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CCG RPG (Brainstorm)

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Fhizban
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This is an idea that keeps floating around my head since years, maybe you guys are interested in a discussion about creating a CCG RPG?

First: Don't put too much emphasis into the "CCG" part (collectible card game). This WON'T be collectible or anything. The word is used to describe the game better.

So, a whole RPG game system using cards. Inspired by classic CCG and their mechanics (drawing, tapping, simple combat).

Each player represents a party of heroes. The game can be played solo as well and works completely without a Game Master.

The "zest" is to keep mechanics as simple as possible. Because a CCG card game does not allow for dozens of stats and mathematics.

This is just an idea for now. Any input is welcome.

Im posting brainstorm bits as well in this thread.

Fhizban
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A few basic to provide us

A few basic to provide us with a frame:

INSPIRATION
Think about old Dungeon Crawler RPG computer games like Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder or Wizardry and transfer that into a card based RPG. Not limited to "dungeons" though...

COMPONENTS
* Cards (lots of them! Heroes, Monsters, Locations, Items...)
* Tokens (required to track lots of things like Gold etc.)
* Dice (not a fan of dice in CCGs, but should be OK in a RPG and its just so much more fun)
* NO Map or tiles (we just use cards to represent locations)

TOKENS
Instead of book-keeping using paper and pencil, tokens could be used. Only when taking a break from the game, the characters data would be transcribed onto a piece of paper. During play, tracking wounds etc. with Tokens is so much faster. Example Tokens:

* Wound Token (not a big fan of tracking wounds in a CCG but it just makes sense for a RPG)
* Ammo Token
* Food Token
* Mana Token
* Level Token ...

TRAITS
This is a mechanic i would really like to see in a game like this. Each card features a variable number of traits. Instead of writing fixed stats on the cards (like Strength, Agility, Intelligence) we use Traits. This has several advantages:

* Not fixed (no writing the same 6 attributes on each card)
* Limit information (a card only shows the traits it has)
* Flexible (we can easily add new traits)

* Traits can have levels (like Sorcery+2, Chivalry+1, Etiquette+2)
* Traits are like Attributes, Stats, Advantages, Disadvantages all in one,

Example:

Monk Hero (Martial Arts 1, Scribe 1, Priest 2, Brewing 1)
Paladin (Combat 2, Armor 1, Etiquette 2, Charisma 1)

Longbow (Ranged 3, spend a Ammo Token to use)

COMBAT
This aspect would be really simple. In fact, all kinds of challenges are like combat. Basically you roll some dice, add one or more trait modifiers and then compare it to your opponents result.

It does not matter if you try to force open a door, deliver a speech at the emperors banquet, cast a spell, attack a enemy or bewitch a damsel - a "test" of some sort is required

example:

roll 2d6 and add all trait bonus
then your opponent rolls 2d6 and adds all trait bonus
the higher result wins the test

Just as an example, in fact any method could be used (target number, bucket of dice, whatever suits the game).

Fhizban
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QUESTS This would be the core

QUESTS
This would be the core mechanic of the game. The players have to complete quests to gain "Victory Points", the first player who earns 7+ VP (number chosen at will) wins the current game. Of course there could be cooperative play as well.

QUEST CARDS (brainstorm)
There should be "Number of Players" +1 Quest cards face-up on the table at any given time. Each player should be able to attend to any quest. Players put progress tokens on a quest card, and when a certain threshold is reached, the quest is completed and the player gains X Victory Points. There could also be a effect that lasts while the quest is incomplete, or a effect that starts once the quest is completed.

when playing competitive, every player has to keep track of his own progress tokens for each quest. in cooperative mode, all players contribute progress tokens.

on the quest card could be a indicator of the Location, quest level and so on.

QUEST COMPLETION (brainstorm)
A very simple idea how to complete quests could be this:

Players have to face ENCOUNTERS that can be anything from monsters to traps or random events. Each encounter adds one progress token to a quest that matches its Location (like a Forest Encounter only contributes to forest quests).

But, this would make all quests work in exactly the same way. So this aspect is very much open to discussion.

TAKE-AWAYS
* Multiple Quest cards - gives choice
* Face-up quests - more choice, prevents "this quest is too hard for me"
* All players can attend all quests - increases both cooperative and competitive gameplay

let-off studios
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Dark Venture

What you're describing here makes me remember forays into playing Dark Venture in a virtual tabletop earlier this year. If you're not familiar, it's a semi-cooperative, sprawling, weird adventure set in a Gamma World meets Thundarr the Barbarian campaign world.

Cards are used to represent anything from map regions and locations, to characters, to the quests you describe as the key feature of your concept, to equipment. A pair of booklets are used to describe different happenings as the players explore the world, kind of like reading keyed passages of text in a choose-your-own-adventure book. Dice are used in classic RPG fashion for things like determining whether or not you hit your opponent when attacking, or if you find the hidden item or switch or whatever.

Personally I really enjoyed the game, and if I had it in physical copy as opposed to the online version, I would set it up in the morning and play it into the evening. I had a similar feeling with Thunderstone, where it's a game that you set up once, then play several times through in a single sitting. Again, for me, solo play was the way to go.

As long as your game is developed for solo play as well as in groups, then there seems to be an audience for it (larger than just me, of course). Dark Venture seems to have had a favorable reception on BGG:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/228412/dark-venture

questccg
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After Archon... I realized that we have similar ideas BUT...

They're in a different direction. Like for "Archon" I was looking more at a card game with an RPS-5. In your case the "Archon" design was to be used with a Board Game (physical board). And so even if we had similar concepts, our outcomes were different.

Same goes for this "CCG/RPG". Or more specifically RPG/Game (in my case). In this case I am exploring the RPG genre but VERY simplified. I have wound tokens, an "adventure system" and a "Monster Compendium" (for all the creatures).

This time I am on the other side. I am using very few cards and cards are not the "focus" of the design. So far that design looks pretty good. But it's still a "rough" prototype.

But it's cool to see we have similar ideas and able to "design" DIFFERENT types of games. Which is what I am saying about ideas. If you put them "out-there" the odds of having two (2) people design the SAME game is near zero (0).

Just one word of advice... SIMPLIFY as much as you can. I too had plans for "Quests" and to have a more complex "Reward/Treasure system". In any case I simplified things and have focused on the "adventure system".

This is a good "concept" ... But the implementation in keeping everything as SIMPLE as possible will be key. Cheers!

Fhizban
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@let-off studios: I'll have a

@let-off studios: I'll have a look soon, thanks for the Info.

Thunderstone is very close to this concept actually...

@questccg:

That shows how different a game idea can be put into practice. There are always multiple ways to achieve a goal.

So this concept would be as close to a CCG/Card Game as possible and it should play like a card game. Its not a full fledged RPG or a RPG supported by cards.

Biggle Bear
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Turny cards

I had an idea for a ccg rpg. Obviously with differences to yours, but I'm not perusing it. One idea that might be useful to you...

To track HP and so forth, one could use a card that is labelled at each side with a number 1-4 and on the reverse side 5-8. Then the number that is oriented as the card it is connected to is the current value of, say, Hit Points. The card could also be square so that it would fit in a stack, still oriented as the card it is connected to, and stored for later play.

I hope the idea I'm trying to describe is clear enough.

Fhizban
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Im not actively working on it

Im not actively working on it either atm, its more of a brainstorm.

Another idea regarding HP is to have no HP in the common sense. Instead, each character or monster simply has 3 different states: Uninjured, Injured and Defeated.

Uninjured would be untapped, Injured is tapped and defeated is dead.

Of course that limits the design quite a bit, everything from damage to attack spells and healing would be much simpler than in a typical RPG.

but, one advantage is that it removes the "power levelling" aspect. you still have 3 states, no matter if you are a level 1 or a level 10 hero.

let-off studios
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Flip a Chip

Fhizban wrote:
Uninjured would be untapped, Injured is tapped and defeated is dead.
An early design of mine had streamlined combat in such a way. The units were essentially checkers. One side was the "Healthy" side, while the other was the "Wounded" side. Each side had the unit name, icon, and a conspicuous indicator of its current status. The chips were also thick enough so that I could have something written on the edge, and by looking at the side of the stack you could see what was in it.

Once a unit suffered damage, it was flipped from Healthy to Wounded. If a Wounded unit was later healed, then it was flipped back to its Healthy side. However, if it suffered damage again, it was slain and collected by the opponent.

The things I accomplished with this particular mechanism were as follows:

  • Drastically-simplified combat process - though resolution itself could contain a satisfying amount complexity.
  • Create a hard-limit and more value to combat units in the field. For example, once a player's Scout units were all collected by their opponent(s) they couldn't summon any more of them.
  • Facilitate units a player has defeated as easily-tracked victory points.
  • Chips could be "stacked" on one another, so special status (shielded, poisoned, etc.) could be easily seen by looking at the side of a stack. Also, the fact that a stack was taller than a single chip made it visually obvious that something was going on with them.
  • Allows a player with Wounded units to recover without complete defeat, by the use of now-valuable healing abilities.
Fhizban
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@let-off studios:

@let-off studios: nice!

building on top of the 3 states idea, something that could be done to make combat less "brutal" would be how armor can be used to soak up damage.

like you can "injure" a piece of armor to negate a hit that would otherwise injure your hero character.

that piece of armor would be broken and requires repair to be functional again, it cannot be broken twice.

like a one-time damage saver

plus "broken equipment" opens up another feature field to build on like repairs etc.

Fhizban
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As a tiny little update, Im

As a tiny little update, Im still on this design. 2020 was quite turbulent so there was not much spare time for game design. But endearing ideas never die...

1. Took a look at the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game - lots of good ideas there, the game itself seems very good to me, although I plan to do it different. There are just too many stats, too many different dice and so on. But some mechanics are really great.

Especially the idea of having a tiny deck for each location you are on, guess I will adapt that into my own design right away.

No idea yet if there will be multiple locations on the table at the same time or just the one the player(s) are located at. The initial idea was to build a "path" of locations the players could move forth and back on but that seems a bit redundant and will clutter the table with tiny decks.

2. Got myself a copy of good old "Talisman" after 20 years or so. Although this game is a board-game, its pretty close to what I would like to achieve (although in card form). Talisman can be loved or hated but its a classic. Its less the mechanics (those are pretty poor actually) but the overall mood and atmosphere that this game is able to set. Plus, there is just so much stuff! You can sink day(s) into the game without running into the same content twice.

Right now Im thinking about using a basic frame very similar to Talisman. But instead of a board, you represent the world using location cards. And instead of drawing from a big event deck when moving into a location, you build a tiny deck especially tailored to that location and draw a card from that. That allows much more fine-tuning of the location decks as you can include/exclude cards that fit the locations theme etc.

so far...

Jay103
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Just a few quick notes.. Food

Just a few quick notes..

Food -- no. If you're trying to keep things simple, this is the first thing you should throw out. It's annoying in most any RPG, really, except where food is a form of stat-boosting potion.

Doing everything with tokens -- Sounds like a good idea, but there's a catch.. surely this game is not a single-sitting game. RPG usually implies that characters persist from session to session, and this is impossible with just tokens.

For my own RPG (Heroes & Treasure), I have the persistent stuff based entirely on how far you've gone in the adventure (so that being on mission 4 means your character level is 4), and I have almost no persistent loot, so I can use tokens for health, spells, found items, etc. within a mission. But I'd think you'd at least need a basic character sheet in a game like this.

Fhizban
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@Jay103: Food - You're right,

@Jay103:

Food - You're right, I already ditched that idea. Im still evaluating some kind of "Stamina" though. It could be used as resource, secondary health stat, limit the amount of actions a character can do. But have not decided yet. Maybe it just overcomplicates things similar to food.

The character sheet is a good idea as well, but more difficult to solve. Lets take this example:

Currently, armor cards can soak up combat damage by putting tokens on them. A "Chainmail" for example has a armor rating of 4 and is able to negate up to 4 points of damage before breaking. The player can put up to 4 tokens on the armor card to track the amount of damage.

Now imagine you have several armor parts (in addition to your character card and stats). When the current session ends, how would you keep track of the tokens on the armor cards?

I guess the only solution is to add a real RPG character sheet to the game, a full-fledged one like the ones seen in D&D and other RPGs (with stats, spells, skills, inventory and all that).

Jay103
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My own solution to the

My own solution to the chainmail problem would be to make the sessions into bite-sized chunks (one sit-down session is one mission, and you simply cannot easily stop without getting to the end, just the way you can't easily pause a game of Monopoly in the middle unless you carefully move the board and money and properties and pieces to a safe place.

Then, your chainmail is assumed to be repaired fully between missions. Depending on your game, maybe you force everyone to auto-repair all equipment and forfeit some of their gold to do it.

X3M
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In some games

Armor will divide the damage amongst the hero and the armor piece.
This means that an injured hero with a lot of armor. Still might die.
Antoher aspect that armor can have is that damage is reduced. In your case, this could be a trait to the dice.

Example:
An hero carries chainmail, which reduces damage by 1. And divides the damage 1 to the chainmail, 1 to the hero, 1 to the chainmail, 1 to the hero again.
In other words, the chainmail gets the same damage or 1 more than the hero.

1 damage would simply be deflected.
2 damage would be 1 damage to the chainmail.
3 damage would be 1 damage to both the chainmail and the hero.
4 damage would be 2 damage to the chainmail and 1 damage to the hero.

This way, the player still needs to heal between or during battles as well.

(Personally, I find the workings of armor in Unreal a bit over the top. I rather would have seen them work the same way as mentioned above)

questccg
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Just a quick comment

Fhizban wrote:
...So this concept would be as close to a CCG/Card Game as possible and it should play like a card game. Its not a full fledged RPG or a RPG supported by cards.

Hmm... Sounds like AGAIN you are trying to make a game with A LOT of "cards"! No offense, but you said "Gods & Minions" was to intensive in the art department and NOW you are trying to make RPG-CCG (again more cards)...

This is just me... But I've been focusing a LOT on Micro Decks (18 cards and lower). And then I've been lowering art counts by focusing on UP TO three (3) duplicates... So this means less pieces of art. I've got one project which is 15 pieces of art and is a FULL CCG-Area Control game.

Or another design with 15 piece of art and is a FULL TCG-Mathematic game... There are five (5) unique Micro Decks. Again focusing on LESS art... Five Decks with ONLY 15 cards with each their own play-style is pretty cool TBH.

I also have recently started to work on a NEW game with about 25 cards only. More than my previous attempts at 15 each ... But less than double.

Anyhow I guess you can see the TREND: less is better.

While I applaud endeavors like StormyKnight1976 "Dymino Monsters" (DM) with something like 4000+ cards, I try to focus on MAKING "something". That's not to say that Jesse hasn't worked and made other games too... He has. But the point is to bring something to market that is SELL-ABLE.

And take a look at @Jay103 "Heroes & Treasure" (HNT) which is also streamlined. He has an adventure book ... But it's a black & white document with no images or pictures. Just setup instructions and play rules.

So like many people are "cutting back". Cards are components that can "sometimes" be replaced with dice (depending on the usage). Cards with WALLS of TEXT are "boring" and work in very few implementations.

You can also publish some basic CLASSES of characters, etc. So start with 3 CLASSES (maybe) and expand to more in the future. Maybe up to 9 or more...

It's NICE that you are thinking of an RPG-CCG. But like I said, SOUNDS to me like A LOT of cards. You've already said so in the OP.

Here is just a "suggestion": focus on the game and while doing this SEE IF you can use LESS CARDS and replace them with something else or remove them if possible. Take it and GUT it. IDK ... It sounds to me like you are "going down the rabbit's hole" AGAIN... Maybe not, I could be wrong.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cartographersheroes/roll-player-the...

This is definitely a STREAMLINED game. And he's produced EXPANSIONS which have been very successful. Anyways, have a look and see if it gives you some kind of "inspiration". I always thought the NAME was "clever": ROLL PLAYER!

Cheers Tobias. Just trying to be encouraging with some restraint in figuring out what is essential and what should be simplified. Best!

Note #1: Here is a set-up and walkthough video of ROLL PLAYER... Again take a look as it might give you some interesting ideas!

https://youtu.be/9D4tsG5aiqw

questccg
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ROLL PLAYER is an example of "streamlining"

Fhizban wrote:
This is an idea that keeps floating around my head since years, maybe you guys are interested in a discussion about creating a CCG RPG?...

In the previous comment, I shared with you a LINK/KS URL for "ROLL PLAYER" (RP). I realize that I should have explained more about how his design may relate to your own!

1. It's all about RPG-Stats and Character Generation and Management.

2. It's very streamlined in that everything revolves around dice and stats.

3. He's been VERY successful with his expansions and the overall brand.

How does this relate to YOUR game? Well TBH it's just to show that unless you are planning to design a 4x CCG ... You'll need to figure out what the FOCUS or "CORE" of the game is going to be.

IMHO here are some ideas to think about.

A. Focus on figuring out a "core" for the game.

B. Maybe do like in "SmallWorld" (SW), use the Race and the Class to build a bunch of combos. OR do like in RP and have some kind of Race and Class combo of TWO (2) CARDS.

C. Don't make it a CCG! I see nothing in terms of "Collectible" or "Customizable" Card Game requirements. You're not providing play-style decks or Booster Packs for your game. Stay away from the CCG genre. Design a RPG-Card Game. That's a lot of advice. And you'll ask: "Kris, aren't you designing a CCG and a TCG?" And the answer is YES ... But they are passion projects ONLY. I have other Board Games that I want to design ALSO which are more traditional.

D. Like in RP figure out mechanics that work together in a TIGHT design. If the game is FUN people will PLAY it. And that should be your goal.

TBH ... Really don't like a RPG-CCG concept. Why? Because you could call it a DUNGEON CRAWLER and see that there is a TON of competition already out there... So to ME, RPG-CCG = Dungeon Crawler.

Let us know how you are progressing with this design. Cheers!

questccg
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Again ... something to consider

Fhizban wrote:
...The "zest" is to keep mechanics as simple as possible. Because a CCG card game does not allow for dozens of stats and mathematics...

Again "ROLL PLAYER" (RP) focuses ONLY on Stats and demonstrates an ORIGINAL concept with an amazing capability of expansion. So I think it DEPENDS on the design by RP because you can see CARDS and STATS can be married together in an AMAZINGLY clever system used in RP.

I just wanted to show you something DIFFERENT. And see if you can think up something different than a DUNGEON CRAWLER.

Cheers and best of luck with this design!

Jay103
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questccg wrote: And take a

questccg wrote:

And take a look at @Jay103 "Heroes & Treasure" (HNT) which is also streamlined. He has an adventure book ... But it's a black & white document with no images or pictures. Just setup instructions and play rules.

It also has maps I made by hand in Paint :)

(though the game also has a lot of art in other areas)

Stormyknight1976
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Adventure card game

Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Card game ;

2013-2019

Card Base Sets : 5
Chapter / expansion decks : 26
Character Class decks : 26
Character Add-on decks : 4
Ultimate Add-on decks : 5

Total of all cards : 11,118

It took me 25 minutes to look up and write each category down.

Check out https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Adventure_Card_Game

So if a large company can do a project like mine or any card game format as an RPG with just cards, with 4 to 5 staff members who wrote the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in 6 years, I think I can manage 17 years in development for my game which can be done and for any else going for their own unique game project as a CCG / TCG / LCG - Expandable card game.

Jesse

questccg
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You don't need to prove yourself...

Stormyknight1976 wrote:
Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Card game = Total of all cards: 11,118

So if a large company can do a project like mine or any card game format as an RPG with just cards, with 4 to 5 staff members who wrote the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in 6 years, I think I can manage 17 years in development for my game which can be done and for any else going for their own unique game project as a CCG / TCG / LCG - Expandable card game.

I never said "impossible". But you've got to think about "PROBABLE". The REAL HARD PART is finding GAMERS who will WANT to play. And if they don't like it 17 years pretty much ends there. Ok, so you can try another group.

Are the demographics there? Like Pokemon who is played by Teenagers and Millennials but whose primary focus is Kids (9+).

There are also LOGISTICS which I can WARN you about with Dymino Monster.

1. Playmats: cool and novel BUT costly to produce and ship. Especially in LARGE formats.

2. Different Card Types: again cool and novel BUT how will you divide the "making" of the game with the various card types.

3. Pathfinder Card Game: again cool BUT they didn't do it all in one shot. They took time to produce and release things over time. Nobody will produce EVERYTHING in one-shot. You've got to have a RELEASE strategy.

4. Too many rulebooks: you've got to worry about too many rulebooks explaining the DIFFERENT aspects to DIFFERENT card sets. This is done poorly will negatively affect play too.

5. If it's CCG or LCG: you MIGHT need some kind of organized play.

Point #5 is what is worrying me most about a couple of my "Micro" Deck games. See Magic has tournaments it sells. Pokemon has tournaments it sells. Chaotic had tournaments and it used to sell... NOTICE "used to" with Chaotic... They no longer print the cards and it is no longer available online.

So SIZE matters. Do you have enough "money" to start holding tournaments and organized play??? Do you KNOW of someone who can MANAGE this also?? Do you THINK this is important?

Again take point #1 Playmats. COOL but IF you REQUIRE them to PLAY... Who is going to buy them? Is it every player or 1 out of 4 (in groups), etc. It's a major barrier to entry and non-standard. Sure Magic has playmats... But you BUY whatever YOU LIKE. And you DON'T NEED the mat to play Magic or Pokemon, etc.

I'm not trying to discourage you... I'm just pointing things out. And these are things you're going to LOGISTICALLY figure out. Again not saying it's "impossible"... But it is HARD.

Especially with Passion Projects (like my CCG and TCG). I'm betting the farm on the CCG (somewhat) but it doesn't have organized play and I don't know people who would want to ORGANIZE it.

Like I said in another thread (or before)... There is nothing wrong with Projects like DM! They're passion projects and you hope that there is some limited form of some kind of "market penetration" occurs from some of the GOOD ideas ... which turn in to FUN play... The real issue is finding someone with deep pockets to fund an initial print run (in some limited form) and then see the reaction of the market.

IDK... I haven't figured it out yet and nobody has told me how I should handle it. So my guess nobody is sharing "How to make a passion project survive long enough to see a return on the time and effort invested in making it a reality!"

I'm not a NAY-SAYER. I like the DM concept and as for your RPG-CCG ... Pathfinder Card Game may exist and you can take a look at what they have done. To me this sounds like a "Dungeon Crawler". And there are LOTS of those around... It's the TRUTH... I'm not nay-saying... Just be aware of what is already OUT-THERE and look at some of the games we've suggested as a source of inspiration... You've got to figure out what YOU will be doing DIFFERENTLY! Best.

questccg
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One more comment

I also have a HUGE/MASSIVE Passion Project ON-HOLD: "Quest Adventure Cards(tm) — Second Edition". This is a REAL CCG with booster packs. The main reason that I cannot MAKE it is that it will REQUIRE about $22.5k USD to make the art for the 300 or so cards for the FIRST print run. That's the figures I have today... Yeah maybe they can change a little. But still that's ONLY ART! Nevermind PRODUCTION and SHIPPING...

It's a DREAM project that I HOPE to manage to make AT SOME POINT in time.

Maybe in 10 to 15 years. IDK. But it seems too BIG for me ATM... And I don't see myself getting BUDGETS of over $20k USD for one single game...!

The focus of this game is "Going on Quests" and it's main mechanic is Engine Building. But it's a "Collectible Card Game" (CCG). Again something OUT-OF-REACH ATM. Never-the-less it is ONE (1) of a few "Passion" Projects that I would love to bring to the market...

So I encourage "Passion" Projects... Just add a huge amount of humility and focus on enjoying the "journey" that is making them. Cheers!

questccg
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More about DM playmats

Again ... Just because I think the "concept" is COOL. But I think you will need to "transform it" a bit.

If you make it a DOWNLOADABLE "Asset" like a PDF in Landscape format for an 8.5" x 11" standard paper in two (2) versions:

1. Low-ink Black & White

2. Full Color (for the special people)

And you "TRANFORM IT" into some kind of "Map" identifying various PATHS you may choose to use during your JOURNEY... Maybe that could work. But I've seen you "waterfall/bridge" map (and I liked it...) but this whole JOURNEY could help you embed a STORY with some kind of "Travel/Companion Book"...

Maybe you could also print some kind of "Arena" or "Combat" setting Assets too... Like picture ANOTHER KIND of 8.5" x 11" paper which has some waypoints and links with the "STORY" ... And you could have maybe like 3 or 5 "Arenas" ... Which can be different "STORIES" if they are GENERIC enough...

This is something THAT COULD work. A "Travel Book", some low-ink Maps and maybe a few "Arenas" that link into the Maps and "Travel Book".

But of course, this I don't believe is the direction that I saw.

AGAIN don't feel you need to PROVE anything... I'm just commenting based ONLY on what you have shared (with the waterfall/bridge playmat).

And if you like some of the IDEAS I've shared in this comment, feel free to use them. I'm not copyrighting my comments. They are OPEN ideas you can feel like you can ADAPT (if you like them)... You can also ignore them too...

I'm just saying ... From an outside view, there "seem" to be problems... OR issues with breaking everything up and factoring everything together.

Best of luck with DM... I'm just saying that PNP content for "extras" could be an impressive feature (to offer). It would cut your costs and complication A LOT. Cheers!

questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Please don't include BREAKING of items...!

Fhizban wrote:
...Currently, armor cards can soak up combat damage by putting tokens on them. A "Chainmail" for example has a armor rating of 4 and is able to negate up to 4 points of damage before breaking. The player can put up to 4 tokens on the armor card to track the amount of damage...

You've got to be kidding me... BREAKING? That's a TERRIBLE concept. Here you work so hard too get that "Royal Mythril Armor of the Dragon Slayer" and you are telling me if could BREAK! First, it's too specific (things breaking) ... Secondly, it just SUCKS (IMHO)!

Why not simply have MODIFIERS like almost ALL the other RPGs have???

Like you have a BASIC ATTACK, you equip a SWORD and it adds +X to your BASIC ATTACK. You have BASIC DEFENSE, you equip an ARMOR and it adds +Y to your BASIC DEFENSE. Then you can have other modifiers for other stats.

KEEP it SIMPLE and see if it is PLAYABLE before thinking up concepts like "BREAKING". If I KNEW there was "BREAKING" in your game ... And my whole hope in the game was ACQUIRING all kinds of COOL ITEMS... I would be TOTALLY PISSED OFF and would NEVER play the game again if something that took an hour to accumulate "BREAKS"!

Maybe instead of ATTACK and DEFENSE... You could ADD a THIRD STAT which varies per CLASS: SKILL (Rogue/Thief), MAGIC (Wizard/Mage), DEXTERITY (Ranger/Archer), CHARISMA (Monk/Cleric), ENDURANCE (Fighter/Warrior) could be the 3rd STAT for those classes...

Again just some IDEAS...

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