Hi, I know I havn't been around in a while.
I'm working on a card game based on a favorite fantasy liscence (I rather not say which). At first I thought it would be a game simular to the lord of the rings CCG, where the hero tries to make his way to a specificed location to win, and the villans would try to stop the good player. But then my brother remarked that LotR CCG is more a "war game in miniture" and that what I want for this is more of an adventure game. It made me think, I can see what he means, I should probbily have less emphisis on fighting but I'm not sure how this would work.
I guess my questions is, in what ways could I make a customizible card game (one where the players deside what goes in their deck) more of an adventure game? a computer adventure games focus more on puzzles, but that's not going to be very interesting for a 2-player competitive game. Is there some way of having it more "puzzle like", that than all about killing stuff?
Thanks!
Here are a couple thoughts, since I've been thinking about a game like this for a long time.
1) The Firestorm CCG (a truly excellent game killed by its lengthy, rules-lawyer-level rulebook) allowed you to play an "Advantage" card which would either pump up a normal ability, give you some new abililty, or give you an alternate win condition. The non-collectible game Chrononauts allows you to win by collecting 3 specified treasures. So, perhaps you could use a similar idea to set a non-violent win condition that might well be different for each player but over which the players still had some control.
2) A series of adventure/quest cards with skill requirements to defeat them seems a natural way to go. The problem, as others have noted, is that you can also put into your deck exactly what you need to succeed. So, why not instead either force your opponent to provide half of the equation? Perhaps you need to visit the Tomb of Hu-Nohz-Hu to retrieve the prized Nohz Ring of Nazality. You don't know what dangers await you. But it is a 23 point adventure, so when you arrive, your opponent picks 23 points worth of traps, curses, and monsters to play against you. Will you have the skills to succeed, or will you get blown away? This also ensures interaction between the players -- a definite plus in a 2-player game!
3) The Harry Potter CCG had the notion of Adventures which you play on your opponent. They give him some drawback until such time as he achieves some goal. When the goal is attained, that player gets a reward of some sort. A similar mechanic may work for you.
3) TrickyDicky mentioned the problem of always having what you need. There are at least two approaches to resolving that. One is to make the skill requirement such that no one character will ever be enough, but some sort of game economics will make getting the right combination of characters together nontrivial. Another route would be some sort of natural reward/penalty mechanic. The more cards you bring to defeat a particular obstacle, the higher the threshold you have to meet to win. Or maybe the fewer victory points you would receive. This then creates a game tension in determining when is the optimal balance between the player's resources to overcome the obstacle, the difficulty of that obstacle, and the reward for success.
4) On a different note, I've been interested for a while in making a good fantasy-based solitaire game. Can you find a way to offset these game-design challenges but in a solitaire game? I keep wanting to think more about this but I find myself working on other projects instead.
Those are my thoughts, for what it's worth. Good luck.
Captain Sky