How do I play cards and use decks?

As an introduction to this topic, check out the elements, card type and play procedure topics first.

To recap:

Most of the objects involved in Nine Worlds are cards. Some other props are required to record values and primaries - counters, dice and models are perfect for this. Whatever players are happy to make us of. The emphasis of the game is on the cards.

Cards that are not in play start in a deck. Decks placed on the table are referred to as libraries. Players do not own or control libraries, they are common pools of cards that can be drawn from by any player when a procedure allows it.

There are several types of card, with each super-type belonging in its own library. Some libraries are used at game creation and then removed, such as the Avatars. Others remain in the game for its duration - everything else.

Libraries can be interacted with in a few ways:

• Draw one or more cards: each time a card is drawn, the top card of the pile is taken by the player.
• Search for a card: Pick up the library and look through it for the desired card. Then shuffle the library.
• Shuffle library.
• Place into library: Place the card(s) on top / on the bottom of the library, as specified.
• Shuffle into library: Place the card(s) on top of the library and then shuffle the library.

Cards can exist in other places:

• A player's hand is one or more cards held by the player, hidden from other players. They are not in-play, but can be drawn from when allowed to play a card.
• A world (or realm) is part of the play area that permanent cards are placed into. Cards in play areas can be interacted with, although various restrictions apply, such as the requirement to be in the same world (of which there may be up to nine!).
• The void, or Ginnungagap, is a temporary place that cards are placed when attempting to play them. This area is used to allow other players to respond to the play attempt. Once the card is resolved, it is taken from the void and put into play.

As such, cards have a number of states:

• In a library
• In a hand
• Within the void
• In play
• Spent

Spent cards are those that have expired, been destroyed, or a one-off effect that's concluded. Spent cards are placed next to their parent library, face-up and are shuffled into the library when no more cards can be drawn from it (empty).

Some spent cards override this procedure and will be placed somewhere else, such as certain creatures that are instead placed in Hel or Valhalla when killed.

Playing cards

To play a card, it is either taken from a player's hand and placed into the void, or is drawn from a library and placed into the void. When in the void, the card is usually placed face-up (there are exceptions) for all players to see.

Once placed in the void, initiative is temporarily given to another player, to whoever is sat clockwise from the active player. That player may chose to respond and play a single card into the void, potentially targeting cards in the void, as long as the card has the attribute: fast.

Once the player with initiative either passes or has played a card, the cycle is repeated until the active player regains initiative. The active player may then play one further card before resolving the void.

Each card played into the void must be placed on top of the previous card. When cards have stopped being played, each card in the void pile is resolved one at a time, from the most recent to the first played.

Game procedures and goal

Caveat: I am approaching topics quite randomly, depending on what I feel like posting on the day, so apologies if I jump out of sequence.

So I've gone into vague detail about some of the elements and features of the game, but you may be wondering "How do I play?" and "What is the goal of the game?". That is today's topic.

Playing Nine Worlds follows a common sequence not unlike many other card games.

Each player has a turn in which he will replenish his existing cards in play, draw one ore more cards, perform some actions, play cards and then conclude his turn. These procedures will be detailed in later articles, but here's a few concepts to begin with:

Upon game creation, a starting player is randomly determined, unless you are playing a special scenario that insists otherwise.

The starting player has Initiative. They may also referred to as the Active player, but there is an important difference. Another player will not become the active player until the previous player concludes his turn, but players can steal the initiative temporarily. Some cards and abilities can be used to gain initiative and thus perform another action. Upon resolving that action, the active player regains initiative.

When a player becomes the active player, or the game begins, that player performs his turn, in a number of phases:

1. Replenish

2. Gather

2. Action

4. Conclude

Note that Gather and Action are both marked sequence 2. They can be performed in any order, but Replenish is always first and Conclude is always last.

A summary of phases

Replenish

Replenish is the first phase of a turn. This phase refreshes all cards and elements a player control, before continuing with the turn to perform new actions.

Gather

The Gather phase allows a player to obtain new cards, new elements and other objects.

Action

The Action phase is used to play cards and abilities on existing cards in play.

Conclude

The final phase of a turn is Conclude. This phase cleans up any effects that only last for the duration.

These will all be discussed in much more detail in further posts.

What is the goal of the game?

Norse mythology, like many others, deals with cyclic destruction and resurrection. Armageddon, the battle of the end times.

In Nine Worlds, Ragnarok is the end of the world, followed its rebirth. At its most basic, this mirrors the end of the game, followed by the start of a new one. The goal of every player is to survive or circumvent Ragnarok. Only one player can win the game, so preventing the final battle is only worthwhile if you have a means to remove your opponents instead.

Nine Worlds is set in a more advanced culture than the typical Norse environment. Ragnarok is long overdue, surpressed by the Svartálfar, whom are a major antagonist to the players. These dark dwarves wield terrible magics and technology that is said to rival the gods and titans.

A look into the cards of Nine Worlds

Nine Worlds can be broken down into a number of objects: cards, counters, miniatures.

Most things are present in the game as a card. All cards are organised into a number of categories, defined by the back of the card. Each card back has its own deck pile during the game - they should not be mixed. Card backs may have additional symbols to mark which expansion they are from, but they should still be placed into a deck with same-type, ignoring the expansion symbol.

The card categories are:

• Avatar
• Event
• Instance

Avatars represent a player in the game. He is the leader, master, saviour or fool of your realm. Avatars are, like most things, cards. Avatar cards have their own backs and sit in their own deck when not in use.

Once selected, your Avatar can not be changed for the duration of the game. Depending on the game type, it may be chosen or generated randomly. Your Avatar is placed face-up in your play area during the game. It should never leave your play area, unless you lose the game.

Events occur when the season changes. Upon season change, the active player draws a card from the Event deck. Event sub-types include:

• Rituals are retained by the drawing player, who may play it later in the game.

If a Ritual card is drawn, the player retains the card, placing it into their hand.

Generic Event cards are placed in view of all players when drawn. Once all players are aware of the event, the event's procedure is followed.

Instances are drawn when an avatar enters a site, but can also be drawn through other means, such as the procedure of an event. The player draws one card from Instance deck and reviews the card. Instance sub-types include:

• Encounter
• Creature
• Site

If the card is an Encounter, the player must place the card in view of all players to see and then follow the encounter's procedure.

Site and Creature cards are retained by the player, placed into their hand.

Creatures

With the exception of Avatars, all created beings are creatures. Creature cards can be brought into play through many means - summoning, recruitment, encounters, events.

The Nine Worlds' elemental theme

The Nine Worlds are part of Norse mythology, with each world being the habitat of a certain species and flavour. Our world, that is the realm of mankind, is the world of Midgard - 'middle enclosure', the centre of of it all.

The Nine World game works on this idea, each world is a place that hosts its own adventures and danger, offering a variety of obstacles to overcome and allies to befriend. Certain species and items are empowered in their home realms.

The Norse influence continues. Primary elements feature heavily in Norse mythology. In fact the universe is a constant balance between the primordial fire and ice of Muspell and Niflheim respectively. The clashing of these elemental realms provides an eternal cycle of life and destruction. They also inspire the basic elements of the game:

• Frost
• Rain
• Wind
• Fire

You will notice the classic element, Earth, absent from the list. This is intentional as the Earth is a solid place, making up many of the worlds. The four elements are manipulative elements, used to shape and control the Earth, rather than directly controlling the Earth itself.

• Frost chills Earth, preventing life from growing.
• Rain shapes the earth, helps life flourish and provides habitat to some species in bodies of water.
• Wind helps spread life and can be a catalyst for good or bad.
• Fire scorches earth, destroying life and can melt Frost.

Some elements overpower others when equally applied:

Frost > Rain

Rain > Fire

Fire > Frost

Wind can both hamper or augment Fire.

Elements affect the game in a number of ways. Schools of magic revolve around the elements, primordial beings are comprised of the elements, seasons strengthen and weaken the elements, but most importantly, many cards belong to one or more element.

Cards can trace their source to one or more elements. In the absence of an element present on a card, it is assumed to be drawn from Earth. The elements shown on a card mark it as a potential target (or exception) from effects. For example, a card may deal extra damage to cards of a elemental Frost nature. Another card may be empowered by every Fire card in play. Another may only be able to affect cards of a Rain nature, and so on.

Game Concept for Nine Worlds

Before I begin defining what I have planned for Nine Worlds, there's a little preface to how I got here.

After further research and an attempt to normalise the sheer quantity of ideas I've been trying to squeeze into 9W, I am going to split the project into halves. I don't intend to develop both simultaneously, but would like to pick up latter half in the future to pursue those ideas.

I've been toying with 2 game types as a hybrid, but feel the overall composition of it all will be too unwieldy. Games require a certain simplicity to make them accessible, repayable and versatile. I admit, I struggle to keep it simple!

So that I'm not talking in vagueness throughout, here's a synopsis of the '2 games'.

There are two major ideas I wanted to incorporate into the game, which I now think clash.

The first is a dynamic map. A hex map built from tiles. The map would grow by placing of tiles, first at game creation and then as players explore and events happen. This should create a unique map to play on every game and invites a very strategic board game with physical locations, positions and movement. This would be boosted by counters, props, miniatures et al.

The second is a 'living card game' style system. Several types of card exist, covering topics such as magic, items, creatures, events, characters. Players draw from each deck at game start and continually through out the game as they gain awards, discover items, recruit troops and so on.

The problem here is two distinct game platforms to play on. A card system that covers all manner of items and a physical map with its own props. I think this builds too much complexity, and inevitably cost, to put into a single game.

My heart is set on the Nine Worlds theme foremost and I have chosen the card game over the hex-map game for now. It feels like a burden has been lifted by dropping that idea!

So, how will nine worlds work? That's my next topic.

Nine Worlds as a Living Card Game (LCG)

I'll have to check with Fantasy Flight Games whether I can use that term should the game reach finality.

What is a Living Card Game? The concept is adapted from Collectable Card Game - which is a game played using cards. Those cards are purchased, generally in non-fixed and often random packages. New expansions bring new cards and rules to the game. A LCG changes this formula by providing a definite set of purchasable cards, with similarly fixed expansions. Essentially, there's less emphasis on purchasing to collect them all, as you can acquire complete set in a single purchase.

Why LCG over CCG? Simply, I don't want to create another CCG. There's a lot out there. They are very good, I play them and I can't see room for competition outside of piggy-backing a franchise. I want Nine Worlds to be a complete set, with any potential expansions being whole sets too.

Perhaps, if I am successful, I will be audacious enough to define my own acronym!

New direction

Having failed to bring the Nine Worlds online game to a playable state (which I attribute to lack of interest from all parties), I am making use of the ideas and theme for a board game. I love designing games, so much that I seem to jump to designing a new game before I actually bring anything to a testing stage. This leads to a whole lot of concepts on paper, but nothing that can be played!

I particularly love board games because they are very social and can allow several players to participate. Being a wargamer, I often only enjoy 1-on-1 battles. A boardgame allows a much wider scope, a campaign in one sitting. A never passes by without me having some thoughts towards creating something I can play. Perhaps the fantasy I create in my mind is the appeal, feeding my appetite, but I lack the stomach to see it through.

That is my challenge. A challenge I have set and want to see through - a playable game. I am determined and have set my goal - bringing a demo to the Games Expo in 2013. Let's see how it goes.