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Quest Adventure Cards v2.0: Card Diagrams

I know that I had "virtually" set-in-stone my card layout for the game... But I'm not 100% certain about it. It's not that I don't like it, it's because of new ideas that change how I perceive the game needs to be setup.

Here are two (2) diagrams for the various positions on the SQUARE cards:

These two diagrams suggest that there exists two (2) BASIC cards:

  • Heroisms (on the Left side)
  • Terrors (on the Right side)

These are NEW ideas, so I'm not yet certain how they will impact the overall design. And there are still "problems" that need to be resolved.

Like for example: if Heroisms are on the LEFT, must we identify which cards belong to which category???

The argument would be that one could play a Boon into the Terror track to help the "Boss Monster" (for example). Or an "Encounter" can be used in the Terror track to force a player to "Pay Taxes" or "Pay Tribute" in order to advance his attack.

All new and fresh ideas...

Not sure how these diagrams will "glue" together... All I know is that I LIKE having a diagram for Heroisms and one for Terrors.

But what I think is the diagram should be according to HOW you play your cards. Instead of having BOTH "Heroisms" + "Terrors", you only have "Cards"... How each card is used is UP TO YOU to decide.

I like the "openness" of such a system. And I like the "Resources" in the two diagrams too... Thanks to everyone who contributed.

I am going to try to ALTER how each resource get's played. One (two actually) of the resources are AUTOMATIC:

  • Income = Generates Gold which are Victory Points (VPs)
  • Bounty = Also generates Gold after the Terrors are conquered

You of course turn (Tap) the cards to whatever "Resource" except those two. Those are used when the card in question is "exhausted". For a "Boss Monster", this means defeating the evil creature. For a "Boon" such as a "Healing Potion", this means using the boon to aid one of your wounded Heroes.

Still much to think about... This design may seem to be going in circles - and that's okay too. I'm not thinking about having a 90% working design soon... At least not unless by some miracle, I find some kind of mechanic that is "clever" and a game that is "worthy of attention".

Please feel free to comment/offer suggestions/share ideas/etc.

I'm open to discussing these diagrams/Resources...

Cheers.

Comments

Inversion of Resources

Oh yeah I forgot to mention ONE (1) "critical" aspect of these "Resources".

If, for example, you use a "Boon" such as a "Healing Potion", it gets EXHAUSTED and you turn the card (Tap) to indicate it now produces "Income".

Here's the deal:

For your OPPONENT, it will give him "Servitude" (Opposite of Bounty).

"Servitude" means that by PAYING "Gold", you can recruit a lesser Monster as a Minion. So there is a sort of "cause and effect"... Yes you heal one of your Heroes ... but at the same time you open the door to another "baddie" (an Encounter card) in the quest's Terror Track.

This is as simple of an example I could think up to explain how "Resources" get used in the game - and that each Resource has a polar opposite for the other Player to use when trying to Terrorize his opponent.

The GIST of the whole diagrams is...

You will TURN (Tap) the cards such that they produce different "Resources".

So say you have a Hero, that produces a HIGH amount of "Renown" (Fame). This in turn causes the opponent to earn "Villainy" (Opposite of Virtue). "Villainy" allows you to populate the player's Terror track with a "Boss Monster", the idea is that the higher "Renown" the Hero is, the more likely is that he will face off against a more "Powerful" Creature.

This turning (Tap) mechanic was inspired by another design that I had seen many, many years ago. That mechanic was a way of "configuring" Monsters. But while the idea seemed "cool", the actual mechanic was terrible. It just did not work the way it was advertised.

So I kind of inspired myself with that mechanic - but have made it a DUEL of diagrams (both Good and Evil).

I like where your ideas are

I like where your ideas are going here, even if my understanding of the details is a bit vague - but sounds like you're still building the concept anyway. Are the cards going to have varying values of resources, and will the resources and/or gold be tracked with other tokens, or simply by how the cards are turned & tapped?

Anyway, I think taking a mediocre mechanic from a decent game and re-inventing it in a new & improved setting is a great way to create an awesome game!

Borrowed idea

Mokheshur wrote:
Are the cards going to have varying values of resources, and will the resources and/or gold be tracked with other tokens, or simply by how the cards are turned & tapped?

Yes the resources will have varying values. I am going to try to BALANCE them at the start - however as cards get added to the mix, it is possible to break this "rule" and produce more powerful cards.

Tracking will be done using the turning (Tap) mechanic - but I also am thinking of using "ice cubes" (Acrylic cubes) for things such as counters. For example in my earlier example I talked about "Healing Potion". Well maybe a "Greater Healing Potion" can be used three (3) times to heal. Using a cube it would be possible to keep track of it's usage before it becomes "exhausted".

Mokheshur wrote:
Anyway, I think taking a mediocre mechanic from a decent game and re-inventing it in a new & improved setting is a great way to create an awesome game!

It wasn't even a "game" yet. Someone just posted up some ideas about having configurable Monsters in his "card game concept". I really LIKED the mechanic so I made my own prototype using his ideas. That's when I found out the ideas were better than what the prototype was allowing.

So yeah - just a bit of history there; I wasn't planning on using the mechanic, it just seemed to work out as I think about how to use "resources" in my design concept.

Cheers.

Here is a combination of BOTH diagrams

With my limited Graphic Design skills, I have put together a diagram that has the Resource rules:

This is my equivalent of the "MtG Color Wheel"...! I'm sure someone with better design skills can make a more appealing diagram. But for now this is as good as it is going to get.

Update: This diagram shows the relationships between the resources. So if a player plays a card with a "Renown 2", his opponent will earn a "Villainy 3" (for example). This means he can play a Boss Monster with "Villainy 2" (1-3) and give his opponent a "Renown 2" (meaning the Player scores a total Renown 4).

Interesting Mechanics

As I understand it, each player will have character cards (or other game pieces) that are either Heroes or Villains. This would mean that each player would have both Heroism and/or Terror cards for whichever characters are active. If player 1 has a Hero and is actively opposing Player 2, who has a Villain, Player 1's move would be linked to one of the four variables on the Heroism card, which would then affect Player 2's Villain in a way that forces Player 2 to link their Villain's next move to the corresponding variable on the opposite side of the Terror card?

If my understanding is correct, then I would suggest eliminating the idea of having 2 cards (Heroism and Terror), and replacing them with a single variable card; as Villain and Hero cards (or whatever other game piece you are using for them) assume the same 2 variables that distinguish Heroism and Terror cards from one another. A single card possessing 4 variables that identify the variables' concepts using neutral terms would be a cleaner setup for the game in its entirety. The corresponding effects of a Hero or Villain's move would be presented on another game piece anyway. I hope that gives you some food for thought.

Not quite correct...

Each Player has BOTH a "Heroism" Track(s) and "Terror" Track. The opposing player plays card into a player's "Terror" Track (controlled by your opponent). And the player plays his own cards into (and below) the "Heroism" Tracks.

So your "villains" are played into your opponent's STORYLINE. And your "heroes" are played into your OWN STORYLINE.

The idea of having both "good" and "bad" resources, is to create a link between the cards you play AND allow your opponent to play. If I removed the "Terror" Track, this would mean that there would be no "interaction" between players...

It would be as if you had your cards and your opponent had his cards.

But how do you setup challenges to be overcome if you cannot interact with your opponent?!

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