Not sure if this is the place to post this but whatever. I have been inspired to type this up by the pressence of another Lost Kingdoms player around here as of late.
For those who don't know, Lost Kingdoms was a gamecube RPG in which battles take the form of a real time card game. Cards could gain experience through use or by taking down enemy monsters and this could then be used to "transform" or copy them. It was short but a lot of funand eventually got a sequel, though, in my mind atleast, that wasn't really as good.
So, I was sitting around bored over the holidays and got to thinking, what if it were an actual card game? I came up with this:
Setup:
-Each player has a deck of up to 30 cards (no lower limit) and a Duelist card representing a character from the game.
-The Duelist card and a mutual agreement on power level determine the starting health and mana of each player. These also serve as the maximum values.
-Turn order is determined in some fashion.
-Players shuffle their decks.
-Play begins and takes place in the form of "rounds".
Each round:
-Players deal themselves 4 cards face up. The position of cards may become important.
-The first player takes their turn by either playing a card from their hand, attacking with a monster in play infront of them or passing. More on attacks in a second.
-After followup actions have ended, the next player may take their turn.
-At the end of a turn, if a player has no health, that player loses.
-At the end of a turn, if a player has no cards at their disposal, the round ends.
-At the end of a turn in which no card was played, if this is the second consecutive turn that player has failed to play a card, that player is said to have "run away" and the round ends.
-If a player runs away with 4 cards still in hand, that player must pay a penalty to escape. The top card of their deck is discarded after cards are shuffled during the "Vying Phase".
Vying Phase:
-At the end of a round, after the turns have all been taken, players enter the "Vying Phase".
-As damage is taken during the main phase of each round, mana shards will be adden to the "Shard Pool". It is at this time players can attempt to claim them.
-For each shard in turn, players must play a 1 round game of either Rock Paper Scissors or Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock. The latter is reccommended solely for games with three or more players. This may be replaced with the roll of a fictional 3 sided dice for online purposes.
-The winner may claim the shard and add it to his or her mana total (note: gender is here defined by the Duelist card, not the player), else it remains in place.
-After all vying is complete, any remaining shards that have been in the pool since the previous round disappear, while ones generated this round are set off to one side until the end of the next one.
Playing cards ("Spellcasting"):
-Spellcasing requires mana, the essence of life and magic that players begin the game with. Each card has a stated mana cost and will, barring other effects, drain that much mana from you when cast. You can, however, cast cards without mana, so long as you are willing to give your health to do so. This may be done at a rate of 1 health per mana not available.
-Weapon cards generally cause an attack and may be used a certain number of times each. These uses are refreshed each round but once they are depleated, the card is lost and must be discarded. The number of uses is found in the type line of the cards and should be represented with counters.
-Summons cards may be used only once but generally have a powerful effect to make up for it.
-Independant cards go to your field as monsters when played and stay there between rounds. They may be used to attack your opponent or for other effects but die at the end of a turn if their health is zero. There are four monster slots which can each hold one monster. Each corresponds to a specific hand space and so the user may not choose the slot their monster occupies unless an effect says otherwise.
-Helper (AKA "Trap") cards work like Independant cards but may not attack normally. Instead they will usually suicide attack powerfully when the right conditions are met.
-Transformation cards are enchantments that change your Duelist in some way. They lose 1 health every time a round enters the vying phase and take damage and heal when you do, though fractional healing effects will heal them by the same fraction, not the same amount. They do not, however, take damage when you pay health to cast spells. At the end of any turn or round, if a transformation has zero health, it wears off and your duelist returns to normal. You may not be enchanted with multiple transformations at once but may choose to place your current transformation on the bottom of your deck when playing a new one.
-Any card may be cast as a "Capture Card" for 1 mana during the user's turn, ignoring all casting restrictions and discarding it immediately. This causes the user to attack for damage equal to their base attack but must be paid for with mana. Health will not suffice here. A monster killed in this way is removed from the game. Cannot be used to counter.
Attacking and Countering:
-If attacking, a target must be declared.
-When attacked by a monster, a player may choose to counter that creature with a weapon or summons card in the corresponding zone (cast as normal but with a predefined target of attack if an attack is caused). If no suitable card is available or they choose not to, the player will take damage equal to the monster's attack strength. If the monster's attack is countered, that attack is ignored and the countering card takes effect instead.
-When attacked by a player, the defending player has a similar set of options but the zone restriction for countering monsters is not in effect. If the countering card causes an attack, however, the new defender may also choose to counter and this process may be repeated as much as required. No card may be played twice within a single turn though. If a player counters a summons card with a weapon card, the weapon card is said to have merely "blocked" the attack and may not cause an attack of its own.
-When a monster is attacked, either by a player or by another monster, no counter attacks may be made.
Damage and Shard Generation:
-If damage would be dealt by a creature, that damage is the element of the creature.
-If damage would be dealt by a player, the card used to do the damage determines the element of the damage.
-Damage gets a +1 bonus if inflicted on a monster or player with a weakness to its element.
-Damage gets a -1 penalty if inflicted on a monster or player strong against its element.
-After elemental advantage is taken into account, damage causes loss of health and this health loss determines what sort of mana shard is spawned by the damage.
-1 to 4 damage spawns a small (1 mana) shard.
-5 to 8 damage spawns a medium (3 mana) shard.
-9+ damage spawns a large (5 mana) shard.
Vying outside the Vying Phase:
-When vying outside the vying phase, players vie with only one other player. The player who initiates the vying may choose who they vie with but if one or more other players are involved in the outcome, the chosen player must be from amoung them.
Elemental Advantage:
-While duelist's elemental weaknesses are stated on their cards and they are considered strong against the element(s) they are aligned with, creatures are assumed to follow regular elemental rules.
-Fire is strong against Wood, Wood is weak against Fire.
-Wood is strong against Earth, Earth is weak against Wood.
-Earth is strong against Water, Water is weak against Earth.
-Water is strong against Fire, Fire is weak against Water.
-Lightning is strong against Metal, Metal is weak against Lightning.
-Light is strong against all else, all else is weak against Light.
Status Effects:
-Poison causes a monster or player to take 1 damage at the end of every round.
-Petrification makes a monster or player unable to do anything until the end of their next turn or the end of the round, whichever is sooner. Monsters are considered to take a turn only when a player declares them to do so. This takes the place of the monster's nomal attack action.
-Paralysis means that, until the end of the round, the afflicted creature or player must vie for any action (a creature attack does not count as a player action in this case) on a loss, the action cannot take effect and the player is unable to act for the rest of the turn.
-When a player is Cursed, the source of the curse must choose 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. Until the end of the round, the cursed player may not cast any cards from those zones. A new curse replaces the old one.
-If a creature is Cursed... (I've got nothing).
The Defence Statistic:
-Duelists and creatures with defence have the damage they take reduced by that amount.
Cards:
Starter Decks:
Note: these decks are faithful to the gamecube games, they aren't meant to be good :p.
