I'm doing some ongoing work on my deck-building game. Now that I have resolved the Line-up issue (for now), I have another idea to run by you. I'll provide a quick explanation of the game's mechanics first:
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The game:
The game is a deck-builder with a twist. Players are either a Hero or a Monster. There is a game mode where Monsters and Heroes play against each other in equal teams, but the standard game mode is free-for-all, meaning if you're a Hero even other Hero players are still competing with you, though in a different way than other Monster players.
Each Hero and Monster player is part of a specific Faction with unique cards that are shuffled together to make the game deck, so that each game can be different and players can play as different Factions. For example, a 4 player game could be randomly set up with 2 Hero players (a Dwarf and a Human), and 2 Monster players (an Orc and a Reaver). You then take all the cards associated with those Factions and use them to make up the decks which are available for purchase. Each turn you play cards from your hand and accumulate Power, the basic currency. Power can be used to buy new cards from a central line-up that are neutral or aligned with you (i.e. Heroes or Monsters), and Power also allows you to fight cards from the line-up that are not aligned with you (if you're a Monster you can fight Heroes) which is worth more victory points but you don't get to add the card to your deck. The winner is the player with the most victory points on the cards he's accumulated when time runs out. So far pretty simple.
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The new concept:
One prominent escalation mechanism in the game is the ability to buy Locations and Equipment cards that remain in play and give you a small bonus every turn (e.g. +1 Power each turn, or first time you play x card each turn, draw a card). Accumulating these helps you to consistently generate more Power, even on turns with a bad hand.
An idea that came up from our analysis on this forum of Rune Age was the ability to attack your opponents' Remains in Play cards and gain them. I don't like the expanded mechanism of playing out a whole battle like in Rune Age but I would definitely consider some sort of modified approach. I want to encourage players to use this attack (in fact I think it would be great if it happens more frequently to encourage player interaction), but I want there to be a risk/reward balance for both the attacking player and the defending player. Here's the way I'm currently thinking of it:
1. On your turn, nominate a player and nominate one Remains in Play Equipment or one Location you want to fight them to take. You must have Power available to spend equal to or greater than the cost of the card you nominated. The attacking player may not play any further cards or use abilities until after the attack has been fully resolved.
2. The player you nominated decides whether they will counter. In order to counter, they must discard cards from their hand with a total cost equal to or greater than the cost of the nominated card. The cost can be reduced by the nominated card's Resistance, indicated by the shield symbol on the card (representing its defensibly, an average number would be 2 for a cost-5 Location). Some other cards also have Resistance on them; if you discard or reveal any of these from your hand, they cumulatively reduce the cost to counter.
3. If the defending player successfully counters, the player who made the attempted attack loses Power equal to the amount by which the defending player beat the cost to counter. In addition, the attacking player can't fight again this turn.
4. If the defending player chooses not to counter, or is not able to successfully counter, then the attacking player pays the card's cost and puts it in their discard pile. Players can make attacks more than once per turn unless they are successfully countered. Players can't attack the same opponent more than once per turn.
An example:
A Reaver player has played all his cards and has 6 Power left to spend. He sees that the Dwarf player has a Location card with cost 7 that he wants, and also feels that the Dwarf player is getting too far ahead for his own good. The Reaver player nominates that he will fight the Dwarf for the Location. He has only 6 Power and needs 7, but a card he has in play has a special ability that makes Locations cost 1 less to fight and 1 more to counter (Reavers are looters and pillagers, after all!). So the card costs 6 to fight this turn.
The Dwarf player doesn't want to give up his Location and decides to counter. The cost to counter is now 7 plus 1 for the Reaver players' card ability, so 8, but is reduced to 5 by the Location card's Resistance score of 3. The Dwarf player also has two Heroes in his hand, each with a Resistance of 1. He reveals both of them from his hand, further reducing the cost to counter down to 3. Finally, the Dwarf player discards one of the Heroes with a cost of 5.
This means that the Dwarf player has successfully countered and the Reaver player can't attack or fight again this turn (he can only buy cards). Also, since the Dwarf player beat the cost to counter by 2, the Reaver player loses 2 Power and now only has 4 left.
Let me know what you think of the new mechanic. Is it simple enough, well explained, and balanced? Does it provide enough incentive for players to attack, and make it a tough enough choice for the player who defends? The attacking player only lost 2 Power by being countered, but also can't do much else during their turn now; also, they still have to pay the cost even if they weren't countered. The defending player has to choose what he wants to lose, but can also make the other player pay in Power. I think it's currently weighted to the attacker but I think that's a good thing since encouraging players to steal stuff from each other is both in keeping with the game and also a good runaway leader stopper since other players will gang up on a player they perceive to be winning. I also felt that in this game you should almost always have enough in your hand to do something useful each turn, but that other players can attack you and hurt your hand.
