Procedurally generated game around cards and deck building

Let's play a game

So, I have been playing Hands of Fate on and off for a while. It is an interesting game, I must say. If you don't know what it is, picture taking the Batman: Arkham series combat and combining that with a deck building game and playing that out on a procedurally generated board. The setup is that you are at a table at the end of nowhere, okay, we don't know where we are. But on the other side of the

table is the Dealer, the man whose domain this might be, we don't know. So we start with a lot we don't know.

So let's get down to the reason for this article. Building a procedurally generated game around cards and deck building is an interesting idea. You play the game is sessions, in which you take one Equipment deck that you have constructed and one Encounter deck which you also have constructed.

Each session the Dealer adds a few cards to the Encounter deck. These are determined by the boss at the end of the session if you are playing the Story mode. In the Endless mode, the Dealer just adds a few random cards after each level. At the beginning of each session, the deck is shuffled and a random amount of cards is drawn to form the board for the first level. Once that level is cleared, new cards are drawn to form the board for the next level. In Story mode, this is until a level has the boss card in it, while in Endless mode, this is until you die.

The Equipment deck is where all the items you can use are, with some minor exceptions such as the Metal Ore and the Holy Forge encounter cards. Here you have to balance what weapons, shields, armours and the like you want to be able to bring to bear against the monsters and traps the Dealer will send your way. In the Story mode, the size of your deck expands as you play through the game. This has both upsides and downsides. One the upside, you can get more loot, but on the flipside, you will less reliably get your best gear. But in the end, you will have to build a Equipment deck that is tailored to your playstyle. I for one like to play something of a reactionary style which leads me to including lots of shields so that I can gain access to the counter ability, but at you play through the game you will get to a point where a basic shield is included in your starting gear. At this point have your Equipment deck full of basic shields is something of a waste. It's not a complete waste as you can lose your shield, at which point you will be glad that your deck has several shield which makes it easier for you to draw a new one.

You will also have the option to build your Encounter deck. These cards are the events you will encounter as you play. Some are only good, some are only bad, some are good with a risk and some can border on pointless. Though the pointless once can be used to fill out the deck, reducing the risks. In Story mode you are forced to úse certain cards which are locked to the deck until you have completed the event. This also unlocks new cards related to the event that you played. A good example it the event Fire in the Deep. This is a very simple event. You get to choose to attack the monster of flee, and if you fight it, you will get your first encounter with a lava golem. At the end of the session you will get a few new cards for completing the event, which centers on lava golems.

Cards on the table

What can we get from the use of cards? Well, not all of us likes to deal with probability or has the head for it. This makes cards a good way to represent it. Everyone can place into the real world then and understand how it works. Anyone who has ever handled a deck of cards can understand how the randomness of which card is pulled works, at least on a basic level.
This also give the developers a good way to expand the game by simple adding new cards which they have done when the have released updates. They could be clearer about the new cards the add though. They have added new cards, but I don't think they gave a proper heads up that new cards had been added. However, I might have missed it.

Now, what I my opinion to the system? I think it is a very elegant system to use. This might be because I have a fondness for card games and games that includes cards so my opinion is biased in that regard. This system is however limited to certain games. Games with random events can use this system. Unless you give the player some control of which events are available however, it can feel token to the player. It can also feel out of place in games with a more modern setting. Westerns and fantasy game are probably the best candidates for it. But in the end, it depends on the game itself if it is appropriate.

But what do you think about the system? I'd love to have a discussion in the comment section. With that, I'm signing off.