(Learn more about Keener in Glaive: Blade of a Flower! (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple iBooks, BookBaby)
Growing up, I was a big fan of Magic the Gathering. I spent a ton of money on the card game, and countless hours sifting through my treasured cards. Around that time, Yu-Gi-Oh! was also getting popular. I did not play that particular card game, but I watched the show on occasion. I thought it was super cool to carry around a deck and challenge people, and that idea stuck with me. That was the inspiration for Keener in Zem’Alam.
I plan for Glaive: Blade of a Flower to be the first book of a trilogy called the Keen Blade Chronicle. The card game called Keener is introduced in the first few chapters. This card game permeates every level of society in the world. I opted against rambling about the card game rules in the novel, but the purpose of this blog post is to give it more color.
Nearly everyone in my imagined world has a deck. The deck must be exactly 50 cards, and only two of the same card can be included in its construction (other than the commander–only one of those per deck). The object of the game is to defeat your opponent’s commander and keep your commander alive. Every commander has a different ability. When constructing a deck, you want to select cards that work well with the commander’s ability for maximum effect. The number of wounds each commander can sustain before defeat varies between commanders.
Six Types of Cards: Commander, Resource Generator, Fighter, Defense, Equipment, and Single-use.
Commander: has a special ability that persists throughout a match. Has a set amount of Life Points (LP). When the Life Points become zero, the commander dies and the game is over.
Example1: Saga, the Wise and Wizened. 1 LP. Ability: Any time the controller of Saga draws a card instead draws three cards.
Example2: Ferra, the Hammer and Anvil. 7 LP. Ability: All fighters on Ferra’s side have +1 PV.
Resource Generator: adds a resource each round. Four types of resources: Wood, Stone, Iron, and Gold. Resources are represented by colored chips that can accumulate if they are not spent. In other words, resources built up on one turn will carry over into the following turns until they are spent. Resource generators cannot be attacked by Fighters and do not have an LP or PV.
Example1: Lumberjack: Generates 1 Wood per its controller’s Economy phase.
Example2: Merchant: Generates 1 Gold per its controller’s Economy phase
Fighter: can be used to attack and defend. Typically costs a resource(s) to put onto the playing field. Has a Power Value (PV) on the card. Some rare fighters have abilities, but most do not.
Example1: The Abomination. Cost: 2 wood 2 stone 2 iron. PV=6+variable. Ability: Combine all Fighters on the playing field on the same side of The Abomination into a single Fighter. Add all PV together + 6 for the total PV.
Example2: Fighting Monk. Cost 1 wood. PV=1.
Example3: Common Mercenary. Cost 1 gold. PV=1.
Example4: Master Assassin. Cost 5 gold. PV=2. Ability: Cloak of Darkness (instead of paying the normal cost, you may play this card face-down for 1 gold). Pay 5 gold to turn the Master Assassin face-up. If this was done during your Attack phase, deal 2 damage directly to the opponents Commander and ignore any Defense cards. If this was done during your opponent’s Attack phase, remove any attacking Fighter with PV 2 or less from the game.
Defense: can be used to defend. Defenses MUST be defeated before a commander can be wounded (unless otherwise noted). Typically costs a resource(s) to put on the playing field. Most have LP only. Some rare cards have LP and Ability.
Example1: Bear Trap. Cost 1 iron. LP 1. Ability: Cloak of Darkness (instead of paying the normal cost, this card can be played face-down for 1 gold). Pay 1 iron to turn Bear Trap face-up and remove attacker with PV 2 or less from the game. Remove Bear Trap from the game once it has been triggered.
Example2: Wooden Fence. Cost 1 wood. LP 1. Damage from an attack must first be applied to available defenses before being applied to the commander.
Equipment: enhancement to a Fighter or Defense. Typically costs a resource(s) to play. The purpose of these cards is to strengthen Fighters or Defenses in play.
Example1: Dreadsteel Sword. Cost 2 iron. Effect: Add 1 PV to Fighter.
Example2: Shore-up. Cost 1 wood. Effect: Add 1 LP to any Defense card.
Single-Use: a one-time effect that sometimes costs a resource(s). Various purposes for strategic play.
Example1: Lullaby. Cost 3 gold. Effect: Causes a Fighter(s) on the field with the highest PV to fall asleep, rendering it (them) unable to take any action until another Fighter enters the field with an equal or greater PV (including Fighters already on the playing field that have their PV increased by any means).
Example2: Loose Change: Cost 0. Effect: Add 1 Gold to your bank.
Example3: Lightning Strike: Cost 2 iron. Effect: Deal 1 damage directly to an opponent’s commander. Ignores Defenses.
Gameplay: the players sit across from each other. Each player places their commander in front of them. They shuffle the remaining 49 cards (give the opponent an extra courtesy shuffle) then draws 10 cards. There are several ways to decide which player acts first. One common way is by commander life. The player whose commander has the least life should go first.
There are 3 phases in each player’s turn: Economy, Spending/Deployment, Attacking.
Economy Phase: During a player’s Economy phase, the player draws a card. After drawing a card, the player may play a single Resource Generator card. That Resource Generator then adds a resource(s) to the player’s bank. This is normally tracked by a colored game chip placed inside a bowl near the player.
Spending/Deployment: On a player’s turn, this is the only time the player can spend resources (with one exception*). The player may pay the cost (by removing game chips from their bank) of Fighters and/or Defenses and place the card on their side of the playing field. The player can also pay the cost of Equipment and Single-Use cards and play them during this phase. The player may play as many cards as they wish as long as they have the resources to do so, or play no cards to save the resources for later use.
Attack: The attacking player chooses Fighters to attack with if they want to attack. They signal this by moving the card to the middle of the playing field. The defending player may choose to block with as many or as few Fighters as they wish, if they wish to block at all. The defending player may choose to block an attacking Fighter with one or multiple Fighters. Their Power Values are compared and damage is assessed.
Example1: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2 is NOT blocked. The attacker then assigns (however they wish) the 2 damage to an opponent’s Defense cards (if any exist). Damage must be applied to enemy Defense BEFORE the enemy Commander. Damage to LifePoints is permanent. If a Defense has 3 LP and is hit by 2 damage, it has 1 LP left for the remainder of the game. This can be tracked by placing wound markers/chips onto the Defense card. If there is no Defense card(s), the Commander takes the 2 damage (also tracked by wound markers/game chips).
Example2: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2. The opponent chooses to block it with One Fighter with PV = 1. The defending Fighter “dies” and is removed from play. The remaining 1 damage spills over and is applied to any Defense card the attacker wishes. If there are no Defense cards, the 1 damage is applied to the enemy Commander. The attacking Fighter is not wounded. Fighters do not have LP to track. They either live through an attack or die.
Example3: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2 is blocked by One defending Fighter with PV = 2. Both Fighters “die” and are removed from play. No damage is assessed to Defense cards and/or Commander.
Example4: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2 is blocked by Two defending Fighters, each PV=1 (2 PV combined). All three Fighters “die” and are removed from play.
Example5: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2 is blocked by Two defending Fighters, one PV=1, one PV=2. The attacking Fighter dies and kills only one of the defending Fighters (selected by the attacker).
Example6: One attacking Fighter with PV = 2 is blocked by One defending Fighter with PV = 3. The attacking Fighter dies and is removed from play. Damage to the defending Fighter is not permanent. There is no LP to track and the PV remains at 3.
It’s important to note that only Defense and Commander cards have Life Points to track. Fighters just have Power Values that are compared and the greater PV prevails. Equal PV kills both.
After the Attack Phase, the other player begins their turn with their Economy Phase.
*Cards that are played face-down with their Cloak of Darkness ability can be triggered during an opponents turn. This often requires a cost. This is the only time Resources can be spent outside the normal Spending phase.
In my head, this all works smoothly (LOL, I see balance and mechanic issues, but the game has potential). I imagine it to be a cross of Magic the Gathering, Yu-gi-oh!, and good ‘ol fashioned War with standard playing cards. Perhaps there is little Hearthstone in the mix, but I only know a little about that Blizzard game. At any rate, I hope this gives the readers a better idea of Keener in the world of Zem’Alam.
Thanks for reading!