Using Reiner Knizia’s book of dice and card games for inspiration when designing other kinds of games. Exploring how a card game can be adapted and expanded.
My attempt for creating a solo mode for such a game that is not simply card counting was to try to split up actions into defense, midfield and attack, with a pushing your luck mechanic based on the number of actions and opponent attacks you face.
It’s basically Rock, Paper, Scissors with different distributions. Very similar to the Spy in Stratego (1946), which loses to everything except the best piece.
Great little mechanism! I could see a version of this being used as an entire TTRPG combat system. PCs have a small number of cards granted by their weapons/gear (maybe a 2, 4, and 9). Enemies come with a fixed set of cards. A small enemy (skeleton) might just have a 7 and a 3. Each round, each combatant can play a card against one target (the one they are attacking). In a 1-on-1, the higher card wins. In a 2-on-1, the higher card wins from the matched attacks, but the "unguarded" attacker gets a free hit. You have to use all your cards before you get any back, so that skeleton can make one hard hit and then a weak hit. Higher strength enemies get a stronger hand and can play more cards per round. Players learn what cards are held by which enemies, theming in learning how an enemy fights. I dunno...might be something there.
Great article, very interesting and full of ideas. I often have the problem of making things too complex, when simple mechanics can create the right tension and fun. The idea behind Goal is really interesting.
Thanks for the article. I wasn't aware of these books. Have any of the games that you found in this book compelled you to want to play them either solo or with someone else?
Your comments around analyzing these small games, and altering them, or inverting them reminded me of an exercise some friends and I used to try:
We would use a standard sticky note: So about 3 in x 3 in in size. Then we would challenge ourselves to design an entire game set of rules on the sticky note. We allowed ourselves to use coins as conponents. Obviously it didn't need to be a sticky note, but the size limitation and the fun colors helped challenge our brains to come up with fun concepts.
Great article. Got some more inspiration for if I ever want to expand the TOTAL FOOTBALL one-page rpg I made for the jam recently 😁
I was going to shout you out, glad to see you mentioned your game!
My attempt for creating a solo mode for such a game that is not simply card counting was to try to split up actions into defense, midfield and attack, with a pushing your luck mechanic based on the number of actions and opponent attacks you face.
It’s basically Rock, Paper, Scissors with different distributions. Very similar to the Spy in Stratego (1946), which loses to everything except the best piece.
Great little mechanism! I could see a version of this being used as an entire TTRPG combat system. PCs have a small number of cards granted by their weapons/gear (maybe a 2, 4, and 9). Enemies come with a fixed set of cards. A small enemy (skeleton) might just have a 7 and a 3. Each round, each combatant can play a card against one target (the one they are attacking). In a 1-on-1, the higher card wins. In a 2-on-1, the higher card wins from the matched attacks, but the "unguarded" attacker gets a free hit. You have to use all your cards before you get any back, so that skeleton can make one hard hit and then a weak hit. Higher strength enemies get a stronger hand and can play more cards per round. Players learn what cards are held by which enemies, theming in learning how an enemy fights. I dunno...might be something there.
Great article, very interesting and full of ideas. I often have the problem of making things too complex, when simple mechanics can create the right tension and fun. The idea behind Goal is really interesting.
Thanks for the article. I wasn't aware of these books. Have any of the games that you found in this book compelled you to want to play them either solo or with someone else?
Your comments around analyzing these small games, and altering them, or inverting them reminded me of an exercise some friends and I used to try:
We would use a standard sticky note: So about 3 in x 3 in in size. Then we would challenge ourselves to design an entire game set of rules on the sticky note. We allowed ourselves to use coins as conponents. Obviously it didn't need to be a sticky note, but the size limitation and the fun colors helped challenge our brains to come up with fun concepts.