Home / Development / Looking Towards Beta 2.1Overview:It's the New Year and I'm looking forwards to the next version of Dragon Duel. The Beta 2.0 Playtesting has been compiled, and new cards are being created.Broad Changes:Wording - A constant area of improvement, my goal for this edition is to re-ordering the wording of the cards to say what the card does first, and how/when it does it after. Also, I would like to add as much color back into the language as space allows. A card should be an exciting dialogue, not a dictionary entry.Tarot Origins - All reference to the original Tarot names will be removed. Each card having 2 names is just confusing for no reason. Flight Card Text Boxes - Based on my last couple Sessions (6 and 7), playing with new players, and those who hadn't played for a while, it is clear that flight cards need more than just symbolic representation of what they do. Right now they are just colored Blue, but would an icon really enhance the distinction that much? Also, a text box would provide room for Goose's suggestion from Session 5, that would allow Flight Cards to decrease as well as increase your distance flown. This would provide room for more strategy, while not overly complicating things. Maneuver Values - As it stands now there are 20 cards with the value 5 in the deck, over 25%. That's an awful lot of ties in combat, meaning less results, meaning longer less exciting play. I would like to try in version 2.1 to assign different values to the maneuvers. Going by the premise that when and how every card should be played ought to be a decision, that is, require internal debate regarding goals, opposition, and resource management (I Have No Words & I Must Design), the new values assigned to the different maneuvers should be roughly proportionate in power of what the maneuverer does. Based on much observation of play, I will assign the following values to the Maneuvers:
Flight Cards -> Maneuvers - Now that Flight Cards have text boxes, and Maneuvers have different values, there is little in actual game terms separating them. I made a promise to myself that I would not allow the game's Tarot origins to overstep their bounds and add unnecessary complication to the game, and so I am breaking the Minor Arcana / Court Card boundaries here, and turning the Flight Cards, 1 and 2, into Maneuvers. Let me step aside here and make an observation on how I reached this decision, it could have value for future situations. I reached my conclusion in working on the icons for the different card types. When making icons I do several things. I look up synonyms in the thesaurus, trying to get at the abstract concept behind what I am trying to represent. I think about each of these words, think about the various cards in the group, ponder dragon anatomy and behavior from my background in the literature, and free associate, writing down or saying out loud everything that comes to mind. I do image searches on the internet, and ask other people what comes to mind when I say "____". But I was drawing a blank when it came to Maneuvers. It wasn't until I was drawing the Flight Card icon that I asked myself the right question, "What is the different between a Flight Card and a Maneuver?" I needed to abstract it further, let myself get past the fact that breathing fire (Inferno) isn't strictly speaking a trick in flight. Icons, as with any other categorization, have exceptions. But if you're going to generalize you need to cut some corners. Areas of Experimentation:Life CardsThe length of the game is something which I have been wondering about. The original intent was that individual duels would be short bouts, and you would play a bunch, gaining realms as you went. But it turns out that games actually last more like 30 minutes to an hour, so the realms are gone and I'm looking in to speeding up play. One obvious way to shorten games is to reduce life. But at the same time I don't want people to be able to make first turn kills. It was also observed in Session 5 that when life is random it is possible to start out with very little life and have an unfair disadvantage. I have not observed this very often, but it's something to think about especially when considering only one life card. Here are some possibilities that I'd like to experiment with:
Hands From Session 2, "The strategy gamers don't like the way the cards flow, there's not enough strategy." There are basically 3 ways that cards can be drawn, starting out with a set number and drawing one at a time at the beginning of each turn, starting out with a set number and maintaining that number by drawing cards to replace them, or a drawing new hand when you run out. I chose the last to preserve game pace though the game. When you start out with a bunch of cards, and only replenish them one at a time you run out of options, and you always need to have a card to play in defense in Dragon Duel. Maintaining a hand of x cards mean that eventually you will have a bunch of useless 3's and 4's, and one useful card cycling through. So I opted for a fresh hand periodically. Now the question is, how many cards is the right number? The current 4 is very fast paces, but a bit lacking in strategy. I'd like to experiment with 5, 6 or even 7 cards. One fear is that one dragon starts out with say 7 cards, gets a killer hand that all plays well together, and kills the other dragon the first turn. One way to address this is to have the life cards come out of the original hand. So you get dealt for example 6 cards, 2 are life cards, and your first hand has 4 cards. When you run out you draw another hand of 6. Healing Spells Their intent was to provide hope that you can come back from behind. In reality the current versions often don't help, if your remaining life card is at full health, or just let the person who is ahead stay ahead. In this version I would like to reduce the numbers and expand the versatility. Specific Changes:1 - Flight Text: May be played at any time during your turn, allowing you to move 1 extra space. Or may be played to reduce the distance you fly by 1.2 - Flight Text: May be played at any time during your turn, allowing you to move 2 extra spaces. Or may be played to reduce the distance you fly by 2. 3-10 - Combat Having difficulty with the icon for these. Have one that is supposed to be a claw, but without shading and out of context it is hard to recognize what it is. Dive (Knight) Value = 4. Very effective when you can use it, but that is rare enough that I think it needs to be powered down a bit. Text: Your dragon flies up into the air and swoops down gaining a +2 bonus to the attack. Use when attacking before playing your Combat Card. Dive subtracts 2 from the distance you have left to fly this turn. If you do not have 2 left to fly you may not Dive. Counter (Queen) Value = 5, Have always struggled with the wording of this one. Text: Surprise your opponent by counter-attacking them. Play before your Combat Card when defending. If your Card (+bonuses) is higher than your attacker’s, they take damage as if you had attacked them. Wingover (Page) Value = 6, Text remains same. Inferno (King) Value = 7, Text: Attack a dragon that is 1 dot in front of you with a scorching breath of fire. Follow all combat rules as if you had landed on its dot. Wander Cure, Incantation Text: While Wander Cure is in play your dragon heals by flying. When cast place it on the table with 3 life stones on it. For every 2 dots you fly to in a turn remove a stone and place it on your life card. When the last stone is removed discard Wander Cure. Inspiration, Tongue Text: Consult your dragon's mischievous muse. Draw 3 cards and show them to everyone. You keep the spells and maneuvers, discard the rest. Void Pocket, Tongue Text: Place face up on the table with a card from your hand secretly face down under it. This card may be played as if it was in your hand, at which point the Void Pocket is discarded. The card in the Void Pocket does not count as part of your hand, and does not prevent you from drawing a new hand when you run out of cards. Healing, Tongue Ick! Still need to work on saying this more gracefully, and needs testing. Text: If you have as many life stones as the value of your life card, gain 2 more. If not, gain up to 4 more, not going higher than the value of the life card. Halt, Tongue Must look into confusion with casting this against Retribution and Escape. Text: Cast immediately following a player’s casting of a spell or use of a maneuver. It forces that card to be discarded with no effect, as if it had never been played. You must play this spell before the effects of your opponent’s card have occurred. Foresee, Tongue Text: Scrye into the future, gaining knowledge for yourself, and upsetting your opponent's plans. Pick up the next 6 cards on the draw pile. Place them back in any order that you see fit. Unite, Incantation Text: Unite two dragons in deadly combat. Pick up one dragon and place it on the same dot as another dragon, facing it. Teleport, Incantation Only a minor change here, one word. Any dot gets changed to Another dot, to avoid confusion over whether you can use it to just turn around. Text: Pick up and place your dragon on another dot facing either direction. Might, Tongue Text: Cast when attacking before playing your combat card. You get a +3 bonus on the attack. Escape, Tongue The last statement, "around the outer circle of the board" is dropped since it was generally ignored by playtesters anyway. Text: Cast instead of playing a card in defense. Your dragon leaves combat taking no damage. Pick up your dragon and place it on any un-occupied dot. Upheaval, Incantation Text: Without looking at them, take everyone's hands and shuffle them together. Deal out the cards clockwise starting with yourself. Retribution, Tongue Text: Cast instead of playing a card in defense. The attacker takes damage equal to 1/2 (rounded up) the value of the card they played against you. You take no damage from the attack. Paralyze, Tongue Still not there. What if you Paralyze someone on their turn, then they whip out a Flight maneuver? Text: A dragon of your choice does not fly their next turn. They do not roll the die. Only spells and Flight maneuvers allow them to move. If Paralyze was cast on the dragon whose turn it is, they may not fly any more that turn. Drain, Tongue Text: Steal your enemy's life and take it for yourself. A dragon of your choice takes 2 damage and you gain 1 life stone. Cache, Tongue Not sure about this one. The concept is good, but might be simplified. Draw 3 cards. Discard 1, put 1 back on the draw pile, and place the third face down on the table under this card. Draw it into your hand at the beginning of your next turn and discard Cache. Pact, Incantation The old wording is now nearly obsolete, since life cards have little effect after they are turned over. It would only help if exchanged for the bottom life card. Old Text: Exchange either of your life cards for either of another player's life cards. Face down cards remain hidden from all players unless exchanged with a face up card. Players keep their life stones and place them on their new cards. New Ideas: Charged Lightning, Incantation Text: Place Charged Lightning face up on the table. At the end of each of your turns it charges up, gaining a stone, and you roll the die to see if it releases. If you roll a 6 Charged Lightning does as much damage as there are stones on it to one dragon and is discarded. Scrying, Incantation Text: Look at another player's hand and take one card from their hand into yours. Illusion, Tongue This card has been altered slightly based on 2 playtesting sessions where concern over order of discard was raised. By allowing you to go 3 cards deep, not as many as necessary, and broadening it to include Maneuvers, this spell should be more versatile as well as raise fewer conflicts. Text: Play this card as if it were an exact copy of a Spell or Maneuver within the top 3 cards of the discard pile. All rules that apply to that card apply to Illusion, including the time that it is allowed to be played. Fire Storm, Tongue Text: Unleash a hurricane of magical fire. Any dragon within 2 dots of your dragon (in any direction) takes 2 damage. Dragons on the same dot as yours are unaffected, sheltered in the eye of the storm. Reckoning, Tongue Based on the Tarot card Judgement, this is a problem spell, and needs to be seriously re-thought. The problem is that it is occasionally too powerful, but usually just hard to play effectivly. A new name would be good too, since this one often gets confused with Retribution. Old Text: Raise the stakes by unleashing this spell. Cast During combat before you play a card. The attacker followed by the defender may now play an additional card during this combat. No further spell casting is allowed during the combat in which Reckoning was cast. New Ideas: Renewal, Incantation Text: Shuffle the discard pile into the draw pile. Move all dragons back to their starting positions, you choose which direction each faces. Blank, Tongue Playtesters didn't find a card that does nothing as amusing as I did, and it was bad if it was in your starting hand reducing your life options. So here's a card that does something, but doesn't need an Illustration. Text: Force all players to discard Spells that are in play on the table and have effects which may allow them to stay there past the end of this turn. |
