Help with "backstory" and/or theme needed

I almost forgot... The points you have in the game (for scoring) are called "Tribute Points". A loss, is considered "shameful" and therefore NEGATIVE attacks serve to "shame" a player. POSITIVE attack serve to "honor" a player and therefore PLUS values add points to the attacking player's Tribute "points".

BUT still the 50 Tribute Points START and falling to ZERO (0) all doesn't make "thematic" sense.

Yes, the game is very FUNCTIONAL. But it's problems are lack of "theme" working together with all the "rules".

Sorry forgot to mention the "Tribute" Points... Still a lot of the THEME needs to be worked on.

The GAME "works" and is very FUN. But there are aspects which tend to give the game's theme as not being coherent.

No the game is nothing like Magic (MtG). The game is played on a Dynamic 5 x 5 grid which lends itself to my inspiration which was Tic-Tac-Toe. As such there is a very STRONG "Area Control" aspect where you try to FORCE your opponent to make a "territorial" mistake or play a card that may advantage your troops. For a 4 Player game the grid is 7 x 7.

There are no lands, spells or taping. Your units do attack each other based on "chess-like" attack patterns. This is borrowed from chess and makes the game primarily a Tic-Tac-Toe/Chess type of game. Simple to play, hard to master.

You do however play "units" into the "Monster Keep" (MK) and you start with 50 Tribute Points ... which I think I will change to "Morale" Points as per the various suggestions in this thread. You MUST play only one (1) "unit" per turn. As such the game lasts for only 12 rounds and takes about 20 minutes for 2 Players and 45 minutes for 4 Players.

And yes I did "borrow" the Summoning Sickness from MtG ... Because otherwise it would be completely unfair for Player #1 who would be going first all the time and allowing the opponent the opportunity to capitalize on HIS/HER move (as a counter). Having a 4 card hand helps by offering more alternatives and works like a counter-balance to being the first player.

So the only common aspect to MtG is "Summoning Sickness". And like I said I didn't have a way to EXPLAIN this.

That doesn't seem like something I would choose to say. Maybe a "unit" is "not ready" to receive orders until the next turn. IDK!!!

(In relation to how this game is played)

A turn is divided into three (3) phases:

1. Draw one (1) card from your Micro Deck and place it in your hand. You MUST do this once per turn.

2. Play one (1) card from your hand into the grid (5x5 or 7x7). You MUST do this once per turn.

3. Battle/Skirmish (Optional). You may attack one (1) opposing card which is already in play. However you may not attack with the card your have played in Phase #2.

It's not much more complicated than that. I know it sounds very simple. It's actually much more strategic and sometimes a game can be won by a single "skirmish" that occurred in the middle of the game. Other times, it can be continual battling each turn, one after the other. Like I said it varies according to the cards you have in your hands.

Since middle February, I have about 2 months worth of playtesting. Many different outcomes (in terms of points) and the winner sometimes is a swingy thing, other times it's more predictable. Sometimes playing a card can seem like the RIGHT thing to do... And it turns out to be a BAD move.

So it's very much "tactical" too... As you would expect from a game inspired by "Tic-Tac-Toe". The Area Control is magnified by the chess-like attacks which means you can't always attack whomever you want, whenever you like.

Sometimes there are battles to control parts of the board (territory).

Like I said, I've been having FUN trying all kinds of variants and games with different strategies, learning what to do and what not to do, etc.

Based on everyone's input, I have put together a "recap" of HOW each one of the earlier "pain-points" has been addressed. Here I go:

• You DRAW a card at the end of your Turn.

Instead Player #1 starts with a hand of 3 cards and all other players start with only 2 cards. At the START of each player's Turn, they DRAW +1 Card.

Again like @Jason suggested, most game draw at the beginning and it's a bit WEIRD not doing it this way,

• When you PLAY a card into the Keep, it cannot attack THIS turn.

So by altering the Phases in a Turn, this issue resolves itself. @Jason again thanks for pointing this out. It's a small "tweak" to the rules... but it makes a BIG difference. So a turn looks like:

1. Draw one (1) card from your Micro Deck and place it in your hand. You MUST do this once per turn.

2. Battle/Skirmish (Optional). You may attack one (1) opposing card which is already in play.

3. Play one (1) card from your hand into the grid (5x5 or 7x7). You MUST do this once per turn.

By battling/skirmishing BEFORE playing another card into the play area, you make it no longer necessary to "force" a wait on the card being played. Since it happens at the END of your turn and battles/skirmishes happen before, naturally it makes it that the card played at the end of your turn MUST wait until its next turn to attack (if possible).

• Going back to the DRAWING of cards and HAND SIZE.

I'm preserving the four (4) card advantage for Player #1. At the start of the game, players draw 2 cards from their Micro Decks. In addition, Player #1 draws an ADDITIONAL +1 Card at the start of the game.

This means that Player #1 will always have a hand of 4 cards versus only 3 cards for the other players. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

• From whom do you LOSE points from?

So this I am changing thanks to @Wob and @Tim. Instead of having "Tribute" points, I will have "Morale" points. Each player starts with 50 "Morale" points and morale can go UP or DOWN depending on the card battles during the game.

It makes 100% sense, if you LOSE a battle effectively you "lower" your overall morale too. I you WIN a battle you also "boost" your morale too. So thanks for that suggestion, it makes 100% sense too!

Thank you all for your input... I'm good to go do a bunch of playtests to see if the results of your contributions will work well with the design.

Cheers!

I've been playtesting a couple games in-between my activities ... and ... well so far there doesn't seem to be any "negative" effects to changing the order of things.

Remember that I also changed the "Card Draws" to the START of a player's turn, in addition to moving the "skirmishes" as the optional second phase of a turn too.

So there were a few changes ... wanted to get a grasp at the deeper impact. And my conclusion so far is that there are no "swingy" consequences. Just a change in how you play the turn (which seems FINE to me)!

Thank you all for your help. Usually when we help a Game Designer, they disappear (back into their man-caves) ... So I wanted to simply thank you all. The input was much needed and rather "to-the-point"! It's not always obvious when you've worked for months on a design ... to not be able to see that all you needed was a re-sequencing of a turn to simplify the game and make it more understandable to the "average" human being (or gamer).

Cheers!