Dice and CCGs

[Rmcdaniel2424]

Hello again. So I was reading this awesome article from LackeyCCG saying that Warlords CCG uses dice to see weather the character is hit or not. I thought about this a long time ago and had no idea that it had been used. Is this a good idea for a card game or is it to much randomness?

[Saethori]

The Pokemon TCG (as an example) gets enough flak as it is for using so many coin-flip mechanisms. I think the increased randomness of messing with dice would just be too much for a CCG/TCG game.

Especially since it can occasionally get to the point where you literally have a coin flip or dice roll on whether you win or lose the game. (In the situation in, say, rolling to hit, but if you miss your opponent can win on his turn.)

[Dragoon]

A bit randomness is fun, but too much is hell incarnate.

For randomness, you can add numbers to cards you have to check by revealing the top card of your deck.

Don't incorperate dice. Just don't.

[Trevor]

Dice, as a core mechanic, seems like a bad idea. Not only is it too random, but its actually a rather a chore to do frequently. In WOTC star wars game, you roll X dice where X is the power of the unit. There are elements that make things less random, like Accuracy which lets you add numbers to each of your rolls, and Shields where they roll 1 fewer dice. But still it is a bit of a chore to do all that rolling. Combat SHOULD be unpredictable, but there are far better ways of doing that than dice, such as cards you can play as surprises from your hand.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't ever use dice. Try to use dice in a way that doesn't turn games into a "flip a coin to see who wins". An example of a fair randomness dice mechanic would be:

"At the beginning of your turn, roll a die. All attacking units get +X power, where X is the result. (This applies to your opponent's units as well.)"
That's the sort of randomness mechanic that makes things less predictable, but it boosts both players by the same amount. When you roll high, people might decide to attack more. When you roll low, people might hold back and wait to attack later. Since you put the card in your deck, you can make sure it is better for your deck than another player's deck. Maybe you have lots of little units, or you have other cards they can negate an opponent's attack if the roll is particularly high, for example.

I talk more about randomness at http://lackeyccg.com/ccgdesign.html

[cap.tiny]

ya not a good idea.. only on a few cards can have a randomized effect but dont make the effect very powerful..