DIYCCGA game wherein two teams design cards, build decks, battle, complain about the other team's cards being OP, repeat. The core rules are intended to be relatively simple, and should not require familiarity with any other games.
An unlimited number of players can join, at any point. What you can't do is join one team and then read the other team's thread.
Note that, in order to not create half a dozen threads, and to allow for rapid resolutions, battles will be fought in
this Discord server. Card designs will be handled in team threads on the forums.
WHY IS THISCYOGTCG Wars was an interesting game, which had great potential, unfortunately cut short due to several players dropping out of Team 1. Recently, I've been thinking about it, and eventually decided to run my own version. I've made several changes, both in an attempt to avoid pitfalls of the original, and to suit my personal preferences.
It's a game that I would enjoy playing, and hopefully I'm not alone in that. Maybe I am, but there's only one way to find out, which is putting it out there and seeing how many bite.
HOW IS THISThat's an odd way to ask about the rules, but ok. I'll cover this in sections, starting with
CARD DESIGNAll players on a team may suggest card designs (there's a template in the team threads). Each turn, a team may vote for a number of proposals to get turned into fully-fledged cards. The number is 2+(the number of battles the other team won last turn) (so between 2 and 5) (I might change this number).
Needless to say, I will probably not give you exactly what you asked for, so you can't ask for a giant battleship that is Common and costs nothing (without including some
severe drawbacks). Note that this applies in both directions- if your proposal is too weak, I will give you something stronger than what you asked for.
At the very start of the game, there will be three rounds of card designing without any battles.
The spoiler below labelled STARTER CARDS shows cards that can be used by both teams- they're bad cards, underpowered and boring, but they're so you don't have to create an entire roster from scratch.
REVIEW APPEALSAlso during the design phase, each player may request the review of up to one card (of either team) that they think is unbalanced in some way. Include a brief explanation of why, and what you think would be better. I will consider these appeals, make changes as I see fit, then announce any changes and explain my reasoning (changes to cards belonging to the other team will be announced in this thread, changes to a team's own cards will be announced in the team thread). Balancing a card game is a major challenge for a team of designers whose full-time job it is, so for an individual doing it for fun to get it right all the time is essentially impossible- which is why the ability to appeal is codified. That being said, don't abuse this.
BATTLESEach round, after new cards have been designed, each team will designate 3 players to build 40 card decks with which to battle a counterpart on the other team. If more than 3 players volunteer, priority will be given to those who haven't had the chance recently. If
less than 3 players volunteer... well, ideally this won't happen, but if push comes to shove there could just be fewer matches that round. If this gains great interest, I might consider more matches in a round, but I think 3 is a reasonable target. Once the players are matched up, they shuffle their decks (see SHUFFLING if you need help finding a reliable way to do this), and begin a DIYCCG battle (in a designated Discord channel).
DIYCCG RULES(Note that, for almost every rule, you can prepend "By default", since cards can be designed to override/augment almost any rule in the game.)
To start with, players draw 5 cards, set their Player Vitality to 200, and then whoever won the coin flip takes their first turn, skipping their draw.
On their turn, a player will:
-Draw a card.-Play up to one card. You can play this card before or after attacking. Note that Critters cannot attack on the turn they are played. Some cards are more Radical than other cards, and cost Rads to play. Rads can be generated by card effects, and persist until they are used.
-Attack. Critter cards can attack the opponent, provided there are no Critters on the other side who can block them. If there are, they have to attack and destroy those first. They deal damage to Vitality equal to their Strength, but also take damage equal to the blocking Critter's Strength. Damage is permanent. Critters can only attack once per turn, but you can attack with any number of Critters (one at a time).
-End their turn. Preferably include your status at the end of turn (cards on the board, Rads in stock, Vitality (player and critter)). If your opponent asks, you should also be able to share relevant public knowledge with them, such as how many cards are left in your deck, how many cards you have in hand, and which cards are in your discard pile.
During an opponent's turn, a player will:
-Do nothing. Nada. Zilch. You cannot make reaction (instant/flash) cards, you do not get to decide if Critters block or not, and ideally your opponent won't have any cards that require you to make a decision (but in exceptional cases this may be possible). This rule is in order to allow battles to proceed quickly even if schedules do not match up, since you don't have to constantly check if your opponent has a response to your actions.
The battle ends when one player's Vitality reaches zero. Naturally, a player may surrender at any time. Alternatively, to prevent battles becoming an endless stalemate, if
both players have no more cards in their deck, then the player with the highest Player Vitality wins (if that is tied, it's a draw).
WINNING THE GAMEEach battle a team wins contributes 1 point to their score. If a team's score is 15+ points higher than the other team, they win the game.
GOT ITGood. Now you can pick a team, announce your affiliation in this thread, read your thread, and join
the Discord.
Also, if you sign up right now, you get to decide on the colours available and what their nature is! Six colours will be defined this way. You can propose a colour does something kinda crazy, or has a weird theme you like, or does something really crazy with an utterly bonkers theme. Colours are chosen! See COLOURS spoiler.
If you aren't sure which team you want to join, you can ask me and I'll point you to the team with fewer active players.
(As of the latest edit, the teams seem roughly balanced in terms of activity)
Team One's thread is here.Team Two's thread is here.There's some more information below this, if you want a more in-depth description.
Each card has several elements. Most of them are self-explanatory, and just looking at the Starter Cards should clue you in to all the relevant stuff.
Name: Every card must have a unique name. And it shouldn't be so long it runs off the card. Other than that, the name isn't relevant (by default).
Cost: Every card has a Cost value, even if it is zero. More Radical cards will cost some amount of Rads, the default resource currency.
Image: Every card has an image, which is 210x120 pixels.
Type: Every card is either a Critter, Sticky, or Trick.
Critter: Critters are cards that persist on the field, and have a Vitality stat that determines how much damage they can take, as well as a Strength stat that determines how much damage they deal. By default, these can attack and block (see Attacks section of DIYCCG RULES), but specific cards may override this.
Sticky: Sticky cards persist on the field, but do not have a Vitality stat, and thus cannot be attacked. They may have a condition that causes them to leave play in some other way. Generally speaking, they will have some continuous or repeating effect. As Stickys (this is the official plural) are harder to get rid of than Critters, they will usually have less powerful effects.
Trick: Tricks are cards that do not persist on the field. They are played, but immediately move to the Discard Pile (by default). Thus, they can have more powerful but one-off effects.
Subtypes: Cards can have subtypes, but what those subtypes do, if anything, is not established by these rules. Power-balance-wise, each card can have one subtype 'for free', but more than one counts as a buff.
Effect: Most cards will have some effect described on them, although this is not technically required. Almost anything is possible here, although more extreme effects will likely come with significant Rad costs and/or drawbacks. In the extreme case that you propose something impossible, I'll let you know.
Flavour Text: Entirely optional, a little bit of spice to give cards more personality than raw mechanics can.
Strength-Vitality: Critters have their Strength and Vitality listed here. Like any proper imitator of an existing card game, every value is a multiple of 10 for no godsdamned reason. Stickys and Tricks do not have this.
Rarity: Cards may be Common, Rare, or Unique. This determines how many copies may be in a deck. 6 Commons, 3 Rares, 1 Unique.
Colour: Lastly, the background of a Card can be various colours. See COLOURS for details.
If you need inspiration, glancing at the many many cards in the
CYOGTCG Card Repository could give some ideas (note that not all those cards would work/make sense in this game).
The first six players who enter the game each create a Colour when doing so (one not already in use). They get to describe what the nature of their Colour is (which I may modify for balance). Players and teams may design cards of any Colour in the game, not just their signature Colour. Multicoloured cards are possible, but will need to abide by the nature of all their Colours.
A Colour has a theme- a guiding aesthetic that should be adhered to when making cards of that Colour. The image, name, and flavour text should match the theme, whilst the mechanical side of things should at least try not to be too jarring in combination.
A Colour has mechanics- strengths, weaknesses, custom rules, etc. These should be balanced...ish. I'll make changes as necessary to render all Colours be roughly equally valuable, and to have any custom rules be compatible with the base rules and each other.
All the starter cards are Grey. The nature of Grey cards is being bland, monochrome (theme), and weak (mechanics). De facto you cannot create a multicoloured card using Grey, as being multicoloured would itself be too interesting. Also, you probably shouldn't make Grey cards to begin with.
These are the player-designed colours- their themes, mechanics, and some examples of upsides and downsides. Not all cards of a colour need to match all (or any) of the listed upsides and downsides- like I said, they're examples. So long as a reasonable argument can be made for an effect fitting the mechanical philosophy of a colour, it'll probably be allowed.
Green
Theme: Mutant hordes
Mechanics: Cards care about rads being generated. Very critter-focused.
Upsides: Cards grow stronger when rads are generated. High strength, better damage output. Flexible.
Downsides: Low vitality. Cards function poorly unless rads are generated. Vulnerable. Not a lot of Trick potential.
White
Theme: Waifus
Mechanics: White cares about other colours. Making a multicolor card with White intensifies the other colour's effect, both upsides and downsides.
Upsides: Pure White cards could bolster other White cards (waifu synergy). They may benefit from the presence of other colours on the board.
Downsides: Alternatively, some pure White cards could negatively affect other White cards (waifu jealousy). They may be weaker than average if there are few other colours present.
Yellow
Theme: Energy
Mechanics: Yellow Cards revolve around generating resources and using resources. Tend to have damaging effects, or be able to recur or alter cards.
Upsides: Better at generating resources (Rads, drawing cards, counters). Suitable for Tricks that deal damage to Critters or players, or that change how other cards function.
Downsides: Require upkeep costs. Worse at Critters. May cause friendly fire (damage to owner/friendly Critters). Volatile.
Red
Theme: 19th century imperialism
Mechanics: Cards can generate the Tea resource, or consume it for benefits. Many cards generate Rebellion, and will defect to the opponent if it exceeds a threshold. Prefers the use of Critter tokens.
Upsides: Can easily create Critter tokens. Consuming Tea can have powerful effects. May cause opponent's cards to Rebel.
Downsides: Function poorly without Tea. Non-token Critters not so good at combat. Rebellion.
Pink
Theme: Heart
Mechanics: Anything kind, caring, and "working together". Pink does not do big, tough heavy hitters, but cards that boost each other with the Power of Friendship!
Upsides: Weaken/restrict opponent/enemy Critters. Strengthen/protect owner/friendly Critters. Synergise well.
Downsides: Bad at or incapable of attacking/causing damage. Gives benefits to the opponent. Ineffective alone.
Black
Theme: Steel
Mechanics: 'Immutable' cards that provide resistance against being affected by other cards. Bulky critters that are difficult to remove from the field.
Upsides: Resistant to other card's negative effects. High Vitality. Works well with defensive tactics. Good at big Critters.
Downsides: Resistant to other card's positive effects. Low Strength. Slow/clunky effects. Bad at small Critters.
You can use whatever means of deck-simulation you prefer, so long as you don't cheat, obviously. We'll take it on trust. If you are convinced that your opponent is cheating, I could technically do a thing where I shuffle both players' decks and tell them what cards they've drawn, but that would be the nuclear option (pun intended).
The way I shuffle decks is with a spreadsheet. How does that work? Like this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D3TqPAPoPlvsQS5Oxg6HqvxhPWb5P5dgMEbTdNwjbFg/edit?usp=sharing
If the explanation (on the second page) isn't clear enough, let me know and I'll try to improve it. EDIT: a1s informed me about a Discord bot that can manage custom decks, so that is now the recommended method of shuffling. As an added bonus, this eliminates the risk of cheating, since I can see the private channel in which you shuffle your deck and draw cards.
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Topic: DIYCCG (Read 2361 times)