54 Swords Combat

[the_taken]

Here's an interesting system card based battle system. It uses two standard decks of 54 cards each, one deck for each side. You can have complicated three way battles by adding another deck for another side.

When a fight begins, draw five cards, look at them and place three face down in front of you as your defence options.
Randomly determine which side goes first by cutting each side's deck. Highest goes first (Joker>A>King). Then have each side determine their order. Alternate having a player from each side go. If your opposing team outnumbers you, pick start the order again and keep alternating.

On your turn you have the must either:

• Take a card from your hand and place it face down in front of you as a new defence option
• Take a card from your hand and place it face up in front of your opponent, to attack them
• Draw one or two cards from your team's deck. If your hand is empty, you must draw two cards.

Resolving Attacks: An attack is declared when an opponent places one his cards face up in front of the defender. The defender then either chooses to turn one of his defence options face up, or discard an already face up defence option. If the attacking card is higher, the defender discards a number of cards from his team's deck equal to the difference between the attacking card and the defence option used.
A player leaves the fight when he is attacked and has no cards in his team's deck, or when his hand is empty and can't draw at least one card. Ace is worth 11. Royal Cards (Jack, Queen, King) have no face value and are instead used seperately.

Attack Action: Placing a card face up in front of an enemy.
Defence Option: A face down or face up card infront of the owning player. A defence option is used in response to an attack option. A face down defence option is turned up when used. A face up defence option is discarded when used.

Joker Card: If your playing with Jokers, they perform differently.
As a defence option, you discard a Joker when you turn it face up. You discard no cards when you use a joker, and your opponant discards a numbner of cards equal to the face value of the card used to attack.
As a attack action, you choose the defence option for your opponant, and they discard a number of cards equal to the face value of the defence option used.
If a player attacks with a joker, and the defence option used is also a joker, both players discard their hands and all their defence options.

Creating a Character: Each character begins play with a number of abilities agreed apon before hand by the gaming group.

• Vampiric Heart: When you attack with a Heart, every card the enemy discards is a card you put back into your team's deck from your discard pile.
• Stoic Heart: When you use a Heart defence option and discard no cards, put a number of cards from your discard pile back into your team's deck equal the amount your defence beat the attack.
• Piercing Spade: When you attack with a Spade, your enemy discards twice as many cards from his team's deck.
• Spaded Shield: When you use a Spade defence option and discard no cards, your enemy discards a number of cards from his team's deck equal to the amount your defence beat the attack.
• Stunning Club: Immediately after you use a club to attack, your enemy uses up a defence option to do nothing.
• Clubbing Shield: Immediately after you use a Club defence option, your enemy discards a card from his hand.
• Diamond Strike: When you use a Diamond to attack, you may choose which defence option your enemy will use.
• Diamond Shield: Before an ally declares his defence option, you may offer him the use of one of your Diamond defence options, if you have any.

Thoughts? Comments? Death threats? Fan service?

[the_taken]

Royal Card (Jack, Queen, King) no longer have a face value of 10. You may use them alone as either a defence option (with a face value of 0) or an attack option that doesn't have your ooponent use a defence option to "Move" your character to a different place. Characters cannot be affected by opponents in a different place. This allows for the tactical option of swahbucklers dueling on a ship's poop deck to jump onto the main deck or try to climb up some ropes. Or whatever.
Royal Cards can also have an additional abiltiy added to them. Select an ability form a list (still in prototype form) and it is now associated with one Royal Card type (J/Q/K). When you use a numbered card (2-A) with the same suite as a Royal Card, you may use them both at the same time and benefit from the special ability. You may only add a Royal Card to an attack action from your hand, and may only add a Royal Card to a defence option used if you have the Royla Card availabe as a defence option.

The abilities:
Strategy: Look at "some" cards at the top of your team's deck and put "some" into you hand and the rest on top of your deck in any order. (I haven't figured out the exact numbers yet)

Seperate Duel: "Move" you and the opponent to a different area.

Perfect Negation: [Defence Only] With the exception of the Royal Card used, all effects of this turn do not occur. The attack card goes back to the hand, the defence option either un-discards or flips face down, and no cards are discarded from decks or put back in.

Synergy: Any card you would discard this turn instead goes into you deck, except the royal card used.

Stunning Performance: The next time the affected opponent has a turn, he does nothing.

Sweet Suite: [Heats, Clubs, Spades only] Double the effect of the suite ability.

Death Blow: [Diamond Attack Only] If this attack beats the defence option used, the opponent is immedietely removed from then fight. No cards are discarded from the opponents deck, and his hand and remaining defence options are returned to it instead.

Calvary: [Diamond Defence Only] If this defence option beats the attack action, a new teammate joins the user's side of the battle. He/she draws 5 cards, as if the fight has just started, and is next in the turn order of your side.
This new teammate is either a player that isn't participating in the battle, or an NPC. A named NPC will probably be pregenerated with abilities, but random namelss NPCs won't have any.

Sneak Attack!: When a teammate uses an attack option with the same suite as the relevant Royal Card, you may use it and a numbered card of the same suite to perform a special attack action aggaint the same opponent your teamamte is attacking. Your opponent doesn't get to use a defence option aggainst this special attack.

[the_taken]

Looks like the movement system I'll be using is Phonelobster's Big Fat Squares.

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Unless you're using a face card, you would normally only use one card at a time, whether it's a defence option or an attack action. As some of you may have noted, really low cards are never used when you have the choice of using the higher cards. Here's some new ability. Quite powerful if you sacrifice your deck drawing many cards.

Gambit: When you use a low card (2,3,4) as an attack action or defence option you may use up to two more low cards from your hand and add their value to the first card used to determine the power of your attack action or defence option respectively.
Alternatively, when you use a medium card (5,6,7) you may use a single low card as above.
In either case, draw another card afterwards.

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Now all I need is a universal method to determine how ranged attacks and area attacks work. Any suggestions?