[Element - CCG] Rules and Feedback!

[mangaocid]

hello all, I'm DJ from Neo Productions Unlimited( http://www.neoproductions.net ). What we have here is a new CCG called Element. It's based on a story in progress about the death of the Elements(mages of great elemental power) and the rise of a Dark power(Reg'Nora). It chronicles 4 kids blessed with the power from the Elements, and also shouldering the task of saving "The World" from Reg'Nora.

http://www.angelfire.com/mi/Mangoacid/deej/element.html will take you to the site for rules and card previews.

The idea is that you have a Major character in play. The major character can be protected by(go fish), Protectors! These can be people, creatures, monsters etc. It's an amalgamation of card games.

Check out the current developmental rules and please give me feedback, considering I can use it in this stage!

Thank you all!

the floor is open
DJ

[Dangerboy]

This isn't meant to sound discouraging in any way, but there doesn't seem to be anything profound in this game. I would still continue with this though. You might want to get a playtest version ready, then ask for people to take a look at it.

[mangaocid]

Thanks Dangerboy, it's very much still developmental. check out updated rules here:
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/Mangoacid

Lee Valentine from Veritas Games and I have been discussing this frequently, so the rules have REALLY increased from 2 to 6 pages now. Slowly, the game is taking HUGE form, and it should be pretty sweet when all is said and done...another set of eyes checking things out can't hurt. I'm hoping that within the next week or so I can have playtest versions of cards available.

The Floor is Open

DJ

[mangaocid]

Alrighty everyone,
 I have now a 7 page rule book for Element, just waiting to be picked apart. After I'm satisfied with how the rules are, I'll begin creating proto cards for play testing. Can anyone offer an extra set of eyes to skim the rules?

Things I'm looking for:
A) Coherence - Do the rules flow in an understandable fashion
B) Confusion - do any of the rules NOT make sense? Too much wording, not enough ?
C) Icons - Are the icons distinctive enough that they can be recognized apart from each other?
D) Overall System - Is the system intriguing? does it draw you to see where it leads? Does it make you want to play?

If you can help answer any or all of these questions, please do so. I promise, I won't take it personally. After all, I did ask for it right?

The Floor is Open

DJ

[mangaocid]

Oh yea, the site is at http://www.angelfire.com/mi/Mangoacid
You'll find the rules and sample images....very simple site.

DJ

[Dangerboy]

You need to explain the turn order. I was going to suggest that you move recruit so it comes after combat when i noticed you have it before and after, but I can't find an explanation. Can you attack with cards you play in the first recruit phase?

[mangaocid]

Chris, Thanks, I didn't even notice that I never addressed turn order or the "summoning sickness" rules. I did fix them however, so hopefully that confusion is fixed.

See anything else that needs tweaking? Any other confusions?

The Floor is Open

DJ

[Dangerboy]

This is just me, but I think you can do without the first recruit step. Call it something else where you can play non-character cards. Aside from activating the text box of a character, I don't see the need to recruit before attacking (and even then this only works for abilities you'd want to use before combat). If you want, you can have "fast" creatures that in the text box say that they can be played be fore combat. Also, I think you can get away with making the ranged and airborn abilities symbols, like you did with exchange; that should free up some of that text box real estate.

[mangaocid]

As far as the recruit step is concerned....even magic has 2 recruit steps(main phase). It's not so much for the purpose of attack(although creatures in magic can have haste), it's to setup any abilities that can help another character in play(example, Elvish Champion gives all elves +1/+1 and forestwalk in magic, without that first recruit phase, you really lose the point of it's ability early).

For the other ideas...I'll look into the possibilities, because you're right, freeing up text box real estate is pretty handy to do, and can allow more freedoms for say "flavor text" which in this case, is stuff from within the story itself.

Thanks again.....The floor is open

DJ

[Dangerboy]

You might want to take a look at Magi-Nation; it has one recruit step.

[daMoose_Neo]

Depends on your goals~
One of our other titles, Final Twilight, has an open Main Phase, meaning you can play/recruit characters, attack, play a spell, play another character, attack, etc.

[mangaocid]

The overall benefit of the recruit before combat is to allow character effects to be beneficial before an opponent can EASILY dispose of the character that creates the effect. The second recruit step allows for a build up of characters for protecting the major character.

Does that help explain it better?

The Floor is open

http://www.angelfire.com/mi/Mangoacid