Followup to Yesterday's Card Blog: Actual Cards! · 6:13pm Nov 18th, 2022
Spent some time designing cards for the game from yesterday. Thought I'd share 'em.
Additional rules:
- Two stories by the same author cannot coexist in the box. The older story is replaced by the newer one. You can have two of the same author in play, however.
- Your Story Pile can hold up to 20 story cards. No duplicates. You may only post stories that are in your Story Pile. When a story leaves the Feature Box, it is returned to your Story Pile.
- The first Author you play each turn is free. Every subsequent Author played on that turn costs 2 Energy.
/////// Authors ////////
(Contributed by the man himself)
FanOfMostEverything
Author
Card Blog — Pay 2: Draw a card. FanOfMostEverything cannot post a story this turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
Editor — +1 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by FanOfMostEverything.
Forget not that I am a derp.
shortskirtsandexplosions
Author
Editor —
Writer — Retire this author: Choose 1 of the following; you may pay 2 to choose 2 of the following instead:
- You may post a story by shortskirtsandexplosions.
- You may post a story by Imploding Colon.
- You may post a story by Just Essay.
Space is a waste. Time is a crime.
Aragon
Author
Editor — Energy costs for abilities of the writer are reduced by 1.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by Aragon.
Quoth the raven: "CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW"
SuperTrampoline
Author
Editor — +1 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by SuperTrampoline.
"Of all the terrible batponies in the world, you're the least terrible."~PresentPerfect
Kkat
Author
Editor — +1 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by Kkat.
Skywriter
Author
Editor — +1 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by Skywriter.
Loves tiaras.
Monochromatic
Author
Enchanted: Gain 1 ethereal Energy at the start of your turn. (ethereal energy does not count towards your Energy total and is lost at the end of your turn.)
Editor — +1 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by Monochromatic.
Perfect has seven letters and so does meeeeee.
(And, because I'm a self-absorbed narcissist:)
RB_
Author
Editor — -2 Heat to the Writer's stories.
Writer — Retire this author: You may post a story by RB_.
What does RB stand for, anyway?
/////// Stories ////////
2: Group Precipitation
Story — Anthology
by FanOfMostEverything
Heat: 1
Community Effort — When this story enters the Feature Box, add one heat for every author card you control (Max. 6).
4: Background Pony
Story — Sad
by shortskirtsandexplosions
Heat: 5
Unsung — When this story enters the Feature Box, shuffle your hand into your library. Draw a card for each card discarded in this way.
When did music begin? Did it begin with a question? Or an exclamation?
4: Austraeoh
Story — Adventure
by Imploding Colon
Heat: 4
Fly East — While this story is in the Feature Box, you may pay 1. If you do, discard a card, then draw a card.
The morning sun greeted her like a furious torch.
4: Appledashery
Story — Romance
by Just Essay
Heat: 3
Vol. Two — When this story leaves the Feature Box, add a copy of this card without this ability with 2 heat to the Feature Box.
5: Evil is Easy, Governing is Harder
Story — Comedy
by Aragon
Heat: 4
Persistant — If this story is at the top of the Feature Box, it generates 3 energy each turn instead of 2.
As anypony who’s ever met Pinkie Pie can tell you, the line between absolute genius and absolute idiocy is exceedingly thin.
2: ⇩ Please Downvote! ⇩
Story — Comedy
by SuperTrampoline
Heat: 6
This card does not generate energy while in the Feature Box.
When this story's Heat drops to 0, gain 8 energy. Exile this card.
7: Fallout: Equestria
Story — Adventure
by Kkat
Heat: 4
Megaspell — When this card enters the Feature Box, remove all other stories in the Feature Box.
3: Contraptionology!
Story — Adventure Comedy
by Skywriter
Heat: 3
FOREVER — When this story enters the Feature Box, all other stories in the Feature Box gain +1 Heat.
5: The Enchanted Library
Story — Romance Adventure
by Monochromatic
Heat: X
Fandom's Favourite — This story has no maximum Heat. When this story enters the Feature Box, set its Heat to 1 greater than the story at the top.
1: Meat and Bone, Sinew and Bile
Story — Horror
by RB_
Heat: 1
Macabre Research — When this story leaves the Feature Box, draw two cards.
//////// Effects ////////
1: Dramatic Reading
Effect
Add +1 heat to target story in the Feature Box.
2: Discord
Effect
Longfic (Play this card into an editor slot. You may pay 2 to remove it on your turn.)
Stories you control in the Feature Box generate 2 Energy regardless of their ranking.
At the beginning of your turn, lose 1 Energy.
2: Temp Ban
Effect
Oneshot (This card may be played during an opponent's turn.)
Target Author cannot post a story this turn.
3: Royal Canterlot Library
Effect
Search your library for an Author and add it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
3: Moderator's Intervention
Effect
Oneshot (This card may be played during an opponent's turn.)
Remove target Story from the Feature Box. Its owner draws a card.
3: Downvote Fairy
Effect
Longfic (Play this card into an editor slot. You may pay 2 to retire it on your turn.)
Stories your opponents post enter the Feature Box with -1 heat.
3: A Contest Approaches
Effect
Longfic (Play this card into an editor slot. You may pay 2 to retire it on your turn.)
When this card is played, put three deadline counters on it. Each turn you may pay 1 to remove a deadline counter from this card. Activate this ability only once per turn.
When all deadline counters have been removed from this card, add three generic stories to the feature box with two heat each and a genre of your choosing. Sacrifice this card.
3: Add to Group
Effect
Longfic (Play this card into an editor slot. You may pay 2 to retire it on your turn.)
When this card enters play, choose a genre.
While this card is in an editor slot, stories of the chosen genre enter the Feature Box with +1 heat.
4: Writer's Block
Effect
Longfic (Play this card into an editor slot. You may pay 2 to retire it on your turn.)
You may play this card into an opponent's editor slot. They may pay 2 to retire it on their turn.
4: Permaban
Effect
Retire target card in an opponent's slot.
4: Jinglemas
Effect
Shuffle your Story pile. Draw the top card from the pile face-down and add it to the Feature Box. You do not have to pay that story's cost.
5: Seattle's Angels
Effect
Remove target Story from your Story Pile that has already been played this game and add it to the Feature Box. You do not need to pay that story's cost. When that story leaves the Feature Box, exile it.
Delightful stuff! I especially like Fallout: Equestria. Making it into a board wipe is a truly inspired top-down design.
Oh my god, I love this
Pretty sure GMBlackjack would be a game-breaker ^^
I'd buy a deck!
Huh. Neat. I wonder what I would be...
Something something constantly churns out words, takes resources to maintain, cannot be used as an editor?
5698685
Hey wait a minute...
-GM, master of cards
I feel like Rainbow Factory would have to have some sort of sacrifice mechanic to it.
Fascinating concept!
5698698
Funny you should say that...
5698699
Oh haha hell yeah, that’s perfect.
This is a really fun system. I can already see myself losing to someone in a draft :P
Hmm, I wonder if the best strat with these cards is to bet on The Enchanted Library, stack as many Heat Boosters onto it, use a Discord, and try to let it carry you for a while, while using other stories to offset Discord's constant Heat Cost.
With a Evil is Easy, Governing is Harder in case The Enchanted Library ever gets Removed before you've used all your boosters.
Appledashery... Does it still trigger even if hit by Moderator's Intervention? Too bad there's no "Retarget" effects.
If you can use any story from your Story Pile at any time, then having 20 Stories no matter what is usually the best bet. And since we can only play Stories that we have Authors for which are random draws, that constrains the authors we can put in our decks.
...
Or try to rush a victory with ⇩ Please Downvote! ⇩ and a full Editor set of _RB, replaying Please every turn and trying for a 6-turn victory or something.
5698706
Takes notes.
5698702
Solid deck idea!
Appledashery's ability triggers whenever it is removed from the Box, so yes, it would still trigger if it got Moderator's Intervention'd.
RB_ + ⇩ Please Downvote! ⇩ is a good combo, but remember that ⇩ Please Downvote! ⇩ gets exiled after it leaves the Box instead of going back to the story pile, so you only get to play it once unless you can un-exile it. Which may be a card idea in the future.
I'm very pleased to see that other people think this is a neat game idea! I've got more ideas for cards, so I'll post them once I've accumulated a few more.
In the meantime, suggestions for cards, stories, or authors to cover are very welcome!
5698713 Authors-wise you already have there two of the four cornerstones of fimfic. You should add cards for Robcakeran and Pen Stroke.
5698713
I rememebered, then forgot about Please's Exile. Yeah, that's a good way to limit its power.
Cloner / Changeling / Etc, type cards that just copy another card's effects, for Stories would give a functionally Second copy of Please, but needing to wait for its Heat to go down makes it very situational.
For Stories to cover, well, everything in the first page of https://www.fimfiction.net/stories?order=likes is a obvious idea. Maybe reference how Sunny Skies' was basically the Top Story Forever until some formulas got tweaked, IIRC.
As far as the excitement of coming up with a card game concept, fleshing it out, and inventing cards with interesting and unique effects that synergise off each other pay off their lore, this is fantastic stuff. Obviously making the game actually balanced is another thing altogether, and probably out of reach, but for what it is, this is delectable stuff. Great job!
5698723
Ah, right. Well, so long as the game isn't Turing Complete like MtG, it'll be somewhat easier to reason about. Heh.
https://boingboing.net/2012/09/12/magic-the-gathering.html
5698723
Yeah, this. I'm not even sure if the game would be all that fun to play; that would require playtesting, and I have neither a printer nor anyone suitable to playtest with. But still, it's a fun exercise.
For anyone coming here from FoME's post, I put out another set of cards just now. Find them here!
Hmm, I kind of wonder if there should be a card called something like "How is this awesome story so unknown?!" but that might be a little too individual of a reaction for this game's more site-wide scope.