Howdy:
Hello:
I’m working on a “vanity”, small trading card game. It’s mainly to help people get to know each other within our hobby community – the cards feature pictures of them. My wife and I are going to print them ourselves. We thought people would get a kick out of trading cards of each other and then playing the game, including the whole “collectability” angle.
I did some research here and on other game dev forums, and hope I can get some advice on distribution of “common” vs. “rare” cards, printing of each, etc.
This looks like a good place to ask about this stuff, but if I have the wrong forum, please feel free to move it. I figured I'd better ask before I begin posting a long set of questions and stats. Any takers for the challenge? :)
Thanks for the input so far, guys!
Okay, here are the particulars. At this point, I'm fine with adjusting according to your suggestions, since I'm creating a dummy series out of marked playing cards at the moment, to simulate distribution:
I’m looking at an 800 card initial printing. I’m trying to design the printing with an 8 card sheet setup.
So, 800 will divide into just over 13 decks of 60 cards. (We may print more later, but this is what we can afford right now).
Taking the Pokemon (and other games) model, the series will be approximately 120 different cards to start.
There are four card categories – I’ll call them “People” (with photos of our friends), “Skills”, “Morale” & “Bad Karma”. The game premise is about things that can happen when performing on stage. I tried to model it after real world experiences and their frequency of occurrence.
Each set cards has a score for adding and subtracting totals. It’s not a complicated game – it’s mainly to amuse people and not take very long.
My starting understanding was that a “common” occurrence is a 50% probability – it either happens, or it doesn’t. So, here is how I first broke down the creation and printing of “Common”, “Less Common”, “Uncommon” and “Rare” cards:
I read on a game creator’s site that about 40% of the card series should be comprised of those that allow the other 60% to be played. I interpret that to be my People cards. I also read one guy recommended the cards break down into 10 Common to 4 Uncommon to 1 Rare card (with some adjustments here and there). With those proportions in mind:
People: 40%= 320 cards total – 48 different people
200 Common – (50%) 24 out of 48
85 Uncommon – (26%) 20 out of 48
10 Rare - (24%) 4 out of 48
One of these cards must be played in the first round – maybe more than one, if they have it. Each card has the same starting score value of 20 points right now.
Skills: 30%= 240 Total Approximately 27 different cards
120 Common (50%) 6 different skills
84 Less Common (35%) 5 different skills
24 Uncommon (10%) 6 different skills
10 Rare (4%) 8 different skills
2 Very Rare (>1%) 2 different skills
More than one can be played at a time, but probably no more than 2 or 3. Points range from 10 to 25, depending on rarity, mostly.
Morale: 15%= 120 Total Approximately 39 different cards (Good things that happen to People)
60 Common (50%) 8 different events
42 Uncommon (35%) 22 different events
16 Rare (13%) 4 different events
2 Very Rare (2%) 5 different events
More than one can be played at a time – not sure how much to limit it yet. Points range from 5 to 20.
Bad Karma: 15%= 120 Total 38 different cards (Mishaps that occur both off & on stage)
60 Common (50%) 7 different mishaps
48 Less Common (40%) 19 different mishaps
10 Rare (8.5 %) 10 different mishaps
2 Very Rare (1.5%) 2 different mishaps
More than one card can be played – again, not sure if there should be a limit. Probably not. Points range from 15 to 35.
Gameplay
Starting play: All players shuffle their 60 card decks, dealing out 40 for playing the game. Each player then draws a 7 card hand.
They lay one or more People cards face up, along with one or more Skills cards. Once these are revealed, if there are more than 2 players, the top two scores square off for the next round while the other(s) sits out the rest of the round. In the second round, the Morale and Bad Karma cards are played against the opposite player. In the final round, more Bad Karma cards can be played. Whoever has the highest score left is the winner of that round.
I’m still fuzzy on how a player wins, but the first likely scenario goes like this: At the end of each round, the winner sets aside their winning Person card as a sort of tally of how many times they’ve won a set of 3 rounds. All the other cards non-People cards played are put into a discard pile. At that time, the players who’ve used cards may draw to complete a 7 card hand again. Then a new set of 3 rounds begins.
I’m concerned that there could be ties, so I’m not sure how to settle those, and I’m not sure how to otherwise end a game, unless it’s sort of a “last man standing” scenario where whoever still has People cards left wins.
Anyway, when that end is reached, the players return their discards back into the remaining 20, shuffle, and start again.
So, from what I've posted, do I need more People, so I don’t repeat so much? My first assumption was that a “balanced” deck would contain rough ratio of 1 People, 1 Skill, 2 – 3 Morale & 1-2 Bad Karma.