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Mechanic Monday: Grid-Based Modifier Cards

Hey it’s Monday would you look at that.  I’m sour because I just spent two hours in a pointless HOA meeting but let’s channel that into something productive, shall we? It’s Monday, so even though I barfed out some game ideas last night, let’s sound the horn for a Mechanic Monday.

run horn.midi //

Alright so let’s get into it.  I love cards, it’s one of my signature traits.  A known thing.  I also love relative positioning.  Put ‘em together and what do you got? Another way of looking at rectangles supporting rectangles.  Bon appetit.

Grid-Based Modifiers

In GREEM, players start out with a personal tableau of two Teal cards, one West and one North.  The West Teal card defines a row (Grey cards played to the East of that card), and the other a column (Grey cards played South of that card), with one slot for a Grey card that is in both the row and the column.  Each Teal card modifies its row or column, perhaps enhancing its effect, decreasing its cost to use, bestowing additional features or abilities, or destroying cards played there for currency.  Additional Teal cards may be played to define new rows or grids, and Teal cards may be replaced by higher-ranked Teal cards (or as a result of card abilities).  Some Teal cards may even be played at intersections, and only affect Grey cards that are played atop of them.

Okay, so, pretty themeless, pretty open-ended, this could be for economy, combat, whatever.  It’s just a cool way of opening up customization and power management, most likely subconsciously inspired/suggested by the power management system I’ve been enjoying so much in Star Wars Squadrons.  I don’t do single-increment power re-allocation, just engines/weapons/shields, so it’s more like modes than true tuning, but I still really like it, thematically and in practice.  So here’s a way of tweaking your tableau a bit, and doing some fun spatial combo chaining.  I really envision this opening up options; options to supercharge, alchemize, build, bring expensive things to bear sooner; basically taking off some of the uses of multi-use cards, and allocating them to spaces.  I think it’d be fun!

Alright, that’s it, I’m salty and I have other things to do so I’m going to go do those.  Jesus Christ the Google Doc I write these in has hit 100 pages.  What an achievement.  Ok, bye.

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