Another Day, Another Crisis
JeffR:
So, mocked up some cards, wrote up the basic archetype starting deck contents, and started a glossary since this sort of game needs to be able to shorthand mechanics on cards effectively. I'll have a go at writing a draft of the actual rules, and try to write up some of the GM-side cards (which I'm calling Drama cards right now, for lack of a better term) next. (Come to think of it, I really would like to come up with a game-specifc term for 'GM' too, although nothing I've come up with so far seems any good.)
The rules are continuing to shape up in my head, too. The Ability cards give you one die to roll (this is all d6s), and get upgraded to give two dice instead, and that total gets compared to the Threat card's Rating. If it's more, you beat the threat and get to upgrade one of the cards you used. If you didn't beat it, you put a token on it, and you get to add five to your next roll against that threat. so you eventually can beat the major threats. (This may only apply to villains, since it makes less sense for some of the Disasters and Events). Gaining additional adversity is something that will happen related to the GM cards, I think.
I'll have to see how tight I can make my rules text while keeping it sufficiently clear, since that will pretty much dictate how many unique cards will fit under the wordcount limit...
I also need an ending of some sort, although that can always be based on a deck running out or a card that gets shuffled into a deck the second time through, I guess.
JeffR:
Counting Cards[\b]
Came up with the reboot mechanic and how it's main trigger works, so I think that the rules are ready for a first draft. Also thinking about card budget. I figure that the actual cards should be the same model as my mockups at this stage; printouts pasted to standard playing cards. So that means that the natural numbers of cards are multiples of 52. 104 turns out to not be enough, so that means 156. That divides up as 52 Threat cards, 52 Hero Cards (32 abilities+the origin card+19 adversity cards), and 52 Drama cards. Luckily for the wordcount, the abilities and Drama aren't going to be unique.
So, time to write that first draft, and see if I can clearly get down the rules in some fairly short, clear text.
As far as the ending, well, I've decided that I'll work the theme in again and not give one. It is the Never-ending Battle we're talking about here. (And provide the insufficently-committed to saving Edge City and it's citizens options of playing for a fixed amount of time or number of reboots...)
JeffR:
Okay, finished the initial rules draft, which I've gone ahead and posted up at http://mappamundorum.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/game-chef-2012-another-day-another-crisis-draft-zero/. Hopefully, if anyone looks at it, it will get the idea across, although without the cards it's less than completely useful. 1400 words. Not horrible. Now to write 109 more cards to wrap up the set and have a real first draft of the whole game. (And I already know they're be more than a few duplicate cards in that set, so at least there's that.)
I'll probably end up vaguely apologetic about word count in my designer's notes, since even counting the final total is going to be difficult. I certainly wouldn't expect reviewers to read ever line of every card in any case, any more than I'd expect someone setting out to play to read more than a few cards other than those that actually come up in a game...
JeffR:
Well, I finished the first draft of the cards, which can be found at http://mappamundorum.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/game-chef-2012-another-day-another-crisis-cards/. A lot of duplicates in the Adversity and Drama categories, so there's plenty of room if I come up with some late ideas that have to go in. And more than a few uninspired Threats that could be replaced if I think of better ones.
Next step is to make a full set of mockups and run through the rules solo a few times to find out how far off my numbers are from a balanced experience
JeffR:
Finished my mockups and learned that I'm not so good at math: I've got 53 Hero cards and 54 Drama cards. Well, there's always jokers...
(I may end up blanking out three of the duplicates in those decks, especially if any seem obviously too impactful in play to come up that often.
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