STar Wars: Smuggler FBCG

Yay! I brought the disk in this time.

Commence Primary Ignition...

Hmmmm, I am still trying to come up with a combat system that I am happy with. I?d still like to focus on the ?outrun/ escape? scenario because it seems to make more sense, unless the smugglers form an alliance against a Star Destroyer. A lot would depend on the type of freighter that you use, and the character piloting it.

The Millennium Falcon was dwarfed by the Star Destroyers, so Han went for the ?We can still outfly them? I still have a few maneuvers up my sleeve? approach. If your ship is fast and maneuverable, then that is the style you will go for. Your event/ interrupts/ actions would need to reflect this and be focussed. The game needs to reflect an idea that a player who mixes up their events too much (For example has too great a mix of hiding and out-flying, or frontal attack events) will find themselves short of the right card for the right moment. It?s like in LotR having a heap of Dwarf strength adders that need an axe, but you don?t have an axe. Sure, the events work, but not to their full potential. This would be the randomness of the game.

In addition, if we had pilot characters (not my favorite idea, but majority should win) they could have a stat that allows you to look at the top cards of your deck and grab an appropriate event. For instance, Han would have a high stat for skill/ thinking. Let?s make it a 5. That means, he can look at up to the top 5 cards in his draw deck, and pick an appropriate event, and do something with the rest, maybe shuffle them back into his draw pile or something. There could be penalties for not drawing an event or something.

Which leads me to another idea I?ve had. Previously, I?ve stated that we can?t have too any decks per player. What say we turn that idea completely on it?s head, and say that each player has a few stacks in front of them. This is only a tangeant, but I got the idea from looking at my YJ cards for inspiration. There are strict deckbuilding guidelines in YJ (which I think is a neat mechanic) and we could use a similar idea here. You have some decks in front of you:

Starter deck:
Your ship and Pilot
Imperial ships and other cards that have the keyword ?starting?

Resource deck:
Your trade route card
Planets
cargo
Maybe contracts (These could go in your main deck)

Tactics deck:
Battle focussed events

Main deck:
Everything else.
(Imperial ships, characters, other ships, ordinance etc.)

Maybe it?s too many decks. There would be some deckbuilding rules like minimum numbers, ratios (I like the TCG idea of the ratios of ground/ characters/ space).

My next concept is something I have eluded to before. I collect a magazine called the official Star Wars fact file. It?s a cool publication that all sorts of stuff about Star Wars (D?uh). IN the first edition, they included a map showing the major planets, sectors and trade routes in the galaxy. I?ll list some here:

Perlemian Trade Route
Coruscant - Coralug - Chandrila - Brentaal - Esseles - Rhinnal - Rallttiir - Taanab - Roche - Belderone - Troiken - Quermia.

Corellian Trade Spine
Corellia - Duro - Teyr - Bestine - Yag? Dhul -

Hutt Space
Toydaria, Ylesia, Klatooine, Da Soocha, Nal Hutta

Each deck must mention a trade route/ sector for trade, and this pulls appropriate planets from your deck. There would need to be at least 6 of these cards to make variety possible. Each trade route would favor a type of deck, for instance a Hutt Space deck would lean towards an underworld type deck, while the Perlemian Trade route may favor a more ?by the book? deck, or even an Imperial contract deck.

Naturally, not every planet in each route/ sector would be in the first collection.

I had another inspiration: why limit this game to Smuggling. Why not make it a type of role-playing card game. The premier set would focus on Smuggling, but later expansions could allow the player to be a Bounty Hunter, with contracts and the like being hunts.

To finish, a card:

Unknown load.
Imperial Contract
Plays

 

BUMP!!!!!

 

Smuggler Ordinance
Denna Quad Laser
Designed for large warships, Denna Quad Lasers are difficult to operate remotely, but provide a big boost to a ship's firepower.

Weapon destiny is -1 if no smuggler character is aboard this ship, otherwise it is +1.
Cargo Space=1 Cost=2000

 

Concussion Missiles

These missiles pack a punch, but are expensive in the long run.

Destiny is +2 if targeting an Imperial starfighter. *= Initial cost is 1000 credits plus 750 credits per shot.
Cargo Space=1 Cost=*

 

I know I haven't posted in a while, but all the same....BUMP

 

BPJ,

Okay, I'm working on rewriting my "rules" document from before, but here's what I'm thinking....

1) Each player has three decks: Contracts, Tactics and Resources.
- Contracts deck contains just contracts; they are key to the game, and it needs to be easy to pull one out. Don't worry about having easy access to the things you need to complete your contract, because some contracts could let you pull the things you need from your Resources deck.
- Tactics deck contains just "battle cards", or confrontation events, or whatever you want to call them.
- Resources deck contains everything else: cargo, ordinance, ships (Imperial and smuggler) characters, etc. In other words, this deck contains the "things" you need to win.
- Each deck must have at least 20 cards, but no more than 40.

2) I prefer placing all the systems out on the table up front, rather than drawing them up from a resource deck.

3) Smugglers shouldn't have "trade routes". They should be able to go wherever they want. In practice, your deck will likely have some "theme" to it anyway. "Trade routes" are for legitimate business, not smuggling. But Imperials would be patrolling those trade routes (I would call them "patrol routes") so those routes would give our Imperial ships defined paths to follow during the course of the game. It's up to the player to decide how to maneuver around the Imperials.

4) Destiny draws are gone, and no dice, either. We'll just use "tactic" cards, like you suggest. "Tactics" can help you win confrontations in several ways. You could bribe your way out of a confrontation, you could "outmaneuver" the Imps, or you could try overpowering them. Like skirmish phase events in LOTR, the last two could depend on what other cards are in play to add more of that randomness you're looking for. For example:

Great Shot, Kid!
Smuggler Tactic
Add 2 to your ship's power if you are firing at an Imperial starfighter. (Add 2 more if Luke or Han on board, or 3 if both.)

We Can Still Outmaneuver Them
Generic Tactic
Add 2 to your ship's maneuver (4 if you have a Hyperdrive Motivator on board).

Switch All Power To Front Deflector Screens
Generic Tactic
If your ship was just hit during combat, reduce the damage to your ship by 1 (3 if you have an Astromech on board).

Right now, I'm thinking you would draw, say, 3 tactics cards at the beginning of each confrontation, before you decide whether to fight or be boarded.

5) Bounty Hunting: I LIKE IT!! Keep that in mind for our next "expansion".


...

One other card idea:

Talon Karrde
Smuggler Character and Pilot
Deploy: Once per turn, may take one smuggler ship or smuggler into hand OR spend 500 credits to look at opponent's hand.

This helps Talon do two things: (1) build his smuggler's alliance, and (2) act as an information broker, buying information about his competitors.

 

Cool, I like it. I think multiple decks was going waaaaaaay overboard, so the three decks are fine.

 

bump...

 

With the tactic cards, there could be specific tactics that work well with certrain attributes. For instance, Han could have a dot that is green (as in luck of the Irish). Tactics that refer to "luck" events could share the green dot. Furthermore, Han could have two or three luck dots, letting him use multiple events of that kind in a battle.

Or we could list "luck" as a stat on smugglers. The skill stats could do two things:

1) An event/ interrupt could say "pilot must have X luck to use". Naturally, a pilot must have the same or greater score than listed on the card.

2) I was about to say that the stat says how many of that particular type they can play, but why not have the dots next to the stat?

Sometghing to think about.

 

Okay, so what are those attributes, and what type of tactics tend to go with those attributes? Some ideas off the top of my head:

Gambler (instead of "luck") - cancels or reduces opponent's tactics, but there's a risk involved. Example tactic: "Discard 2 cards from resource deck to reduce Imperial's power by 4."

Swindler (??) - able to talk or bribe his way out of a confrontation. These tactics are for being boarded, not for combat. Example tactic: Bribe (see above).

Information Broker - lets you look at opponent's cards, or pull cards out of your resource deck. These will likely be event cards rather than tactic cards. Example event: "Spend 500 credits to peek at the top 4 cards of your tactics deck and rearrange them in any order desired."

Strategist - lets you pull more than the normal number of tactics cards. This would be on the character card. Example: "May draw +1 tactics cards at the start of a confrontation."

Weapons Specialist - adds even more power to your weapons. This would be on characters and tactics. Example tactic: "Add 2 to your power for each Weapons Specialist on board."

 

cool.

Fast Talker, Leader, burglar ("Chewie and I have got into heavier guarded places than this), mechanic

I was thinking of luck more of an attribute/ stat (like power/ ability) than a particular skill.

 

*Extreme Bump*

Yup It's me. I suppose it is MY responsiblity, yet again, to keep this thread alive. I simply refuse to let this thread(which took alot of digging, mind you) die. I think that we should go about this a different way; the way that decipher went about their proposed Star Trek TCG.

I say we just concentrate on making enough cards to make 2 decks (however many cards that would be) and play with those (online, with other gaming friends, whatever). I think that the act of playing with them, and finding strategy will let us think up new card ideas quicker. Also, with a slightly less daunting short-term goal, it's more realistic to get it done.

So what do you say? Are YA WITH ME?????
*raises arm in gathering gesture*








*Crickets chirp, Bren's arm is still raised.*

 

Hey, I'm still game! Good idea, Bren, to just start building some sample decks.


How about this for some deck themes:

1. Smuggers: Han & Falcon, Chewie. Contracts: Rebel and Hutt.
2. Smugglers: Dash & Outrider. Contracts: Hutt and Imperial.
3. Smugglers: Talon & Wild Karrde, Mara, plus others. Contracts: Rebel and Imperial.


I had been working on revising the rules, I'll try to get back to that. I'll also try working on some SIMPLIFIED rules that will make the game easier to learn and play at first.

 

Good ideas.

 

I've forgotten, are we going to make this multiplayer? If not, then I think we should only concentrate on 2 decks for now.
I suggest Han, Chewie and Falcon, and Talon, Mara, and Wild Karrde.

Also I guess I'm a bit rusty on what the rules are at this point. If someone would like to put in a single post(perhaps a new thread) what the rules are so far, it would help me at least.

 

Hey folks, don't forget the BPJ! It's not that I let my luittle baby here die, it's just thatwork, illness and Droidarena (great game folks) have taken up my time.

Great ideas guys. BTW it was always meant to be multiplayer. I'm in.

I'll see what I can come up with for some cards, rules and the like.

 

I know that I personally haven't contributed a single card yet, but I'm ready to start making some for starter decks. Ok, I think we can probably stretch it and do those 3 starting decks. I think we should post the "final"(not really, but for the purpose of playing) rules in a new thread, complete with all the cards we have so far.

Also, I was wondering, should we try to keep this somewhat private, and only have a few people (at least the 4 or 5 ones who have posted in this thread) make the sets. That's kind of what makes a CCG a CCG, I think. The surprise of a brand new set, with a bunch of new cards to play and trade with (although trading will be irrelivant). But those are just my thoughts.

 

To quote an old saying "Too many cooks spouils the Broth"

We are the ones who have worked on it, we should test it.

If we like it, then maybe let others know!

 

My thinking exactly. So, either we should work everything out over PMs/e-mail, or make a forum elsewhere, and work everything out there. I'm thinking the second might be the best way, because then everyone on the team could see what one person posted, instead of having to send an e-mail/pm to everyone.

 

Hey! I just had a great idea! I was thinking about the cost system(credits), and it made sense "buying" ships, ordinances and the like. What didn't make sense was smugglers. So I got to thinking, "money-wise, how do you 'pay' for people?" Well, duh, salary!

Here's my idea: each smuggler is free to bring into play, but you have to pay upkeep(a salary). Here's the catch: some cards bypass this. I'm thinking the first smuggler you bring into play is free for the rest of the game. Conceptually, that person is the "owner" of the smuggling business, so his/her "salary" is the pile of chips you have in front of you.

Also, I was thinking about Chewie, he doesn't get paid, he owes a life debt to Han. So how about a Chewie card goes something like this:

Smuggler
Chewie, Loyal First Mate
[whatever stats we decide on having]
Salary:200 OR Free if first mate on falcon with Han.
[can't think of any other GT or lore right now]

Also, this brings up an interesting point. What stats will we have on the cards anyway? I think we need at least 2 stats, possibly 3. I can think of 2: piloting ability and luck. I really think luck should be a stat on every card, because honestly, a smuggler would NEED a lot of that to succed. Also, people like Mara Jade, who is sensitive to the force, would have an extremely high luck stat.

And before we start making cards with stats, we should decide on a scale; a maximum that you can go to. For Star Wars, there was none. DV was the strongest card for a while(except Kitik Keed Kak of course) but then came all the cards with upkeep and stuff. My point, we should find some scale to use. Let's say we have a 1-10 scale. 1 would be horrible, 5 would be mediocre, and 10 would be phenominal. Now we would have to be careful not comparing these to SW, because if a character had 4 or 5 power, he would be above average, whereas here, he would be below.

Just some stuff to think about....

 

Sounds like an interesting idea, Bren, but let's tone it down a bit. Instead of being a regular maintenance fee, let it be a one-time cost, and even then only if you are trying to use the character in a different "theme" deck. For example, you talked about Chewie being free if he is first mate on the Falcon ... but if, say, Talon wanted to "hire" Chewie for his smuggler's alliance, he'd have to pay 1,000 credits. Likewise, Mara would be free if you're Talon Karrde, but if you're Dash you would have to pay her to join you.

I'll work on what stats should be on each card type. I started a list of card types and some starship stats above....

 

OK, I've set up a Forum elsewhere where we can post. To keep the rest of the development of the game a secret, I've sent each of you a PM containing the Address.

Also, I'll put this as kind of a final call to everyone else. If you would still like to participate, just send me a PM, and We'll see if we can work something out.

See you there!