Hi all.
A while back I feel in goofy nerd love with the Cybart collection of clip art on Microsoft office. Take a sec and look: they're damn adorable.
I got to thinking how the little guys got put into all sorts of situations for Office Suite users: computing, walkin' around lookin' like stuff, dotting presentations with goofy characters. I liked them so much I designed a game around them...that was monstrous. Just...ew. I like the engine, but my execution was flawed, and the big issue was most definitely going to be getting permission to use actual Cybart pics in the game itself.
So I put the game aside, worked on an atrocious steampunk mess that I then tabled, got Rayguns and Rocketships to a good place and thought again of my little Cybs just chillaxin' in Office.
I simplified the game to an insane degree, inspired by the Dvorak idea of "That should totally be a card."
Here are the rules.
1) It's NCCG as a marketing scheme, but you still need to customise a deck. Your deck should run 50-75 cards.
2) The game starts with players drawing 10, keeping 8.
3) Turns go like this: Draw to 7 cards. Play up to 5 Things or Sets (explained...chill). Draw to 5 cards if you have less than five or discard to 7 if you have more than 7. Pass to the right.
4) Players can win by having 50-points worth of Things in play OR by completing 3 Sets.
The cards themselves are like this:
-- THINGS: Permanent cards. Almost all have some kind of "always on" ability like changes to hand size, extra draws, etc. Each is worth 0-? points (don't want to go TOO high); maybe do something here with highest Thing Score getting some kind of bonus.
-- ACTIONS: Quick-play, hit-and-fade types (instants in MTG, Traps/Spells in YGO, etc.). Come in Me, You, and Us flavors; Me for your turn, You for other players turns, Us for any time.
-- SETS: Sets look like things with no value. However, each has 4-6 other cards listed as a collection. They follow logic like "Weapons" or "Houses" or something like that. Only the cards listed on the Set count towards the set (some will be generic-friendly, but not many). Sets can have Thing/Action component parts; to keep a card on a Set without tripping its ability, you can play it inverted ("Stashing"). Stashed cards stay in play with the Set, but don't count towards your 50-points-worth-of-Things.
I have a few ideas for sets, but would love some more. Also looking for people to help author cards and such. I don't want Big Big Superpower cards (well, not many)-- some basic utility cards are better. Stuff like extra draws, discards, getting specific cards from your deck, etc. I also need a name. I thought about "Curator" but that seems kinda lame.
Here's the sets I've come up with:
Vowels, Rocketships, Rayguns, Robots, Drinks, Foods, Emoticons, Blades, Guns, Cars, Trucks, Planes, Houses, Computers, Storage Media, Birds, Plants, Dinosaurs, Cybart, Days, Music Styles, Flowers, Spices, Clothes, Stuff That's Cold, Stuff that's Hot, Crimes, B/W pictures, SCIENCE!, Body Parts
I also have some ideas for Keyword mechanics as well (others welcome, but I don't want to destroy the simplicity here with loads of Keywords to balance out):
GEL: When this Action is played, it stays on the table like a Thing, but still counts as an action.
MELT: Discard this Thing to use its ability any time you can use a "We" action.
FOSSIL: You can use this card's ability in the discard pile one time and then remove it from the game.
ARCHIVE: You can put this card back as the top card of your deck.
ALL SUBMISSIONS ON THIS THREAD OR IN PRIVATE MESSAGES WILL BE GIVEN SERIOUS CONSIDERATION FOR INCLUSION INTO PLAYTESTING THE GAME...as long as you don't submit "Playing this card instantly wins you the game" or something similar. Be real.
