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Looking for a nice eventcard mechanic

5 replies [Last post]
Thu, 07/24/2014 - 09:10
Joska Paszli
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Joined: 05/25/2012

I am working on an boardgame, fantasy wargame based...

http://joskapaszli.wix.com/thewargame

and looking for a nice way to introduce an eventcard system... i want to add randomness to tip in a small way the balance in the game

Lets few some examples,

Bloodbowl allows u to play a single evencard i think per gamehalf... at a moment the players likes... this card is -i think- always in the players favour. So he decide when to take advantage of the benefit.

Battlelore 2nd edition uses lore cards which allows the player to tip the balance

The system i prefer is that the card played by a player is in favour of that player.
But additional options arise.... when one card a turn for each side is a maximum and maybe on average 1 card every 2 turns is better... should the player have more cards at his disposal where he choose from?

Lets say a card allows the player to let the enemy battlestandard stumble over and the battle standard bonus can not e used in that turn than that card only has value when a battle standard is in play.... so if the mechanic allows the player to discard the event card cuz its useless than it aint a real "event" as events simply do happen :)

Also imo in battlelore for example the hassle of getting cards and lore tokens is too much management. somehow the player must get easy access to an event and dont have to spent minutes thinking which one to play when... so perhaps a limited number for the whole game lets say 5 will do. at start drawn from a pile... he knows which one these are and can play them when he likes.

Anyone has more and better ideas on this?

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Thu, 07/24/2014 - 16:27
#1
MalthusX
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Joined: 04/29/2013
Two-Tier Event Cards

How about limiting the number of cards, but have the event card do different things depending on the situation? For your example you can have a card that tumble the banner when the banner is play, but will provide a lesser (though still useful) bonus if the banner isn't.

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Thu, 07/24/2014 - 16:55
#2
Joska Paszli
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Joined: 05/25/2012
yes that was i thinking as

yes that was i thinking as well.... i could make the events more global so instead of the bearer falling i can make it that any type of leader could be harmed... so eve if the standard is already down a spellcaster or commander will still be present,.... but this i consider more as a plan B.... i am looking for a more exotic mechanic....

I want also to discuss how "realistic" or fun it would be if the player holds a few event cards where it can choose from...

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Wed, 07/30/2014 - 17:48
#3
ruy343
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Joined: 07/03/2013
Timers

You could have an arbitrary number of cards in front of you (say 3) that you could use throughout the game whenever you wish. Whenever you gain a bonus towards your powers (The term you used is "lore", yes?) you put a lore token on the card. The cards have a certain number of lore required to be able to play the benefit, and when you get enough, you get the chance to use it. You flip the card over, take the ability, and discard it.

However, you could lose the bonus if you try to hold on to it for to much longer. If you have to put a third one onto a two-lore card, it must be discarded. Thus, the more powerful, later-game bonuses are unavailable if you want to hold on to all of your early game bonuses and the chance to play those.

An alternative is to have every time you gain a lore point to add to the rest of your cards, while taking one away from the lower-value cards. Maybe you accumulate the lore points through combat, or though something dependent on other players' actions, meaning that you don't know exactly when you'll have access to the power you want. As a result, a player might decide to use it now, rather than lose it.

You could also make powers re-usable, and the weaker ones have a lower charge up value, meaning that you can re-use them more frequently, but again, you have less control over when you get to use them.

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Thu, 07/31/2014 - 07:04
#4
X3M
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Joined: 10/28/2013
some suggestions

You could put 2 or 3 events on one card. The player has to choose one when he/she wants. But the other option(s) are automatically discarded once one is played. This way a player can gave 9 options with just 3 cards.

Another way is to gave just one option. But then forcing the player to discard another card once he/she plays one.

Of course you could force the player to have a maximum. And thus discarding after taking a card from the deck. You could make it so that other players decide for you which one is discarded. In that case the player is forced to play unwanted events just to keep a good one.

I hope this was of use.

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Fri, 08/01/2014 - 19:54
#5
Word Nerd
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Joined: 02/02/2012
Event cards

Suppose...

Each team/side has an aggregate value of training, discipline and morale, sufficient to avoid unfortunate battlefield events (express this as points). However, conditions change, and eventually something fails, and an unhappy event occurs, involving someone on the battlefield (resolved randomly versus a table).

So let's say I have enough discipline to govern 8 out of 10 units, leaving a 20% chance that perhaps one unit may falter. Roll d10, and resolve an event if a player gets a 1 or 2. These events could be particular for each unit (e.g. sappers ~ cave in), or could be selected randomly from a table.

In this way, the likelihood of an event remains pretty much constant, yet the actual events in question are still relatively unpredictable.

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