Ok. I making this game right, a Vampire game. One of the central Things about the game, is that you can staunch up your Vampire Liuetenants in three ways -
1) Giving them a Creature to fight under them
2) Bestowing a permanent Special Ability
3) Giving them Artifacts
Creatures are useful because they have a Special Ability of their own which the Lieutenant can Use, they add bonuses to combat, and they can take Wounds that would otherwise have to be allocated to the Lieutenant.
Special Abilities are useful because it lets the Lieutenant do something good, either passively, or which they have to perform a Use Ability action to utilise.
The probelm is that Artifacts are pretty much exactly the same as Special Abilities, as they are used in the same way, except it is possible to lose Artifacts to an enemy, or to trade them between Lieutenants.
Each Lieutenant has a maximum number of Creatures, Special Abilities and Artifacts they can have at any one time.
I hope thats enough info for ppl to throw up some ideas about how to differentiate between Special Abilities and Artifacts. I need to find a way to make players need to choose to either give their Lieutenant a Special Ability or an Artifact, based on the drawbacks and benefits of each.
...gah, have to go, will provide more info if needed, gggrrrrr...
Hey Ya'll,
Thanks for all the good thoughts. Glad to see my first post wasn't too rambly, being sent on the run... But it looks like this one is, if you can make it through!
A bit more info first -
Netwolf - This is a boardgame, not a cardgame, but all the stuff you wrote relates to what I am working on. And yes, when a Lieutenant is Slain, they lose all their Abilities and Creatures (if not already Slain) and any Artifacts are taken by their Slayer, or dropped.
The way I approached the inclusion of Special Abilities etc into the game is that I wanted to keep all the 'Effects' outside of the basic rules. The rules cover how to get and how to use the Abilities etc, but not what they actually do. The other consideration is that I wanted to keep the amount of time players have to go through their available choices to a minimum, so keep the descriptions etc of each Effect simple.
Also, though I always wanted to have Creatures, Artifacts and Abilities, I wanted the Effects of each to be similar in a way that players wouldn't have to remember three different ways of doing things.
So, I made it that each Creature, Artifact and Ability has an Effect.
These Effects have the following properties -
- Either Mental or Physical
- Either Passive or Useable
- Either Combat or non-Combat
Mental and Physical is mainly used when Effects affect eachother. i.e. the Psychic Vampire Player will have a range of ways he can affect the Mental Effects of other Players.
Passive Effects affect the Lieutenant all the time.
Useable Effects need the Lieutenant to play a Use Ability action to be played on them.
Combat Effects are only used on Combat, non-Combat Effects are used outside of Combat. Combat Effects are either Useable or Passive. Useable Combat Effects need a Lieutenant to 'Activate' them during a combat round, whereas Passive Combat Effects always affect them.
Ok, so thats the framework I set myself when designing the Effects of the Creatures, Artifacts and Abilities. It feels natural, easy to remember and I could apply them to each different Thing. I also wanted to have a flexible definition system so that I could model a wide range of Effects to cover a wide range of Creatures, Artifacts and Abilities, useufl in some situations, but not in others. Players are then able to develop their forces in a variety of ways.
Also, because this is a Boardgame, I want to make it as easy as possible for players to remember or look up all the Special Things they have access to, but at the same time have access to a wide variety of Cool Stuff...
Some examples -
- The Winged Serpent Creature has the Flight Ability which is Passive Physical and has the Effect of 'Lieutenant may move through Swamp and Forest territories for 1MP and may move through, but not end their movement on, Mountain territories.'
- A Metamorph Vampire Lieutenant can gain the Shimmer Ability which is Physical Useable Combat and has the Effect of 'Treat this Bead as 2 Evasion Beads this Round' when activated by the Lieutenant during a combat round.
- A Sorcerer Vampire Lieutenant can gain the Dust of Ages Artifact which is Useable and has the Effect of 'Player may add any two unused Action Tokens to the Lieutenant immediately. These Actions may be used later this Lieutenant Phase'.
This is just a few examples, but at the moment, the definitions of the Effects are the same for Abilities and Artifacts. Creatures are fine for the moment, as they give other bonuses as mentioned previously.
Different Players will have access to different types and amounts of Creatures, Artifacts and Abilities. Creatures, Artifacts and Abilities can be 'bought' from their individual supply by Players at the start of each turn and allocated to their Lieutenants. There are also Neutral locations on the map where Lieutenants may Recruit Creatures and there are Lairs where Lieutenants may slay the defenders to gain a powerful Artifact.
As a side note, this game was originally planned to be a play-by email game and I did want to include 'Curses' or detrimental Effects, which would be similar to Passive Mental or Physical Abilities. These could also be gained through receiving Wounds etc. But as this is a boardgame I don't want to verload players with Effects that that will have to manage too much and keep track of.
Anyway, I will read over the posts that have come through so far and see what route I take. I think I will work towards making Artifacts a lot more powerful than Abilities, and try and make them more Useable than Passive, whereas I will make Abilities more Passive than Useable.
Sorry for the ramble!