| From: | Matt Breton <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: My auction |
| Date: | Fri, 23 Oct 1998 17:07:56 -0500 |
>
>>*Sigh* Among poeple I really have to apologize to, Sorrow, you're at the
>>top of the list. Sorry to bail on you, so many moons ago.
>I was wondering what happened to you.
>But that's cool. Just get your deck registered and we can get on with
>testing. There's still a few things that need to be ironed out, but that
>shouldn't keep us from going ahead. Remember, also, that you can
>use cards from your Amerindian set. Do you think you can get it in
>before the end of the weekend?
I'm away at my parents this weekend, but I can have it registered tonight.
(In fact, if you're available tonight, I'm probably going to reg it right
after this message.)
The Amerindian set? What's that? :)
(snip)
>>Moreover, there are a *lot* of deck management cards in SRTCG; although
>>I don't think any of these are *very* powerful, most are definitely usable.
>Usable, but again, really dependant on luck. Either the luck of the draw
>(that you even get those cards in the first place) or the luck of the die. Deck
>building and playing should be more than *just* luck.
I have to disagree: Keep in mind that most of the deck management cards aren't
one-shots -- they're available to be used again, and again, and again. Being able
to draw a particular card *once* (Demonic Tutor) is a happening ability; being
able to do it multiple times (Mr. Johnson) would be overkill. If you were always
able to select your Runners, you may as well change the premise of the game
(...instead of starting with 8¥. you may begin with an equivalent amount of Runners
already in play...)
Similarly, selecting Gear and so on: May as well start with everything in play.
Part of the 'strategy' of the game is ramping up before your opponent can, being
able to muscle through a run before your opponent even has any Runners in
play. With 'instant selection' -- and I know I'm making a straw man out of your
argument here -- you take that whole factor of luck away. *Every* card game has
an element of luck; the better ones balance that out with elements of strategy - and
I think SRTCG has doen pretty well in balancing the two out. (I don't think a
_pure_ strategy game does all that well; in any event, the tactics involved in SRTCG
really aren't that complicated, so 'tactics' devolves into 'who has the buffest-yet-
most-skilled Runners?')
As a form of self-promotion, I'd like to suggest the DMZ rules I came up with some
time ago (available at my webpage, Dustin's, and - I think - Teos'.)
>>There's a flip side to the coin: decks that are entirely too predictable.
>This is not necessarily a bad thing. You deck should do one thing:
>what it is supposed to do when it is supposed to. It can do that if
>there is unpredictablilty in the mix.
No - an entirely predictable deck *is* a bad thing. Look, Mom - Mox, Channel,
Fireball, Lotus. Game!
A well-built deck *will* be able to do what it does -- Stamina Runners, Desert Hit,
gotcha -- but, honestly, the *only* pure element of surprise will be with the Challenges
your opponent lays down (and maybe not even those -- not even talking
foreknowledge here, or favorite opponents, but Cleanse the Hive, or even a host of
Just a Rumor/Suicide Runs, et al.) Oh: sometimes your opponent may get into R-v-R
combat with you. But the amount of deck interaction is low, way lower that MtG or
VteS - so, yes, it means having a less 'directed' deck - and even SRTCG decks can be
pretty well streamlined.
>>I'd like to make a suggestion that all pain would be eased if, say,
>>Challenges were kept in a separate pile; unfortunately, Challenges
>>(and not having them at crucial moments) are a major part of the game.
>You are right. While this is a pain, it is part of how the game needs
>to work.
>>>* Because of the above, there can be 15, 20 and even up to 30 minutes
>>> where the players are doing _nothing_. Turns consist of nothing more
>>> than gaining the Nuyen, maybe deploying some runners and maybe
>>> playing some specials.
>>This, again, is true of any game.
>True, but not to the extent that I've seen in SR.
More true, I'd say. Been in too many L5R 'sitzkriegs' -- both players with more
or less the same number of Personalities, more or less the same family honor, for
twenty or thirty minutes -- and I used to practice sitting tea-style; believe me, I
could feel joints start to permanently mold in new configurations. Similarly,
Magic, back when you were _expected_ to use creatures, was very much the same.
>>The solution may be to lower the Reputation even further, especially
>>if you're just looking for a fifteen-minute game
>I'm not looking for short games, per se, just for a faster pace. I don't
>care if a game takes 2 hours, so long as the pace is quick.
>>It may also be the players: You've got the Runners, you've got the
>>Specials what are you waiting for?
>Umm, power enough to beat the challenges?
Three or four Runners *should* be enough to chew through at least one Challenge.
Go on 'short runs' -- smash through the first Challenge, pull out. Using Gangers and
Halloweeners, I can usually pop off six or seven or a dozen Challenges this way: may
never take an Objective, may lose five or six of my guys -- but I know my Runners will
return, where my opponent's Challenges won't. Now, it has the makings for a *very*
long game, because it almost comes down to milling my opponent's deck - but it's
worked on a number of occasions.
>I'm not sure about where you play, but we tend not to play bully decks
>and I'm not about to send in my team of gangers or mafia or mages
>or whatever just to get chomped on by a pumped Lone Star Patrol
>or something like that.
Vary the Specials you're playing with. Seriously: if you know you and your opponent
are going to end up sitting zen for a while, toss in a Rampaging Mutant, a few
Just a Rumors: once you've got fifteen yen in your pocket, you should be able to take
an Objective with *one* Runner.
>>> I guess I'm just spoiled with the fact that V:tes has a NCL and I'm used
>>> to building decks that do what I want when I want.
>>NCL?
>No Card Limit. You are allowed any number of any card in your deck.
I really don't see how that makes the game more exciting. When *all* my deck can do
is crank out Stompers and Katanas, I know I'm not having any fun. Tossing in a few other
cards won't do the trick -- if half my deck is just one or two different types of cards
that
makes up the 'killer kombo', they'll be just as 'lost' as they will in a more varied deck.
And because people *can* make a deck that does nothing but Stompers and Katanas
(or Ice Queens and Sticky Fingers, or *whatever*) -- they will. So my 'more varied,
more fun' deck now stands little chance of winning against a juggernaut like that. In the
end, I'd think you'd end up with a few killer decks, and - surprise! - very much the same
situation as currently exists reserved for 'fun play'.
I think the D6 rolls and maybe-these-and-maybe-those cards actually add another level
to the gameplay: In Magic, a card works (unless its counterspelled); it does its thing and
gets out of the way. You have your Demonic Tutor; you really _shouldn't_ have a
repeatable Tutor, but (who knows?) there may one day be an enchantment that does that:
so be it.
But in SRTCG, you can have your repeat-card-grabber (Dirk Montgomery, for instance),
as well as the one-shot (an upcoming card in Corp War! that I won't name). But you can
also have cards that straddle the fence: sometimes produce one effect, sometimes another,
and maybe sometimes not at all. Because in _SRTCG_ those are usually fairly powerful
effects - and ultimately a game should be judged in its own context, not what another
game
is doing.
- Matt
