of the remaining uses, it might be better to do without this clip and do the rotation only idea for component reduction purposes. Really would depend on your costs.

I have been thinking about designing buff/debuff a lot for a master of magic clone and Wizardry Legacy. Unfortunately, there is not that many categories possible, but there is a lot of variants:

Damage buffs: Affects how easy hard you can kill a unit: Increase, reduce damage, undo damage(heal), prevent damage, Auto kill, Cap damage (weakness), Continuous damage(poison), Max health reduction.

To hit buffs: Affect the probability to hit your target if it is a separate roll: Bonus/minus to rolls, Criticals, Auto hits in certain range (ignore defense). Look at D&D for more inspiration.

Actions buffs: Affect what a unit can and cannot do. Cannot move, cannot attack, cannot act (paralysed), cannot defend, etc.

You can have other variations like random, temporary, conditional activation to the buffs above.