Model Card Upgrade!

Well, I'm not quite dead here yet. Been a long time since I've posted, but I am still pushing ahead with work on my cards. It seems that whenever I get close to thinking that I have nailed a design point, I decide I want to rework it. Hmmm...sounds a lot like what I do in my day job. :-)

So, I have been working on the Model cards and tweaking a few small things. I've also re-read all my attribute points and skills for the Model cards and tried to make sure that they are all on a level playing field. Each Model should be worth a total of 25 points. That's attributes + traits + abilities.

I'm posting here my current take on the Model card. This will probably change again in the future.

Deck Building, Points & Lackey

It’s time for a bit of an update here, and not just a posting of cards.  I’ve been having a play with Lackey as a means of play testing my game and trying to get a handle on how easy or hard it is to build a deck.  That process has led me down the path of having to give point values to some cards as a means of enforcing some deck building rules.  My initial plan with this game was to make deck building as open and free as possible, to not put in too many restrictions so a player could decide what ki

nd of deck best suited them.  But the reality of that is that a deck can be built using mainly rare and powerful cards and therefore becomes too cheesy and at the same time a lot of cards start to become redundant.  I’ve seen that happen in other card games.  I wanted to give each card a valid shot at being included in a deck.

In the end I have given a point value to every type of card, with the exception of Model and Location cards.  Location cards are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things and all fairly evenly powered, so I  didn’t thing they warranted a point value.  All the Model cards should also be equal in value.  I didn’t want to show bias towards one particular model over another.  If you look closely at the Model cards you’ll see that all of them total the same value.  Add their attributes, their trait values and a couple of bonus points for any special ability and they should all be the same.  I suspect that when play tested some of these models will end up seeming over or under powered, at that point I will change their ability or stats accordingly.

So, my plan with building a deck now is to set a maximum number of points a deck can contain.  There will be some other rules in there too.  Like, you will not be able to have

 more than 3 of any one particular card and you will not be able to have more tha

n 1 of any particular Model.  Another restriction is your deck must contain at least 1 Model and 1 Target card.  By not giving Model cards a point value, I’m hoping that will let players create a deck with either a ‘support a small group of models’ or ‘large number of model swarm’ type decks.  Not sure how either of those strategies will work out.  Only play testing will tell!

This post also contains a couple of updated card designs.  Showing the new point value in the bottom right corner along with some other more subtle changes.  I’ve posted my first cut of the card back too.

Lackey can be found at http://www.lackeyccg.com/.  When I get to point of satisfaction with the plugin I am writing for it, I will release it along with a card list here on my blog.

Thanks to all who read this blog, I hope this is something a bit different from th

e usual stuff out there.  Please feel free to leave a comment, even if it’s just to say hi!  Seems like I started to get a few more hits after I posted a link on the forums at http://baaste1.ba.funpic.de/.  Cheers to Baaste!

Targets

A Target is the end point of the game.  It denotes the number of points required by a model to become the winner.  When the game begins there will be no Target in play and players should try to establish their models and gain as many points as possible.  

The first player to draw a Target card from their Resources must put that Target into play as soon as it is drawn.  If any model has the required points to win the Target, they are declared the winner and the game is completed.  If more than one model has enough points to win, then all those models with enough points will have their points reduced to zero.

If a player draws a Target card from their Resources while another Target is in play, they can opt to change Targets at any time.  The above rules apply, in that there may instantly be a model with enough points for the win, or multiple models will have their points reduced to zero.

Ambitions

Well, it has been a hella long time since I posted on here.  I don't think that is such an issue since my stat-counter is showing a record 2 hits in the last month!  I'm hoping that will change since I'm going to attempt to get some kind of word on there about my project.

Anyway, here is the subject of this post.  The Ambition card. Ambitions allow you to place your models on a path to a specific objective which can allow them to gain more points without having to eliminate all of your opponent’s models.

Ambitions are basically like a side mission.  When an Ambition is played from your hand it is available to be won by any player’s models.  So you should try to ensure that your models are going to meet the requirements of the Ambition before you opponents.

Each Ambition card will state the number of points up for grabs.  Along with the text describing how to complete the Ambition will be any other mandatory requirements.  These will be the Accessories, Abilities and Location requirements.  Not all Ambitions have these.

Some Ambitions are for a single model to complete, while other Ambition will require you have a have a group of models fitting the requirements.

Models for March

This is a fairly simple post, mainly just to make it look like I am actually making posts to this blog rather than being creative. Although I am getting some hits, I think 1 every month is hardly shaking the foundations of the internet.

So, what am I posting here? Well, just the model cards for 2000-2008 March.

I’m going to have to repost some of these cards at some point in the future, because in my little brain I had an idea of how I think I actually want this game to work. Well, that’s a bit unfair. I always knew how I wanted this game to work (with a few tweaks as I went along), but I never really had a definitive objective to the game in my mind. It was always just a ‘last model standing’ approach to win the game.

Now that’s changed. I’ve decided to go for a definitive target to allow a player to win the game. Your models are playing to see who will be Playmate of the Year. It’s first past the post wins. Somehow (not sure yet) there will be a target number of points to win the game. The first model to reach that target is crowned Playmate of the Year, she wins and the game is complete.

So, the upshot of that is that some cards have changed to reflect this new objective. I’ve also introduced a points system for each model KO. As your models take the other out they will gain points, helping them to reach their ultimate goal. Wow, that does sound adventurous!
I’ll detail the points system and how it works in a later post. Gotta have something to post here apart from naked girls...right?

The Extra Trait Card Explained

These cards allow models to leverage their Trait abilities. They often allow models to become more successful and add more specific abilities.

An Extra Trait card stays with a model for the duration of the game, unless it is removed by some other specific card effect.

Each Extra Trait has a point value, in order for the model to enable and use this new Trait they must have the required Trait Charge cards assigned to them.

The Extra Trait then works in one of two ways. Either the model can now use that ability without having to discard her Trait Charge cards, or she will need to discard the Trait Charge cards in order to use her new Trait. The Extra Trait however is retained by the model.

If the Extra Trait card has a ‘burn’ icon, a player can tell at a glance that this new Trait requires the player to discard their Trait Charge cards.

Extra Traits

Here we go with the next type of card in the game, the Extra Trait card. There is a card here for each other the 8 different model traits. The are, of course, more Extra Trait cards than those shown here and in teh course of this blog I'll post more.

But now onto some detail of what these cards do for a model.

The Extra Trait cards allow models to leverage their Trait abilities. They will often allow models to become more successful and add more specific abilities. An Extra Trait card stays with a model for the duration of the game, unless it is removed by some other specific card effect.

Each Extra Trait has a point value, in order for the model to enable and use this new Trait they must have the required Trait Charge cards assigned to them.

The Extra Trait then works in one of two ways. Either the model can now use that ability without having to discard her Trait Charge cards, or she will need to discard the Trait Charge cards in order to use her new Trait. The Extra Trait however is retained by the model.