Disclaimer:
As mentioned in the short description, this set is a Top-Down design, this means that there will be cards that don't fit the usual paterns for the colorpie.
Because I'm hitting a rather sensitive topic with it please tell me if you are offended by a card/image/flavourtext/... and I'll try to find a solution (change/delete the questioned content).
Uncommented edits are minor changes (e.g. picture adding, fixed wording, flavor adjustment).
Well; it breaks convention - but it's probably a better idea that having German-sounding English; or translated terms that end up as "Overlylonggermanwordterm Man"
You may also want to change the frames to Hybrid frames if you think it will help. For example, Japan can use blue mana symbols, but have a red-white Hybrid frame more indicative of Japan. I admit, it's an extra click for each card, which could be annoying. That, and every frickin' country wants to use red.
It's also a shame that WWII has 6 major combatants. I see you gave the fifth spot to France, not Italy, which makes sense... but with mainland France beaten so fast, I could see Italy taking that spot instead. Maybe you can create a Sixth color for Italy using the chaos mana symbol () and gold card frames?
Cool idea, but I don't think this would work well, maybe I'll add a watermark when I have time to play around with a picturemanipulationprogramm...
About the factions: in my first draft I had Italy as green and GB as blue, then I realised I should place the Axis on allied colors so I switched them. But because there was also Japan and that fits blue WAY better I changed that. Green became france because GB would have needed a lot of flyers, nothing green can offer...
It occurred to me that my math was off, and that there were seven major contestants in WWII. That being said, combining France/England and Germany/Italy, while making a lot of Europeans grumble, is probably a fair way to do things if you're stuck to five colors.
@jmgariepy: there were even more with China which was to large parts occupied by Japan or Canada who provided lots of logistics for Operation Overlord.
I'll grant China, but it's hard to call them a contender in World War II. More of an unfortunate side effect. If we were to count all the countries that were forced to play defense throughout the 30s and 40s, we'd have to include Spain, Ethiopia, and why not count the Indian forces that sided with Germany? Slippery slope, I suppose. If I don't shut myself up, I'm going to go into a philosophical discussion of 'What is a World War?'
But, yeah, this kind of depends on your scope, and how you envision your end product to look like. Speaking of that, what do you envision Lands to look like? I think it would be kind of neat if each land had the name of a city attached to it. Something like:
Shanghai
Legendary Land - China
: Add [China] to your mana pool.
Pay 1 life, : Add {U.S.} or {Japan} to your mana pool.
Except go a little nuts and add, like, 100 cities to the file, so you can play any major faction. (I admit, that might be overkill. Though it may allow you to make some real weirdo cards that have bonus abiliities like "Gain control of Amsterdam" or "Destroy Dresden").
It is true, The Chinese would see World War II very different from non-Chinese. I'd go into it, but, I'm not Chinese. I do know, though, that the U.S. especially likes to simplify the Sino-Japanese war as "Japan attacked China. The U.S. helped China fight back." That's a good enough explanation for a game... since everything after that point requires a solid understanding of Chinese history.
A little update: had been busy the last weeks plus we will have a first testdraft between christmas and new years eve. So I paused on new cards, but I'm still on to it and there may be a rush of new cards/ideas in the near future.
D-Day was WAY too strong, to make it more balanced I made it a singleuse ability. It now is very much like echo.
Post your comments on WWII here! If your comments are on a small number of specific cards, they may
be better added to those cards. This is for comments on the set as a
whole.
Disclaimer: As mentioned in the short description, this set is a Top-Down design, this means that there will be cards that don't fit the usual paterns for the colorpie.
Because I'm hitting a rather sensitive topic with it please tell me if you are offended by a card/image/flavourtext/... and I'll try to find a solution (change/delete the questioned content).
Uncommented edits are minor changes (e.g. picture adding, fixed wording, flavor adjustment).
Updated Leadership -> less text and easier
I'm thinking about giving black all-german names and flavour texts (rules text will remain english). Do you think that would be a good/bad idea?
Well; it breaks convention - but it's probably a better idea that having German-sounding English; or translated terms that end up as "Overlylonggermanwordterm Man"
For now this idea is discarded and I'll keep the german names where it makes sense (Schutzstaffel, Stuka...).
You may also want to change the frames to Hybrid frames if you think it will help. For example, Japan can use blue mana symbols, but have a red-white Hybrid frame more indicative of Japan. I admit, it's an extra click for each card, which could be annoying. That, and every frickin' country wants to use red.
It's also a shame that WWII has 6 major combatants. I see you gave the fifth spot to France, not Italy, which makes sense... but with mainland France beaten so fast, I could see Italy taking that spot instead. Maybe you can create a Sixth color for Italy using the chaos mana symbol (
) and gold card frames?
Cool idea, but I don't think this would work well, maybe I'll add a watermark when I have time to play around with a picturemanipulationprogramm...
About the factions: in my first draft I had Italy as green and GB as blue, then I realised I should place the Axis on allied colors so I switched them. But because there was also Japan and that fits blue WAY better I changed that. Green became france because GB would have needed a lot of flyers, nothing green can offer...
It occurred to me that my math was off, and that there were seven major contestants in WWII. That being said, combining France/England and Germany/Italy, while making a lot of Europeans grumble, is probably a fair way to do things if you're stuck to five colors.
Changed Communists to Soviets because it's shorter.
@jmgariepy: there were even more with China which was to large parts occupied by Japan or Canada who provided lots of logistics for Operation Overlord.
I'll grant China, but it's hard to call them a contender in World War II. More of an unfortunate side effect. If we were to count all the countries that were forced to play defense throughout the 30s and 40s, we'd have to include Spain, Ethiopia, and why not count the Indian forces that sided with Germany? Slippery slope, I suppose. If I don't shut myself up, I'm going to go into a philosophical discussion of 'What is a World War?'
But, yeah, this kind of depends on your scope, and how you envision your end product to look like. Speaking of that, what do you envision Lands to look like? I think it would be kind of neat if each land had the name of a city attached to it. Something like:
Shanghai
: Add [China] to your mana pool.
: Add {U.S.} or {Japan} to your mana pool.
Legendary Land - China
Pay 1 life,
Except go a little nuts and add, like, 100 cities to the file, so you can play any major faction. (I admit, that might be overkill. Though it may allow you to make some real weirdo cards that have bonus abiliities like "Gain control of Amsterdam" or "Destroy Dresden").
@jmg, calm down. :)
Well I think chinese could see this a bit different^^
About the landthing: hehe, although that would be cool, but I think that would be a completly different game ;-)
I still try to make a magic set, not a cardbased WW simulation or something like that...
Ha! Okay, calming down am I.
It is true, The Chinese would see World War II very different from non-Chinese. I'd go into it, but, I'm not Chinese. I do know, though, that the U.S. especially likes to simplify the Sino-Japanese war as "Japan attacked China. The U.S. helped China fight back." That's a good enough explanation for a game... since everything after that point requires a solid understanding of Chinese history.
A little update: had been busy the last weeks plus we will have a first testdraft between christmas and new years eve. So I paused on new cards, but I'm still on to it and there may be a rush of new cards/ideas in the near future.
We finally had the first draft and it was great! Expect some editing in the near future :-)
D-Day was WAY too strong, to make it more balanced I made it a singleuse ability. It now is very much like echo.
Post your comments on WWII here!
If your comments are on a small number of specific cards, they may be better added to those cards. This is for comments on the set as a whole.