Wildlife

A unique deck-building game. In fact, there are 3 ideas here.

Squad Hopeless: really promising, the reason why this is in “Draft”
Wildlife: somewhat promising and complete *** Mercenaries of Magic:** needs work

I want to eliminate the split between “using/playing your deck” and “discarding/buying/adding to your deck”.

I also want to eliminate turns in games (in general).

What do we get?

Mercenaries of Magic

The idea of deck-building for armies (footmen, archers, etcetera). (Although that feels like it should’ve been done before?)

You build your deck, draw your current army, then pick an opponent to fight against. (With odd number of players, one opponent is the “robot”: the army of the undead or something.)

Alternatively, you’re allowed to work together and fight any number against any number. But if you defend yourself (with fewer numbers), you also get a much bigger (piece of the) reward. => Though this could get messy when it comes to remembering who owned what cards, so your army would need to stay in front of you anyways.

This has a nice natural progression: clubmen, to pikemen, to swordsmen, to foot soldiers, etcetera

It also nicely adds different classes with different inherent abilities.

Crucially, you must place armies in a grid that’s 3 columns wide (and however many rows needed)?
First of all, calculate the difference between the armies for each class (infantry, archers, etcetera). Both lose that number of cards within that class. (Leaving the losing side with none of that type, and the winning side with far fewer of that type.)
Execute whatever remains.
- “Area”-weapons (such as bomb) fire first. (They kill one card of choice + the four around it.)
- “Long range”-weapons (such as archers) fire second. (They can shoot any card within their range.)
- “Infantry”-weapons fire last and can only kill what’s directly ahead of them.

Squad Hopeless

This makes the “buying” part more intuitive and logical, while just being a fun implementation of the idea.

What’s the idea?

Your deck is filled with tools and characters.
On the table is a layout / mission.
At the start of the round, all players draw the top 5 (?) cards: that is your squad for the current mission!
When done, everybody tries to do the mission. Any spoils/rewards you steal take the form of cards that go into your deck. (Similarly, getting caught or being forced to stop early means you lose that person you used.)

This should work great. Your deck is your set of spies and burglars, you actually use them in an intuitive way, and you design your deck to fit the mission.

The only big issue is: what’s the shape/mechanic around those missions? Does everybody go in simultaneously? Is it reset?

I think an abstract, simplified representation is best here.

Here’s the idea.

The mission is a set of tiles on the table.
The tiles show rooms. Most of all, they show possible challenges you must overcome, and rewards you can get.
- Pretty much all tiles are open on all 4 sides, and the challenges are related to the side you pass through?
You use your squad to enter from one side and traverse over these tiles.
- Example: a tile says “alarm level 2”. Then you need a “Computer Guy” of level 2 (or higher) to be able to go there: flip the card to remember you’ve used it.
- You can burst through challenges anyway (to get the reward on the card), but then you lose one squad card (permanently).
The order in which players do the mission depends on the cards played. (Some cards have “haste” symbols. You go in order of total haste.)
When done, the layout grows. The player with the most “architect” symbols draws X tiles from the deck and adds them however they want.
(These tiles might be drawn from 3 or 4 separate decks, sorted by difficulty. This ensures the challenges on the cards also rise as the game progresses.)

This should work.

You have a way to get/lose cards.
There’s a clear advantage to shaping your deck a certain way and preferring certain cards.
The burgling/mission theme is strong.
The missions automatically grow in difficulty + rewards.

Wildlife

This eliminates “buying” part, because the whole USE for your card is to GET MORE.

All players build their own deck. It’s facedown in front of them.
Each round, draw X cards from the main deck and place them open on the table.
Now all players may draw at most Y cards from the top, but at least 1. (A fixed number? No more than the number of cards on the table?) => Simultaneously

The cards you drew are your “wildlife reserve” or “nature area”.

The cards on the table are attracted to specific areas. For example,

An animal that goes to those with the most forests.
An animal that wants one companion animal of the same type.
Conversely, an animal that wants to be alone.

Determine who attracts each animal. Those are added to your deck. When your deck runs out, shuffle the whole thing.

@IDEA: A neutral reserve.

Cards not attracted by anything, go to a “neutral reserve” that builds during the game.
Similarly, cards discarded by players are placed in this neutral reserve.
Over time, this becomes a very powerful place that might attract most cards? Or is it a store from which to buy? (Because something like a tree, well, how is that going to be “attracted” to an area?) => Maybe something like “On each round, first draw from the neutral reserve, then from the top of the deck”?

@IDEA: Themed around little universes? “Little Gods”? Your hand of cards is basically a mini-universe, which are ranked in terms of score, which determines the order in which you grab the available cards?

@IDEA: A deck-building bluffing game? Because you have to remember what somebody has in their deck, to know how likely it is they truly have that card?

@IDEA: The idea of using your deck to actually DO something feels more powerful. Use it to MOVE, use it to BUILD, etcetera. (Hence why Quest to El Dorado works so darn well.)

Like: you’re an ambulance/fire station/police car racing to save people, and your cards determine your speed/what you can carry/what you can approach.
But there are many cliché, overused themes and approaches. Would really need to find something fresh.

Inspiration

The game Challengers (winner Kennerspiel des Jahres 2023) is a great simple game, though I (and many others) don’t like the determinism. (Once your decks are shuffled … you’re just following instructions to complete the battle, like a mindless robot.)

It would be great to improve that by …

Keeping the idea of “battle against your opponents” => because then your deck actually becomes a SQUAD that DOES SOMETHING.
Adding way stronger options/choices during battles

Also the game Libertalia actually does this!

Cards are played, then sorted by rank. Actions on cards are taken, which will shake things up.
Then you pick what you want from the current available loot. (Random set of chunky tiles each round, from treasures to curses.) In order from high to low.
And you repeat that process from your own deck, which is why you’d want to build it to withstand whatever curses the opponents throw at you.

A unique deck-building game. In fact, there are 3 ideas here. * **Squad Hopeless:** really promising, the reason why this is in "Draft" * **Wildlife:** somewhat promising and complete *** Mercenaries of Magic:** needs work I want to eliminate the split between "using/playing your deck" and "discarding/buying/adding to your deck". I also want to eliminate turns in games (in general). What do we get? ## Mercenaries of Magic **The idea of deck-building for armies (footmen, archers, etcetera).** (Although that _feels_ like it should've been done before?) You build your deck, draw your current army, then pick an opponent to fight against. (With odd number of players, one opponent is the "robot": the army of the undead or something.) Alternatively, you're allowed to work together and fight any number against any number. But if you defend yourself (with fewer numbers), you also get a much bigger (piece of the) reward. => Though this could get messy when it comes to remembering who owned what cards, so your army would need to stay in front of _you_ anyways. This has a nice natural progression: clubmen, to pikemen, to swordsmen, to foot soldiers, etcetera It also nicely adds different classes with different inherent abilities. * Crucially, you must place armies in a grid that's 3 columns wide (and however many rows needed)? * First of all, calculate the difference between the armies for each class (infantry, archers, etcetera). Both lose that number of cards within that class. (Leaving the losing side with _none_ of that type, and the winning side with _far fewer_ of that type.) * Execute whatever remains. * "Area"-weapons (such as bomb) fire first. (They kill one card of choice + the four around it.) * "Long range"-weapons (such as archers) fire second. (They can shoot any card within their range.) * "Infantry"-weapons fire last and can only kill what's directly ahead of them. ## Squad Hopeless **This makes the "buying" part more intuitive and logical, while just being a fun implementation of the idea.** What's the idea? * Your deck is filled with tools and characters. * On the table is a layout / mission. * At the start of the round, all players draw the top 5 (?) cards: that is your **squad** for the current mission! * When done, everybody tries to do the mission. Any spoils/rewards you steal take the form of **cards that go into your deck.** (Similarly, getting caught or being forced to stop early means you _lose_ that person you used.) This should work great. Your deck is your set of spies and burglars, you actually _use_ them in an intuitive way, and you design your deck to fit the mission. The only big issue is: **what's the shape/mechanic around those missions? Does everybody go in simultaneously? Is it reset?** I think an abstract, simplified representation is best here. **Here's the idea.** * The mission is a set of tiles on the table. * The tiles show rooms. Most of all, they show possible _challenges_ you must overcome, and _rewards_ you can get. * Pretty much all tiles are open on all 4 sides, and the challenges are related to the _side_ you pass through? * You use your squad to _enter_ from one side and traverse over these tiles. * Example: a tile says "alarm level 2". Then you need a "Computer Guy" of level 2 (or higher) to be able to go there: flip the card to remember you've used it. * You _can_ burst through challenges anyway (to get the reward on the card), but then you _lose_ one squad card (permanently). * The **order** in which players do the mission depends on the cards played. (Some cards have "haste" symbols. You go in order of total haste.) * When done, the layout _grows_. The player with the most "architect" symbols draws X tiles from the deck and adds them however they want. * (These tiles might be drawn from 3 or 4 separate decks, sorted by _difficulty_. This ensures the challenges on the cards also rise as the game progresses.) **This should work.** * You have a way to get/lose cards. * There's a clear advantage to shaping your deck a certain way and preferring certain cards. * The burgling/mission theme is strong. * The missions automatically grow in difficulty + rewards. ## Wildlife **This eliminates "buying" part, because the whole USE for your card is to GET MORE.** * All players build their own deck. It's facedown in front of them. * Each round, draw X cards from the main deck and place them open on the table. * Now all players may draw _at most_ Y cards from the top, but at least 1. (A fixed number? No more than the number of cards on the table?) => Simultaneously The cards you drew are your "wildlife reserve" or "nature area". The cards on the table are _attracted_ to specific areas. For example, * An animal that goes to those with the most forests. * An animal that wants one companion animal of the same type. * Conversely, an animal that wants to be alone. Determine who attracts each animal. Those are added to your deck. When your deck runs out, shuffle the whole thing. **@IDEA:** A neutral reserve. * Cards not attracted by anything, go to a "neutral reserve" that builds during the game. * Similarly, cards discarded by players are placed in this neutral reserve. * Over time, this becomes a very powerful place that might attract most cards? Or is it a **store** from which to buy? (Because something like a **tree**, well, how is that going to be "attracted" to an area?) => Maybe something like "On each round, first draw from the neutral reserve, then from the top of the deck"? **@IDEA:** Themed around little universes? "Little Gods"? Your hand of cards is basically a mini-universe, which are ranked in terms of score, which determines the order in which you grab the available cards? **@IDEA:** A _deck-building bluffing game_? Because you have to remember what somebody has in their deck, to know how likely it is they truly have that card? **@IDEA:** The idea of using your deck to actually DO something feels more powerful. Use it to MOVE, use it to BUILD, etcetera. (Hence why Quest to El Dorado works so darn well.) * Like: you're an ambulance/fire station/police car racing to save people, and your cards determine your speed/what you can carry/what you can approach. * But there are many cliché, overused themes and approaches. Would really need to find something fresh. ## Inspiration The game [**Challengers**](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359970/challengers) (winner Kennerspiel des Jahres 2023) is a great simple game, though I (and many others) don't like the determinism. (Once your decks are shuffled ... you're just following instructions to complete the battle, like a mindless robot.) It would be great to improve that by ... * Keeping the idea of "battle against your opponents" => because then your deck actually becomes a SQUAD that DOES SOMETHING. * Adding way stronger options/choices during battles Also the game **Libertalia** actually does this! * Cards are played, then sorted by rank. Actions on cards are taken, which will shake things up. * Then you pick what you want from the current available loot. (Random set of chunky tiles each round, from treasures to curses.) In order from high to low. * And you repeat that process from your own deck, which is why you'd want to build it to withstand whatever curses the opponents throw at you.