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i need a theme

15 replies [Last post]
Thu, 01/31/2019 - 10:42
wob
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Joined: 06/09/2017

hello again.
whilst procrastinating on my main game i tend to think up little, light fillers.
one of my latest is a version of "royal marriage" or " "lovers" patience. with some extra rules, scoring and cards.
i can write up some rules if necessary but you are basically trying to clear a deck of cards by pairing suit or rank.
in my version there are 12 ranks, 4 suits and 6 special cards to give 1 time powers.

the theme i have at the moment is matchmaking at a recency ball. you can match by status (suit) or love (rank) and have staff to give powers.

this is ok. it fits fine (the regency attitude to gay marriage is just being ignored) but it just doesnt interest me as a theme.

any suggestions welcome.

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Thu, 01/31/2019 - 16:01
#1
questccg
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What about...

A "Martial Arts" tournament... Matchmaking can be done based on the Weapon chosen (Suit) or related to the Experience Level (Rank). You don't necessarily need to "resolve" the battles... The idea is that you are the "Dojo Master" and you are configuring teams of two (2) combatants to engage each other... The "Dojo Master" can also give special cards for those 1 time powers too...

If you don't like the idea... That's okay too. I just thought I'd give it a try (to match a theme to your game).

Cheers!

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Thu, 01/31/2019 - 18:21
#2
questccg
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TMNT weapons selection

Go with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "weapon" selection:

Raphael [Red]: Sai (Daggers)
Leonardo [Blue]: Katana (Sword)
Donatello [Purple]: Bo (Staff)
Michelangelo [Orange]: Nunchaku (Nunchucks)

That could be your "suits" ... And the levels might prove to be a bit more challenging since Martial Arts like Karate only have 10 levels (not 12 like in your case).

But never the less, I guess you get the idea!

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Fri, 02/01/2019 - 00:20
#3
Fri
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Food and drink pairings

Players could be chefs trying to create food pairings. One way to pair would be quality. Hamburger and fries would be one "rank" and steak and lobster could be another. I was thinking the suits could be something like main courses, sides, appetizers and drinks. Special abilities could be a granted with either spice or recipe cards. Another possibility is to give the player a special ability for making a complete meal.

Feel free to disregard, use or improve upon.

Good luck with your game.

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Fri, 02/01/2019 - 08:59
#4
Fri
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Flowers quantity and kind

Players could be florist trying to make bouquets. Cards could have the number of flowers which would correspond to rank and a kind of flower that would correspond to suit. There could be vases cards to grant special abilities.

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Fri, 02/01/2019 - 09:22
#5
let-off studios
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Internet Search

Whenever I need to come up with an idea quickly and I'm near a computer (as I don't have a smartphone), I do a search for "things that..." and see what happens. In your case, I did a search for "things that come in pairs" which brought up a nice list...

https://eslgold.com/vocabulary-words-and-phrases/pairs/

...And "things that need to be repaired," which returned some cool stuff. Here's one:

https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-ways-to-fix-broken-stuff/

Oh, and I immediately thought of lock-picking, too, when I saw your examples. You have spare tension bars (your 1-time use cards) and need to match pairs to push the tumblers out of the way.

EDIT: And you can use one suit as the timer. Clubs, for example, represent the security forces/guards. Maybe another suit represents you having some way to overcome them or distract them.

When all else fails, have a look at the Random Creative Idea Generator. You never know what you'll end up with:

http://ideagenerator.creativitygames.net/

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Fri, 02/01/2019 - 12:55
#6
Tim Edwards
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Fri wrote:Players could be

Fri wrote:
Players could be florist trying to make bouquets. Cards could have the number of flowers which would correspond to rank and a kind of flower that would correspond to suit. There could be vases cards to grant special abilities.

I like this one. Think how beautiful it could look as a deck.

In the same way, maybe tropical fish?

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Fri, 02/01/2019 - 17:03
#7
apeloverage
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Joined: 08/01/2008
Titles for 80s videos.

Titles for 80s videos. "DEATH" + "COP" = "DEATH COP!"

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Sat, 02/02/2019 - 09:01
#8
wob
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thanks for the suggestions so

thanks for the suggestions so far guys. the 80s movie idea is funny, unfortunately i cant think how to divide it up.
the idea of fish and or flowers would make for a beautiful deck of cards. but i think the numbers are a little too close to standard cards and i am trying to disguise the connection a bit.

so far i do like the dojo/fighting idea the most. i might change it to more of a "blood sport" movie theme. with 4 levels (beginner, amateur, professional, master) and 12 weapons (sword, bow staff, bare hands etc).
it is easier to pair by suit so thematically i can justify that by saying "the people dont care about skill, or honour, they want blood" and an expert swordsman vs a beginner would certainly be bloody.

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Sat, 02/02/2019 - 11:01
#9
Tim Edwards
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Roman gladiators?

Roman gladiators?

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Sun, 02/03/2019 - 00:57
#10
Fri
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Joined: 09/06/2017
Robot gladiators

Or robot gladiators. You could create robot weapon pairings. Or you could have the robot fight each other. Or you could do both by having robots that have been paired with weapons fight each other

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Mon, 02/04/2019 - 11:21
#11
wob
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some interesting ideas so

some interesting ideas so far, thanks.
the thing i am having a problem with is that each "rank" must fit into t he 4 "suits". ie people at a ball that come from different parts of society (gentry, upper, middle, lower class) and have different loves (art, money, nature). so a person could love nature and be from any class, or be gentry and have any of the loves.
to complicate things a little more i also need a thematic reason to take out single cards (in the ball they are literally single people)

i had a thought about gene splicing. the suits could be animal types (mammal, bird, fish, reptile) and the ranks characteristics (loyal, ferocious, intelligent).
so you could combine 2 mammals (boring, easier and less points) or two characteristics from different species to make a loyal capybara-cuda (harder, higher points) and un paired cards are "damaged genes" (negative points)

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Mon, 02/04/2019 - 12:23
#12
Tim Edwards
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Alliances between countries/

Alliances between countries/ kingdoms?

You could match categories like communism, capitalism, etc

Might also be logical partnerships between countries of similar size, wealth, ideology, location, religion...

Could be a sort of alternative pre-ww1 theme, or a fantasy setting.

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Mon, 02/04/2019 - 12:44
#13
wob
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thanks tim. it certainly

thanks tim. it certainly adresses the rank pairing ie
"germany and france make an arms treaty" (germany/france= heats/spades. arms =ace).
but i cant think why i would pair by suit "german arms (ace of hearts) pairs with german farming (2 of hearts)" except maybe fertilizer bombs.

i also cant think of a justification for discarding single cards, maybe UN sanctions?

again thanks to everyone for their suggestions, i guess there is a reason for simple suits and ranks.

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Mon, 02/04/2019 - 21:56
#14
Tim Edwards
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wob wrote:thanks tim. it

wob wrote:
thanks tim. it certainly adresses the rank pairing ie
"germany and france make an arms treaty" (germany/france= heats/spades. arms =ace).
but i cant think why i would pair by suit "german arms (ace of hearts) pairs with german farming (2 of hearts)" except maybe fertilizer bombs.

i also cant think of a justification for discarding single cards, maybe UN sanctions?

again thanks to everyone for their suggestions, i guess there is a reason for simple suits and ranks.

I was thinking of the countries as individual cards with shared ranks and suits.
So, suits might be

Monarchy
Democracy
Communist
Theocracy

If I understand it, similar suits can "marry"? That would make sense. Birds of a feather...(oh, if you made it about birds, that's the name of the game! ....)

Ranking could be wealth - as I think it was in your original theme.

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Tue, 02/05/2019 - 19:05
#15
Fri
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2 person sport team pairings

So maybe you could have some sports theme were you create two person teams. This would work for wrestling(tag team), tennis, volleyball and probably other sports I am not thinking of. Wrestlers could all have the same allegiance. If it was tennis or volleyball players could have the same coach or be at the same tennis/volleyball club. Rank could represent their players skill in that particular sport. Players of the same skill level or players from the same school can be paired. Special cards could be exhibition matches or scouted pairings or pickup game.

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