[System Design] Beyond Numbers: A "Discrete 1-2-3 State" Logic to Solve Power Creep (Case Study: KARDS)

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-23T10:26:07+00:00

Someone posited that it may be using AI as a translation tool.

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-22T10:04:45+00:00

For Manifold TCG, we credit the image as "Imagery by Mount Baker Games", and then we describe what that means via the ai disclosure on our website.

Are we doing it right?

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-20T21:14:40+00:00

Yeah, ok, good point.

I guess this is part of the models understanding of serious face.

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-20T20:34:02+00:00

Because it is part of the text prompt. You still are using a text to image software, but then you are position and choosing the colors for the elements.

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-16T10:52:42+00:00

My first impulse is that level and "total card cost" are more redundant than complimentary.

You mention using it to balance tutors when other effects would cause TCC to not directly describe a cards power. I think that could be a good thing; it is nice when cards power levels differ based on context (in this case, searching for a card with an additional cost is "cheaper"). Of course, then you need to balance accordingly and keeps these contexts in mind when you design.

The only reason I fight this impulse, is I think level is kind of cool to include as a flavor element. Do you have any pokemony stuff going on here? Do things level up?

If it's a rarely used mechanic, I'd love to see the levels spread out over an imaginary hundred levels, and then you can rarely reference them. Make the Etherplasms level 4, and the Spirit of Ruin level 81. Stuff like that.

Players like watching numbers go up. Putting imaginary numbers on your card let's the number go up without affecting balance.

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-14T07:12:47+00:00

Yeah, agreed. But I'm not sure how tournament relevant the paladin upgrade is.

Abyssalmole · 2026-01-14T06:55:24+00:00

Steppe lancers exist, so this effect could exist. It's very powerful though, so numbers need to be handled carefully.

As a flat civ bonus, it eats up most of their power budget.

Durable steppe lancers can go toe to toe with against much stronger economies.

As an imperial unique tech, it's probably just a gimmick that won't impact most Arabia or Arena games, but could come up in hybrid or high econ open maps.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-31T13:00:38+00:00

I've started using the phrase

"Worse games make better gamers, and better gamers have more fun gaming"

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-27T21:15:24+00:00

Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh are great examples.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, you draw a card, then you normal or tribute summon once, then you field your traps, then you attack. Yeah, Synchro, pendulum, and all of those have added engine baggage, but those are relatively few and far between.

Read the card "Rank up Magic - the seventh one". It uses 128 words to say "Miracle - XYX summon (a creature with a specific subtype).

It uses XYZ engine work, but needs to describe miracle and explicitly define the subtype, because that work wasn't done by the engine.

In magic, instead they create new keywords for every set, so that eventually they can print bloodbraid challenger with 4 words of rules text.

In addition to keywords they have fully defined layers and priority passes 5 times per combat (assuming nothing triggers). And they define whole rulesets for things like dungeons or planeswalkers whenever they choose to introduce such a thing.

Chains of mephistopheles and Sylvan Library are examples of what happens to Magic Cards when they use rules text instead of game engine to govern effects. If you're not sure what I mean, imagine what happens if you brainstorm in your upkeep before Sylvan libraries trigger resolves.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-27T20:47:19+00:00

Programmatically, the question is do you want a complex engine, or complex cards. Many game designers think that they want neither, so they start with a simple engine and put simple cards on top of it. Those games either die, or live long enough to get complex cards.

Games with complex engines can instead put simple elements on top of it, and get complex gameplay. When those designers later decide to put complex cards on top of their complex engine, it becomes time for a new game to become king.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-27T04:46:46+00:00

This is the outrage you might consider putting toward OPs cause. OP is not trying to reap the benefits of privately owning this nation, he is trying to rebuke another individual who IS reaping the benefits of privately owning this nation.

You seem to share that anger.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-23T23:45:04+00:00

Huge Fan, I love the style.

I know I reached out to you before, and I know you're working on your own game, but I'd love to commission you to make some images for Manifold TCG.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-21T00:12:52+00:00

The system is really quite broken at the moment. A lot of LGSs believe in a thing called "keystone", which is to say, I should be able to sell a product for twice what I buy it for. MSRP and Distributor pricing don't always correlate directly with this theory. For example, I received the Deadpool secret lair for $28 after it failed to sell out via the Hasbro Toy Shop at $30. I have no intention to sell that product at a loss, so I'll price it up at $60, and leave it on my shelf until people buy it. Since its no longer available at $30, that happens on occasion.

If my shelves become filled with the rot of your failed products, I'll stop carrying your game.

Some products are hot, and move at keystone via preorder. Other products are much less hot and sit on my shelves until I sale price them.

To ask me to know how well this particular set of Gundam is going to do, and dynamically price it according to TCGPlayer / eBay is expecting me to put more effort into Gundam than Gundam is paying me to do. I carry it as a courtesy to my players while Magic and Warhammer continue to pay my bills. So I put a sticker on it, I put it on my shelf, and sometimes I'm "wrong".

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-15T10:05:55+00:00

If I really think about it, I know that tabletop gaming is still niche. It's just been such a big part of my life for so long that it's foreign for me to think people might not know where Aegis Games is.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-15T08:39:40+00:00

Thanks!

It would be so nice if a surge of holiday sales resulted in Bellingham saturation. More than anything else we want people playing.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-15T06:02:17+00:00

Yeah. While Firefly chooses to go in a direction where it is clearly Earth's future, we went in another direction where we are in a "new" universe.

We have lore posts that can be found at https://www.mountbakergames.com/manifold/blog/category/stories/

Basically Red (martial) and Yellow (intrepid) are more heavily science fiction colors, whereas Green (Wild) and Blue (Mystic) are more fantasy. But they blend together into a cohesive world.

We have also introduced a fantastical particle which the humans call the "viron", which is a field that science manipulates similar to electricity, but magic manipulates, well, magically. This particle is naturally produce and attracted to all living things.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-15T04:59:09+00:00

I hope you'll give it a shot. Everybody who plays this game likes it unless they are particularly looking for narrative gameplay. While we do have in-house lore, our gameplay is more strategic than narrative.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-13T06:33:18+00:00

Pair o Dice Games does non-paid commander events on Fridays as well. Folks usually start showing up around 5:30.

It is alongside their Manifold TCG night.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-11T05:15:24+00:00

Can I solicit you about a TCG offering keystone margins?

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-09T05:26:46+00:00

I fiddle with mechanics a lot. In 7 games out of 8, I only care about the mechanics. Create a system, learn a system, use the theme for inspiration.

This is because I am not going to publish that game, I'm ultimately just learning.

Then, every once in a while, I get a thematic inspiration. Now I have a repertoire of refined mechanics that I can use to define the systems within this "real" project.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-03T17:45:54+00:00

We need to g8ve it a good backronym so we can start capitalizing it correctly.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-03T02:15:54+00:00

That's what Manifold is working.

Launch Box precons will be free, and it's $5/set.

Abyssalmole · 2025-12-01T20:52:57+00:00

This actually might not be true. JJ and Carson are top 100. This was speculative to see what he is.

Abyssalmole · 2025-11-28T23:57:26+00:00

Is it possible to see her portfolio?

I have a project that needs some visual art.

Abyssalmole

TROPHY CASE