Regent: A Free & Easy Card Game For Infinity Players

Regent is a game I came up with today on the way to work... Seriously, I'm not kidding. I wrote this in less than 10 minutes, and I have no idea if it will work or not yet, so I am hoping some of you play it and give me some feedback!

REGENT:
A Free & Easy Card Game For Infinity Players

Regent is a card game which can be played with any number of players above 2, with normal decks of cards (you need 1 deck per player) and probably 30 minutes or so to spare (though this is merely conjecture at this point).

Objective

The aim of Regent is to defeat the other players - all aspirants for the Throne - by destroying their Holdings, which represent their military and political might. The last player standing is the Regent and gains the Throne, winning the game.

Set-Up

To play Regent, you need a normal 52-card deck of playing cards for each player. Once you have these, shuffle them all together and place the massive pile that you'll have on your hands in the centre of the playing area. 

Deal 20 cards face down to each player. This is their Holding Deck. Then deal 7 cards to each player which they may look at. This is their Hand.

Everyone declare how many Royals they have. The player with the most Royals goes first. If you have people with equal amounts of Royals, then the one going clockwise left of the Dealer goes first. Play progresses clockwise from this player.

Playing The Game

At the beginning of their turn, players draw a card if they have less than 7 in their hand.

During their turn, players can perform up to 3 Actions and play a Court Member. Outside of their turn, a player may Defend, Exploit or Assassinate at any time.

Each Action is assigned to a particular suit of cards, and to perform that Action, play a card of that suit. The number on the card represents the power of that Action. There are four possible Actions:

• Attack (Club): Pick a target. Remove Holding cards equal to the power. You must declare your target before defence.
• Scheme (Spade): Look at up to power number of cards on the field (in players' Hands or Holding Decks) and rearrange them as you see fit, though maintaining the amount in each location. You need not declare your target before defence.
• Favour (Diamond): Draw up to power number of cards and add them to your hand. Discard down to 7 cards before taking another Action or finishing your turn.
• Heal (Heart): Draw up to power number of cards face down and add them to either the top or bottom of your Holding Deck.

Instead of using them as an Action, a player may play one Royal per turn to their Court, face up. Doing so prevents any other player from being able to use that same Royal for as long as that card remains in their court, though the player who owns that Royal may still use them in Actions. Additionally, if you have all three Royals of a suit, you gain +3 power to cards of that suit. This may only be done in your turn.

Additionally, at any time (in your turn or off-turn) you may remove a Royal from your Court voluntarily to use them in an Action (though they never re-enter your Hand, so you must use them immediately or discard them). Once this has been done, you may not add an additional Royal of that same type to your Court this turn. I.e. You may not have a King of Hearts in your Court, remove him, use him, and play another King of Hearts that you hold to your Court.

Defending can be done by any number of players when another player plays an Action, but each player can only Defend with a single card per Action. To do this, play a card of the opposing colour to the Action (Red > Black, or Black > Red). Reduce the power of the Action by the power of the Defence. If an Action's power is reduced to 0 it failed (but still counts to the total Actions used). This can only be done in your off-turn.

Exploiting can be done by drawing cards from your own Holding Deck. This can save you in a tight spot, but also harms your 'health'. This can only be done in your off-turn.

Assassinating can be done by playing a Joker Card and removing a Court Member from an opposing player's Court, thus allowing another player to add that same Royal to their own Court. This can only be done in your off-turn.

Winning The Game

Once a player's Holding Deck is reduced to 0, they lose, and their Court is disbanded (and discarded). When there is only 1 player left, they win.

Clarifications

Once a card has been used to perform an Action, Defend, Assassinate, been Assassinated, or is discarded, it goes into the Discard Pile. Once there are no more cards to draw from the Deck, reshuffle in all cards from the Discard Pile into the Deck, and keep going with play as usual.

Royals are worth the following amounts: Jack (11), Queen (12), King (13). Ace is worth 14, but is not a Royal and cannot join a Court. Further, Jokers are worth nothing and cannot be played in any way except to Assassinate another Royal. You may also never have multiples of the same Royal in your Court so as to "hold" the space. Only one Royal of each suit can ever be in a Court at any one time.

Cards used to Defend do so to their full amount. Any excess 'defence' left over does not get stored anywhere. Therefore, if you use a Defend card of 5 power against a 2 power Action, the other 3 power is simply wasted. So choose carefully!

As I say, please give this a try and let me know in the comments.

[EDIT #1] Thanks go out to Robert for making me realise I forgot some things in the original write-up, and for suggesting some changes. I'm a goof.

[EDIT #2] Thanks to Amelia, Laith and Sam for playtesting this over the weekend. It's fun, though a few issues need to be ironed out, so I will likely have to make a 2nd Edition!

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #3 - Involving the Other Senses

Woo! Back after a long break from a great many things, I am ready to start writing again. So, I'll get to continuing my oldest/newest series.

This is Part #3 of a 5-part series. For the other 4 parts, go to these links: Part #1, Part #2, Part #4, and Part #5.

Since the beginning of versamus my writing and my GMing has grown considerably. As such, I felt it would be a good idea to re-write the first series I ever released on here - Emotion in Gaming (1, 2, 3, 4). This post is a continuation of last post, Involving the Senses.

This series is useful to GMs and players alike who want games that really stay in your memory, long after the session in which it was played has come and gone.

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #3 - Involving the Other Senses

Last time I talked about Sight, Sound, and Smell in RPGs, but now I am going to finish up this 2-parter with Touch and Taste. Both of these are massive categories, so I had to split it up a bit.

You don't have to go full LARP to create immersion - though it couldn't hurt.

Touch

Touch is perhaps the most difficult sense to employ, but one of the best when used correctly. This comes in via props - in-game letters that you've prepared and handed to the players, 'magic' rings you've found, precious stones, coins, and the like.

Whilst making these items is possible, it can take a lot of time. Except in the case of letters, which are pretty easy (just get some parchment paper from your local craft store, and either print out your notes in calligraphic fonts, or get a fountain or quill pen and have some fun!) What you can do instead is raid local garage sales, thrift shops, and your parent's attic over the holiday break.

Anything from old jewellery, to pewter tankards, to a pipe, a hat, a broken doll, a wooden box. Anything. You should be able to pick up any old item like this and craft a story around it, or using it, or at least think of a way your players would love it. If you're playing a Sci-Fi setting and a friend of yours has a broken computer, laptop, tablet or other device, see if you can steal the broken pieces and make your own 'Tech' with it.

Coins, and in-game currency, has always been a close one to my heart. I've always wanted to be able to thrown down a bag of money in front of my players, and have them use it as they would in the game. However, currency represents a few problems: how do you get enough of it to be usable? And how to you make sure the use of it doesn't overshadow the game?

Several services now exist for in-game coins, the best of which would have to be Campaign Coins. However, Campaign Coins are quite expensive, and unless you can easily afford it, it is an expense that shouldn't be high up on the list for GMs (as coins don't add THAT much to your game).

Another alternative is to use metal washers, or other circular tokens. Again, getting enough of them is an issue, but can be done with a little investment. One method I have used is when I went to Japan I saved all the small Yen currency coins and brought them back with me. A few hundred 1 Yen coins work wonders as silver coins! Don't use native currency, as it has the issue of having immediate monetary value, and can become confusing if someone has their wallet out at the table.

Or, you can do what I do and offset some (or all) of the money with paper notes which can be printed in the same way as normal parchment notes above with a little photoshop skills to make the design. I've done this very successfully with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Dark Heresy in the past, so I highly recommend this! (And if anyone wants the files I made for these, feel free to ask)

Taste

Taste is probably my favourite sense to use in games, as I do love to cook. It can be done cheaply and quickly - serving coffee (or ReCaf) in a tin cup when your players are fighting in the trenches of Cadia - or slightly more expensive on time and money - by serving a full multi-course Russian meal when your players are the guests of honour in a Boyar's court. Cooking is great, because you can have everyone bring something else to the table when game day comes around, and it fills your play area with smells, and tends to get everyone in a good mood before play begins.

You may wish to serve food before play begins, eat, and then get into the swing of things, or eat during play, but remember a full mouth is a misunderstood mouth, and the GM may want to hold back during dinner time. My advice would be to either serve before hand as stated, or plan for some PC planning or discussion - an intrigue scene where you can talk as an NPC instead of narrating. Have someone bring the bread, and someone else the wine-spirits-or-beer as dictates, and either cook something yourself, or get another player who can cook better than you to bring the main course.

Trust me, it will make a memorable game. It has for me many times.

Next post will be about the Cardinal Emotions.

Have you ever used touch or taste at the tabletop to heighten the ambience, and create more memorable moments? Did it go well? Did it go poorly? Let me know!