=sigh=
If you've tried to post a comment and it hasn't gone through, my apologies. I've been away from Blogger sites for a long time. I think the best bet is just to open comments without moderation and see how that goes. Should be possible to weed out spam, right? Hope so.
Okay, so I'll reset the settings and open 'er up, because I do want to hear from you.
Thanks!
Hey there! Back in 1995, Jim Lee asked me to help create a card game. With Matt Forbeck, I co-created the WildStorms CCG. Now I'm here to give you supplemental, optional and expanded content for the game. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Saturday, April 18, 2020
On Teamwork
Teamwork is one of most basic advantages a character can get for being part of a team.
It can be a big help to give that +1 to a character at the right time.
But what does teamwork mean, beyond being a team name at the bottom of the card?
Teams are not just random collections of characters. The Justice League, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Teen Titans are not just heroes who thought "hey, I'd like to hang with some buddies," while 'teams' like the Defenders... not so much.
What makes a team different from an ad hoc group? Why do they get an advantage in combat?
The answer is training. Team members train together: they run mock combats against each other; they work to develop their powers individually and working with others; and they do their best to ensure that the team, as a unit, gets the job done.
Some teams have an easier time of this than others, IMHO. The X-Men were created as a school; training is in their day to day routine, even long after successive classes graduated. WetWorks, a government special ops team gone rogue, is likewise grounded in military drilling and discipline.
Some have a harder time, for various reasons. The Suicide Squad, comprised of criminals drafted into a black ops unit, often has terrible discipline and fights among its members. Gen13, made up of five teenagers, sometimes has trouble getting serious about doing what they're supposed to do. And Power Pack struggles with the interpersonal dynamics of being siblings.
The game mechanics don't have a lot of nuance when it comes to things like this. By the rules of WSCCG, a character is or is not part of a team.
Should we adjust that? I'm not sure but I'm open to the idea. As it is, we have plot twist cards that affect teamwork bonuses, and maybe that's good enough for now. A card that sparks friction between team members is a pretty good card-based solution to this issue. (Right, Chris?)
Who makes up a team, then?
Most of the time, teams exist regardless of who is on active duty--like the Avengers, the Justice League, StormWatch, et al. Consider how many iterations of different groups there have been over the years just among the Avengers, Justice League, and X-Men.
Meanwhile, other teams would not exist (or would be radically different) if the founding members were absent--like Power Pack, the Fantastic Four, Batman's "family" of heroes, etc.
Which brings us to another kind of team: the hero- or villain-centric "family." Heroes like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, and more act as coaches, mentors and sometimes surrogate fathers to heroes of all kinds. Batman has had enough Robins to field a softball team, while Superman has a basketball teams' worth of Superboys he could call upon, and that's not even getting into the female heroes they coach as well. While these aren't traditional teams, these collections of heroes work together often enough to know each others' moves and back each other in a fight. On that basis, it's entirely possible to have a team based around a major hero (or villain). And that isn't even getting into literal families like the FF and Power Pack.
So you see, teamwork covers an awful lot of ground. It's useful to think about this stuff as we build new things for the game, because anything that affects teams can affect a whole lot of characters too.
It can be a big help to give that +1 to a character at the right time.
But what does teamwork mean, beyond being a team name at the bottom of the card?
Teams are not just random collections of characters. The Justice League, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Teen Titans are not just heroes who thought "hey, I'd like to hang with some buddies," while 'teams' like the Defenders... not so much.
What makes a team different from an ad hoc group? Why do they get an advantage in combat?
The answer is training. Team members train together: they run mock combats against each other; they work to develop their powers individually and working with others; and they do their best to ensure that the team, as a unit, gets the job done.
Some teams have an easier time of this than others, IMHO. The X-Men were created as a school; training is in their day to day routine, even long after successive classes graduated. WetWorks, a government special ops team gone rogue, is likewise grounded in military drilling and discipline.
Some have a harder time, for various reasons. The Suicide Squad, comprised of criminals drafted into a black ops unit, often has terrible discipline and fights among its members. Gen13, made up of five teenagers, sometimes has trouble getting serious about doing what they're supposed to do. And Power Pack struggles with the interpersonal dynamics of being siblings.
The game mechanics don't have a lot of nuance when it comes to things like this. By the rules of WSCCG, a character is or is not part of a team.
Should we adjust that? I'm not sure but I'm open to the idea. As it is, we have plot twist cards that affect teamwork bonuses, and maybe that's good enough for now. A card that sparks friction between team members is a pretty good card-based solution to this issue. (Right, Chris?)
Who makes up a team, then?
Most of the time, teams exist regardless of who is on active duty--like the Avengers, the Justice League, StormWatch, et al. Consider how many iterations of different groups there have been over the years just among the Avengers, Justice League, and X-Men.
Meanwhile, other teams would not exist (or would be radically different) if the founding members were absent--like Power Pack, the Fantastic Four, Batman's "family" of heroes, etc.
Which brings us to another kind of team: the hero- or villain-centric "family." Heroes like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, and more act as coaches, mentors and sometimes surrogate fathers to heroes of all kinds. Batman has had enough Robins to field a softball team, while Superman has a basketball teams' worth of Superboys he could call upon, and that's not even getting into the female heroes they coach as well. While these aren't traditional teams, these collections of heroes work together often enough to know each others' moves and back each other in a fight. On that basis, it's entirely possible to have a team based around a major hero (or villain). And that isn't even getting into literal families like the FF and Power Pack.
So you see, teamwork covers an awful lot of ground. It's useful to think about this stuff as we build new things for the game, because anything that affects teams can affect a whole lot of characters too.
Thinking about equipment, as part of "building up" characters
Traditionally, in WSCCG, you have a character in play and you add equipment to them to make them tougher. Pretty basic, right?
Well, what if you have a hand full of equipment and no active characters?
That... is not good.
So maybe we have an optional rule where you're able to play equipment face-down during the recruit and equip phase, paying the point value normally but not assigning it to an active character if nobody is available (or qualified to receive that item).
What do you think?
Worth testing as an optional rule?
I feel like it might be good to have something like this available *as an option* as we add in magic spells, psi stunts, and boosts.
What do YOU think?
Let me know!
Well, what if you have a hand full of equipment and no active characters?
That... is not good.
So maybe we have an optional rule where you're able to play equipment face-down during the recruit and equip phase, paying the point value normally but not assigning it to an active character if nobody is available (or qualified to receive that item).
What do you think?
Worth testing as an optional rule?
I feel like it might be good to have something like this available *as an option* as we add in magic spells, psi stunts, and boosts.
What do YOU think?
Let me know!
Monday, April 13, 2020
Post-Easter posting files (at last)
April 13, 2020
Hey folks, hope you had a good Easter.
I'm going to unlock the files today, so with luck you'll be able to see ALL the stuff here.
Lots and lots of development work to do, but I hope you'll be patient with me-- I'm just one guy with a day job and a family! :)
Take care and stay healthy-
Drew
Hey folks, hope you had a good Easter.
I'm going to unlock the files today, so with luck you'll be able to see ALL the stuff here.
Lots and lots of development work to do, but I hope you'll be patient with me-- I'm just one guy with a day job and a family! :)
Take care and stay healthy-
Drew
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Welcome!
Scribbles from the Table...
April 7, 2020 (or as we like to say, day 16 of our coronavirus captivity)…
I have a little bit of time on my hands so thought I would follow through on a promise I made to Chris Crowther a year or so ago. He suggested I build a site to share all the stuff I'm doing, since I've generated way more cards than he might want to create. (It takes him a lot more time and effort to do a finished card--which are AMAZING, btw--than it does for me to write up a character, plot twist, or what have you.)
So here is the start of what I hope will become a good, useful supplement to sites like the one Chris has built and maintained for some years now. You'll find a bunch of unofficial stuff here, including write ups of characters beyond the world of WildStorm/Image (which is where this all started), along with all-new plot twists, battlesites, equipment, combat cards and more.
What you will also find is...
So... let's get started.
April 7, 2020 (or as we like to say, day 16 of our coronavirus captivity)…
I have a little bit of time on my hands so thought I would follow through on a promise I made to Chris Crowther a year or so ago. He suggested I build a site to share all the stuff I'm doing, since I've generated way more cards than he might want to create. (It takes him a lot more time and effort to do a finished card--which are AMAZING, btw--than it does for me to write up a character, plot twist, or what have you.)
So here is the start of what I hope will become a good, useful supplement to sites like the one Chris has built and maintained for some years now. You'll find a bunch of unofficial stuff here, including write ups of characters beyond the world of WildStorm/Image (which is where this all started), along with all-new plot twists, battlesites, equipment, combat cards and more.
What you will also find is...
- New card types- I have ideas for Vehicles, Organizations, Power/Skill Feats, Magic Spells, Psi Stunts, and more. Want to know what a "Boost" actually does? It'll be here. Want to see Sidekicks as a character sub-group? It'll be here.
- New rules- okay, so if we have Vehicles, how do they work? If you want to run a Wacky Racers event in WSCCG, is that possible? Can the Batplane shoot down the X-Men's Blackbird? It'll be here.
- Feedback! Questions and answers!
- And... dare I even suggest it... a place for YOU to take these write ups and turn them into custom cards, then show off what you made.
So... let's get started.
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