AFD Trading Card Game

Author: Wyrm
Email: laurence@wyrm.demon.co.uk
Date: 1998/12/10
Forums: alt.fan.dragons

The 'AFD Trading Card Story Telling Game' Project

 AA  FFFF DDD
A  A F    D  D
AAAA FF   D  D
A  A F    D  D
A  A F    DDD

Introduction:

AFD is a unique card game based on the Alt.Fan.Dragons USEnet Newsgroup and set in the mystical land of Alfandria. Basically, you control a Clan of Dragons. Through their actions, and the influence of certain cards, you strive to make your Clan either the Sparkliest, Fullest, or most Infamous. The game itself needs to be moderated (ideal for postal play), either by a 'narrator' or by committee decision. The game uses a number of cards, the actual number and types is up to you. These cards can be collected and traded if required, though the Basic Set of cards is available to all.

Rules:

Setup:

Firstly, one must create ones Clan. Give it a name, give it some sort of history, a reason for existence. Once one has got ones Clan, one should create the Dragons of that Clan. When creating a Dragon, you assign it a Skill Level from 1 to 9. The total Skill Level for all the Dragons in the Clan must not be greater than 9, hence you can have a single Dragon with a Skill Level of 9 or nine Dragons each with a Skill Level of 1. Skill Level is used in the game to 'bid' for the various categories (Sparklies, Food, and Notoriety). You can combine Dragons to this end, adding their Skill Levels. During the game, you may lose a Dragon or two so it is wise not to put all your eggs in one nest! Each Clan starts with 2000 Sparklies, 100 Food, and 0 Notoriety. Finally, you shuffle the pack of AFD cards and deal three out to each player.

Turns:

Each turn represents a season - though one could decide to change this for a particular game. At the beginning of the turn, The Clan gets a number of Skill Points equal to all the Dragons' Skill Levels. If there are Skill Points left over from last turn, they are added to. Thus one could not bid anything for the first turn, then have 18 points to bid on the next turn. Also, one also draws cards to make a hand of three and pays any Sparklie debts one has mounted up. One does not need to pay Sparklie debts straight away, but if you don't pay it after the third turn, you are detained by the Sparklie Police for one turn during which your Skill Points don't increase and are drained to zero. Every player then decides what each of their Dragons is doing. This takes the basic form of 'bidding' the Clan's Skill Points for any (or none) of the three categories (Sparklies, Food, Notoriety), and playing a card if desired. One does not need to bid all (or any) of your Clan's Skill Points, however any Skill Points bidded are lost no matter what the result. The player is also encouraged to produce a detailed write up of what their Dragons are doing and how they are doing it. Your 'orders' should also detail in which order the Skill Points should be removed from bids if they lose any this turn, otherwise the 'narrator' chooses at random. Instead of bidding for a particular category, the Clan can decide to build a Clan Lair. This is done in stages, each stage costing different amounts of Sparklies and Food. The first stage involves finding a place to put the lair, then one must build a home for each of the Dragons in ones Clan. Each of these actions take one turn but you don't use any Skill Points. In finding a Site for a Lair, one must at least spend 10,000 Sparklies, to get a 1 in 6 chance of finding one; each additional 5,000 Sparklies giving another 1 in 6 chance. Thus spending 25,000 Sparklies would give you a 4 in 6 chance of finding a Lair Site. Building Lairs for the individual Dragons costs 250 Food each but you can only build one at a time. When one finds a Site for a Lair one gets 1d6 Notoriety, and for each Lair built one gets 2 Notoriety. One can also choose to swap all ones cards for new ones, in which case one can do nothing else that turn. Of course, there is nothing stopping the players talking amongst themselves and hatching plans and plots.

Winning a Turn:

When playing be e-mail, there will be a 'narrator' who will decide who has won each category. This is reasonably simple as one first takes the actual points bid, then applies the effects of the cards played. If you haven't got an adjudicator, you will have to sort out the result by committee. The winner of each category gets the following:

Sparklies: 1d6 x 1000
Food: 1d6 x 50
Notoriety: 1d6

Any draws (same bid for example) share the points. Playing specific cards can also boost the result. If a Clan has a negative amount of Sparklies at the end of a turn then they lose their clan status and leave the game. If a Clan has a negative amount of Food at the end of a turn, the player must nominate a Dragon to leave the clan for good. At the end of a turn, the various write ups from the players should be combined to describe what actually happened. The 'narrator' often adds his own comments here too!

Winning the Game:

There are four ways of winning the game. One can get a certain amount of Sparklies, Food, or Notoriety, or one can complete a Lair for your Clan. The recommended numbers for the three categories are as follows:

Sparklies: 100,000
Food: 5,000
Notoriety: 100

These should be kept in proportion if it is decided to change them.

The Cards:

01 Wyrm: Wyrm visits a nominated clan and devours all their food this turn.
02 Welcome Weyr: You nominate one Dragon from each clan (including your own) to form the Welcome Weyr. Starting from next turn, each Dragon on the list takes it in turn (for a turn) to welcome new Dragons and are unable to use their Skill Points or increase their Skill Points. This continues until the end of the game.
03 Troll: The province is attacked by a Troll this turn. All bids are wasted as all Dragons fight off the pest.
04 SPAM: Any Food won this turn is turned to worthless SPAM.
05 Newbie: A newly arrived Dragon joins your Clan with a Skill Level of 1.
06 Food Fight: Nominate one Dragon from each Clan (including your own) to take part in a Food Fight for this turn and the next - their Skill Points don't increase and can't be used in bidding. No Food bids are successful this turn.
07 The Statue of the Unknown Dragon: A previous member of your Clan has his name scratched on the Statue, all your bids at Notoriety are increased by one each turn from now on.
08 Server Demons: Two nominated Dragons from any Clan get carried off by demons at the end of the turn. Their Skill Points for the next turn are all used up defeating the demons.
09 Quest: You announce a Quest this turn. All Dragons are free to join the Quest voluntarily next turn. Those who do join will spend two turns on the Quest which will use up all their Skill Points. At the end of the Quest, all Dragons who took part share 50,000 Sparklies.
10 The Hose: A nominated Dragon gets rather fruity this turn and gets the hose turned on them. They fail to increase in Skill Points at the end of the turn.
11 Farm: You stumble upon a source of food and starting next turn get 50 Food every turn.
12 Dragon Ring: Your clan joins a Dragon Ring and gets 3 extra Notoriety Skill Points this turn, 2 extra next turn, and 1 extra the turn after that.
13 Orphan: You find an Orphan Dragon, which takes 1 Skill Point per turn to keep (at the beginning of each turn). The Orphan may be passed on to another Clan, who may pass it on at the end of their turn, and so on. To get rid of the Orphan completely, you must pay 10,000 Food.
14 Thread Drift: All other clans attempts at gaining Notoriety is in vain this turn.
15 Artist: You create an acclaimed work of art (poem, drawing, song). Add 3
to your Notoriety bid this turn.
16 Popular Thread: Any Notoriety you win this turn is doubled.
17 Duality: One of your Dragons is in two places at once and can use its Skill Points twice.
18 Dragon Slayer: A local Dragon Slayer visits a nominated clan. In dealing with this they use up 100 Food.
19 Hero: One Dragon spends the entire turn being heroic, using up all Skill Points. The Dragon's Clan automatically wins the Notoriety category this turn.
20 The Hatchling: A welcome addition to the Clan, starting the next turn with a Skill Level of 1.
21 Spotlight: All Notoriety Bids, except yours, fail and are added to your Clan's Skill Points at the end of the turn.
22 Sibling Rivalry: A Dragon leaves a Clan to form another elsewhere and is never heard from again.
23 Sparklie Storm: A Sparklie Faerie gets into another Clan's hoard and ruins 15,000 Sparklies (or however many the Clan has if less).
24 The Question: You ask any Dragon a riddle and it must spend all its Skill Points solving it for either 1d6 turns or until the Riddle is answered if a real riddle has been asked (minimum 1 turn and the answer must be revealed to the 'narrator'). If it ignores the riddle then the Clan incurs a 5,000 Sparklie Fine.
25 The Fridge: Any Food you win this turn is doubled.
26 Earthquake: There is a minor earthquake by another Clan's lairs. They lose one lair, or if they have just found the site, lose the site.
27 Bad Mushrooms: A nominated Dragon from any Clan becomes ill and is unable to use or gain any Skill Points. The Clan must pay 500 Food or 5,000 Sparklies before the Dragon recovers. If the Dragon goes ill for 10 turns (starting on the next turn) then it dies on the eleventh.
28 Second Hand: You find a ready built lair on your site.
29 Magician: A hostile Magician casts a spell on another Clan reducing its combined Skill Points by 3 next turn, 2 the turn after, and 1 the turn after that.
30 Weapons: A marauding Dragon invades a nominated clan and effectively prevents their Skill Points counting for anything this turn.
31 Ancient Lair: Your clan finds an Ancient Lair site and does not need to look for one.
32 Defection: A dragon from another Clan (with the lowest Skill Level) joins your Clan. Its Skill Points can be used by the other Clan this turn, but by you from the next turn.
33 Sparklie Drain: The Sparkle Fairy visits any nominated clan and scarpers with all their Sparklies.
34 Revolt: A local town threatens to revolt against a Clan next turn. The Clan must pay a 10,000 Sparklie fine next turn or spend all their Skill Points for the next two turns finding another place to rest.
35 Faery Circle: A Clanfinds that they have settled in a revered area. They must either spend two turns moving using all their Skill Points for those two turns, or pay a 15,000 Sparklie fine.
36 Draconic Aid: A well known Dragon gives you a hand this turn with a Skill Level of 3.
37 Procrastination: A Dragon begins to put off certain things resulting in
a loss of 1 Skill Point per turn.
38 Appetite: Any one Dragon develops a ravenous appetite and eats half of whatever Food that Clan wins in subsequent turns.
39 Sparklie Boost: Any Sparklies you win this turn are doubled.
40 RPG: Nominate one Dragon from each clan (including your own) to become involved in a new RPG (Game). They don't increase in Skill Points and can't use their Skill Points for three turns.
41 Sparklie Mine: You gain 1000 Sparklies each turn that you bid at least one Skill Point in that category,whether you win or not.
42 The Answer: You gain some ancient wisdom, one of your Dragons gains one Skill Level.
43 Larder: Gain 1,000 Food.
44 Shop: You build a shop, costing 25,000 Sparklies but adding 1 Notoriety to your score each turn.
45 Lost Connection: A nominated Dragon from any Clan disappears completely during this turn. It's Skill Points are still valid this turn.
46 Wisdom: A wise old Dragon takes one of your clan under their wing. The Dragon's Skill Points cannot be used and do not increase this turn, but the Dragon's Skill Level increases by one.
47 Hoard: Gain 25,000 Sparklies.
48 Quicksand: Another Clan's lairs are partly built on Quicksand and half the lairs (rounding down) are destroyed.
49 Death: A nominated Dragon from any Clan dies at the end of this turn, though its Skill Points can still be used for this turn.
50 Tornado: Any one long-term effect is removed (this does not apply to Skill Level increases).
51 Immortalised: One of your Dragons is immortalised in a song or poem. Your Notoriety bid is always +1 from now on.
52 Gather: You arrange a Gather this turn, so none of your Dragons can do anything else for this turn and lose all their Skill Points. However, you win the Notoriety category outright and you can nominate two Dragons (if available) from each clan to attend your gather allowing you to use their Skill Points this turn.

Wyrm.

Text version of the Game rules
Afd Trading Game Beta Testing Comments
Afd Trading Game Email Play Suggestions
Example Game Play Through Email

Site Last Modifyed: 02-15-2006