Monday, July 4, 2011

Robbers' Roost: Latent Effect Cards

Ever desiring to make Robbers' Roost as good as possible, I have made some changes to the expansion that I am hoping you will like. The first is an effort to make the expansion more modular. The expansion cards values will be rearranged so that you can choose what portions of Robbers' Roost you want to play with. Thus, you can mix and match the new characters, the orange cards, and the additional cards (so you could play without the orange cards but the rest for instance) with no imbalance in the suits and values.

Besides this, I will be including in Robbers' Roost another type of card besides the orange cards. These new cards have both an initial effect and a latent effect: the moment you play cards of this type something occurs. After this immediate action is resolved, instead of being discarded the card remains in play in front of you. At the beginning of your next turn (after Dynamite and Jail are resolved) the card produces another effect (this is done automatically, it cannot be stored up like a green card).

Some of these cards will require initially or latently for their player to make a sacrifice, so there is a risk in playing many of the cards. For instance, one card that I am bound to include, is called Investment. When a player plays Investment, he initially has to discard a card from his hand. At the beginning of his next turn, however, he draws 3 cards. The risk, of course, is that the card could be stolen/discarded in between his turns and he could lose his investment. The new Pay Day has its player draw 2 cards initially, and all other players draw a card latently. The benefit comes beforehand, and this allows for some interesting strategies: the player who played it could steal Pay Day after playing it to play it again (so that the initial effect would be produced twice and the latent effect only once), or discard the card if he didn't want others to get the benefit. So these cards should create some interesting situations.

I don't know if these cards need a different card color, or simply a new symbol. Dodge City added a symbol for when 2 actions would occur when a card was played. So these cards might have a symbol to indicate the initial and latent effects instead of adding a new color, since I see the color as having few funtional benefits.

Let me share the ideas I have for these new initial/latent effect cards. Some of them will replace some of the original game cards that I placed in Robbers' Roost, because they will be a fair substitute for the effects of the original game. There is an astericks near the cards I particularly like. I would appreciate some feedback on these cards, since I do not plan to use all of them in the game.

Draw Cards:
  1. Investment* - I (initial): Discard a card from your hand. L (latent): Draw 3 cards.

  2. Pay Day (replaces old Pay Day) - I: Draw 2 cards. L: All other players draw a card.

  3. Pow Wow - I: Draw 3 cards. L: Draw no cards on your next turn.

Attack Cards:
  1. Mug* (replaces Panic!) - I: Discard another card when playing it to BANG! D1. L: Steal a card from that player.

  2. Tomahawk (replaces old Tomahawk)- I: BANG! D1. L: "Draw!" On royals, return Tomahawk to your hand.

Special Attack Cards:
  1. Warpath (Replaces extra Indians!) - I: A target player must discard a BANG! or take a hit. L: All other players must discard a BANG! or take a hit.

Defensive Cards:
  1. Smoke Signal - I: Show your hand to all other players. L: Discard any red as a Missed! until your next turn.

  2. Confuse /Throw Off* - I: Discard a BANG!. L: You are seen by others at a distance +1 until your next turn.

  3. Disarm (replaces old Disarm) - I: Discard another card when playing it for a Missed! ; L: Discard a card from your attacker's hand.

  4. Question and Answer. I: Missed! L: BANG! your attacker (if applicable).

Life Point Modifiers:
  1. Molotov Cocktail* - I: Discard another card when playing it gain 1 life point. L: BANG! any player seen at distance 1 (D1).

  2. Moonshine - I: Gain 2 life points. L: Lose 1 life point.

  3. On the House (replaces old On the House) - I: Gain 1 life point. L: All others gain 1 life point.

Steal/Discard Cards:
  1. Loan* - I: Give another player a card from your hand. L: Take 2 cards from that player's hand.

  2. Fur Trade/Trading Post* - I: Swap a card in front of you for a card in front of another player. L: Both of you draw a card from the deck.

  3. Show Time/Burlesque (replaces Cat Balou) - I: Discard a card from another player D1. "Draw!" On reds, draw the discarded card.

  4. Stampede (replaces old Stampede)- I: Discard a card in play in front of you. L: Place Stampede on top of a card in play in front of another player. They cannot use or utilize that card until Stampede is removed.

11 comments:

  1. I have an idea about the card colour, this cards are like a brown card (initial effect) and similar green or blue cards (latent effect) so it can have the two colours, one half of the border brown (up and left for example) and the other half green or blue.
    I thought when you say that you don't want a new colour (I'm agree, it could be many colours) and i think that this cards isn't of any existent colour.

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  2. Hey Josete, that isn't a bad idea if I was going to make another color. However, I am not yet convinced that another color is needed for the cards. I think most of the cards could be brown. There would be a symbol in the middle that separates the initial action from the latent action/effect. This is similar to the symbol separating 2 simultaneous actions, such as Dodge. That didn't require a different color, so I am not certain this will require a different color also.

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  3. Hi again, I'm working on a card editor that I think can like you, if you want it I can sendd you the files.

    http://www.edgeent.com/v2/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=212&efcid=23&efidt=281204

    ReplyDelete
  4. Im agree, it isn't need a new colour, but I think that it isn't brown becouse any brown card reste on the table after be played...
    I think that with two colours cards the symbol in the middle could be the same of dodge or saloon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would love to review your card editor, and look at what it provides versus the BANG! card generator on bang.cz. It looks pretty good from scanning your link! Nice work.

    As for the new color, I will consider the meld. I am a little hesitant since a mix of brown/green or brown/blue does suggest that the card would remain in front of you after the initial use, but it also suggests that it will stay in front of you permanently (at least until you choose to use it with the green color). But the effect occurs regardless of your choice, and so I think there could be a mixed message. I wonder if more than the symbol is needed. If so, a new color might have to be introduced...

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  6. I'm not agree with this "it also suggests that it will stay in front of you permanently" the prison is blue card and it isn't permanent...

    And about the editor I must put the numbers, tomorrow I will work in the images and in the evening (now here it's 16:25) I'll probably end by the moment...

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  7. I agree with you that a few blue cards such as prison and Dynamite are unusual. Nonetheless, on the whole blue cards do not behave like prison or Dynamite. They stay in play in front of you until they are discarded/stolen. The same goes for green cards, which stay in play in front of you until they are used. In my opinion, it is a failure in the game design for them to have made these blue cards at all. Dominion is far more consistent here.

    I look forward to your editor being complete!

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  8. Another idea:

    - Stow Away: I: Set aside up to 3 cards from your hand face down. L: Draw them.

    Here are some ideas for other cards that I haven't quite fleshed out:

    - Monopoly: "Draw!" If any player has the "drawn!" card in their hand, they must give you a copy.

    - Pawn Shop: Reveal 2 cards. You may swap any cards in your hand for the revealed cards. Discard the left over cards.

    - Rodeo: Everyone passes one card from their hand to the player to their left.

    I have also been thinking of a card that steals from another player, but instead of placing the card in your hand, the stolen card goes on top of the deck.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't know where to ask... so how can I download this? https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8wPX7XHoGh_Y2VmZTAyY2ItYjNiYS00MzRjLTlhZTktZWM5MzY2MTY1MTcx&hl=en&authkey=CP_du9wJ

    ReplyDelete
  10. Once you get into the Google Docs viewer, you should notice a blue toolbar. Select "File," and then "Download Original." I will warn you that the Player Aid has only been updated to Patch 1.01, not including the 1.02/1.03 rules.

    ReplyDelete
  11. No longer true; Player Aid is now updated. See the recent post.

    ReplyDelete