the turn limit sounds good. like: “150 days of games!” then the richest gladiator stable wins.

i post further thoughts after work, here a a few to begin with:

1. RELATIVE DISTANCE
if we keep the idea of relative distance between gladiators in the arena, we don’t even need a board. this would allow us to reduce components to cards, dice and tokens. i think about using a die to represent the distance of the gladiators. just put a die next to each gladiator card, the die face shows his arena position. all gladiators on the same position are able to melee attack. this would tone done position/movement to:

Distance 0 (die shows the same face) = Melee Combat (also martial arts and grappling)
Distance 1 (die difference 1) = Close Combat (Close-Combat-Weapons)
Distance 2 (die difference 2) = Polearm Combat (lances and weapons with reach)
Distance 3 (die difference 3) = Throwing (stones, darts, missile weapons)
Distance 4+ = only Missile weapons can reach thus far

Gladiators can only move in one of two directions: increasing the number on their “distance-die” or decreasing it. a d6 to show distances should be enough.

Example 1:
Titus die shows 1, Cracalla’s die shows 3 – the distance is 2 points wich means they are in Polarm Combat Range (only weapons with reach can be used, or throwing weapons or missile weapons)

Example 2:
Both, Geta and Didius dice show 4, the distance is 0 – so they are at Melee Combat range (use martial arts or close-combat-weapons, but no throwing/missile weapons).

Example 3:
Hadrian’s die show 6 while Caligula’s die shows 2 – the distance is 4. This distance can only be covered by Missile weapons.

2. PAPERWORK
i like to keep paperwork to a minimum, so it would be better to use cards and tokens as often as possible to keep track of gladiator stats. the idea is to have a “gladiator character card” in the middle and put equipment, skills and power-up cards around the character card. we could also use these cards to keep track of body-parts or equipment at the body-parts.

Middle: Character card
Card above: Helmet / Head
Card below: Boots / Legs
Card left: Left Arm / Shield/Net etc.
Card right: Right Arm / Weapon

something like that, more later!

THE CURRENCY
Its important to know that there is only one resource in the game, called gold (i had to remove the other resources from the computer game due to complexity). Whenever a card requires resources to be activated or brought into play, its gold. Whenever a card produces resources, its always gold – nothing else.

READING THE COST
Card costs consists of two different parts as shown above: The first number is the “core cost” and shows how much gold you have to pay to bring the card into play. The second is the “additional cost” you must pay if you dont own enough buildings of the corresponding color (again, this cost is paid in gold). The second part of the cost is the critical part that defines the system:

Every card is aligned to one of the five factions in the game and each faction is color-coded (elves for example are green). The “additional cost” can be reduced by controlling buildings of the same color, otherwise the card gets more and more expensive.

Please note that you require buildings to reduce the cost. Other cards like creatures or items do not count. It is then reduced by 1 point per building of the same color you have in play.

Of course you can mix several factions in your deck (like dwarves+elves or humans+dwarves), but then the chances to have enough buildings of the matching color in play reduce drastically.

Usually, when paying the full cost for a card, its a bit too expensive. When paying only the core cost of a card its a bit too cheap. When paying -1 of the full cost (= you control one building of the same color), the cost is just perfectly balanced. As you start with a capital of one of the colors in play, you will always be able to bring cards of the same color for the best possible price into play.

Examples:

* Without any elf (green) buildings in play, the card above would cost us 6 gold.
* With 1 elf (green) building (for example the elf capitol) in play it would cost us 5 gold.
* With 3 or more elf (green) buildings in play, it would cost us 3 gold.

GENERATING RESOURCES
The main difference in this game is, that the available resources do not automatically increase every turn. You begin the game with your capital in play, and every capital is able to provide you with 3 gold (+/-X depending on the race) per turn. So instead of gaining additional resources, the trick is to reduce the cost of your cards by controlling enough buildings of the same color.

But, of course there are resource providing cards (otherwise you would get “mana screwed” sooner or later on). These cards are called “City Districts” and provide you with 1 additonal gold per turn. City districts are aligned next to your capitol card and can have buildings attached. You have to build them in order to get more resources and increase your city.

Furthermore, all basic units cost 3 gold and all capitols provide their players with at least 3 gold. as the capitol matches the basic unit colors (blue capitol for humans, matches blue human squire card), the gold cost for all basic units is reduced by -1. this allows the player to bring 1 basic unit per turn into play, and still save one gold for later. Gold is stored on your capitol card.

ORIGIN
This CCG is based on the not-so-popular computer game series Disciples from the late 90s (Discples 1: Sacred Lands and Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy). The game recently received a third version called Disciples 3: Renaissance. Despite its mediocre success, I am a big fan of the series and decided to turn it into a customizable card game. Please note that this is just a fan-game, i dont claim any of the gameworld, artwork or the logo my own! You can get more information about the computer game here:

http://www.disciples3.com
http://www.strategyplanet.com/disciples2/

OVERVIEW
This is a typical CCG with a few very uncommon twists to both the theme and the game mechanics. First of all, it takes place in a moody dark fantasy-gothic setting that is very detailled and features lots of nice artwork. Second i tried to alter the typical CCG gameplay to turn away from the typical land/mana/attack/spell/block concepts as much as i could. But i also had to change several aspects of the computer game in order to fit into a CCG (like removing the overworld and hex-battle-maps).

So, each player takes control of one of the five races in the game (Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Undead and Demons).  The goal is to crush your enemies and become supreme ruler of the land, this is basically done by depleting your opponents deck, but there are various ways to victory. You can deplete the deck by attacking your enemy but also by fulfilling quests that force all of your enemies to discard card from the top of their decks.

players have various actions and possibilities available during their turns. most important is building a city and maintaing a small raiding party led by a hero. these are the two main aspects of the game: city building and party grinding. in addition to that, you can bring quests, terrain, artefacts and magic spells into play to aid you.

the core of the game is combat, as you will try to attack and raid your opponents city almost every turn. parts of your troops can be assigned to attack, while the rest stays in the city to defend. a good mix of offensive and defensive tactics is required to maintain a prospering city while being strong enough to crush your foe.

ART
Im using art from all the disciples games. Most is extracted using a simple hex-editor and others are from the web. Maybe some of you already know my templating style, i have attached a sample template (without any text or numbers so far). please note that all of the art is from a computer game, so there won’t be any high quality 300dpi printable cards in this game. as i plan to release it only via lackey (thus: only playable on a computer), i dont care too much about the limited art resources.

INFLUENCES
Besides the obvious computer game, this project draws inspiration from various TCGs. Of course there are aspects found in Magic: The Gathering, but this game leans more towards Legend of the five rings, Legend of the Burning sands and Warhammer: Invasion.

DISCLAIMER
This is a fangame, it follows no commercial purpose. I do not claim the creations of Strategy First or Hex as my own. This project is done due to the undying faith and respect i have for the Disciples game series, its created in my sparetime without any investments and without any commercial targets or bad aims.

Before we start, it is recommended that you read the rulebook to understand how the game works – don’t worry, its just two pages (here you can get the 250 kb PDF file: http://www.bgdf.com/sites/default/files/oddwars-rulesheet.pdf).

PREVIEW 1: THE REACTION MECHANIC

One of the core mechanics in Odd Wars is the so called “reaction mechanic” (also called “on-guard”). All creatures in the game can spend two actions during a turn, these actions can be spend for various maneuvers like movement, attacking, activating special abilities or to “go on-guard”. going on-guard means that the active creature saves one of its actions for later and is so enabled to react on your enemies actions during your opponents turn.

not only does this open up the turn sequence, its also a key mechanic for various strategies you can build your deck around. to show that a creature is “on-guard” you just leave the card untapped, it does get tapped during your opponents turn if one of their on-guard action gets triggered. there are three basic maneuvers a creature can perform during your opponents turn while on-guard. with these three maneuvers alone, the on-guard mechanic is very powerful – lets take a look at them:

* Reaction: Strikeback
When a card on-guard is target of a melee attack, it may opt to strikeback. The card then performs a melee attack targetted at the attacker. Both attacks are resolved simultanous.

* Reaction: Attack of Opportunity
When an enemy adjacent to a card on-guard attempts to move, it may opt for attack of opportuniy. The on-guard card then performs a melee attack, targetted at the moving card. Resolve this attack before movement.

* Reaction: Dodge
When a card on-guard is target of a ranged strike it may opt to dodge. A dodging card only suffers half of the damage dealt (round up). Dodging does not protect a card against additional effects the attack may have.

very helpful aren’t they? now take a look on the picture below, you will see that all cards share the “Reaction” keyword and a little thunderbolt symbol. this indicates that the ability can only be activated while the creature is “on-guard” and represents an additional action this creature can perform while “on-guard”.

So, the reactions stated on the cards effectively expand the basic on-guard reactions of these cards. This is a very useful tool and every player should think about including some of these cards in the deck. it allows you to break up the turn sequence and carry out actions during your opponents turn – it even allows on-guard cards to act when the situation induces it. By cleverly combining on-guard reactions with the other creature types, you can build a very powerful deck – and your opponents will require several turns until they find out how it works. enough time for you to win the game – leaving your enemy with a big question-mark above his head!

thanks for reading this!
-Fhizban

PS: A final note, i know that the game lacks art at the moment. Im just a designer but not an artist and therefore the images are simple vectors and not high quality paintings. Maybe this can be changed in the future – for now, enjoy the hilarious doodle style creatures and remember: this is a free game!

ENTER THE ODDVERSE!
For more information about this game or our other games, check out:
* http://www.zockergilde.net
* http://oddwars.zockergilde.net
* https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/odd-wars
* http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122406

ZOCKERGILDE.NET (THE GAMERS GUILD) PRESENTS: SHOWDOWN LINE GAME #1

“ODDWARS – RISE OF THE ODDITIES!”

* Author: Fhizban
* Playtime: < 30 minutes
* Players: 2
* Age: 8+ years
* Audience: Casual
* Type: Cardgame
* Features: Deckbuilding, Area-Control
* Theme: Combat
* Setting: Humorous

THE STORY
“Battle in the Oddworld rages on! Tribes of fantastic creatures – called Oddities – fight to control valueable sources of Oddium, the most powerful substance in the universe. Take on the role of a clan-chief, gather your fellow Oddities and join the power struggle. Choose the right combination of Oddities and their Oddbilities to control Oddium sources and win the game!”

OBJECTIVE
Odd Wars is a two player dueling game played using a customized set of cards and a small gameboard. The first player who controls 4 of the 6 Oddium Sources on the board, wins the game.

COMPONENTS
Each player requires a deck of at least 30 Odd Wars playing cards. You will also need the Odd Wars gameboard and a few tokens to keep track of power levels.

SUMMARY OF PLAY
In the Odd Wars game – players take the roles of clan-chiefs – competing to ascertain the king among them, using cards to represent the creatures of their tribe and the battle they fight. From turn to turn the players perform actions like spawning powerful creatures (called Oddities), moving their Oddities around the board, let them battle and try to occupy as many special locations on the board as possible. Players gain resources by using some of their creatures as workers and win the game by controlling at least 4 of the 6 special “Oddium Source” locations on the gameboard.

DISTRIBUTION SCHEME
Odd Wars can be downloaded for free (print-n-play) and is also available via thegamecrafter.com (print-on-demand). The cards in the premier set, as well as in the expansions are fixed (non-random, non-collectible) and include enough material to play right out of the box. The game is cutomizable allowing the players to design/draft their decks before the game. One copy of the game is enough to provide 2 players with all required cards. Expanding the game by buying additional sets is entirely optional.

PLAYTESTERS REQUIRED!
Odd Wars is almost ready for PnP and well tested, but we require more playtesters until the game hits thegamecrafter.com! In order to help us make the game better, all you have to do is A. download and B. playtest the game. The rules as well as the card templates are already finished – but we need help balancing the 35 creatures found in the premier set (Which one do you think is too strong? Which one too weak?) Finally we need more funky names for the Oddities found in the game.

You want to help? Watch out for the “Odd Wars – Seeking Playtesters!” forum post on April 1st. Or contact us via Twitter, Facebook, Drop the Author “Fhizban” a PM or send us your playtest results to contact[at]zockergilde.net

Please remember: This game is free, all the efforts that went into this project where made out of passion. It would be an honor for us if we could find passionate playtesters too!

ENTER THE ODDVERSE!
For more information about this game or our other games, check out:
* http://www.zockergilde.net
* http://oddwars.zockergilde.net
* https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/odd-wars
* http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122406

9. Forum
I also hate this idea. Because you must moderate a forum. You can get one cheap elsewhere. And a forum enables you and your testers, players and fans to share their experience online. It really is an option as it provides direct feedback and exchange of experiences online. In addition to that, valueable keyword-strong pages are added to your project (wich is SEO relevant). any active, moderated forum is a self-growing source of keyword relevant page-add-ons to your website. just remember that you have to moderate and fuel it – like all of the other online tips presented here so far. weigh your resources and decide (i would recommend to focus only on a few aspect like a forum OR a facebook account – at least when you are alone). The major con about forums is that you are both the producer and seller of your project – and most people dont share positive but negative experiences (misprints, wrong interpreted rules, delayed shipments etc.) on a company-owned forum. think about that!

10. Forget about forms
Just a short sidenote: There are a few pages that offer “idea/game submission forms” via the internet. Forget about them! Usually form submissions are read with serious delay (if they are read) and dont offer any effect at all (besides automated answers). If you want to succeed, you always have to go the direct way via telephone, email or snail-mail (there are exceptions of course).

11. Step back from your expectations
So you want miniatures, custom dice, cards, a playmat and a 35 faction strong fantasy world in addition to full online and offline support? better try on your own! The first lession to learn when approaching a publisher is to step back from your expectations. and you can expect (for sure) that every publisher will cut back (if not reject) your idea unless its not fully: ingenious, marketable and affordable. so better think about limited expectations before dealing with publishers at all: resize and re-design your game to the single rule of Effiency! Nowadays, the board game market is not only hard to conquer, but also attacked from many sides because of increased production costs and tough competition from both computer- and video-games. it not your bright and shining fairy world anymore! think about that to re-design and re-size your game from the very beginning. its not about your dreams – its being about being simple, ingenious and playable – at a competitive price.

12. Stop loving your project
Take this one literally if you ever want to approach a publisher. There is nothing worse than a designer who fell in love with his own project. get rid of those feelings! The problem is that most (if not all) publishers see your project as one among many. and they judge it like one among a hundred. If your idea is too emotional you won’t be able to react on the requirements of a publisher. This is the point where you have to see your poject as a “patient” in a “hospital” who will be taken “care of” without developing too much relationship. im sorry if this sounds cruel – but publishing your game via a company/agency/publisher is not the place to be all “im so in love with this project”. So better get rid of those feelings before-hand! believe me, i have experienced on my own – and seen others fail – because of their “eternal bond” to the project they suggested to a publisher. people who spent years of their lifetime, developing a unique hermetic fantasy world are just “not right” in the eyes of a earnings-orientated company that makes a living of requiring many project on a regular basis. this is especially true when a publisher alters your idea and asks you to cut the material costs.

• See the original article on BGDF.com

• Head back to the first part of this article.

This being said, what can you do? It may be a daunting task, but its not entirely impossible. I want to give you a few quick tips for self promoting your project. Simple tips you can realize all by yourself, and wich will generate an effect – if you transcribe them tidily and repeat them.

1. Website
Build a website for your project that functions as a hub, centerpoint or staging area. Try to get a real domain name (they are not expensive nowadays) instead of the ad-loaded abc.xyz.com subdomains from free services. Also invest some time to give your site a good design. the better the design the more trust it is able to carry to your visitors. also update your site regularly with content to keep people interested.

2. Blog
Still developing your game? blog about it! already playing it? blog about it? making new cover art? blog about it! So you see, a blog is a good way to keep your site updated and tell your people about whats going on. in addition it adds another channel and more SEO relevant pages and tags to your site. blogging is not limited to your own website, you can also add external blogs (like wordpress, blogger and even the bgdf blog). with the right technique you can also tie many of those accounts together to update them automatically.

3. Newsletter
Its just the logical next step that when you have a site and blog, you can also have a newsletter or mailing list. just put snippets of your current blog updates there to provide your visitors with a reason to check out your site again and again. many free newsletter services allow you to start without any investment – and: you dont have to send newsletters hyper-frequent, just maintain your list and write something new every now and then.

4. Social Media
Get at least a twitter and facebook account, there are also various other social media networks you could join. Try to keep your updates frequent (not too frequent) and short. To build a fanbase you have to provide your visitors more than just repeating the content of your blog, site and newsletter. Trigger a contest every now and then, post some artwork or snippets of the background story of your game. Even comical real life events regarding the development team make perfect postings on social networks. and: have an open ear for your visitors and answer questions quickly. Social media is a very good way to provide your “fans afar” with valueable informtation. one final note: keep special offers and aggressive advertising at a minimum!

5. Other Sites
You should at least get a profile for your game at the boardgamgeek and boardgameinfo, take some time to build a good profile and provide enough information and some downloads. also never forget to link your main site. there are many other sites you can ask for help, a small review or a backlink – gamers are a social and funny folk and most of them reply nicely if asked nicely. dont be shy to ask!

6. Be Prepared
This is fundamental to all previous and future tips: be prepared! prepare your game, your site, your logo and arts, your prototype and rules BEFORE your start promotion on a broader basis. if you praise your project, people want to see something because they expect something. too many projects start promoting while there is nothing to keep the visitors interested.

7. Stick to it!
If you dont see immediate results: Dont give up! Stick to your project! Speaking from SEO point of view, it takes weeks if not month until Google visits, rates and ranks your site. and it takes humans even longer to identify and trust you. So dont give up! You should see the promotion work as a longtime goal, maybe 3, 6, 9 or 12 month (or more) – keep blogging, posting and doing your work. dont waste your energy in the beginning, keep posting on a reasonable rate. not too fast to be annoying, and not too slow or people loose interest. a self-created and promoted project is like a baby: you have to care for it, protect it, raise it and last but not least: love it.

• Continue reading the second part of this article.