Dual Cards

[mattgslater]

OK, I love the idea of a card mechanic. I hate the predictability of LRB5 cards, and I hate the wild power variances in 3rd ed. cards. So I have a solution, and I want to see what y'all think.

There are however many decks of however many cards: all will have to be rewritten, and I'd like to get them following suit or color (13, 14 or 27 per deck). All cards cost the same: I'm thinking 50k per card in hand (so the first one's free), but the specific cost is not so important, so long as it's balanced and fairly difficult/expensive to fish (27 cards does that by itself if you don't give out more than one freebie, but a deck of 13 needs some kind of limit, like 0-2 or even 0-1). Cards don't all have to have the same power value, but there should be a clear median power level and many cards should cleave to it, while some should be clearly better. Cards should all be drawn blindly (that is, you need to pick all your cards before you look at your hand), or balance problems will creep in.

Here's where it gets different. Some cards (the ones with big effects) would have two different effects. The first one, usually kind of sucky, is what one gets for playing the card. The second one, related to the first (or at least to the name of the card), is much better. However, to get the superior effect, one must discard an additional card. Sometimes I'll use a play on words to put two unrelated effects together. For instance, "Mine!" could blow a moving player up (big effect), or could indicate an unwillingness to hand off or pass the ball, as if the player had failed an Animosity test (little effect).

Example: 'Flu bug.
1) Play this card at the start of the match. Your opponent's players are not feeling their oats. As a result, your opponent must roll 1d6 every time he attempts to use a Team Re-Roll Counter. On a 1, the Re-Roll is discarded with no effect.
2) Play this card at the start of the match. Randomly select 1d3 players on the opposing team. Those players take ill, and may not play in this match. If this would bring your opponent below 11 players, the opposing team may bring in Journeymen to fill the difference.

So, if you draw 'Flu Bug and have at least one card you're willing to burn, you can really put a damper on a well-developed opponent. If not, or if your opponent isn't well-developed, you can hit them with something that averages out to a scattershot Spy.

WDYT?

[bjorn9486]

I'm don't understand how you are going to price them, but I like the idea of a dual affect card.

[Storch]

Interesting idea.

The only issue I see is in pricing. Here's why.

If you have two effects one worth, say, a median of 50k and the other worth 300k all is well and good until you throw in the dual use mechanic.

So with that mechanic, you have two cards worth individually 50k but together being 300k. This makes getting the second card a no-brainer as the value of the pair far outweighs the cost. To balance them in this case, you would cost them at about 150k each. Here's the issue, now a single effect is way overcosted.

Personally, while I think the idea is cool, simply having two decks at two different values is so less likely to be abused. To test out your costing on even a 13 card deck, you would have to individually look at every combination of 2 (or even 3 cards) and ask is this better individually or together and then try to figure out a cost where the individual is not swamped by the much larger second use.

[mattgslater]

One part of the plan is to have some single-use cards, and to have some dual-use cards where the must-discard use isn't as good as two average cards. So each card individually is not likely to be a great deal... unless you have both a good card and an extra card, or you get a single-use card that's a good value. So if we're talking about cards at 150k, then the single-use card would average out to 100k+, and the dual-use card would average out to 50k/250k.

Maybe it should be a cumulative 100k per card held, with individual cards worth 100k-ish (single use) or 50k-100k/200-300k (dual). So with 100k in inducements you can end up with an extra 50k-100k card, or possibly with a 200k-300k card in lieu of a 100k card. But if you want enough draws to have great odds at a nasty dual card and a throwaway to back it up, you need 600k in handicap. And there's no chance of drawing the nasty dual card up-front, though you know you'll get something (as the first card is free).

But yeah, I think you're right if you're saying that they all have to be distinctly inferior to the average Desperate Measures card.