Thursday, May 24, 2012

[Open Design: Mercenaries #5] Designing Mercenary Cards

Monday I posted a working model for this game. Using this model, we’ll be able to begin playtesting once we have the necessary components in place. The first set of components we’ll need is the 60 card deck of mercenary cards. I could really use your help in designing these cards. I’ll explain the format below, and then give a few examples to get us started.


The Format for a Mercenary Card

[Name] (Each card should have a unique name.)
[Descriptive Text] (This is simply to add some flavor. It should generally consist of an adjective and a noun.)

Tags: [specific tags that apply to this card] (Tags, or keywords, are an idea that gets used in a lot of collectable card games, and I think it could work well for this game. Tags are just single words or short phrases that have no mechanical effect in themselves, but they can be referred to by rules on other cards. It is basically a way to create loose categories for cards and assign an individual card to one or more of those categories.)

Combat Power: [value from 0-5] (Only use 0 if the card has a very good ability, and only use 5 if the card has a very poor ability.)

Hiring: [describe how this card should be auctioned] (Use mostly open auctions.)

[Ability Name]: [describe the card’s ability]

[Qoute] (This is just to add more flavor.)


Example Mercenary Cards

James Tucker
Noble Commander
Tags: Captain, Falcon Force, Veteran
Combat Power: 2
Hiring: Open Auction
Falcon Leader: Other Falcon Force mercenaries in your army have +2 Combat Power.
“Stick together and follow my lead.”

Kayla Dumas
Cunning Sniper
Tags: Artillery, Falcon Force, Stealth
Combat Power: 0
Hiring: Open Auction
Find the Weakest Link: Kayla gains a bonus to Combat Power equal to the highest number of mercenary cards in an opponent’s army.
“The more enemies on the battlefield, the easier to choose a target.”

Alec Ingles
Resourceful Tactician
Tags: Falcon Force, Rookie
Combat Power: 1
Hiring: Open Auction
Tactical Redeployment: You can return any mercenary card to your hand and play a different one in its place.
“It’s all about who you know and where you put them.”

“Black Scorpion”
Cyborg Assassin
Tags: Cyborg, Stealth
Combat Power: 0
Hiring: Sealed Auction
Assassination: Turn 1 mercenary card in play face down. (Face down mercenary cards do not count their Combat Power towards that player’s total.)
“Show me which obstacle you need removed.”

Toby Drake
Eager Apprentice
Tags: Rookie
Combat Power: 1
Hiring: Open Auction
Quick Learner: Drake gains a bonus to Combat Power equal to the number of Veteran cards in your army.
“I’ll follow your lead, Sir.”

“Sledgehammer”
Brute Force
Tags: Mech
Combat Power: 4
Hiring: Open Auction (30 Credit Reserve)
Devastating Blow: At the end of the Conquering Phase, choose 1 mercenary from an opponent’s army. Your opponent cannot play that card during the next Conquering Phase.
“That’ll hurt in the morning.”

John “Grizzly” Hancock
Bitter Veteran
Tags: Mech, Veteran
Combat Power: 3
Hiring: Once Around Auction (starting with the player with the most Veteran cards in their hand and going down)
Battlefield Experience: Turn 2 Rookie mercenary cards in play face down. (Face down mercenary cards do not count their Combat Power towards that player’s total.)
“Newbs never saw it coming.”



Your Ideas

Right now, you can help by contributing your own ideas for mercenary cards. Feel free to submit any ideas you have in the comments to this post. You can submit just a general concept for a character or an ability, or you can post a full mercenary using the format above. Hopefully, the examples above will give you some idea of how the mercenary cards should work. If you have any questions about specifics, please ask. I’ll be happy to try to clear anything up for you.

One important thing to emphasize is that cards should tend to interact with each other as much as possible. Tags are a great way to make this happen. Another important thing is to try to keep cards more-or-less equal. Their individual value should depend mostly on circumstances, and the other cards you have to use with them. As an example of both of these principles, James Tucker isn’t especially great on his own, but if you already have Kayla Dumas and Alec Ingles then he’s suddenly a lot more valuable to you.

I’ll look forward to reading your submissions. We’ll need a total of 60 mercenary cards, so post as many as you would like!


25 comments:

  1. Here is at least one character I have thought of so far.

    Name: Rhoda Shaw
    Descriptive Text: Heavy-hitting Sharp-shooter
    Tag: anti-tank/-mech, artillery
    Combat Power: 3
    Hiring: Open Auction (20 Credits reserved)
    Ability Name:
    Expensive Paper Weights: turn any mech pilot
    cards with a Combat Power from 3-5 face
    down. (Face down mercenary cards do not
    count their Combat Power toward that
    player's total.)
    Quote: "That armor they where is just like their egos, then I bring them back down to reality"

    As said, that's only one, and if that needs a little tinkering, then let anyone please let me know. I'll try to make at least 19 more

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice concept! You're on the right track here. Thanks for the help. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your ideas.

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  2. I'm going to try working on this some, it's been a very busy week/weekend so I've not been able to try and sit down and focus on it, but it's my plan to. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. ^_^

      Delete
  3. Here is another one:

    Sasha King
    Judicious Recruiter
    Tags: Captain
    Combat Power: 2
    Hiring: Once Around, starting with acting player and going clockwise (10 Credit Reserve)
    Recruiting Agent: Look at the top 5 cards of the mercenary deck. Return each of those cards to the top or bottom of the deck in any order.
    “We may be mercenaries, but we don't hire just anybody. Let's see who makes the cut.”

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have one card and I'm working on and I'm trying not to over-power him...

    Name: Tietam Aryl
    Troubled Prodigy
    Tags:? (Maybe something like Natural fighter? Or Talented? I dunno how I'd tag this one this idea came to me kinda half-formed lol)
    Combat Power: 0
    Hiring: Sealed auction (not sure if there can be a reserve on he sealed ones)
    It's Always the Quiet Ones: If Tietam is the last remaining face up card in a players' army, he receives a combat bonus equal to number of face-down cards in that player's army.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like this idea. Coincidentally, it would work really well with another card I was about to post.

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    2. Oh nice! I'm glad you like it, this is fun but more challenging than I originally thought. I keep finding I'm coming up with partial ideas and then struggling a little to figure out how they fit into the over-all scheme of things.

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    3. I'm glad you're having fun. Feel free to post even partial ideas. Ideas are valuable, and it could be that someone else might be able to think of the requisite details to match your ideas.

      Delete
  5. Sergei Baranova
    Acquisitions Expert
    Tags: Admin
    Combat Power: 1
    Hiring: Set Price (10 Credits), starting with player with the least credits and going up.
    Cash Out: Turn any number of your mercenary cards face down. Gain 1 credit per card you turn.
    “I see a quicker path to riches.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This card offers an interesting trick. Basically, near the end of the Conquering Phase, if it seems obvious you aren't going to win this battle, you could effectively gain credits as if you had chosen to hold every turn instead of playing merc cards. Coincidentally, this card could also combo really well with humandisaster's Tietam Aryl. ^_^

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    2. Yeah definitely! I can see the two of them working together nicely!

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  6. Dustan Isles
    Rugged Scout
    Tags: Recon, Stealth
    Combat Power: 3
    Hiring: Open Auction
    Scout Ahead: Search the territory deck for a card of your choice. Shuffle the territory deck and place that card on top of the deck.
    “I've scouted the path. We're all clear to advance.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh man...I was just about to post a Scout type of character lol.

      Only I was thinking maybe he'd give an attack bonus of +1 to any other face up cards in a player's army but only for locations with certain tags. Or something like that.

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    2. That sounds like a cool idea. Maybe it could be with Wilderness territories, or something like that. There's no reason why we can't have more than one scout in the deck. Actually, a character like that would have pretty good synergy with Dustan.

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    3. Considering having more than onen type of character, should we have a limited number for certain types? An example may be how many medic type cards, which could be kept scarce for their value. The main drawback would probably be monopolizing, which although strategic, could possibly make a case-in--point of some one that is no longer dsirable to be played with.

      If we do go with this, then the right type of classes have to be selected. What do you guy's think?

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    4. Hmm... You have some good thoughts here. Obviously, we don't want to have too many similar characters. Certain types of abilities should probably be more rare than others, too. In general, I think any more than 5 or 6 characters of a particular type is probably excessive, but that's just my gut feeling. On the other hand, I think it would be a shame to veto a good idea simply because we already have 5 Artillery mercs, as an example.

      Also, remember that there can be a gap in what a merc is conceptually and mechanically. For example, I might have an idea for a medic-type character, but mechanically the card may have nothing to do with healing or recovering allied mercs.

      I think it might be best to simply use your better judgement for now. If you have any idea for a character, go ahead and post it, so long as the card's ability won't be too similar to something someone else has already posted. I think as we create more characters that fall into a general category, we'll have a harder time coming up with new ideas for characters that would fall into that category. In other words, I think this issue is somewhat self-regulating.

      Further thoughts and discussion are, of course, welcome. ^_^

      Delete
  7. Theodore "Doc" Hooper
    Battlefield Surgeon
    Tags: Medic
    Combat Power: 1
    Hiring: Open Auction
    Back Up and Fighting: Turn one of your face down mercenary card face up.
    “I'll have you back in the fray in no time. Just bite on this.”

    ReplyDelete
  8. “Hummingbird”
    Aerial Transport
    Tags: Aerial, Mech
    Combat Power: 0
    Hiring: Open Auction (20 Credit Reserve)
    Troop Drop-off: Immediately play 1 or 2 non-Mech mercenaries from your hand.
    “Have a nice flight. Don't forget to pull the cord.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. Val Thaos
    Eye in the Sky
    Tags: Aerial, Cyborg
    Combat Power: 2
    Hiring: Sealed Auction
    Spotter: Artillery mercenaries in your army have +2 Combat Power.
    “I can see everything from up here, and all I see is death.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And that makes 15 mercs so far - 1/4 of the total we need!

      Delete
  10. Gabriel Jones
    Ruthless Conqueror
    Tags: Captain
    Combat Power: 3
    Hiring: Open Auction (50 Credit Reserve)
    Scorched Earth Tactics: At the end of the Conquering Phase, if you did not win the territory, you can discard this mercenary to discard the territory.
    “I can see everything from up here, and all I see is death.”


    Basically, if you don't win a particular Conquering Phase, you can discard this card to prevent any opponent from taking the territory card. The fact that you discard this card to do it means you can only use this ability once, which I think might be good because it's a pretty strong ability. It will probably need some playtesting to see how balanced it is, though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hayao Takagi
    Mechanical Progeny
    Tags: Rookie
    Combat Power: 1
    Hiring: Open Auction
    Fine Tuned Machines: Turn Hayao Takagi face down to give a Mech mercenary in your army +3 Combat Power.
    “I think I can get another two clicks out of this with just the right adjustment.”

    ReplyDelete
  12. “Hornets’ Nest”
    Anti-air Walker
    Tags: Artillery, Mech
    Combat Power: 3
    Hiring: Open Auction (20 Credit Reserve)
    Ground-to-Air Missiles: Aerial cards played by other players have -1 Combat Power.
    “Any low-flying aircraft are going to get stung.”

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kara Loft
    Fortune Huntress
    Tags: Cyborg
    Combat Power: 2
    Hiring: Sealed Auction
    Spoils of War: If you win this Conquering Phase, you gain 5 Credits.
    “It’s not about right and wrong, it’s about what makes me rich.”

    ReplyDelete