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Different kind of card mechanics

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tomi71
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Joined: 07/28/2008

When a boardgame uses cards to cause different things in a game: disasters, combats etc. I wonder what could be done differently?

I now have a system where players draw/re-fill their hand up to five cards and play one card at a time in a clockwise order. If a card has a cost then they must pay it by their resource tokens etc. I also have a bartering system where you can play a card someone else played if you hand him a card from your hand.

I wonder what else could be there? I know it´s a very wide question but I think I need something new. Can you suggest anything?

What are the new trends in hand management?

How could I reduce randomness when players get their cards? I know there are auction systems etc. but I would really want it to be fast and not take too much attention as if that mechanism was a game of it´s own.

Something fast but clever. I already like the bartering system and I don´t know if any game uses that kind of mechanics but what else could there be? I don´t think that trading could be an answer also since many of these cards are sort of a like "take that!" cards where you can cause your opponents area many kind of natural disasters e.g volcano or asteroid impact etc.

Any thoughts or ideas?

tomi71
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Joined: 07/28/2008
I came up with an idea that

I came up with an idea that playing cards could be a resource as well in a sense that if you play a card that has a cost say 5 then you must pay it with your other cards face down (1 card and 4 face down or 1 card and 5 face down). I guess some card games use that kind of a mechanic. I must test it.

ccube78
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Joined: 08/12/2009
Race for the Galaxy uses

Race for the Galaxy uses cards as resources. To play a card, you need to pay a cost by discarding the number of cards equal to the cost. World of WarCraft cardgame uses face-down cards as resources (or equivalent to lands in Magic the Gathering) that can be tapped to pay costs.

These are the 2 games that I know of that uses cards as resources.

scifiantihero
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Joined: 07/08/2009
You could . . .

have the cards divided into piles. So, it still will be a random castle (for example) that you will draw, but at least you know you needed a castle and you're getting one. If you're looking for a specific sized castle, maybe you'll have to spend the resources (cards that might not be as good) to draw deeper into the castle deck. Nothing particularly original about this, but it reduces randomness in a way that might be very acceptable for some games, without taking much extra time at all.

:)

sedjtroll
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Joined: 07/21/2008
again about cards as a resource

I was going to mention paying cards as a resource, but I see that you've figured that one out already!

I like your barter system mostly because it means you can do an action you don't have access to (play a card you don't hold), at the cost of paying a card you DO hold. It's like Puerto Rico in that playing a card gives everyone the chance to do what's on the card, but you get the bonus of them having to pay you.

It might be too good to collect 1 card per player, maybe anyone wanting to do the action has to throw a card into the middle of the table, and your bonus is that you get to take one of those discarded cards into your hand. In this way you can try and maximize the utility of your hand.

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