Solitaire Dead CCG: Middle-Earth The Wizards

I started my first game of Middle-Earth: The Wizards (METW) tonight and already I'm hooked.  As I've said before, the best CCGs are ones that play well solo even if ostensibly designed for multiplayer games.  The METW CCG is definitely one of those, playing extremely well solo using a set of solitaire rules included in the basic rulebook.

Like Mythos and Quest for the Grail, two other questing-type games, a "normal" multiplayer game of METW is built around the general concept that each player represents the good guys on his or her respective turn, while throwing obstacles in the opponents' paths during their turns.  This dichotomy works well in the solo-player's favor, as the game cards are already designed to be split into discrete "us" and "them" decks.  Play then progresses fairly normally, with certain triggers then resulting in hazard deck draws.  I find one of the most satisfying aspects of these games is finding the most devious way to apply hazard cards against my own hero cards; it really makes any eventual win that much more worth it.

What sets METW apart from many other CCGs is the exceptional starter deck.  The publisher put considerable effort in ensuring the game played well straight from the starter.  The inaugural game shown used the contents of only one starter and five booster packs.

The first screenshot shows the second turn.  Trying to get to the Wind Throne, my company of heroes has to endure attacks from Wargs and an Abductor before being driven back to their starting point by a snowstorm!

  
The second shot shows a few turns later, after recruiting Rangers at Henneth Annun and picking up a mail hauberk at Sarn Goriwing.  The company is trying for the Wind Throne again, seeking the Dreams of Lore.  Unfortunately, poor Merry was wounded by Orcs; hopefully he'll survive the trip to the Wind Throne and back to Lorien.

The METW CCG really evokes a strong narrative, like the two previously mentioned CCGs, which is the final and probably most important ingredient in a good solo game.

Solitaire Illuminati: New World Order (INWO)

I started this blog 7.5 years ago talking about an old CCG from the 90s, Steve Jackson's Illuminati: New World Order (INWO), focusing on solitaire play in particular.  My final post covering INWO, so many years ago, presented the final version of a solitaire version, which I called INWOSolo.

I mentioned in that old post that INWOSolo captured the feel of the multiplayer game well and indeed it does.  Recently however I've been reflecting on why, if the above were true, have I not played more solitaire INWO over all these years?

Despite the normal excuses of real life commitments, I realized that the problem with CCGs in general is the time sink of deck creation from a large pool of options.  Deck creation drains the player of any enthusiasm to play and my solitaire rules for INWO exacerbated this by requiring the creation of twice as many decks as a normal, multi-player game!

The rules for solitaire INWO on the Downloads page of this blog still stand but now all cards are played from one Plot or one Group Deck, as appropriate.  I'm in the middle of a playtest and so far the results are great.

In order to construct a Plot and Group Deck for solitaire INWO, some specific rules should be followed to maximize the challenge.  These rules should replace paragraphs (1) to (4) in the "Beginning the Game" section of the INWOSolo rules.

First, choose your Illuminati.  Next, select 1 to 5 (recommend 3) rival Illuminati cards to form the core of the Plot Deck.  Set these aside and begin creating a Group Deck of 49 cards.

First, choose two non-opposed alignments that will feature prominently in the deck.  At least one of these alignments should correspond to your Illuminated goal (if applicable).  Next, for each of the two alignments and the respective opposing alignments, select six cards Group cards, plus an additional seventh Group card that duplicates one of the six.  You should now have 28 of 49 cards selected.  Choose an additional 12 Group cards for flavor.  These cards should generally be of different alignments to the four already represented; typically these cards will be selected based on Attributes.  Criteria for inclusion includes having Attributes necessary for any Illuminated Goal (yours or your rivals!) or Attributes that have appeared already in the first 28 selected cards.  Once these cards are selected, bringing the total to 40, select nine Resources to round out the solitaire Group Deck.  Eight of these Resources should be different, with one duplicate of a Unique Resource.  Since any Resource could be drawn either for or against the solo player from the same deck, certain Resources should not be included (for example, the Bronze Head).

The Plot Deck consists of 64 cards, starting with the rival Illuminati.  Next, add two of the +10 booster cards (i.e. Albino Alligators for Weird groups) for each of the four chosen alignments, one each action token reload cards (i.e Reload for Violent groups) for the four alignments, two each alignment changer cards (i.e. Fundie Money for Conservative), and two each "set Power to 6" cards (i.e Self Esteem for Liberal groups).  This should add 28 cards to the total, along with the rival Illuminati for a count of around 30.  Next add one Disaster card for every Place and one Assassination plot for every Personality in the Group Deck.  Add six New World Order cards, two of each color.  Add any desired Goal cards, focusing on cards that will facilitate a win for you and those that help the rival.  All these additions should bring the total to around 50.  The remaining plots are chosen for flavor and usefulness.  For the most satisfying game, choose cards that are useful to both you and the rival powers (Swiss Bank Account is a great example, as is Sucked Dry and Cast Aside).

The INWOSolo rules remain relatively unchanged with a few exceptions.  First, to start the game, after drawing the normal three Plot cards, draw seven Group cards and select one as your initial lead group.  Also, an Illuminati card can never be drawn into the solitaire player's hand; if revealed during the Plot card discard/draw phase of the player's turn, the Illuminati card is played to the table as a threat, as detailed on page 3 of the INWOSolo rules.

For those of us with large INWO collections but no opponents, I hope this makes the solitaire experience a little more palatable.  If you try these rules, let me know what you think.  Personally, I think they're a hoot.        

The Dreams in the Witch-House: MYTHOS CCG Custom Adventure

I made this custom adventure for the Mythos CCG a while ago but forgot to share it.  The adventure card allows the player to replicate the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Dreams in the Witch-House".

The best CCG ever.  Ever.

I computed the Adventure Points for this using The Art of Playing Mythos Book.  Computing AP using these guidelines requires some interpretation and it's possible that more AP, up to +15, might be warranted for this one since it requires some hard-to-play cards.

EDIT: Oops… looks like I have shared this before, back in 2014!  Time flies.

CCG Emulation: On the Edge

I just finished a Play-by-Forum contest of Atlas Games' old On the Edge (OtE) card game over on BoardGameGeek (BGG).  The game got me inspired to continue working on CCG emulation using VBA for Excel.

The file I discuss here is available on my downloads page.  Of course, you'll still need access to OtE cards to get the details of individual cards and play but the file allows quick building of a card deck and a handy way to visualize where the cards are on the board.

OK, so when the file is opened, go to the "Table" sheet and you'll see it indeed looks like a game table. The buttons in the bottom-left corner are active.

At this point you have to option to do an OMNI League (i.e. sealed starter) "purchase.  Click the button that says "OMNI Starter".  Pushing this button starts a macro that gives you 60 cards with the rarity distribution based on an actual OtE Starter Pack.  The macro lets you know when it is done (next pic); it takes about a minute for it to sort through the "cut-sheet" and select the cards.

If you want to thin down your OMNI deck, go to the sheet labeled "Cards".  This sheet was adapted from one which was originally designed for collection management.  You can sort by all manner of traits and other characteristics.  You'll notice that the previous macro populated the "Quantity" column for you.  Filter out the blanks in the quantities column to eliminate cards that are not available (next pic).  Then change the quantities of those that are available to reflect the OMNI deck you want to play.

You can skip the "OMNI Starter" button and go right to the "Cards" sheet in order to build a custom killer deck.  In order to build a deck, you simply type in the third column the number of copies of a particular card that will go into your deck.  So if you want four Resounding Bells in your deck, type "4" in column C next to Resounding Bell.  Note that cards from all expansions are available.

Regardless if you choose to play a sealed starter or make a killer deck, when you are ready to play (quantities filled out) go back to the "Table" sheet.  Press the "Shuffle and Draw 10" button and the program will do just that, drawing rounded rectangle shapes individually labeled with your card names. You move these around the table however you please.  If you need to draw a card, press the "Draw One" button to do so.  When you are out of cards, the program tells you.

When you are done playing, simply hit "reset" and everything is set back to start.  Don't erase any of the card shapes on your own: it will screw up the macros.

That's where the program stands for now.  I will work on it sometime in the future and add "Booster Buys" so you can limit your cards to maybe one Starter and a few boosters from the different expansions.

My ultimate goal is to create a "card summary" area on the table where it will show the Power, Pull, Cost, Special Abilities, Etc. of the selected card.  The macro is super simple to write; the pain is just getting all the Power, Pull, and Cost numbers for each card into the "Card" reference sheet.

CCG Emulation using Excel VBA

I'm stuck in a hotel room for three weeks on a business trip.  During the week the pace is so busy there's barely any time to think but on the weekend there's nothing to do.  My two options are either killing my brain with TV or trying to learn something.  I chose the latter and decided to teach myself Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), as employed by Microsoft Excel.

Excel and collectable card games (CCGs) go together like peanut-butter and jelly.  CCGs typically contain hundreds of cards each featuring a relatively large amount of information, making the sorting and filtering capabilities of a good spreadsheet program perfect for collection management and deck-building.   I've just started to tackle macro-writing and exploring the rest of VBA for unrelated work efforts; I'm quickly realizing how powerful VBA is.  And what better way to harness the power of Excel VBA than to try to create a CCG Emulator.

The Quest for the Grail CCG from 1995 is one of my favorites, especially since solitaire play is very clean with little changes to the multi-player rules.  QftG therefore seemed like a perfect choice for my experiment.

The project is still a long way from finished but I've made pretty good progress.  So far I've written code that allows the user to do a virtual "buy" of up to a box of 10 Starter packs and up to a box of 36 booster packs.

From there the program sorts the cards into the eight different general types (Combat Tactics, Companions, Domains, Events, Experience, Rewards, Spells, Warriors) that the player builds a deck from.

Once the cards for the deck are selected, the program shuffles not only those cards but all of the available Quest cards.  In Quest for the Grail the Quest cards represent obstacles to be overcome and reside in a separate deck.  The program creates this separate deck for the player.

That's as far as I've got.  Next will be to code the actual turn-by-turn play, which should be fairly easy.  Basically I'll write a new Userform that will pop up and give access to the appropriate number of cards and keep the rest hidden.

Here's a few pictures with explanations of what happens behind the scenes:

The starting page just has one button.  I'll throw some art from the game in the background once I get everything else coded.  When the button is pressed it brings up the next user data-entry form.

This form allows the player to do a virtual buy of Starter and Booster packs.  The cards are randomly generated from the lists on the "Common" "Uncommon" and "Rare" worksheets, with the frequency of the rarity of the cards based on the actual distribution of the real starters and boosters.  The program enters these values in a single column, then assigns the appropriate card type based on a lookup function.  It then sorts the cards and displays them on the next form.

This form has a lot going on.  First the multi-page box on the left features a page for each of the player card-types; each page includes two list boxes.  When the form initializes the right list box on each page is empty.  The left box shows all the available cards of a respective type; once the player chooses a card to add to the deck the chosen cards are moved to the right list.  When the right list of each card type is populated, the player clicks the "Build Your Deck and Shuffle" button and the program does just that.  The other thing this form does is allow a card preview.  If the player selects one (and only one) card in the left list box on the active page and then clicks the "Preview Card" button, the text boxes in the middle and on bottom of the page are populated with the card information.  I plan on scanning my entire card collection and then coding it so that when previewing a card the actual picture will appear in the gray box on the right.

I've a lot more work to do on this, but it's been fun.  Is it more trouble then it's worth?  Yes probably.  It is way easier to just shuffle some real cards and play.  There are a few advantages to VBA emulation however.

CCG emulation through VBA allows a player to virtually "purchase" far more cards than he could ever afford.  Also, it allows the player access to every card in the game.  No more desperately searching for an Ultra-Rare.

The final advantage, which I am most excited about, is that one could use card game emulation through VBA to do play testing of home-brew games before spending a significant amount of time on the playing pieces.  Instead of spending hours and hours laying out the graphics for self-published cards only to find that the game doesn't work, one could use VBA with just the minimal information needed for the game and check the rules.

MYTHOS CCG Custom Adventure: The Dreams in the Witch-House

Here's an Adventure that can be used by any of you old stalwarts out there still playing the MYTHOS CCG by Chaosium.  The adventure is based off of Lovecraft's short-story "The Dreams in Witch-House".

One thing that makes the MYTHOS game so good is that Chaosium gave us a lot of the components of great Lovecraft stories in the form of Ally, Artifact, Monster, Location cards, etc.  They didn't however, make the corresponding Adventure cards that pulled all those pieces together to recreate the stories.  They left that up to us, which is a lot of fun.

Drop in your office program and print!

Dead CCG Necromancy: MYTHOS Lives!!!

I started this blog with a focus on solo-gaming but recently I've had an embarrassment of riches when it comes to finding gaming opponents.  Currently I am involved in two games over the internet, both of which were the result of using BoardGame Geek (BGG).  What a great site!

The first game I'm involved in is the first scenario of the original Starfire Pocket Game from Task Force Games.  I'm playing it via email using the VASSAL system.  I reserve all judgement of the Starfire rules since I don't want my opinion colored by the play-by-email process.  The VASSAL program is really cool, but the game is just ponderously slow.  I'd really like to play this game live, against a real opponent.

The other game I'm currently involved in is what this post is about.  What fun!  I've convinced two gentlemen to play the old MYTHOS CCG by Chaosium with me via forum on BGG.  You can follow the action here.

My MYTHOS table, as of this post

The great part about this game is that both of my opponents and myself are all Lovecraft fans.  Furthermore, we all appreciate the fact that the MYTHOS CCG was all about story-telling, and not just attacking like most of the CCGs published.  Our busy lives make the Play-by-Forum format perfect, and the slow pace allows us to actually write small narratives with each card play.  Strung together these narratives make fun little tales.  Worthy of Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith?  No way.  August Derleth maybe.

Dead CCG Trades

I added another page to my blog entitled Dead CCG Trades.  This page will be a permanent repository for any posts regarding trades of dead CCGs.  More importantly, it will link to my have and need lists for trading, so people can determine if we have any trade potential.

Due to the magic of the internet, I'm no longer having to play all my card games solitaire.  Right now I'm involved in two play-by-forum games and they are each a blast!  I spoke of the three-player Galactic Empires game already.  The second game I'm in is a two-player Quest for the Grail game and it's a hoot.  Fans of the Arthurian romances should really check this game out.  I mean, just look at the art on some of the cards...

Play-by-forum game; Round 7

My favorite knight

CCG Necromancy: Ideas for a Dead CCG League

I have to admit it: I love CCGs.

OK, the business model of forcing players to buy heaps of crap cards in order to get a few good ones is pretty despicable, I admit.  And I don't like how CCGs reward people for spending more money; it was always annoying to be defeated by the guy who could afford to sift through seven booster boxes for the ultra-rare.

All that aside, some of my best gaming memories come from CCG play.  Well designed games like Mythos and INWO could be dominated with common cards, while offering tremendous replay value with just a modest card collection.

Recently I discovered the concept of play-by-forum on BoardGameGeek.  It's very slow, but the prospect of actually playing out-of-print CCGs with actual opponents is priceless.  And not to mention fun.

The great thing about dead CCGs is that generally you can get loads of cards for pennies on eBay.  The problem until I discovered forum-play was that I had huge collections of cards but no opponents.  My recent forum game has got me wondering: would there be any interest in a dead CCG league?

A dead CCG league could offer players the chance to get opponents in exchange for cards.  For example; I've acquired thousands of Illuminati: New World Order cards over the years.  I could easily pick out a few hundred spares, enough to make a couple good decks, and trade with another league member who has no INWO cards.  In exchange, that league member sends me cards from his/her dead CCG of choice which I have no cards for.  We can then set up forum games on BGG, since we both have cards for both games.

Just something I'm kicking around in my head.  I posted a call for players for the obscure Quest for the Grail CCG on BoardGameGeek.  I was amazed I got a reply in less than 30 minutes.  If such an obscure game can generate interest so readily, then perhaps a dead CCG league is not such a far-fetched idea?

Dead CCGs and d24s

Galactic Empires set-up

So, almost a year ago I ordered a 24-sided die, just to see what the monstrosity was like.  It's a bit unwieldy for war-games, but I've thought of another use.

In the old CCG, Galactic Empires, a player is eliminated after taking 25 points of damage.  A d24 is therefore perfect for noting the number of damage points a player's Sector has taken (the 25th point doesn't matter...it's too late).

The pic above is my current Galactic Empires set-up.  I'm playing my first non-solitaire CCG match in 15 years.  I'm playing by forum so it's slow, but it's great to play a CCG again as it was intended, against opponents.  You can follow the game over at BoardGameGeek.

An old article in a Companion Games house publication inspired me to create this little resource track, with the red and green tokens from other projects.  Basically you just count up the number of resources required by all the cards you have in play, and place red tokens on the proper amount.  Then count up the resources generated by Terrain (and other) cards, and put green tokens at those places on the track.  Then, at a glance, you can tell whether you're at a surplus or deficit.

Anyone need two-dozen d24?

When I ordered the d24, the company sent me 25 dice by accident!  I tried to return them, but they said it was their mistake.  So what do I do with 24 d24 that I don't need?  Maybe I can run some Galactic Empires games at a con and give out d24 "damage markers" as prizes.

By the way, if anyone is interested in Galactic Empires, there are opponents out there.  With the internet you can find them and play.  And heaps of cards are available on eBay for cheap.

Dead CCG: Quest for the Grail Solitaire Variant

Posted on my downloads page is my solitaire variant for the old CCG Quest for the Grail by Stone Ring Games.

The game came out in the glut of CCGs following the success of Magic the Gathering.  Perhaps that was why the designers felt it necessary to use a resource mechanic, very similar to Magic's mana-generating land.  In Quest for the Grail, the players pay the upkeep of their knights through the play of lands.  The lands really serve no other purpose; they do not power spells or any other cards.

Thematically this land-based resource mechanic seems inappropriate and almost tacked on.  Since the game is about questing, I feel the Domains (lands) are much more interesting as the locations of adventures, not as mere currency-generators.  Therefore the solitaire variant features a travel mechanic, inspired by Chaosium's Mythos CCG, where the player "moves" from one location to the next.  The variant would be very easy to use in a multiplayer game as well, without much modification, if your game group wants to try the travel rules.

Enjoy.

Teaser pic; see Downloads page for file

Dead CCG Solitaire: More Galactic Empires

It's a Festivus miracle!

I recently posted a sealed booster solitaire variant of the old Galactic Empires CCG and got some great feedback on the rules.  Additionally I actually took the rare step of playtesting the variant myself, at least for a few rounds.  It turned out OK, but I've been thinking of ways to make it better.

Now, posted on my downloads page, is the newest solitaire variant for Galactic Empires.  Unlike the last set of rules, these ones don't need sealed boosters but instead require a small bit of deck construction (but still easier than for multi-player game).  I think this game's an improvement because unlike the first set of rules, instead of sitting around waiting for enemy ships to maybe stumble across your Sector HQ, you actually build a fleet to attack any of four rival HQs.  In the new version you play an empire just entering a sector of space bordered by four hostile powers who have all established HQs there.  The mission is to discover any uncharted worlds (Terrain) which can provide enough resources to allow the player's empire to gain a foothold in the sector.

If you give it a try, please let me know how it works.  I've yet to try it myself...

Dead CCG Solitaire: The Galactic Empires Five Booster Challenge

I knocked out a quick little solitaire rules variant for the old Galactic Empires collectable card game; the three-page rules sheet resides on my Downloads page.

The basic premise is that the solo player starts with one ship and a playing area of 64 cards, representing different coordinates in the sector being explored.  Most of the cards start face-down, with the object of the game being to move one's ship around exploring, flipping up these cards in the process.  Some may end up being terrain, which will give more resources to power additional ships, which are also hidden face-down.  Of course, many of the face-down cards represent the dangers of space, like Hazard and Monster cards.  And even worse, ships from other empires randomly roam the playing area, and may destroy the solo player's valuable terrain, his ships or his Sector HQ, resulting in a player loss.

I have yet to play test this, but already have a few ideas to make it smoother by using additional boosters.

If you have a few old GE boosters lying around (boxes are plentiful on eBay), give it a try.

Dead CCG: Galactic Empires

Cards from my collection

I've found my newest fascination to distract me from other gaming pursuits in the Galactic Empires collectable card game (CCG).  First published in 1994 by now defunct Companion Games, the game definitely qualifies as a dead CCG.

Back in the 90s when I played INWO and Mythos regularly, I came across some promo cards for Galactic Empires (GE) and laughed at the artwork, immediately rejecting GE as a Magic: the Gathering clone.  Fast forward a few decades (ouch) and I ran into the game again, this time as a heap of cards for cheap.  I'm into converting dead CCGs into solitaire versions, space themed games in general, and getting things for cheap.  GE fit all three of those so I did a little research and then bought the heap.

The Galactic Empires Card Museum is a great website that convinced me to check this gem of a CCG out.  The museum features pictures of nearly every card, and if you look at the first few editions, you'll see why I avoided GE initially.  Look at "Science Officer" in the Alpha and Beta releases for example; it looks like a 10 year old's crayon drawing.  If you look at the Universe edition released in 1995 however, you'll see that the art improved dramatically as many popular CCG artists began to produce illustrations for the game.  That's the edition I bought and am very pleased with the appearance.

I was concerned if one could construct a playable game deck from boosters alone.  I just received all my booster boxes and after beginning to catalog them I feel more confident a deck can be built from boosters alone.  I've only opened five boosters from my first box, but with some quick sorting and filtering on an excel spreadsheet I'm already seeing some great trends.  Follow the link in the previous sentence to download the spreadsheet to manage your collection.

First, I'm impressed with the variation in the boosters. Other CCGs I've collected have been guilty of poor distribution, with sometimes two or three of the same common right next to each other in the same booster. Not so with GE (at least in these first five boosters). So far all 14 cards per booster have been different than each other, and among the 70 cards so far cataloged I see only five cards which are duplicates. The second thing I like is that each booster contains, at least so far, a minimum of one terrain and one ship. In a few cases, two of each. From the spreadsheet I have 8 terrain and 8 ships from five boosters. That's an average of greater than one and a half ship and one and a half terrain cards per booster. So with a full booster box I should expect over 50 ships and 50 terrain, the two main card types needed to really get things done.

I've yet to play the game, but a quick read through the rules show GE is indeed a Magic: the Gathering clone where players use places ("terrain") to generate the resources which then power cards (ships here, creatures in Magic) capable of attacking an opponent directly.  Yes, it's a clone, but actually the idea of stocking resources to power the main offensive/defensive cards fits the theme of a space conquest game better than it does the theme of dueling mages ala Magic.

Still, I think this game would've been better with a traveling/exploration rule mechanic versus just straight fighting.  I'm going to try to come up with a solitaire variant which uses actual spatial positions of the cards as a factor, where the player has to move his ships around the playing area exploring, trying to find more systems to power more fleet cards to defend against enemy ship cards roving randomly.

Sangreal Class Light Cruiser

Last weekend I created another resin spaceship miniature using my new technique and today I managed to get some decent shots.  

~ 50mm long

I'm calling this one the Sangreal class light cruiser in honor of my newest gaming interest, the Quest for the Grail CCG published by Stone Ring Games back in 1995.  I managed to pick up a sealed box of starters and a sealed box of boosters on eBay and the cards should be here this week.

Like most games I've seen profiled on BGG, this one has its defenders and detractors.  Fans of the game enjoy the art and also, like me, love the Arthurian myths.  Others however state the game is boring and an unnecessary contribution to the CCG glut of the mid 90's.  I've always disliked Magic: the Gathering so back then I considered any alternative offered a welcome addition to the CCG scene, and still do.  I'm particularly interested in this game however because descriptions I've read summarize it as a questing type game.  Apparently it's a CCG where all players simultaneously compete against the game itself, similar to Mythos and X-Files, versus fighting games like Magic where the players attack each other directly.  I have found CCGs using this questing mechanic allow excellent solitaire variants with a minimum of rules changes.  I don't yet have the rulebook in hand, but with its Quest deck I think Quest for the Grail has potential as a solitaire CCG.

Speaking of the artwork, the game designers gave the cards a very classy feel, as well as saved themselves licensing fees, by using old art in the public domain.  Here's an example of a piece of art, by Arthur Rackham, featured in the game.

Public Domain image by Arthur Rackham

Dune CCG Solitaire Variant

I'm a huge fan of Frank Herbert's Dune universe and was ecstatic back in the 90s when Last Unicorn games released a collectible card game based on the first book (the only one worth reading in the series).  Unfortunately all my gaming friends found the game too complex and they were not wrong.  I feel the game captures the plots-within-plots intrigue of the book, but at the expense of simplicity.  Despite the game's great artwork, unless the players are emotionally invested in the Dune setting, like me, most will find the game too difficult to bother with.  So I ended up buying thousands of cards and never getting to play a single game.

All that being said, if you're a Dune fan this game's cancellation was a tragedy.  As I said it really captured the feel of the book.  I have therefore been working on a solitaire variant for some time.  Dune relies on player interaction much more than other CCGs, so a solo version proved difficult.  My results are on the downloads page.  Unlike my Illuminati: New World Order solo variant, which I've played with at least five times, these rules haven't been playtested.  Maybe I'll do that tonight...  If anyone else gives it a try, please let me know how it goes.

Yetis and Cthulhu...My Mythos Adventure

When I first started this blog I focused more on collectible card games (CCGs) than on miniature wargaming.  I sung the praises of the old Lovecraftian game Mythos in a previous post, where I also pointed out one of that game's greatest features is the create-your-own-adventure card.  Later in that post I presented an adventure I made up incorporating Yetis into the Cthulhu Mythos (Clark Ashton Smith's idea, not mine).

I purchased a scanner today to help me transfer to the computer pen-and-ink drawings I'm doing for my homebrew rules.  I tested it out by scanning an old Mythos blank Adventure card and then sexed it up with formatting to look like a professional one.  I'll eventually put it on my downloads page, but any of you diehard Mythos fans out there can simply grab the picture below.  Enjoy!

Illuminati: New World Order Solitaire Download

My solitaire variant for Steve Jackson Games' awesome CCG Illuminati: New World Order is available on the downloads page.

Get it and use the tabloids and fast-food companies to trick the Congressional Wives into destroying NATO!  World Domination is fun, even solo.

MYTHOS Adventure Card

The greatest collectible card game (CCG) ever created is, for me, MYTHOS by Chaosium.  Mythos used a storytelling mechanic that was entirely different than any of the boring "I attack you, you attack me" games that pervaded the 90s CCG glut.  The constantly changing location card made you really feel like you were traveling along with your Investigator.  The mark of a truly great CCG in my opinion is solo-playability: if the game mechanics are solid then it should support a solitaire variant.  Mythos takes this one step further by actually publishing an official solitaire variant that is a hoot and not far removed from the normal rules.  Thus more than a decade after Chaosium stopped producing this gem, I still enjoy it immensely.

The inventive story-telling mechanic I alluded to earlier involves players completing "Adventure" cards, which list other cards.  The cards listed must have been played (in any order) and together they create a surprisingly faithful Lovecraftian tale.  Chaosium even packaged "Create Your Own Adventure" cards in their boosters, allowing players to come up with stories of their own, or even create cards to cover favorite Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos story which didn't have an "official" version (At the Mountains of Madness comes to mind).  Below is one of my custom Adventure cards.  Well, the text anyways.  I need to get access to a scanner to get the Create Your Own Adventure card format, and then I will make it pretty and official looking.

The Abominable Snowman

"I was the only survivor of The Expedition" begins the Professor.  You remember his lecture on The Book of Eibon (Hyperborean or Atlantean) at the British Museum two years ago, before the ill-fated Himalayan trip.  "I alone escaped the Blizzard", he says from his Huntingdon Sanitarium bed, "taking shelter in a in a mountain cave where I found the passage to black N'Kai, saw the Formless Spawn, and learned the Yetis' secret... they are the children of Tsathoggua!"

+10/+3 Sanity 

INWO SOLO V1.4

I live in rural America and my girlfriend and others close to me don't share my interest in gaming.  I'm a big fan of collectible card games (well, not the sad marketing ploy that was the "collectible" part), in particular ones from the 90's CCG heyday.  Needless to say in addition to my locale, being a fan of dead CCGs doesn't help me find gaming-mates.  So I've come up with solitaire versions of my favorite games, including Illuminati: New World Order by Steve Jackson Games.  I originally posted my INWO solitaire rules last October, but had so many revisions after playtest that those first rules are nothing like I play now.  Here finally is my revised version.  Long post ahead... 

INWOSOLO is a solitaire variant of Steve Jackson Games' Illuminati: New World Order (INWO) card game. The following description assumes familiarity with the game, and uses the World Domination Handbook Version 1.1 (March 1995) as the base reference. All official rules changes, errata, and clarifications, found on the Steve Jackson Games website are also in effect.

INWOSOLO attempts to replicate the multiplayer INWO experience for one player and consequently preserves as many of the normal rules as possible. Unless otherwise noted or obvious, all rules for play remain the same as multiplayer INWO.

BASIC RULES
As a multiplayer game progresses, each player nears their own victory conditions as their respective power structures grow. Although they each have more Power available, their power structures are becoming ever larger and hence more vulnerable. As such, cooperation decreases and attacks on rivals increase as each player focuses on preserving their own victory chances. INWOSOLO introduces the Intrigue Score to simulate this multiplayer atmosphere. The turn sequence section below details how the Intrigue Score affects play. The rules assume the Intrigue Score is tracked on a 10-sided die, but tokens (distinct from Action tokens) may also be used.

Object of the Game

Victory conditions remain the same for INWOSOLO. You must meet either the basic goal of 11 Groups, the special goal of your Illuminati, or satisfy the conditions of a Goal card before a rival declares victory (as determined by the Intrigue Score; see below). The game also ends if you are reduced to zero Groups in your Power structure other than your Illuminati.

Beginning the Game

(1) Follow all the "Beginning the Game" instructions in the World Domination Handbook, starting by constructing a normal INWO deck of any size and continuing all the way to drawing your Group hand. The rules were playtested using decks of approximately 45 cards. INWOSOLO assumes you won the die roll to determine who goes first: this die roll is unnecessary.

(2) Construct and shuffle a Rival Plot Deck representing the fiendish plans of all your rival Illuminati. The Rival Plot Deck is exactly twice as large as your own Plot Deck, counting your Illuminati card. The Rival Plot Deck shall include one rival Illuminati card for every 10 cards or fraction thereof of its required deck size. Tips on Rival Plot Deck construction follow the Basic Rules.

(3) Construct and shuffle a Rival Group Deck representing the Groups and Resources of your rivals' Power structures. The Rival Group Deck is exactly the same size as the Rival Plot Deck.

(4) If you included a Group in the Rival Group Deck which duplicates your own lead Group, reveal from the top of the Rival Group Deck a number of cards equal to the number of rival Illuminati. If any of the cards revealed and your lead are the same, you must pick an alternate lead. Draw one more card off the top of the Rival Group Deck if it contains a copy of your alternate lead. Continue until the lead and the revealed rival Groups do not match.

(5) Set the Intrigue Score at 0 (I use an old-school d10 with a 0-9 marked on it).  You are now ready to play the first turn.

Turns

INWOSOLO uses a two turn sequence: first the Player Turn (your turn) and then the Rival Illuminati Turn. The sequence repeats until the game ends.  At the beginning of each and every of the seven phases of the Player Turn, roll two dice before doing anything else.  If the sum of these dice scores is less than or equal to the number of groups you control then a Rival Plot is triggered (see below).  If a group you control counts double for victory conditions, then it counts double for this as well.  Also, if a group counts double towards victory conditions due to an exposed Goal card, it counts double for this as well.  As you approach victory, the rival Illuminati groups become nervous and direct more and more of their attention (and plots) against you. 

Player Turn Sequence

1. to 4. Phases 1 through are identical to normal INWO: draw your plot card and group card, make your automatic takeover, and place your action tokens.  Don't forget however, to roll to trigger a Rival Plot.

5. Roll to trigger Rival Plots as in every phase.  Perform actions in phase 5 as per normal INWO, but before any such actions draw a number of cards from the Rival Group Deck equal to the Intrigue Score.  None of these groups have Action Tokens (yet).  The cards reveal parts of rival Power structures left vulnerable and thus potential targets for attack. If any rival card is a Resource, leave it in play face-up.

After considering the rival Groups, make any actions. Actions can include attacking a rival Power structure (targeting a card just revealed), attacking to control a Group from your hand, or any other action allowed in normal INWO.  On the very first turn of the game the Intrigue Score starts at 0, thus there should be no Rival Groups to attack. 

6. Roll to see if a Rival Plot is triggered.  Free moves as per INWO, including victory declaration.

7. Roll to see if a Rival Plot is triggered.  If you successfully attacked a rival power structure in Phase 5, roll to reduce the Intrigue Score (see below).

Rival Illuminati Turn Sequence

1. Add 1 to the Intrigue Score.

2. Add one action token to any rival groups and resources which require tokens and do not currently have any.

3. Determine the number of groups controlled by the most powerful Rival.  Roll a single die. If the sum of the die score and the Intrigue Score equals 11 or more, a rival Illuminati has achieved their goal and you lose.  If the sum does not equal 11 or more, the game continues. Proceed to the next phase.

4. Roll two dice.  If the sum of the dice scores is less than or equal the number of groups you control (towards victory conditions as above), then a rival Illuminati attacks your Power structure!  Reveal the top card from the Rival Plot Deck and Rival Group Deck and resolve the attack.  The Rival Group card just flipped is the attacking group; the other groups will aid if able.

5. Discard any Rival Plot cards and Rival Groups still in play, except Goal and New World Order cards.

Plot Cards

All INWO rules apply normally for your Plot cards. Rival Plots function differently. As noted, a die roll triggers play of Rival Plot cards. Since the rival Power structures are an abstract representation in INWOSOLO and not on the game table, any Rival Plot card is assumed to have all action token requirements met by the appropriate Group(s). Rival Plot cards must still be legal however; if a Plot card can only be played on the owning player's turn (the Rival Illuminati Turn in this case), then it cannot be played during the Player Turn. Any revealed Rival Plot cards which are illegal are simply discarded. A Rival Plot card is resolved immediately if applicable. Instants, Disasters, Assassinations, and Plots that target another player's card decks and card hands are all examples of Rival Plot cards that are resolved immediately.

If a Rival Plot card is legal but cannot be immediately resolved (+10 Bonus cards are a great example, as are Alignment changers), it remains in play until the beginning of the next Player Turn when it is discarded excepting New World Order and Goals as noted below.  Cards which remain in play throughout the turn will be used at an appropriate time.  For example, a +10 Bonus plot is meaningless when revealed but if a Rival Group later attacks your power structure, the Rival Plot suddenly becomes very useful for your enemies. 

Three Rival Plot cards function very different and deserve special attention: Illuminati, Goal and New World Order cards.

Illuminati Cards- An Illuminati card played from the Rival Plot Deck betrays a rival Illuminati's direct influence.  As soon as an Illuminati card comes into play it gains an action token (unlike Rival Groups).   The Illuminati card remains in play until it uses its action or the beginning of the next Player Turn, whichever comes first. The Illuminati's Global Power is used in the first attack after it is revealed, aiding either the defender (if you are attacking) or the attacker (if you are defending). After aiding one attack, the Illuminati's action token is considered spent and the card is discarded.

Goal Cards- If a Goal card is revealed, leave it in the play area next to the Rival Group Deck like a Resource. The Goal card is NOT exposed by this play; you must play an appropriate Plot or special Group ability to expose it. Successful attacks against any Rival Group which helps satisfy the Goal Card helps reduce the Intrigue Score (see below).

New World Order cards- Remain in play until removed by another NWO of the same color or a Plot, exactly as in INWO.

Group Cards

Your Groups function exactly as in INWO but Rival Groups, like Rival Plots, require special rules.  Rival Groups will use their special abilities on the appropriate turn to have the most detrimental effect on you, but must still follow normal INWO rules regarding Action Tokens; Rival Groups cannot both use special abilities and make attacks or lend Power (unless of course the special ability is free).  Rival Resources, whenever revealed, remain in play until removed by some Plot or special ability, as in INWO.

Attacks

Attacks to Control and Destroy follow all the normal rules of INWO including alignment bonuses/penalties, closeness bonuses, and legality for aiding the attackers and defenders. Again, because rival Power structures exist only in abstract, INWOSOLO requires a few additional rules to determine the closeness bonus as well as Power defending against and aiding attacks.

Interfering Power

     Interfering Power is a bonus added to the Power or Resistance of an attacking or defending Group, as appropriate.  Interfering Power represents the struggle amongst all the rival Illuminati, some of whom are aiding you (for their own reasons) and others who oppose you.  Compute Interfering Power by rolling a single die and adding the resulting die score to the Intrigue Score (Rival Illuminati are less and less inclined to help you as both you and they near victory).

Illuminati Closeness Bonus
     During attacks on Rival power structures, use the following procedure to compute a Group's defense bonus due to its proximity to its Illuminati.  Roll two dice.  If the sum of the dice scores exceeds the Intrigue Score, the target Rival Group gets a +5 closeness bonus and the dice are rolled again.  If the sum of these new dice scores again exceeds the Intrigue Score, the target Rival Group gets an additional +5 closeness bonus.  If the first dice roll fails to exceed the Intrigue Score, the closeness bonus is 0 (the longer the game, the larger and more vulnerable the Power structures get). 

Attacks to Control from Your Group Hand
Compute the Power of all the Groups you plan to use in the attack.  Compute Interfering Power and add it to the target's resistance. Finally, if any of the Rival Group revealed at the beginning of phase 5 can legally aid the target (usually via special abilities), add their bonuses as appropriate. Don't forget to add any bonuses due to Rival Plot cards in play and any Rival Resources (remove tokens as necessary). Results of Attacks to Control from your own Group hand are per INWO.

Attacks to Control or Destroy Rival Groups

If you decide to target any of the Rival Groups revealed in phase 5 of your turn, compute the Power of all the Groups you plan to use in the attack.  Compute Interfering Power and the target's Closeness Bonus; add to the target's Power or Resistance as appropriate.  Rival Groups will use any free special abilities to thwart your attack and rival Illuminati cards will spend their action token to add their Global Power to the target's Power or Resistance.

Rival Attacks to Control or Destroy Your Groups
Compute Interfering Power and add to the Rival Group's Power.  Any Rival Groups eligible to aid will do so.  Apply any bonuses due to Rival Plot cards in play and any Rival Resources (remove tokens as necessary). If an Attack to Control versus your Power structure is successful, add the target Group and any puppets to the Rival Group Deck discard pile. Successful Attacks to Destroy your Groups have the same effects as normal INWO.

Privilege

If you play a Plot or use a special ability which makes your Attack Privileged the results of the Privilege depend on your target. If Attacking your Group hand no one else can lend Power, therefore do not add any Power to your target's resistance! If you are attacking a Rival Power structure your privilege prevents other Illuminati from aiding your target; do not roll the single die and add it to the target's Power or resistance. You must still add the Intrigue Score as well as any closeness bonus.

If a Rival's attack becomes Privileged, the attack proceeds as above, but compute Interfering Power by rolling two dice instead of one and adding their sum to the Intrigue Score.

The Intrigue Score

The Intrigue Score represents not really the slow march of time but your rivals' progress toward world domination, as well as their awareness of your progress. The game can be lost with a simple die roll once the Intrigue Score reaches 5!  Since the Intrigue Score advances by 1 each turn, your inevitable defeat can only be avoided by using raw Power to slow its advance, just as you use Actions to counter your opponents in multi-player INWO.

Reducing the Intrigue Score
Two ways exist to reduce the Intrigue Score: successful attacks versus rival power structures or thwarting Illuminated Goals. 

If you successfully attack a Rival Power structure, roll a single die.  If the Group you successfully attacked counted double for a Rival's Special Goal or a face-up Goal card, roll two dice.  If the score on any die rolled is less than or equal to the Power of the targeted group, reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.  Total all the Powers of any group and its puppets if captured in an Attack to Control.  Also, add 1 to the Power for every +5 closeness bonus (rival Illuminati will typically keep their most valuable groups closer).    Example: You just Destroyed Count Dracula via an Instant Attack.  The Count had a Power Corrupts Plot linked to him making him Criminal, and the Criminal Overlords Goal card is in play for the Rival.  His closeness bonus was +5.  Since Dracula counted double towards the Criminal Overlords Goal, you roll two dice and get a 3 and a 6.  The Count's Power is 2, but due to the closeness bonus it is considered 3.  At least one of your dice was less than or equal to Dracula's Power, so you reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.  If both the dice were 3 or less you'd still only reduce the Intrigue Score by 1; your chances are increased, not the effect.

If you take out a Plot particularly vital to a rival's plans, you significantly reduce their chances for victory (and thus reduce the Intrigue Score). Any time you remove from play a face-up Rival Goal card (for example you expose it via a special ability and then use the "Foiled!" Plot to discard it), you may immediately reduce the Intrigue Score by 1. 

"What if my one of my rivals is the Servants of Cthulhu?"- If Cthulhu is one of your rivals and you cause a Group to return to play after being Destroyed, reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.

"What if my one of my rivals is the Bermuda Triangle?"- If the Triangle is one of your rivals and one of your Attacks (or Plots) results in the loss of a Rival Group, roll a single die. If the die score is less than or equal to the number of Alignments that Group possesses, reduce the Intrigue Score by an additional 1.

Other INWOSOLO Peculiarities

Deck Searches

Any Plot card (or special ability) that allows you to search another player's deck or hand works differently in INWO SOLO.

     If you play a Plot or use an ability allowing you to search a Group or Plot deck, you may search the Rival Group Deck or Rival Plot Deck respectively.

     If you play a card allowing the search of a Plot hand, roll a single die to determine the rival hand size. Remove that many cards from the top of the Rival Plot Deck and treat those cards as you would another player's hand in normal INWO. Any face-up Rival Goal cards are considered part of the rival hand. If you have to select cards from an opponent's hand without looking and face-up Rival Goals are in play, use a random die roll to fairly determine if the Goal is indeed the card you would have chosen. You may never steal a rival Illuminati card revealed from a hand or deck search, but you may expose and discard it through an appropriate combination of Plots and/or special abilites.

If you play a card allowing the search of a Group hand, roll two dice; the sum determines the rival hand size. Remove that many cards from the top of the Rival Group Deck and treat those cards as you would another player's hand in normal INWO.

"...for every..." Bonuses


For Rival Groups that have bonuses or abilities based on the number of a certain type of other Groups available (such as "Add 2 to this Group's Power and Global Power for every media Personality in your power structure"), use the following procedure to determine how many of these other Groups exist.  Roll one die.  Subtract this die score from the Intrigue Score.  Results less than zero are treated as zero.  For example: on a Rival Illuminati Turn (Intrigue Score 4), you suffer an attack on your power structure led by Hollywood.  You roll a single die to determine how many media Personalities exist in the Rival power structure and get a 2.  Subtracting this from the Intrigue Score of 4, you get a total of 2 media Personalities, boosting Hollywood's Power to 6!  If you had rolled a 6, Hollywood would have no media Personalities to boost its Power.

Deck Exhaustion

If either Rival Plot Deck or Rival Group Deck becomes exhausted, simply reshuffle all the cards in the respective discard pile and continue play. Also, after all the rival Illuminati have been revealed and discarded, immediately reshuffle the discards and the rest of the Rival Plot Deck and continue play (you can never hide from the Illuminati!).

Remember to place Destroyed rival Groups in a separate pile; these Groups may not return to play via a simple reshuffle. As in INWO only the combination of duplicate cards and relevant Plots can bring Destroyed Groups back.

Alignment Adders/Changers
Plots like "Assertiveness Training" which can add or change alignments can be used against rival Groups, but the target's closeness to its Illuminati increases the Power required. Determine the target's closeness bonus using the same procedure as when Attacking a rival Power structure.

UFOs

If the UFOs are played off the top of the Rival Plot deck, discard it after the second attack it takes part in or phase 5 of the Rival Illuminati Turn, whichever comes first.

Tips

Rival Plot Decks should include a lot of cards that will directly affect your plans.  Thus it should include a lot of Instant Attacks.  Some cards that you'd typically put in a normal INWO deck (+10 bonus cards are a good example) still function nicely against you in the Rival Plot Deck.  Other cards (like Crop Circles) have no real function in the Rival Plot Deck and thus should be left out.  Make the Rival Plot Deck nasty and it will be a lot more satisfying if you win.

Rival Group Decks should have a  number of general themes as well.  You don't have to put as much time into its construction as you do your own deck, but if Rival Groups have shared alignments it will make the game more challenging and, again, more satisfying.

If the game is too hard or too easy, adjust the ratio of Illuminati cards in the Rival Plot Deck.  Adding even one extra Illuminati card really puts the hurt on your plans.


That's it.  Unlike most of my wonky ideas, I've actually play-tested this.  Half a dozen times at least.  I will let you be the judges, but I really think this captures the feel of multi-player INWO.  Let me know what you think.