Starting from a philosophical viewpoint, I guess the real question is: What do I want the Second (2nd) Edition of "Quest" to be like?!
Contrary to most of today's Collectible Card Games which are ALWAYS about "Battling", "Quest" is a more subtle game.
It's not about A BATTLE, it's about AN ADVENTURE!
Like Magic: the Gathering (Magic) there are colors that define the ORIGINAL Card Game. Familiar colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. Both Primary and Secondary colors of the normal color spectrum. Of course even in the original game, each color had a meaning. Unlike Magic's color pie, these colors featured six (6) distinct Character Classes:
| Red | : | Fighter |
| Yellow | : | Thief |
| Blue | : | Cleric |
| Orange | : | Bard |
| Green | : | Wizard |
| Purple | : | Paladin |
The game's primary mechanic was "Set Collection" and it was mainly about getting cards that matched with one of the two Quest Cards and trying to be the first to complete three (3) Quests.
Note: Two (2) things wrong with that last sentence.
1: Set Collection was the PRIMARY mechanic.
2: Matching cards with Quest Cards.
Set Collection is a very DULL mechanic by itself. It's good for kids games such a UNO, Go Fish, Old Maid, etc. Although I would like "Quest2" to incorporate a "Set Collection" mechanic, it may have to do more with the colors for the Classes than actual sets.
Truth be told, those original SETS of cards are still fueling a good part in HOW the design of this game is being done. AND now I realize that has to STOP, as of NOW!
I need to take a step-back and figure out WHAT I want this game to be about... (Back to my initial question).
If I'm NOT thinking about SETS, then the focus becomes what could/should EACH card do??? And this requires a fundamental understanding about WHAT the underlying game is all about. This means, it's too EARLY to talk about looking at INDIVIDUAL cards, because the game has yet to be defined.
Ok... So it's NOT Magic! That's a start.
Some cards work better with other cards (because of the color of each card)... That makes total sense and ... is as CLOSE to "Set Collection" that I want this RE-BOOT to be! Some colors will be more compatible with each other, resulting in some kind of SETS being "Constructed" prior to playing the game.
Player's will build their Decks before playing ("Deck Construction").
Each player will have ONE (1) Jumbo card with a their Hero (one of the six classes defined by the colors) which will affect a little bit on HOW that player may play the game. This is MEGA IMPORTANT!!! Because it means that each class will have SEVERAL "Heroes" ... Not one but MANY. Those "Heroes" will come with a "starter kit" with a preset amount of boosters.
Wait did I just say "BOOSTERS"??? Yeah, I did.
Holy crap, that means at minimum 300 or so illustration and unique cards! Ok so let's stop HERE for tonight. And let me think about how I want to design this game further... As I collect my thoughts about the reality behind boosters, it's not to say that I "cannot" make it possible. There are avenues to make it a "reality".
But I should really deal with Item #2 which was: Matching cards with Quest Cards. Another fundamental FLAW in the Original game.
Comments
Some additional "thoughts"
What was wrong with "Quest Cards"??? It meant that each SET sold as a booster, had one (1) card which described the nature of each "Quest". It was NOT absolute because each quest had sometime a specific element and at other times a "generic type" (like Hero*, Monster*, Lair*, etc.) which meant you COULD use card from other sets to complete the quest. Obviously the generic types were used to score bonus points and the REQUIRED cards were always the ones found in each SET.
I called them "Fixed Boosters" much like Living Card Games (LCGs) as I knew and understood them back them (when the game was first designed). But the main problem with MY version was that the cover of the booster pack was the SAME for all TEN (10) Quests. Therefore you were never sure when you BOUGHT a booster which SET would you get.
That was a TERRIBLE idea for a distribution model. I knew of Magic but not as I understand the game today (even now there are things that I don't know what they mean like "Commander" or "Modern" or "Standard")... I know they are all Game Formats, just not how they are defined and differ from each other.
Bottom-line "Quest" barely took off and the whole project was a write-off.
Poor decisions in not understanding WHAT I was trying to achieve. It was a simpler time back them: "Hey I want to design a game, how about this?" And the answer was: "Okay let's do it!" Not understanding anything about any or all of the FLAWS of the design and poor understanding of the Game Industry also!
Today I wish I could have a REDO. That's what the WHOLE *RE-BOOT* for Quest is all about... I think the IDEA behind the game is BRILLIANT. It's just a matter of finding the RIGHT "execution" to make it a reality.