22
votes
Accepted
If damage is redirected infinitely, does the game end in a draw?
These are replacement effects, and you can't apply any single replacement effect to any single event more than once. So, once you apply both effects, you stop, the damage is dealt, and the game ...
- 80.9k
13
votes
Accepted
Handling multiple "timers" on the board and player mat
There are several ways to implement timers in board games
Tokens. Games like Paper Tales or Pixel Tactics (starting from 2nd set) use addition/removal of tokens from game components to track passage ...
- 3,236
11
votes
Is there a method that gets beneficial diminishing returns when adding more dice, yet stays random?
You're actually asking two questions:
How can I design a function that computes a result on a dice roll that gives asymptotically decreasing benefit to adding more dice?
How can I have a system ...
- 17.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Board games involving players' consensus for who wins?
For starters, you cannot objectively have the scoring based on precision, cleanliness, etc. Players will vote however they want, which - depending on the system you use to collect votes - can allow ...
- 3,486
9
votes
If damage is redirected infinitely, does the game end in a draw?
While your example is not a loop, as @murgatroid99 described, the answer to your question for actual loops is still No. Any time there is a loop that involves optional actions (...you may have that ...
- 191
9
votes
Handling multiple "timers" on the board and player mat
Not sure if this is the right way to offer a suggestion I have thought of myself for feedback, but...
A time bar
Labelled 0-5 or so, various items are put on the time bar, and everything is brought ...
- 618
8
votes
Does this mining mechanic add genuine choice to my game?
Instead of modeling you can compute these results exactly. If you roll n dice at difficulty d, the variance will be [d * n * (d-1)/6 * (7-d)/6], and the mean net gain will be [d * n * (7-d)/6 - 1]. ...
- 11.1k
8
votes
Handling multiple "timers" on the board and player mat
I would recommend building your own timer out of something like card stock with spinning wheel, something similar to the design below (pardon the MSPaint):
The Bottom layer:
The base of the Timer, it ...
- 7,702
8
votes
Accepted
Mechanic for secret actions in a card game
I'll illustrate with a five-player example. It is player A's turn. Based on my reading, I am assuming the following things. Are these assumptions correct?
Players B, C, D and E each play a card ...
- 1,421
7
votes
Tapping cards - mana pool - general questions
Under normal circumstances, you cannot forget to untap lands because it's not an optional action. As for rules enforcement in your own group: that's entirely your group's call.
Untapping lands is not ...
- 50.6k
6
votes
Accepted
How many poison counters warrant an EDH loss?
It is 10 just like in a normal game. The only format that changes the number of poison counters needed to cause a player to lose a game is Two-Headed Giant.
704.5c If a player has ten or more poison ...
- 20.2k
5
votes
Tokens and how blocking works
Normally, each creature can block only one attacking creature. Some abilities can change this. For example, Brave the Sands has an ability that allows each of your creatures to block an additional ...
- 80.9k
5
votes
Tokens and how blocking works
Tokens are not relevant here. When your opponent assigns blockers, he can choose to have each of his untapped creatures block one of your attacking creatures. So if you are attacking with more ...
- 73.9k
5
votes
Does this dice mechanic exist in other games and does it have any drawbacks?
Formula D is a racing game where you select your die (non-standard D4, D6, D8, D12, D20, D30) based on your "gear". So if you are in first gear, you roll the D4 and you can roll between 1-4. If you ...
- 201
5
votes
Deck Size Problems in Deckbuilding
The best way is obviously subjective so I'll throw out some ideas for Severance. Here's two quick ideas to make Severance possibly work during the initial reveal:
A): When you reveal your card, ...
- 1,068
5
votes
Is there a strategy PVP board/card game with Negative Feedback loops?
The great granddaddy of deck-building actually does have a negative feedback loop in it:
In Dominion, victory points come in the form of green cards which you add to your deck[1]. In every game of ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
How semi-cooperative games handle players who have nothing to lose?
The social contract does most of the heavy lifting
The social contract is an unspoken agreement between all the players of the game as to how the game should be played to maximize the enjoyment of ...
- 12.6k
5
votes
Accepted
What are the standards for algorithmically forecasting metagame evolution under certain conditions of TCG design?
It is likely that making this kind of prediction to any useful degree of accuracy is beyond the current state of the art in computing.
First, consider that forecasting the future metagame that uses ...
- 80.9k
5
votes
Is there a method that gets beneficial diminishing returns when adding more dice, yet stays random?
There's a lot of ways to weaken the effects of the dice.
Only the best X dice count - this means the more dice you have the more likely you will get a better overall result, but you are still stuck ...
- 14k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the general name for this particular game mechanic?
This is called first in wins.
See for example this article on game design
First in wins. Markers placed later are considered to fall behind those placed earlier. The only way a later player can get ...
- 10.8k
5
votes
How can I identify the mechanics of Risk?
So from the sounds of it, you've just sat through a Game Design 101 course lecture, and part of the homework is to identify all the mechanics of the game. I had to do that too at one point.
The thing ...
- 24.5k
4
votes
Does this dice mechanic exist in other games and does it have any drawbacks?
I am unable to find any game with that precise mechanic, but there are many related:
Snowblind: Race for the Pole uses different sided dice to provide different probabilities. Every action you ...
- 677
4
votes
Accepted
Most important elements of easy-to-learn hard-to-master?
Make sure that single actions can have multiple different outcomes depending on how and when they are used
Strategic complexity is created when a player has multiple mutually exclusive actions* they ...
- 12.6k
4
votes
Is there any card game where the cards' back color is meaningful?
Nertz requires a different color back (or back design) for each player to determine the score at the end of the game, so two-player Nertz would match your description.
Each player (team) scores one ...
- 10.8k
4
votes
Accepted
How semi-cooperative games handle players who have nothing to lose?
There is really not much that you can do in rules to totally eliminate this problem, but you can try to reduce it.
One possibility is to implement catch-up mechanisms so that it is rather unlikely ...
- 355
4
votes
What board games have maps that change each time?
On BoardGameGeek there are listings for two mechanisms that are likely to help - over 7,000 games are listed under Modular Board, and 166 under Map Addition.
- 11.2k
3
votes
Handling multiple "timers" on the board and player mat
Building on the timeline answer: If you have a board already, put a timeline around the edges - a strip of squares/hexagons/triangles representing turns. Each box that can hold tokens that indicate ...
- 131
3
votes
Action selection in a hidden movement game that may require more information to be complete
Most games that let you select a variable number of something in secret, will either give you small tokens that you hold in your hand, or by giving you a screen to hide items behind. Some also give ...
- 543
3
votes
Mechanic for secret actions in a card game
Depending on how long you'd want to be anonymous to the target player, and assuming every other player plays their cards anonymous at the same time you could do the following:
each player takes one ...
- 9,146
3
votes
Tapping cards - mana pool - general questions
In casual play, I would let 1. slide, but not 2.
The first is (roughly) a missed mandatory trigger, which iirc at REL:Regular isn't punished above a warning.
The second is backing up game state from ...
- 577
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