L5R is so important to me. It has (will have) it's own page here.
Download the L5R rulebook!
The best way to sum up this game- Netrunner is the best CCG ever designed.
It is also unlike any other CCG.
In fact, it can be said that Richard Garfield designed Netrunner by breaking all the rules of Magic. Nothing "taps." Cards exist that let you draw 3 cards for "zero" cost, and are not broken.
In breaking the rules of Magic, Garfield ended up with a mechanic that is essential to CCG balance:
Make actions a limited resource.
The most balanced and exiciting CCGs are ones where both players are given an equal number of actions- usually by having simultaneous turns (Warlord or Legend of the Burning Sands), or, as Netrunner does it, by alotting each player a limited number of actions each turn. Of course, even a game like Warlord can be broken by mass card draw or untapping/ resource generation. The most essential point is that card draw isn't the key to breaking a card game: its being able to take more and higher quality actions than the opponent. A card game that is "balanced" and based on "skill" will prevent a player from exploiting this over his opponent. Thus, in Netrunner- sure, you can spend your actions drawing tons of cards- but they aren't of any use if you don't have the actions to play them. Netrunner truly becomes a game that pits one player's skill against another.
But enough on card design. Let's talk about the game itself.
Netrunner defines the role of each player- one is the Corp, and the other is the Runner. The Corp is calculative and the Runner is aggressive. Even more importantly, you begin to realize that the Corp wins through bluffing, and the Runner wins through calling the bluff, or in other words gambling.
Netrunner is a mind game, and each player is given the tools to play their roles.
The game's brilliance is that it actualizes the cyberpunk concept that "Information is the most valuable resource," which parallels the essential nature of card games: the existence of hidden information. It seems the Runner has less information than the Corporation, but a skilled Runner player is able to "read" what the Corp knows through the Corp's actions, and a skilled Corp player is able to conceal that information. And of course, the true key to "mastering" Netrunner is a single piece of information- knowing where the Agendas are, whether they are in the Corp's hand, in one of his subsidiaries or buried in his deck.
However, this game isn't the best simply because it's cerebral. This game is the complete package. It embraces its cyberpunk heritage and immerses the player in the setting and humor of that culture. Art, flavor text, creativity, smart alecky observations of corporate culture- it's all here:
Chiba Bank Account- Resource- "We keep your money safe by from prying eyes." - Chiba Mutual prospectus, edited draft for English- speaking investors
Executive File Clerk- "I only signed a noncompete agreement; it didn't say anything about non- disclosure."
Jack N' Joe- "There's too much blood in my caffeine system."
Big Frackin' Gun- Program- Icebreaker- "Does that have to be your solution to everything?" "Well... yes, now stand back."
From Sphinx 2006- Ice- Code Gate: "What runs on four megs in the morning, two megs in the afternoon, and three megs in the evening?"
From Data Naga- Ice- Sentry: "As it says in the Upanishads, O Thief: You have a right to your labor, but not to the fruits of your labor."
Download the Netrunner rulebook here!
Multiplayer rules for Netrunner!
For old veterans, a well done fan- made small expansion for Netrunner can be found at The Short Circuit.
Corporation Demo Deck
Ice:
2 X Caryatid
1 X Fire Wall
1 X Crystal Wall
2 X Data Wall 2.0
1 X Glacier
1 X Sphinx 2006
1 X Scramble
2 X Quandary
1 X Filter
2 X Imperial Guard
1 X Data Naga
1 X Zombie
1 X Sumo 2008
1 X Bolter Swarm
1 X Lesser Arcana
1 X Cortical Scrub
2 X Data Darts
1 X Neural Blade
Nodes:
1 X Strategic Planning Group
1 X Remote Facility
1 X Satellite Monitors
1 X Chicago Branch
1 X Department of Truth Enhancement
1 X Experimental AI
3 X BBS Whispering Campaign
1 X South African Mining Corp
1 X Trap!
Operations:
2 X Credit Cosolidation
4 X Accounts Receivable
1 X Trojan Horse
1 X Night Shift
1 X Corporate Shuffle
2 X Urban Renewal
1 X Data Shifters
Agendas:
1 X Corporate Boon
1 X Tycho Extension
1 X Employee Empowerment
1 X On Call Solo Team
1 X Data Fort Remapping
1 X Marked Accounts
2 X Corporate Downsizing
1 X Marine Arcology
Last Updated: Classic
Runner Demo Deck
Programs:
1 X Redecorator
1 X Matador
1 X Big Frackin' Gun
1 X Wild Card
1 X Corrosion
1 X Hammer
1 X Pile Driver
1 X Cyfermaster
1 X Skeletal Passkeys
1 X Codecracker
1 X Force Shield
1 X Mouse
1 X Zetatech Software Installer
1 X Cascade
1 X Pox
Hardware:
2 X R&D Interface
1 X HQ Interface
2 X Zetatech Mem Chip
1 X Militech MRAM Chip
1 X Nasuko Cycle
1 X Mircotech Backup Drive
Resources:
1 X Broker
1 X Technician Lover
1 X The Short Circuit
2 X Short- Term Investment
1 X Smith's Pawnshop
1 X Executive File Clerk
1 X Bolt Hole
1 X Expendable Family Member
3 X Liberated Savings Account
3 X Chiba Bank Account
Preps:
1 X MIT West Tier
1 X All Hands
1 X Rush Hour
1 X Library Search
2 X Hunt Club BBS
1 X Temple Microcode Outlet
3 X Jack N Joe
3 X Stakeout
1 X On the Fast Track
1 X Organ Donor
2 X Lucidrine Brain Drug
Last Updated: Classic
I'll be honest. I would not love Raw Deal nearly as much if I couldn't watch it on TV twice a week. The gameplay is decent, but what makes this game so much fun is the license tie in. However, it's a symbiotic relationship, not a parasitic one. Raw Deal, which derives so much of its enjoyment value from its license, is also easily the best card game being printed based on a non- gaming license. Because when you're talking about licensed games, you really can't include Vampire, Battletech and Netrunner in that league.
Raw Deal has a type of card called Trademark Finishers. And let me tell you, mechanics- wise, these cards are boring. Every superstar has one, and they are all more or less the same: High Fortitude cost, high damage, hard to reverse game winner. Yet the license makes them fun. A 24F 20D maneuver is just plain more fun when it represents the Unprettier, the Eye of the Hurricane, the Widow's Peak, the F-5, the Swanton Bomb or...
GORE!
GORE!
GORE!
Here is what's ironic about Raw Deal, as a card game. It has the worst rules of any of the card games being printed today. The rules inflict horrible slippery slope on the gameplay. There is nothing inherent in the rules that stops a player from taking infinite actions. Indeed, it was quite possible at one point to lose before the game even began. Imagine playing Magic where everyone played the exact same deck: U/R, and that is a rough but not entirely untrue analogy for Raw Deal. Raw Deal is, unflatteringly, pretty much the polar opposite of Netrunner.
So what's to recommend this game? The cards themselves.
Just like L5R, it is the amazing and brilliant card design work that saves this game. But whereas in L5R, the rules exist to make the cards awesome, Raw Deal is pretty much sustained by their design team of Barron Vangortoth, Mike Foley and friends. Each set is amazing. There is so much thought and care put into almost every card. Each set expands the game so much and adds so much gameplay that this game has become one of the top games out there. And it's amazing how balanced the game is, given how many different superstars are viable and how broken and outrageous some of the mechanics are. I don't say this as criticism, but L5R's design team could learn a thing or two from Raw Deal's example.
Raw Deal is definitely the game to watch because it's the only CCG out there that's pushing the envelope of CCG design every set. It lives on the bleeding Edge.
Magic. The history. The legacy. The money.
What else to say?
It's easily the best CCG for the non- gamer person because it is the easiest to find an opponent. That, more than mechanics or card design, is Magic's greatest asset.
Okay. And the money too.
It's a decent game. And I enjoy drafting a lot. I have an Invasion block draft box that I use whenever I get enough people for it.
It's the grand diddy. The mechanics are still okay, although it wouldn't stand one on one against the newest generation of CCGs that have returned to copying and improving on Magic's basic mechanics (instead of pushing the boundaries of CCG design). And I am pointing to Vs. and Duel Masters here. Magic without land- screw, in a healthy, non- Yu- Gi- Oh kind of way.
It's got the most money and manpower put into design, development and marketing. It's a first rate product in that sense. In a way, it's a lot like The Simpsons.
Who knows if Magic is dying or not. I don't think any CCG will live forever, but Magic isn't showing much signs of relinquishing the throne anytime soon.
It's like a paranoid old king who has seen far too many assassination attempts. I guess you can say that Magic is Eron the Relentless personified.
When the day Magic dies
I'll be singing
Bye bye Miss American pie...
Squirrel Lord
Enchantments:
1 X Mirari's Wake
1 X Aura Shards
1 X Dueling Grounds
3 X Sterling Grove
2 X Nantuko Shrine
4 X Enchantress's Presence
1 X Elfhane Sanctuary
4 X Squirrel Nest
2 X Rancor
1 X Martyr's Cause
Sorceries:
2 X Nostalgic Dreams
4 X Revive
3 X Rampant Growth
4 X Chatter of Squirrels
Instants
2 X Enlightened Tutor
2 X Order/ Chaos
Artifacts
1 X Predator, Flagship
1 X Emerald Medallion
Lands
4 X Elfhane Palace
12 X Forest
4 X Plains
1 X Mountain
Last Updated: Onslaught Block for Extended
Richard Garfield is not just the father of CCGs. He is the creator of three vastly different CCGs that set standards in diverse types of gameplay.
Magic has evolved to emphasize flexibility and deckbuilding creativity, the essence of what makes CCGs unique.
Netrunner focuses on the essence of card game gameplay.
Vampire's unparalleled strength is in multiplayer interaction.
Vampire is truly a social game in that, to fully enjoy the experience, you have to become a member of a VtES society. It's not a game you can enjoy with just a couple of gaming buddies. Around the United States and other parts of the world, there are organizations of Vampire players, such as VtES: Atlanta, VtES LA, VtES San Francisco, etc... and to get the experience of this game, you just have to find the closest one to you, make contact and join them. In a sense, this game needs to be a multiplayer game, because it's the only way of making the game balanced. To understand Vampire, you have to understand that most of the Vampires belong to one of the clans, and each clan has three prefered disciplines. And there is one discipline, Dominate, that... dominates all other disciplines. Dominate does a little of everything, and a lot of something that is central to winning the game- increasing bleeds. So, not only does it have arguable the most "useful" function, it does almost everything else as well- stealth, bleed redirection, ending combat, pool gain, stealing resources... etc... The card Conditioning, at superior Dominate, increases a bleed by +3. Therefore a vampire with superior Dominate typically does four times as much damage as a vampire without superior Dominate. In fact, the best way to beat Dominate is ironically a card called Deflection, another Dominate card! (Mr. Happy Brujah interjects by saying- "No, the best way of beating Dominate is by beating the shit out of any vampire that has it. Mr. EuroBrujah [so known because the European Brujah princes have Dominate instead of Presence] says, why not enjoy the best of both worlds?) Even if you choose to play a clan that doesn't naturally have Dominate, you'll usually make your deck better by splashing in Dominate, if just for Governs and Deflections. There are other great disciplines, but none of them are as good as Dominate. Ofcourse, just having access to Dominate doesn't mean you'll win a table in Vampire... because Vampire is a multiplayer game.
Vampire is actually one of the only CCGs that I like to build decks for. To me, most of the time deck building is a chore. But deck building in Vampire is very creative and challenging.
For starters, almost no two Vampires are alike. So you have to come up with a group of Vampires that work rather well together. At first it's frustrating that your vampires have weird disciplines that you never plan on using, which is why a lot of beginners tend to like the Tremere or the Tsimize since their vampires feel "lean." However, once you start to get confidence in your play ability you start building riskier types of decks. And then there is that particular drug of the deck based entirely on one large Vampire. I think we all fall into this trap because we recognize in that 10 cap with her unique set of strange discipline combinations and that unique ability the potential to be awesome, but only if we devoted all 90 library cards to exploiting that potential. Dammit, I'll never give up on you Silvia Giovanni!
And it also helps that Vampire has no card limits and a huge library of cards to choose from that has never been format phased out.
You should love Vampire for the setting, the unique gameplay, the social experience and different challenge of a muliplayer CCG, but most of all, for the people that play it.
The Wizard of Ez
Crypt:
1 X Ezmerelda
4 X Gabrin
1 X Natalia
2 X Joaquina Amaya
1 X Sarisha Veliku
1 X Vaclav Petalengro
1 X Khalil Ravana
1 X Sasha Miklos
Master:
3 X Path of Paradox
1 X Park Hunting Ground
1 X Fortune Teller Shop
1 X Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1 X The Barrens
4 X Blood Doll
1 X Dominate
Equipment:
1 X Treasured Samadji
Retainers:
2 X Raven Spy
1 X J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1 X Tasha Morgan
Actions:
2 X Sensory Deprivation
8 X Draba
2 X Restoration
1 X Rapid Healing
Action Modifiers:
2 X Conditioning
8 X Fata Morgana
8 X Mirror Image
3 X Guard Dogs
Reactions:
6 X Ignis Fatuus
4 X Deflection
1 X Wake With Evening's Freshness
Combat:
1 X Song in the Dark
3 X Carrion Crows
2 X Mayaparisatya
4 X Illusions of Kindred
6 X Apparition
2 X Trap
Last Updated: Black Hand
The key to enjoying Warlord is to take it as it is- the "beer and pretzels" CCG. I've never had much fun playing Warlord in actual tournaments. Bad luck just adds to the stress factor. One important strategy in the game is to use your high rolls wisely. Never go for something with radiculous odds unless you can't help it. You will only roll a certain number of 16's- 20's in any particular game and you don't want to waste them going for a critical hit with Timmy or even worse Shield Wall Knight. By the same token, make your opponent's life difficult. If you're going to play high AC, make sure your AC is consistently high all across your front ranks.
The game is wonderfully evocative of Dungeons and Dragons. The concepts of Fighters, Wizards, Clerics and Thieves translates wonderfully. Whenever I think of Warlord I end up missing Baldur's Gate, and vice versa. The game has a beautiful, almost mathematical, simplicity and elegance.
Well, that is until you break the d20 range the game is based around. The game gets pretty ugly if a player let's their opponent pile on the permanent bonuses, as anyone who's seen a Dragon lord or Medusan lord challenge can atest to.
I love how ego- centric the Warlords themselves are. The game is titled after them and the game is about them. They are the inpetus, the engine, the inspiration of the deck.
Faction loyalty is less of an issue in Warlord as it is in L5R. The Class of the warlord tends to dicate overall strategy more and players tend to be loyal to a particular warlord than a faction in general.
Warlord had one of the most successful resets I've seen. Campaign Edition really was good for gameplay, although I wish they had kept most of the Warlords.
It amazes me that a lot of Warlord players are still passionate about Open play, even though it's broken beyond absurdity. Coming from L5R, it's really hard to fathom.
Zap!
Warlord:
Lord Kestrel
Start:
2 X Justinian
3 X Genecourt Initiate
Characters:
1 X Princess Dashkova
1 X Halo of Secrets
3 X Castus the Burning
2 X Hendric the Mirage
3 X Xaros the Mist
2 X Abd Al Rahim
2 X Lord Joxanus
2 X Nina Worth
Actions:
2 X Chain Lightning
3 X Arc Lightning
3 X Teleport
2 X Frozen March
2 X Lightning Bolt
3 X Ball Lightning
3 X Magic Missiles
2 X Illusionary Form
2 X Veiled Passage
Items:
3 X Staff of Storage
3 X Ring of Vorn
Last Updated: Death's Bargain for Campaign
LotR is endearing because it's so evocative of the filmic Tolkein captured by Peter Jackson's trilogy. A lot of people have acclaimed it for the "brilliant" costing system. Well, it's decent, but not infallable. Gameplay is a little boring. It's more of a strategic game than a tactical game. It's also slightly unbalanced. You get a lot more play options as the Free Peoples than as the Shadows. Playing the Shadow side is more of a chore, almost like DMing.
I really like the changes they introduced to the game within the past year. Alternative Ring Bearers are so fun! They add so much gameplay. Sick of Frodo? Try Galadriel or Gimli. Now, instead of retelling Tolkein's story, you get to tell a new story.
The flexible route makes things more interesting. It adds more tactics at the cost of strategy. It really changes the game around. Now Locations function almostly exactly like Plots from A Game of Thrones.
Kind of unbalanced (even more crazy than Raw Deal) but I'm usually okay with that. Again, another game with "supposed" self- balancing game mechanics but it doesn't work that well. However, it completely captures the feel of Martin's books. It's so easy to lose control of the board. Personalities are insanely powerful but, no matter had hard you try to protect them, they still get whacked. No matter what they claim, at some point Martin's rate of writing production is going to kill the game. There isn't going to be enough material in A Feast for Crows to sustain the game for 3 more years, expecially since there is going to be no material for House Targaryen.
The game is pretty boring once you realize how insanely powerful Reknown and "does not kneel during challenges" are.
I have no idea what happened with my Doomtown experience. Just counting all of the starter boxes I bought, I must have spent close enough to $1k on it. !!! Yet I've probably played less than a dozen actual games of Doomtown. Doomtown didn't have the best story or the best art or the best mechanics. But somehow, it was a lot of fun to collect. I loved almost all of the factions that came out for Doomtown and that was probably the reason I ended up spending so much money on it. I'm still amazed.
Doomtown has evolved (at least in California) to be a very fun and relaxed multiplayer CCG experience. I am always jealous of the Doomtown players laughing and playing a relaxing game during KublaCon or OrcCon, while I am stressing out over a L5R tournament. Damn you Rich Carter! One of these days I'll join you guys and make the Katie proud.
I think Doomtown appealed to my love of American History. I guess it's the same way some L5R players are infatuated with the Japanese culture appeal of L5R.
Mechanics- wise the game was rather average. Everyone loves the poker combat system. That was very well done. But the actual victory condition, collecting Control Points, sucked ass. You win the game by buying stuff and protecting it and controling the field. That's much too passive, and one of the reasons why the game works so much better as a multiplayer game. I also feel that, like 7th Sea, Doomtown suffered from a lack of abstraction with respect to locations and movement. Card game designs where you actually have to move the cards around a lot from one "location" card to another make me cringe.
Someone (maybe it was Jon Palmer) recently had an idea on #l5r when we were discussing Doomtown that it should be re- release or have an alternative rule format that uses Texas Hold' Em instead of Stud. That's a great idea and I hope someone follows up on it. Yee haw!
Ninjas, cowboys, pirates, spies. What's next for AEG, Dinosaurs?
7th Sea is a game that has so much appeal going for it. The characters in Theah are, in general, easily the most likeable and charming of the characters that AEG has spun out over the years. I mean, instead of drawing inspiration from Westerns that few people under 30 have ever seen, for 7th Sea AEG got to pop culture off of Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride) and The Princess Bride. Unfortunately 7th Sea gave it's last breath so that Warlord could live.
Mechanics- wise, 7th Sea was very disappointing. The bright side is the brilliant and rather difficult to master battle/ dueling rules. There's actual skill involved in it and you get better, but it's very hard to master, and a ton of strategy in that alone! Indeed, I have yet to meet a 7th Sea player who actually fought "better drunk." Unfortunately there are a ton of mechanics issues that plagued the game since the start. The most glaring is that the game gave you too much set up, which meant 80% of all successful decks tried to kill or incapacitate the opponent on the first turn. There's no build up at all. Speed Cannon- move in, boom boom boom. Speed Boarding- move in, board, slice slice slice. These decks, you literally start with almost every card you'll ever bring out in play. This is a good warning to future CCG Designers to not get too cute with initial set up. On a different level, this game suffered from weak abstraction. As a result, sailing around and completing adventures is not nearly as involving as it should have been. I love this setting and would love it if someday it got a face lift and was re- released.
L5R cleaned up. From my experience, games in LBS tend to be radiculously close, which is fantastic. However, of all the AEG/ AEG- like games, this was the only one where I thought a lot of the factions were kind of boring.
Download the Legend of the Burning Sands rulebook here!
I never really got a chance to play this except when it first came out. God, I adore the Battletech universe so much it hurts. When I saw that Mad Cat Pryde was printed in Arsenal, I had an orgasm. According to Richard Garfield, FASA interfered a lot with his original design of the game and the gameplay suffered for it. I wish this game was still around because a Richard Garfield CCG that takes place in the Battletech universe makes me wet. I meant drooling. From my mouth. Not what you thought. Perv.
Incidentally, the introduction from the Commander's Edition rulebook is easily the most succinct summary of the world of Battletech ever written. Check it out!
Battletech, the universe, is well worth getting more familiar with. Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, even Rokugan has nothing on Battletech.
I have never ever seen people play this game since it's release, not even at DragonCon or KublaCon. It looks fun though.
Still waiting for more members of Gen X to be released. I refuse to play before then.
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