[Will the Emperor Fall] RPG card game in need of mechanics

[Mike Holmes]

There are a number of things that you can do. What Universalis does is to essentially make participation contingent on good participation. That is, if you do well, you get rewarded with currency that allows you to do more.

Sorry, but it's hard not to just point at Universalis as having solved all of the problems that you're looking to solve. In fact, you've got me thinking that next time I play Uni, that I'll gimmick in the use of a tarot deck or something.

Mike

[matthijs]

Sorry, but it's hard not to just point at Universalis as having solved all of the problems that you're looking to solve.

Well, hey, I'm not designing the world's first RPG, so I shouldn't really be surprised that someone else has solved these problems before me ;) Thanks for the pointer!

I don't have Universalis, though. Is it possible for you (or anyone else, like Ralph himself) to tell me how that game solves these problems?

[Mike Holmes]

In short, one gets a pile of tokens called coins. These are used to "buy" everything in the game in a structured fashion. So more coins means you have more control of the story. When players disagree, the one spending more is right. Coins are returned when scenes end at a slow rate, but the real way to get more coins is complications. Conflict being the heart of story, the rules incentivize players to be involved in creating detailed conflicts.

We ususally find that with this, and a notion of when to end the story, players wrap up the plot pretty well. That said, on the following page there are some rules for how to better incentivize pacing: http://universalis.actionroll.com/Addons.htm

Mike

[matthijs]

OK, I read a few reviews, and have ordered Universalis. I had it confused with an other game, so it's been one of those things in my mental Ignore Filter for a while; otherwise I'd probably have picked it up some months ago. Looking forward to reading it - I'm actually hoping it's not based on the same vision that WTEF is; I like my game, and want to make it a good one. But there's little point in doing it if Universalis does the same thing, and better. So... I'll just have to wait and see.

[Mike Holmes]

Ralph, I should get some sort of remuneration for all the sales I make for you! (To be clear, I'm not an owner of the game in any way).

Well, Universalis doesn't have cards, and there's no focus on overall story structure...I'd say that there's plenty of differences. I wouldn't let it slow you down a bit.

Mike

[matthijs]

Ralph, I should get some sort of remuneration for all the sales I make for you! (To be clear, I'm not an owner of the game in any way).

Heheh... just altruistic pimpin' then...

Well, Universalis doesn't have cards, and there's no focus on overall story structure...I'd say that there's plenty of differences. I wouldn't let it slow you down a bit.

Good to hear you say that. I've already issued a call for playtesters, and will send out playtest copies as soon as I've translated the game & put in the new rules.

[Mike Holmes]

Heheh... just altruistic pimpin' then...

Well, the book does have my name on it. So I get to know that people are playing a game that I wrote. That's satisfying itself. :-)

I've already issued a call for playtesters, and will send out playtest copies as soon as I've translated the game & put in the new rules.

I seem to have missed a step - what sort of changes are you putting in this version?

Mike

[matthijs]

I seem to have missed a step - what sort of changes are you putting in this version?

I meant the Claim/Vote system described above, in one form or another.