miracles, armaments, and decrees
last time, i went over basic card mechanics with a soul-type card as an example. i mentioned before that there are five card types, and that was one of them.
here, i've got three of the other card types to show off. armaments, miracles, and decrees.
the final card type, bastions, are a bit more intertwined with the unique rules of the game, so i'll get to them another time.
so check it, here's an armament.
so! very familiar format, isn't it!
that's intentional. the format of void god is meant to be unifying and consistent.
the difference between armaments and souls is that armaments, when played, are equipped to souls. upon doing so, they confer their stats, actives, and passives.
this armament confers no change in attack, and +1 to health. additionally, it confers the "recover" active ability.
when equipped to a soul, that soul will be able to use the active ability as if it were their own. "recover", in particular, allows a soul to unexhaust another soul at the cost of exhausting themselves.
you'll see that the iconography is shared with the soul, and you should bbe able to tell that this can be played to anywhere in "war" or "homeland", for the cost of one generic torque. yippee!
an armament is a tool, something harvested from the world, something with sentimental value, something people want to carry with them.
well, in this card's case it's just a pleasant trait.
on to miracles.
and lo! an even simpler card! no numbers, no actives or passives.
miracles have transient effects that tend to only be active at the moment they're played.
"kill this guy", or "draw two cards", or all sorts of things.
the format is the same, but i'll go over the icons on this one since they're different.
the cost for this card isn't torque. it's "free". free! what a steal! well, it's not FREE free because it's technically card disadvantage. but still a pretty good deal.
the domain that it's played to, the skull, is discard. yup, straight from your hand to discard. again, the stack is not a domain.
and the timing icon appeared in the soul, but to reiterate, it is BLINK timing, which means it can be played at any time.
a miracle is a moment, a flash of memory, something swallowed quickly with a lingering taste. who knows when they happen, or who they'll affect.
but souls would truly be dead without these drifting motes of chaos.
this card actually has effect text, for the first time out of the samples shown so far!
that's what miracles will all tend to be. arbitrary fun stuff in the effect text. in this case, use a soul's active ability for free (without paying the cost).
this means you can use an active ability without being affected by exhausting!
can be a great thing to have just for a free attack, but it also will let you circumvent other arbitrary costs that might show up on soul abilities.
and perhaps, you can imagine some abilities on cards you're familiar with that you'd quite like to use for free, yes?
i won't pretend that this card doesn't open the floodgate for a lot of ridiculous stuff, and it's not alone in void god.
while the game's base functionality is made to be interoperable, and thus, not terribly distinct even if i consider it a good refining, we make cards with the intention of their own mechanics treading new ground and doing things no other compatible card game does.
even if you just played void god plus magic, it would feel like more than just a bunch of custom magic cards with the new opportunities it creates.
course, we have some simple stuff too. not every card is freaky.
we try to keep slightly above the curve on card value even then, though. since the game is made for draft, and each copy of the full game won't come with more than 2 copies of through the tears, it's not a big deal.
anyway! lot of stuff there! but i hope it was valuable in understanding our design process.
time for decrees.
looks like a miracle, right? but this one has a persistent effect, for all players.
gain a shadow torque when one of your dudes dies. costs two of the stuff. playhed during your turn to the homeland.
but you didn't need me to say that! reading the card explains the card, as long as you know the rules and the icons and except in cases like neighbor and weigh.
haha.
a decree is a law, or it is a freedom. this swirling whirlpool has its flickering rules, and men offer to others their own bounties of expression. a despocy, a permission, a vast field.
you understand, now, the place of the armament, the miracle, and the decree.
but what of the soul?
well, what of the man?
what of the man that one was, what of the man one could be?
what of the god that you could become? what of the peace you could have, what of the chaos you could seek?
a person is a person.
the only difference is that a soul has the opportunity to become so much more.
going up?