The Legend of Dev Diary: The Diary Begins

Look, I can name threads whatever I want.

http://www.cardhunter.com/2011/07/dev-diary-1-edited-version

I figured it couldn't hurt to centralize discussion, so here's a thread. It's neat to see that, yes, monsters will have monster-specific cards that fit their nature . . . and personality! I wonder if there is any plus side to a "Cowardly" card--any reason for a hero to put it in a deck. Is it just a "bad" card that some villains will be saddled with using?

If so, then that's an interesting sacrifice to make: creating entire cards that the player will never use, because they make the opponents more interesting. What does this mean for DM play? Will the DM have the power to remove "bad" cards from all the monsters under his/her control?

 

hmm i am not sure about it. I would love to have the ability to gain every card ingame that monsters are using even if they are quite useless like a "coward card"

 

I hope so, too. But are they set up so that the player would want to? Or are there cards that are actually "bad"?

Hmm. Depending on how being a DM works, I just thought of a way that one would willingly put in "bad" cards. Maybe the DM gets a set number of "card points" to create an adventure that challenges the players, and using "bad cards" gets the DM bonus points to use elsewhere.

Depending on what there is for an in-game market, "bad cards" could also be counted as generic loot that players trade in to buy other cards.

 

There will actually be good reasons to put cards like "Cowardly" into your deck -- they're not just for monsters! We'll be talking about those reasons later, as part a discussion about deck construction.

As for monster-specific cards, my favorite one thus far is "Brains!" I'll assume the savvy forum readership here can guess the monster type that gets that card in its deck...

 

Is it 'Top Cat' or 'Thunderbird'?

 

oeee very interesting !
And the "Brains" is that from a zombie monster
Tweet"Playtesting the new Zombie Pit battle. Farbs' zombies ate my brains"?

 

Beyond questions of zombies and thunderbirds, I believe I spy an otyugh in your avatar, Mr. Hart. Is that just because you like otyughs, or can we look forward to playing cards with a slimy tentacled monster?

. . .

It feels kinda weird to be chatting with you people like this. The last time I saw you, you were corpses on the floor of the System Shock 2 credits screen.

 

I've always had a soft spot for otyughs. I've featured them in my personal D&D campaign, and once owned a fantasy basketball team called the "Boston Neo-Otyughs." As of this moment, I have no specific plans to include them in Card Hunter -- I'd want to be certain they weren't trademarked by WotC, for one thing. I suppose nothing stops us from creating our own, similar monster.

. . .

Before that, my severed head could be found on the floor in the original System Shock. It's just a peril of the profession, I guess.

 

As far as the Cowardly card, like he said it would be something the particular monster or player would grow out of. The Cowardly card could be a give and take trait - easier to hit when by himself, harder to hit when near other monsters or allies... or you are easier to hit, but can move more spaces. Either way - this seems like an interesting way to do the cards. Maybe you'll find a card that lessens the negative side - like "Only Slightly Cowardly".

 

I think you might be reading the diary post differently. When you say "grow out of," do you mean "eventually you get over having this weakness and you throw it away"?

What the post said was "Monster behaviour grows out of their deck composition. Spiders throw webs because they have a Web card in their deck. Kobolds are cowardly because they have a Cowardly trait card mixed in there." When it says "grows out of," it seems to mean nothing more than "comes from." Apparently, as Dorian said above, we won't find "Cowardly" to be a weakness.

 

Perhaps you start with a deck / pool stacked with 'cowardly' cards and as you improve your pool, you get to replace them. Kinda like the 1st level squire growing into a brave Ser Knight?

 

Haw haw. Though I could see doing something like a general "Undead" progression: low-level Zombies get a lot of "Brains!" cards and maybe something like "Shamble, Shamble," but then higher-level Ghouls get less of those, transitioning to the highest-level Vampires who have replaced the cards with a superior "Neck Bite" and suchlike.

 

I'm just throwing around ideas, take it how you would like I guess. He also said it won't be a weakness, just that there would be good reasons to have it. We don't know exactly why or how yet.

 

Perhaps 'Cowardly' allows for a free move, as long as it's away from trouble. Somewhat like Italian tanks in WW2.

 

Hmm then i wonder if there is a succubus monster with an additional flirt card!

 

That'll be the xxxenophile CCG you're looking for there, my friend!

 

haha lolzz a flirt is very harmless if you compare it to xxxenophile ^^

 

[Insert whimsical comment of the form "Ooh, I get it! It's the flies!" here]

Also, I wonder if whimsy alone shall push my post count up into "Mushroom Warrior" range . . .

Edited P.S.: Yup.

 

lolz grats on your mushroom warrior