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Kicking my opponent's legs in a card game

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Tim Edwards
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Joined: 07/30/2015

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on how I might treat leg kicks in my Muay Thai duel card game - apologies for the click baiting title. It was hard to resist :)

The situation is this: Players essentially bid with Power Cards from their hand to try to land different types of attack. A successful bid may deliver one of 4 different types of damage depending on the kind of attack used.

1: CUTS. Successfully landing an elbow (for example) may cut. Damage effect = simply take a Blood Card. When you have 5 of them, the referee stops the fight.

2: POWER LOSS: Landing shots to the body may result in the permanent loss of a Power Card. Over time this starts to reduce your ability to form strong bids. You get weaker.

3: SEEING STARS: A blow to the head may require you to drop a Star Card from your hand. Bad new is - if you have no more Star Cards to drop, you're knocked out. Good news is - Star Cards can be picked back up when you're NOT being hit in the head.

4: LEG DAMAGE

Number 4 is the tricky one. If I were programming this game into my 48K Spectrum 30 years ago, I'd give it this effect -

After x number of leg kicks, all your 9 Power Cards are worth only 8. Then, all your 8 and 9 Power Cards are worth only 7, etc

The above effect would be, I think, ideal. But the problem I foresee is that, even with a reminder on the table, we'll simply keep forgetting that our high-end Power Cards have been revalued.

The bottom line is, I want Leg Damage to compromise your ability to produce strong bids, but without reducing the number of Power Cards in your hand. (In my game system as it stands, reducing the number of Power Cards you have - as in Power Loss - eventually effects your ability to recover used Power Cards. It has a fatiguing effect that isn't appropriate to leg damage.) Leg damage should sort of cap your maximum output, without creating this fatigue effect.

Is there a way to make the 48K less prone to oversight, or is there another possible solution to this issue of leg damage?

Cheers!

PS - imposing a simple -3 (or whatever) penalty on total bid values was one idea I considered, but ultimately it's not right. Without going into unecessary detail of mechanics, it's about the difference between increasing required spending (e.g. imposing a penalty) and reducing the ability to spend.

let-off studios
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Joined: 02/07/2011
Limit Token

Could you have a limit token or some other indicator that displays the max possible bid by a player? A pair of cards, where one overlaps the other, where the revealed number is the highest bid?

Not sure what components you're working with, but even with just cards it's possible. Here's a quick example image I put together to help explain the cards example:
https://imgur.com/a/2jbaFIm

Tim Edwards
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Joined: 07/30/2015
Thanks very much for that

Thanks very much for that illustration, Let-off. Very kind of you indeed to go to that trouble and I think that's a good way forward since the original task I set myself was to make the game using only cards.

Otherwise, a dial or stack of poker chits could be options.

Speaking of components, the game will have a score card to write on, so I suppose the max bid limits could be recorded there. But I think the advantage of your idea is that it's less likely to get overlooked in the heat of battle.

Jay103
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Joined: 01/23/2018
I'd just like to say that

I'd just like to say that from this thread title, it sounds like you're a very bad sport :)

Tim Edwards
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Joined: 07/30/2015
Jay103 wrote:I'd just like to

Jay103 wrote:
I'd just like to say that from this thread title, it sounds like you're a very bad sport :)

Canasta brings out the worst in everyone! :)

FrankM
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Joined: 01/27/2017
Canasta

Tim Edwards wrote:
Jay103 wrote:
I'd just like to say that from this thread title, it sounds like you're a very bad sport :)

Canasta brings out the worst in everyone! :)


It also works in chess, even if you're playing against a computer... just be sure to kick the power cord.

Fri
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Joined: 09/06/2017
Could you introduce a fatigue

Could you introduce a fatigue bidding card? They would work like a normal fatigue bidding card only have low values. They basically would take up space in your hand if there is a hand limit and or limit your ability to draw powerful cards if added to your deck.

Flame rouge uses a scheme very similar to this.

Tim Edwards
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Joined: 07/30/2015
Fri wrote:Could you introduce

Fri wrote:
Could you introduce a fatigue bidding card? They would work like a normal fatigue bidding card only have low values. They basically would take up space in your hand if there is a hand limit and or limit your ability to draw powerful cards if added to your deck.

Flame rouge uses a scheme very similar to this.

Thank you for that idea. Fri.

Yes, there is a hand size limit, so encumbering your hand with basically useless cards might work very well.

a)You wouldn't be fatigued in the sense that you'd have the same number of cards in hand, so your ability to reclaim spent cards wouldn't be affected, whilst

b) Your bidding power IS compromised because you have fewer good cards to choose from. And bids actually consist of two Power Cards - whose total value and colour is significant to the outcome...so having a limited choice could effect things in some interesting ways.

It could also work well because, although it does make it more difficult to form good bids, it doesn't make it absolutely impossible. It avoids totally unwinnable situations which my original 'ceiling' concept was in danger of doing.

I could kick myself for not thinking of that one! :)

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