9W: Card Mecahnics

[Mike Holmes]

What does it mean, in the game, to declare Trump, for example. I have no idea, and I’ve tried to figure that out for a long time. (Originally, I called this the Oracle or Omen, meaning the Archon’s prediction of Fate, and how much he might be in line with that via Trump.)

Hmm. Howabout just a "hand of fate" thing. At the beginning of play, after all cards have been drawn, the GM draws a card from the remaining deck, and that card's suit is trump (ala the game sometimes known as Diamonds). Not nearly as much strategy, but much quicker, and it's just part of the random resolution.

In this way, you’ll be narrating as you take Tricks, and then again as you distribute Pointers, yes? If that is a workable solution, it seems too involved to me.

Well, I think it would work. It's a lot like Hero Wars extended conflict mechanics in that way. To use old-school terms, each trick is like a round of combat (or an exchange in HW or TROS), but we really don't know the outcome of a Conflict until it's done. BTW, this idea is contingent on the notion that the system would truely be Conflict resolution, in that only one hand would resolve the entire Conflict (ala Dust Devils). No multiple hands to resolve, just one.  

I think such a system could work. OTOH, if you want to streamline further, there are probably ways to do so. Here's an idea that seems pretty cool in a couple of ways. Drop the pointers. Instead of stealing pointers, you steal tricks from other players. Then you buy "tricks" with your tricks (which finally makes sense), using the suit of one of the cards in each trick or your Urge, your choice.

So, here's another version:

[*]When a conflict starts, the players draw cards equal to Hubris or Arete, plus appropriate Muses (Muses determined by the GM).

[*]The GM draws a card from those remaining to determine trump.

[*]Players with more cards than the player with the least amount of cards must discard down to that number of cards.

[*]Starting with the player who declared the Conflict, each player  declares his Urge, rotating to the left.

[*]When all urges have been declared, the player who declared first now leads the first trick. Play is then standard per such games.

[*]At the end, each player calculates his score, adding to the score of his declared Urge, two for each trick with at least one card in it that matches his Urge, and one for each other trick.

[*]For each trick that has a card in it that matches the urge suit, the player can steal one trick from another player.

[*]The highest scorer takes first, and then the second, and so on.
[*]Players can only take from a lower scoring player.
[*]Tied players look to their highest trump card to break ties.

[*]If any of the tied players cannot compare because they have no trump, then they cannot steal.[/list:u] [/list:u]
[*]In the same order, players select the effects they want to use from the "Tricks" section.

[*]For each Trick, the player may select either a Trick from the list with a suit that matches one of the cards in the taken trick, or the Trick that matches his Urge. [/list:u][/list:u]
Mike