Mind Game

[maverick_weirdo]

I'm a gamer.
I like to play boardgames, cardgames, rpgs, and Larps.
I have created uncounted characters, and backgrounds.
I have even written a scenario or two.

But now I have gone too far. Over the past for days I have been creating a card game from scratch, where players are telepaths trying to gather mental affinities, from the universe and/or each other.

Mind Game Rules

To Start Game

1. Separate out Chi Cards, shuffle them into Chi Stack (should be 33 cards).
2. Take rest of cards, and shuffle them into Inspiration Stack (should be 67 cards).
3. Each player draws two cards from Chi Stack.
4. Each player draws three cards from Inspiration Stack.
5. Each player draws one more card which can be from either one of the previous stacks.
6. Each player chooses one card from their hand to start their Memory Stack.

Turns

First a player declares “Meditation”, “Action”, or “Revelation”

• Meditation
  
  1. Draw top Chi card from Chi Stack and put in your hand
  2. Pick up one card, from one of these options, and put in your hand:
     • Top of Inspiration Stack
     • Top of your Memory Stack
     • Your Being Card in play
  3. You may now take a card from your hand and place it on the bottom of your Memory Stack. Your turn is over.
• Action
  1. Pay the Chi cost for the card you wish to play.
     • Show other players the Chi cards you are spending. Spent Chi cards go to the bottom of the Chi Stack. If you overspend on Chi (for example: use a Two Chi card for a one chi action cost) you do not get any change back. The maximum you can spend on an action is three Chi. The minimum you can spend on an action is zero Chi. The Chi spent for an action is reduced by one (and only by one) if you show other players that you have an Affinity Card in your hand. The Affinity card then returns to your hand.
  2. You may do one of the following:
     • Place a Being Card down on the Table in front of a player who does not currently have one. (A player can only have one Being Card in front of them at a time.) Your turn is over.
     • Play an Attack Card. Attack Card returns to your hand after it is played. After attack and effects of player’s Being Card (if applicable) are resolved your turn is over.
• Revelation
  1. You set Hand down so other players can see your cards
  2. You turn your Memory Stack cards over so other players can see your cards (keep Hand and Memory Stack separate.)
     • If you have a number of Affinities less than the number of players plus two, or you have both Dark Affinity and Light Affinity, then put your cards back as they were. Your turn is over.
     • If you have a number of Affinities greater than or equal to the number of players plus two, and do not have both Dark Affinity and Light Affinity, you win.

There is no Hand size limit. There is no Memory Stack size limit

Types of Cards

• Chi Cards:
  • Chi Cards are the currency of the game
  • There are thirty-three Chi Cards in the game.
  • Chi Cards are drawn from a separate Chi Stack during “Meditation.”
  • Chi Cards come in amounts of; One Chi, Two Chi, Three Chi, Zero Chi
• Affinity Cards:
  • Affinity Cards are the goal of the game.
  • There are ten Affinity Cards in the game.
  • To win you need a number of Affinity Cards greater than or equal to the number of players plus two (for example: in a three player game it takes at least five Affinities to win).
  • There are two Affinities which do not work together (Dark Affinity and Light Affinity). If you have both of these cards you cannot win no matter how many Affinities you have.
  • Affinity Cards can also reduce the Chi cost of actions by one.
• Being Cards:
  • Being Cards help determine the style of play a player uses.
  • There are twenty-seven Being Cards in the game.
  • Putting a Being Cards in play may cost One Chi, Two Chi, or Three Chi (not including discounts or penalties)
  • A player can only have one being card in play at a time.
  • Being Cards can be played on any player who does not currently have one in play (including yourself) during “Action.”
  • Some Being Cards protect players from attacks. Some Being Cards promote attacks. Some Being Cards offer advantages. Some Being Cards inflict penalties. Some Being Cards do nothing.
  • A player can pick up their Being Card during “Meditation.”
• Attack:
  • Attack Cards allow a player to manipulate Hands, Memory Stacks, and Being Cards in play.
  • There are thirty Attack Cards in the game.
  • Playing an Attack Cards in play may cost One Chi, Two Chi, or Three Chi (not including discounts or penalties).
  • Attack Cards can be played during “Action.”
  • Some Attack Cards can be played on yourself.

Comments

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I'm a gamer and a little bit of a game design geek myself.

The mechanics you describe sound interesting. Without knowing what the attack and being cards do, I can't really picture how the game would work, but the card mix doesn't seem like it would work. I'm not sure how many people are supposed to be able to play, but 33 Chi cards sounds like too few to divide up among more than 5. I'm even more concerned about the other deck, though. First, the goal: if there are only 10 Affinity cards in the game, accumulating half of them to win in a 3 player game, while the other players are also busily trying to accumulate them, sounds hard but perhaps possible. Getting 6 of them in a 4 player game sounds really hard. 7 in a 5 player game sounds hopeless. Second, 27 Being cards, when each player can only have one in play at a time, seems like way too many. The mechanic that you can play them on yourself or on another player is interesting, especially if whether a particular one is good or bad depends depends on the situation. (If more than one or two of them are clearly bad, it sounds like the game descends into tit for tat of passing them around to each other.) Finally, a total of only 67 cards in the play deck sounds like too few to support very many players; if each player starts to accumulate a hand and a memory stack, you run out of cards quickly.

The other issue I have is that I get a feeling, between the name "memory stack" and the description of the Revelation phase, that part of the game might be intended to be remembering what cards you've had and what you've done with them. Purely as a matter of personal preference, I dislike making remembering anything that's at all forgettable as a game mechinic. I could live with just the Light and Dark affinities, but if there are multiple combinations, it could quickly become very annoying if I'm not allowed to look at the cards in my Memory Stack.

Thank you for the feedback.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

When I posted this I was still in the process of creating the cards (I'm using 3x5 cards cut in half) and had not had a chance to play it yet. Also I left out the specific Attack & Being cards on purpose.

Number of players (I have in mind) 3-6

I don't think the number of Chi cards will be a problem. Players start with 2 or 3 Chi cards each, but typically only get 1 Chi Card if they meditate. In general players spend Chi cards (put them back in the "bank") faster than they receive them.

You are absolutely correct about the goal being too hard. After a couple of "dummy" hands I have decided that Number of Players plus 1 makes more sense. So 4 for three players, 5 for four players, 6 for five players, and 7 for six players. Still challenging, but (hopefully) doable.

There are two main strategies to get Affinity cards. The "Gatherer" who frequently draws from the inspiration stack looking for Affinity cards, and the "Hunter/Bandit" who tries to steal Affinity cards from other players.

The reason that 40% of the Inspiration Stack are Being cards is so that each player is likely to have one in their opening hand. In mid-late game Being Cards can "clog-up" the hand (or Memory Stack) but it also helps protect the Affinity cards. (If you have 4 Being Cards and 1 Affinity card in your hand, and another player steals a "random" card from you, then it is a 80% chance he will take a Being card instead of the Affinity card.)

Tit-for-tat can be an issue in this game, but in 3 or more player games, the one who avoids tit-for-tat usually wins.

Yes, remembering what cards you've had and what you've done with them is a part of this game. Sorry. Unfortunately I know a number of gamers who avoid card games (especially Fluxx which I love) because they consider them "too random". Remembering what you have, and figuring out what other players have, is what this game is about.