Hello ,
This is my first post about one of my newer card-game ideas. right now its just a raw concept - many of the details are still missing. So new ideas, constructive criticism and the like are all welcome. I will not post the complete rules mechanism here as it is just too much stuff and i will add new rules over the time (I also plan on starting a journal on this one). so lets start right away:
This game is planned as a card game. I like to call it an 'expandable card game' because the term TCG (or CCG) just doesn't suit it. Everything Collectible is (from my point of view) a bit much for just one person. and the game itself already seems to become very complex (something i usually try to prevent).
The title of the game ("King of Monsters") comes from a old SNES console title. The game was about gigantic mutated monsters fighting against each other in american or japanese cities. The game was pretty bad and not very interesting - but the theme is great for a 2-player card-based combat game.
So in this game each player represents one of theese gargantuan creatures (aka: silicone puppets) as seen in typical japanese movies. The target is to knock out the other players creature by reducing it's 'health' to zero points. A wide array of creatures should be available, featuring classic antics like a godzilla rip-off, king-kong, outer-space aliens, gigantic robots, the marshmellowman from ghostbusters, the giant dinosaurs from the console game primal rage and so on. the possibilities are almost endless.
So let me introduce the first two types of cards in the game: 'Creature-Cards' and 'Creature-Templates': A Creature-Card presents the monster on the (very simplified) playing-field. Its a card of standard size (about 6,5 cm * 9 cm) that just shows the picture of the monster. This card is used to move the creature around to locate its position. The 'Creature-Template' on the other hand is a card double the size of a standard gaming card (about 13 cm * 9 cm). it shows the same picture of the monster and in addition to that the combat attributes (like 'health' etc.). This Template isn't moved around, but placed in front of the player for quick reference. Little tokens to represent loss of health are also placed on the Creature-Templates (Thought: It would be possible to use just one card instead of two to make things simpler, but i have not decided about this yet. this depends on how many different stats there will be
and if all of the tokens easily fit on a card that will be moved around all then time).
Oookay. In addition to that every player has a deck that contains about 40 to 60 cards. those cards represent the 'Attacks' of your monster. your deck can contain some special cards like events, mutations, special-attacks and the like - to spice up the game and to make your deck more unique. (Thought: there should be a limit on how many duplicates of one card a player can put into his deck).
Then, there is another pile of cards that contains so called 'Locations'. this deck is shared(!) by both players. at the start of the game each player may shuffle a certain amount of locations into the location-deck (Thought: there should be a limit on how many duplicates of a location a player may put into this deck). The locations represent various urban, suburban and wilderness areas. some monsters may have an advantage on specific territory while others may suffer from a disadvantage. There could also be locations that enable the monsters to do special attacks, like climbing up a building or hurling cars at the opponent (Thought: Endless Possibilities here and i still have not decided for a fixed set of rules). The location cards are like the Creature-Templates double the size of a normal card (thus 13 cm * 9 cm). Each location has a big picture on it and enough space for the special rules that apply. In addition to
that there is enough space on a location card to place two Creature-Cards on it, so both players creature are able to occupy a location at the same time. theese
slots on the location cards are used to indicate where the creatures are positioned on the playing-field (May be unclear but i go more into detail soon). There are always three locations in play - no more, no less and they are all alined next to each other to form a strip of landscape the monsters can move along.
The number of slots between the two creature describe the distance between them.
* If both creatures are located on the same location card (wich means there is no empty slot between them) they are in 'Melee' combat. During melee the players can do grapple and throw attacks but they are not able to start attacks that need lots of preperation time or open space to perform.
* If there is one empty slot between the two creatures then they are considered in 'Hand-to-Hand-Combat'. This is the standard attack range for most attacks although its not possible to use grapples and the like anymore and it is not possible to use ranged-attacks at this distance.
* If there are two empty slots between the creatures, they are in 'Short Range'. Most of the ranged attacks can be used at short range and there are some special-attacks like 'whirlwind kick' (or whatever) that move the monster from short range into H-T-H or even melee.
* If there are three empty slots between the creatures we call it 'Long Range'. Only some ranged attacks can be used at this range.
* And finally with four empty slots between the creatures we are at 'Out of Reach' - the maximum distance. There are no attacks planned that can be used at this distance. Its perfect for a quick retreat after you stunned your enemy or if you want to regenerate your monster (or whatever).
This should be enough for now (if anyone actually reads this). Its already very much information in one go. I have added some pictures to my website to make things a bit more clear - i hope the visuals help you understanding the key concepts. actually the game is really easy once you got the basics. the next post will cover how to place locations and how to actually draw cards and move the monsters around. this can take a while because i actually have to prepare the posts here - this behemoth of a game is really complex....Phew!
Sample Creature-Card: http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/creature.jpg
Sample Creature-Template: http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/ctemplate.jpg
Sample Location Card: http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/location.jpg
Sample Card-Back (haha): http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/back.jpg
The Playing Field: http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/field.jpg
Distance Measurement (large): http://www.zockergilde.net/kom/distance.jpg
-Fhizban[/url]
Promise? ;)
Okay, your *theme* caught my eye, and for whatever weird reason (actually not alcohol related for once) I have some strong feelings and opinions for you to digest (or vomit).
Excellent choice.
I think you should stick to your *usual guns* and still try to prevent...
For a multitude of reasons, keep this tid bit on the DL and don't mention it ever again (hehehe...). Give your title a slight alteration (King of the Giant Monsters) and distance yourself from the SNES inspiration at all costs (then slyly mention it again in an interview a couple years from now when your game is a huge success.)
This is where you make this game *yours*... you need to own it baby, get all these ideas of video game and movie monsters out of your head (and off your graphics) and truly make those rip-offs - unique and fun (or dark).... but make it YOURS!
Drop this, uneeded repetitive overkill... use a tiny chit, coin, pawn, stone, token, each of a different color for each player... your FLAVOR and color and unique monster identity is on your template loud and clear for everyone to see, the pawn is just a small effecient extension of this.
No no no...
Yes yes yes!
Think small and efficient on your game and your production costs - keep *everything* to the standard size playing card. Visualize that kid walking home from school with that deck of your playing cards perfectly tucked in his pocket.
Just use a tiny token to track health or more innovative ways, like the positioning (tapping/flipping) of the template card itself or loss of cards in the deck, etc...
Perfect! Also perhaps human military army cards that the opponent can play on you, representing the locations local military throwing a few pot shots at you (tanks, planes, rockets, endless)
Agree, endless, very cool. Also perhaps Oceans, Deserts, Planets... (naw scratch that, save Planets for the first expansion... ahem...)
Again, I think you may be killing yourself here... stick to a standard single card size for reasons of slickness, packaging, playability and printing to name a few. I'd scrap teh double card. Have the location cards be regular cards, graphically divided in two, with plenty o' room for a two opposing tokens (one in each corner), graphics, stats and flavor (just like a standard sized monster template card).
Way too much (remember new ideas, constructive criticism and the like are all welcome... :))
combine melee and grappling into one *close combat* range when opponents are sharing same location card, and dont allow range attacks. Then have any slots between them enable range attacks, with a simple penalty modifier the more slots there is tween them...
Scrap the idea of out of range on the board, and just translate that into the attack cards themselves... make cards for out of range, dodge, block, etc
you could now even limit your land/location cards to TWO instead of 3... which lends itself nicely to *now each player plays a location card* wham bam.
Alternatively you could scrap tracking the monsters on the location cards all together and just have the location cards there for flavor and to add the terrain bonuses you mentioned... and just have the distances (melee and ranged) happen in rounds... first round of battle is long range second is melee, etc... it could flux back and forth every other round (Happens in the rubber suit monster movies all the time)
like this
round 1: *ranged attacks only
round 2: *melee attacks only
round 3: *ranged attacks only
round 4: *melee attacks only
etc...
should have same effect, if Prince Kongo doesnt have a ranged attack he is screwed that round, on the next round if Lordzilla doesnt have a melee attack, he's gonna get trounced...
__
I also think it would be cool to have preset balanced decks for each monster... where as Prince Kongo obviously doesnt have laser eyes or fire breath... he has hurl boulder and earthquake stomp for range, deck leaning more melee tho
Lordzilla wouldnt have punch and kick, but maybe a bite and claw, but the deck would be more ranged...
That's just me tho... and I'm a freak for things making sense in places they maybe shouldnt.
I sense some graphic design ability here, very nice!