From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	Re: bad cards
Date:	Fri, 3 Apr 1998 18:56:49 -0800

Apone wrote:

> > I know of at least two gamers who won't play
> > SRTCG because of 'bad commons' (namely Skillsofts and Ally Spirit).

> Ally spirit are not so useless. Ally is a good and relying parade even if it
become a
> little irritating to have over 20 of them piled up in a box.

OK, time for a little tirade.

[I'm forwarding this to FASA so I can lose what little reputation I have
left with them.]

Out of an assortment of some 81 Runners in the basic set, only *five*
have the skills needed to use Ally Spirit; and, of those five, two are
uncommons, and three are rares. (Two of them Prime Runners, at that!)
Ally Spirit, on the other hand, is a *common*.

This means it's likely -- probable, in fact -- that a beginning player,
buying a starter and two boosters, will end up with two or three Ally
Spirits and *no* Runners he can play them on. (Which, in fact, is
exactly the experience of one of the two gamers mentioned above.) And a
mass-purchaser like me, will have 39 Ally spirits, 4 each of the
uncommons, and only two of the three listed rares (of course, I did
trade Pappy away once). While I can finally ue the Ally Apirit, I've
got *too many* of the thing. It's time to start wallpapering.

Similarly, Skillsofts -- nine cards here, with a mix of which ones are
common, uncommon, and rare -- can only be played with four other cards,
of which only one is a common. (Underworld helps a little, with The
Brain, but that may not matter to some players.)

Every game is going to have it's two- or three-card combos; but in most
cases you'll find that the 'more generic' card - the one that fits into
most decks - will be the more common, not rarer.

Also, in the role-playing game, Ally Spirits are *rare*; I was really
surprised, on that thought alone, to see them as commons in SRTCG.

Ally Spirits and Skillsofts, unfortunately, are only two of the many
"use only with X" combos in the game. To be fair, both are *needed* in
the game -- without the possibility of gaining more skills, the game
goes over entirely to the Big Tough Guys; similarly, the Ally Spirit
gives the weaker shamans a well-needed edge. But combinations really
should be kept for the rarer cards of the set.

I'm not sure what a fair solution would be. I'd suggest moving the Ally
Spirit to being an uncommon, although I can't think of an uncommon I'd
like to see become a common (Heal?) or a card I'd like to see swapped in
for it (nothing from Underworld, thanks). Adding a few more Runners
with Con-2 might solve the problem, too. (I don't think it's that
unbalancing, actually - and look at all the Runners with Mel-2 ;) )



End of screed. If you made it this far, thank you.


- Matt

------------------------------------
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