Wanna try out the beta version of the new Call of Cthulhu collectible card game? ‘Course ya do, you mugs. Here’s your rules PDF and here’s your card mockups.
This is shaping up well, I think: like Duel Masters, every card is playable upside-down as a resource. I think we can put that on the list of best practices for a CCG. (Decipher’s “showing” mechanic is also on the list, but I like this better for some reason.) You have a small set of story cards common to all players. Players try to score those story cards by committing characters to them. The struggle over each story card plays out a bit like A Game of Thrones – that is, by counting the relevant symbols on character cards – but each story card posits multiple symbol challenges, and each challenge has an effect that resolves immediately. For instance, you might have the Terror challenge locked, but the Combat challenge immediately thereafter might tear you up. Deciding which characters will commit to what might get a little RoboRally-esque, as you plan and re-plan for a cascade of emergent complexity CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU MAD!
Which is our kind of fun, naturally. Looks like we will definitely see this at Origins, if there was any doubt.
What do you mean by Decipher’s “showing” mechanic? Do you mean “spotting”? Just curious.
I do mean spotting. Shows you how long it’s been since I played anything that uses it.
This might actually get me to slip on my “not going to get involved in another Magic” policy and buy this – it looks pretty neat.
Cool, Mike. I’d love to see the other stuff on that “list of best practices for a CCG” sometime!