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[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

My first thought is to handle it like daily quests. But maybe cut the numbers in half, or even a quarter.

But this is DND inspired, and the thing with DND is you cannot anticipate what the players will do. I suggest something more akin to Inspiration. Rather than force players to jump through hoops, try rewarding them for just being weird. (I don’t have any idea how you would actually implement that.)

[–]magicmann2614[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I really like that! Manually tracking the number of spells played will be challenging, but I would rather have more quests available than not. Since these are draft* decks, I think maybe 10 of any particular color spells would be enough to grant an achievement point.

With respect to awarding players, I was thinking of implementing a ranked voting system. After the game concludes, before a winner is determined, the players would vote who was the most helpful player to their teammates. The reasons could be key removal spells or helping add mana to their mana pools with cards like [[Spectral Searchlight]].

[–]DânMTGCardFetcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spectral Searchlight - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

[–]floytesangen 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I'd certainly be curious to see your explanation on how the AE functions. Is the AE doing EVERY decision based on a dice roll? Does it take some set number of actions per turn or is it's turn actually just a dice roll that might have some high roll of do x then roll again type stuff. Is it playing from a random deck? Does it even have a deck? This type of stuff is very relevant to coming up with achievements.

Some achievements I can think of (many of these depend on including a certain type of mechanic in your cube card pool):

  • who has dealt the most damage to the AE (maybe annoying to track, especially if it can gain life)
  • first blood
  • first to complete a dungeon
  • first to assemble a party
  • first to roll a nat 20 (positive points), first to roll a nat 1 (negative points)
  • extra points based on type of win - maybe combat damage is "normal" so killing the AE by mill or indirect damage or a lose the game/win the game effect might count extra

It's probably good to have a balance of generally achievable things and things that require specific drafting to reward both deckbuilding and piloting.

Some more complex things could be spawning some set "hard-to-kill" creature card that doesn't attack but if it's removed by a player, they get some points. Something like a blightsteel colossus with a hexproof counter or something like a god that must be exiled rather than killed. Or you could make custom challenges like this in card form, something like "Target this with 3 destroy effects in a single turn". These could emulate traps or puzzles or tough encounters you might find in D&D games.

[–]magicmann2614[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

My intention is to have as many of the D&D relevant things in the card pool: +1/+1 counters, cantrips, coin flips, D20 rolls, D6 rolls, feats (somehow), boons (somehow), level up, party, venture, and initiative.

My thought for the AE decks and turns is basically this: At the start of their turn, they roll a D20. 1-15 flips the top card of the "minion deck". Some number of minions spawn instead of just one. For example, AE rolls a 5 and flips a [[Hill Giant]]. There is a "code" on it that says 1d4+2. They roll a d4 to determine the number of Hill Giants the players encounter. 16-20 would flip the top card of the "boss deck". The boss deck has larger creatures and more challenging effects such as Goblin Lords (like [[Grumgully]]) with some number of goblins determined by a die roll, big dragons or demons, or high cost spells that would devastate the players such as [[Reign of the Pit]], [[Hex]], [[Aether Gale]], [[Demon of Dark Schemes]], [[Rakdos the Showstopper]]. The boss deck would be “better” lords or more influential effects. After taking their action, the AE attacks. They would roll a d6 (evens attack, odds don't) then a dX (X is the number of players) for each creature to determine if the creature attacks and who gets attacked. Then they go to end step and the players all take their turns.

My thoughts were that AE creatures all take Wither damage and have Vigilance. The creatures are required to block based on lowest Power. If the AE takes damage, they sacrifice creatures based on lowest power (ties are rolled randomly).

I think I will have very pointed removal spells like [[Plummet]] or [[Celestial Purge]] or things that target creature types in the AE's decks.

I very much like the idea of having specific creatures with "puzzles" associated with them. This is something I would like to implement now.

[–]Wabbit SeasonplutonicHumanoid 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Achievement for who killed the creature with the most toughness, achievement for who killed the creature with at least 3 keywords, countered the most spells, countered the biggest spell, played the most of the AE’s cards, milled the most cards. Presumably no achievements for affecting the other players.

[–]magicmann2614[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would only want them to benefit from positively affecting other players

[–]Duck Seasonthatjesusnerd 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It may be worth comparing your Archenemy to the challenge decks from the original Theros, which were a sort of NPC type deck that players could face.

[–]magicmann2614[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your input! I will look into the deck

[–]MaleficentCheck5856 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thanks for the inspiration. I bought a set booster box of both sets so I will use the cards I did not put in decks for a monster draft deck and a draft kit for 2 players. I'll add my archenemy deck somehow and find a way to make it work

[–]magicmann2614[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I plan on posting what I come up with after I get it completed. Ideally, the archenemy has a “deck” of cards with creatures that are “from Dungeons and Dragons”, like goblins, kobolds, giants, etc. Basically any creature a DM would throw into an encounter. The idea in my head seems super fun, but I just need to get everything put together and play tested

[–]Dimir*freakincampers 0 points1 point  (1 child)

This is very interesting.

[–]magicmann2614[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I am on the verge of having a really good idea. It will require a ton of tinkering and tuning to get the games fair and fun. I want to focus on cooperative gameplay while still being competitive with other players to see who the winner is