Hey guys, I need a little help from the community. I've been having trouble with part of my game idea that perhaps you guys can help me out with. Here is the story so far:
"It started with a loud crash and a flash of light as space-time was suddenly warped. Ripped from their own time periods and dimensions, various heroes and villains found themselves on a whole new world. The warpgate to return home is fast closing and they must now battle each other to get to it before it closes. Who will be the last ones standing?"
In this card battle game, the players draft characters from a pool of cards to form their own deck of combatants. They will use this deck to battle the other players and defeat all of their characters. This game doesn't use any resources or any other cards other than the character cards themselves.
I feel like there needs to be another reason for the characters to be battling. As it is, it's just a flimsy excuse to get characters from different genres together to do battle, along the lines of Marvel vs Capcom. More specifically, why should characters who have never really met before team up and do battle with foes they've never met? What do you think of this storyline and how can it improve? Bear in mind the story really doesn't affect the gameplay at all.
Survival is the greatest motivator available. The portal is closing, and the characters are fighting to get to it before it closes. Bang, you've already done your job setting up the premise! Orangebeard's addition is a nice touch, and there's certainly room for a little more detail, but you don't need an intricate plot with a strong, basic premise available.
Thanks for all the detailed input guys! I think HandwrittenAnthony has it right, it doesn't really need much more explanation. Game mechanics-wise, the character motivations do not matter. The players form decks by drafting characters from a common pool of cards. Each card is a different character, some are heroes, some are villains. The game is sort of like Marvel vs Capcom in that you can have arch-enemies on the same team.
The game by the way is called Animus. You can check it out here: http://nightstalkergames.com/animus-card-dice-game/
I am developing some expansion sets for it that will be stand-alone sets. You can play with a single set alone or combine them for more fun. Each set accommodates 2-4 players. The first set has an anime style but the other sets will have different themes and different art styles.