so. i made a game inspired by vtes.

hoduken wrote:

Well if that's the case then expect a kickstarter sometime next year. If anyone is interested in helping me playtest or has questions please ask. I'm really looking to get feedback from people who love the inspiration for this game as much as me.

What is your name?
Where do you and/or have you played VTES?
Please explain your game in detail so that we may have a discussion.

Whoah tough crowd. Okay, so my name is brooklynn. I have over 9 years of formal experience in the gaming industry. From retailing games at my local hobby store to doing QA for Sony on Twisted Metal for ps3. I've pretty much lived and breathed games for over a decade.

I'm going to have other games being sold in stores before this one is even kickstarted so if i can't convince people to have trust in me coming through on the first two kickstarters, then i doubt ill be able to convince you with just words in this forum. So, rather, let me do it with actions over the next six months.

Also, i would imagine the 2011 North American Continental Champion would probably know more about making VTES a better game than making a different game. Love to get his opinion though! And there is no doubt he knows more about the game than me.

I have played lots of VTES, purely casually though. My main expertise lie in my broader knowledge of gaming, its industry, and its community rather than a single set of specialized skills.

In short, i have run tournaments formally, for vtes, l5r, ufs, got, magic, starwars, wow, netrunner, and countless other less popular games in just the ccg world. I love gaming as a whole and play many different games every weekend.

So, more about the game. Our working title is called Grimoire and I'll have a rule book posted for you guys as soon as the end of October. I'm guessing ill be able to get better feedback from individuals at that point as they will be able to really tear into the nitty gritty of the mechanics and its changes from VTES but let me summarize some for the sake of discussion.

The game will be built around the LCG model, this requires for logistical changes from VTES that make an LCG model difficult. First and foremost is the deck sizes. they have been reduced to 60. I know, I know, your protest in how this fundamentally changes the game at high level play is nearly palpable. But remember, this isn't VTES.

The reduction in deck size is a necessity to make the lcg model function. We want 4 players to be able to play the game out of the box while keeping the card count down. This also means that there is a hard card limit of 6 now. When players deck out, they reshuffle their discard to create a new deck.

To fix problems this causes for players who rely on pulling combat cards and other such utility over the course of the game we have made another rather large change from vtes.

In Grimoire, players don't have equipment in their decks. Instead, in the center of the table, we have a deck of cards called the emporium. The Emporium contains various magical devices that players can use to help them kill their opponents and remove them from the game. The emporium is shuffled at the start of the game and then the players reveal the top 4 cards from the deck.

On a players turn, One of their characters may take an Action to equip something face up from the Emporium. If they succeed they attach it to the Character that took the Action.

Once a card has been purchased the remaining items for sale are discarded and four more cards are dealt to refill the Emporium. This allows us to cut out equipment from all decks while keeping it a fundamental part of both the game, and every deck being played. best of all, its another thing that keeps the card count down to 60.

There are many others but lets start with those five differences.

1. 60 card deck.
2. Reshuffle discard when your out.
3. No Equipment in decks.
4. Equipment publicly available to everyone on the table at all times.
5. Hard card limit of 6.

I'm not really getting a very good sense of how the game plays from your description, but it may be that a few paragraphs just can't do your game justice, as is obviously true for vtes.

In spite of the "tough crowd" I hope you'll post your Kickstarter when it launches. I'm currently the busiest person in the universe (2nd year running), but I'd give you a few bucks if your game looks decent, even if I'm never going to play it (paying it forward).