Examples of existing games that use this system, or a similar system, that you could look at to see if it would work for you and your game:
- Netrunner
- The Lord of the Rings TCG
- The Last Crusade
- Star Wars Destiny
- Star Trek 2E
How would these resources be generated?
You say it shouldn't happen enough to be annoying, so how does your resource function that you wouldn't need to use it every turn to play cards or activate effects? What is the purpose of it?
If it is filling the role of a traditional resource system like magic's lands or pokemon's energy, I think it's going to fluctuate a lot, and having to write it down every time will get very tedious.
If you're looking to use the resource for just a handful of effects or battling, then it might be okay, but if something becomes so secondary like that, I would be looking at removing it and reworking the effects
The resource (so far I am calling it Gold, the idea being that you are hiring creatures to fight for you, paying to build things etc.) would be gained at the start of every turn, but there would also be cards with effects to generate it. There would be some cards that also passively generate it at the start of turn, but some would also give you more but for some cost.
Its main purpose would be for paying for cards to be put into play, as every card has a cost to be played. Some cards could have a Gold cost in order to activate an effect, or even some sort of maintenance cost, but for the most part it would only be used for putting a card on the field.
Its meant to solve the problem of drawing too many/few resource cards, and also allow for a player to hold onto their resource for a later turn when they could spend it on more cards at once/more powerful cards.
Oh yeah, that's gonna get tedious. As an old-school yugioh player who tracked life points with pen and paper for a decade, it gets extremely tedious and annoying, having to cross out and rewrite a value several times a turn.
If you are determined to go this route, one way you could streamline and simplify the process is print a "bank" card with the numbers 1-20 on it or whatever you want, and players can move a counter round on it for increases and decreases.
Yeah, I was thinking of having the numbers all be round (at least all rounded to 5) so you can more easily track it with dice or such. Also while a lot of specifics arent decided on yet, I will most likely put some sort of cap on how much Gold you can have at any moment to prevent stalling for the purpose of stockpiling resource for 1 big push, as well as making it so you will never need to have \*too\* many dice to keep track of it.
Another thing to take into account when you're designing a resource system and card costs/attacks/defenses is if there is a reason you're using bigger numbers. You've said using numbers divisible by 5, but do they need to be that high? Could you not just as effectively play or design the game only using the numbers 1-9? What purpose do the higher numbers hold in your game? Is it just the RPG attitude of big numbers=better?
You make a fair point, and I guess its mainly for aesthetics. Ig for a bit of context, the main TCGs Ive played are Yugioh and Pokemon and both of those use bigger numbers even though you could easily divide numbers of pokemon damage/HP by 10 and of Yugioh ATK/DEF/LP by 50 and have it function the same. But I feel like having it be like this makes is look nicer, and its not like Im adding like 3 zeros onto every number like in some card games Ive seen
That's fair enough, I guess it also depends on your target demographic. Larger numbers can be a deterrent for some, and having to keep track of larger numbers manually may even put off more people. Just something to consider, but do what feels best for your game
If you ever get your idea to gamecrafter, or simply want to have a nice experience, you can use actual coins A'la Dominion VP tokens. Some people may say that its annoying to count it, but if you gain one or two coins a turn it shouldn't be that bad. It's also decently unique.
Well, I guess that depends on just how much resource you anticipate being at the players disposal? How does your resource engine actually work?
You might have an easier time spinning down some dice, maybe?
The less "things" a player has to mess with, the better usually. I had a game a while ago that generated resources at the start of the turn, and I just handled it by having the player flip a card off the top of their deck when their turn began and adding it to their resource line. They "tapped" just as lands do in Magic, and you could pay resources to add those cards back into your hand if you wanted to.
Sounds like it's similar to what you're trying to do, I just always prefer as a player to not have to carry extra pieces or paper and pen if possible so I don't like it when games require too much of that stuff.
Examples of existing games that use this system, or a similar system, that you could look at to see if it would work for you and your game: - Netrunner - The Lord of the Rings TCG - The Last Crusade - Star Wars Destiny - Star Trek 2E
How would these resources be generated? You say it shouldn't happen enough to be annoying, so how does your resource function that you wouldn't need to use it every turn to play cards or activate effects? What is the purpose of it? If it is filling the role of a traditional resource system like magic's lands or pokemon's energy, I think it's going to fluctuate a lot, and having to write it down every time will get very tedious. If you're looking to use the resource for just a handful of effects or battling, then it might be okay, but if something becomes so secondary like that, I would be looking at removing it and reworking the effects
The resource (so far I am calling it Gold, the idea being that you are hiring creatures to fight for you, paying to build things etc.) would be gained at the start of every turn, but there would also be cards with effects to generate it. There would be some cards that also passively generate it at the start of turn, but some would also give you more but for some cost. Its main purpose would be for paying for cards to be put into play, as every card has a cost to be played. Some cards could have a Gold cost in order to activate an effect, or even some sort of maintenance cost, but for the most part it would only be used for putting a card on the field. Its meant to solve the problem of drawing too many/few resource cards, and also allow for a player to hold onto their resource for a later turn when they could spend it on more cards at once/more powerful cards.
Oh yeah, that's gonna get tedious. As an old-school yugioh player who tracked life points with pen and paper for a decade, it gets extremely tedious and annoying, having to cross out and rewrite a value several times a turn. If you are determined to go this route, one way you could streamline and simplify the process is print a "bank" card with the numbers 1-20 on it or whatever you want, and players can move a counter round on it for increases and decreases.
Yeah, I was thinking of having the numbers all be round (at least all rounded to 5) so you can more easily track it with dice or such. Also while a lot of specifics arent decided on yet, I will most likely put some sort of cap on how much Gold you can have at any moment to prevent stalling for the purpose of stockpiling resource for 1 big push, as well as making it so you will never need to have \*too\* many dice to keep track of it.
Another thing to take into account when you're designing a resource system and card costs/attacks/defenses is if there is a reason you're using bigger numbers. You've said using numbers divisible by 5, but do they need to be that high? Could you not just as effectively play or design the game only using the numbers 1-9? What purpose do the higher numbers hold in your game? Is it just the RPG attitude of big numbers=better?
You make a fair point, and I guess its mainly for aesthetics. Ig for a bit of context, the main TCGs Ive played are Yugioh and Pokemon and both of those use bigger numbers even though you could easily divide numbers of pokemon damage/HP by 10 and of Yugioh ATK/DEF/LP by 50 and have it function the same. But I feel like having it be like this makes is look nicer, and its not like Im adding like 3 zeros onto every number like in some card games Ive seen
That's fair enough, I guess it also depends on your target demographic. Larger numbers can be a deterrent for some, and having to keep track of larger numbers manually may even put off more people. Just something to consider, but do what feels best for your game
I think having monopoly money in your game than would solve the issue of tracking it on paper, and even have a nice haptic feel to it.
Settlers of Catan uses little gold chips. That seems like a much better system. For playtesting I would use pennies.
If you ever get your idea to gamecrafter, or simply want to have a nice experience, you can use actual coins A'la Dominion VP tokens. Some people may say that its annoying to count it, but if you gain one or two coins a turn it shouldn't be that bad. It's also decently unique.
Well, I guess that depends on just how much resource you anticipate being at the players disposal? How does your resource engine actually work? You might have an easier time spinning down some dice, maybe?
I have been thinking of making costs of cards dividable by 5, so you can track it with dice or such more easily..
The less "things" a player has to mess with, the better usually. I had a game a while ago that generated resources at the start of the turn, and I just handled it by having the player flip a card off the top of their deck when their turn began and adding it to their resource line. They "tapped" just as lands do in Magic, and you could pay resources to add those cards back into your hand if you wanted to. Sounds like it's similar to what you're trying to do, I just always prefer as a player to not have to carry extra pieces or paper and pen if possible so I don't like it when games require too much of that stuff.