Destiny Helix Studios

Well, I’ve finished the Core Set of my card game and it’s time to start playtesting them! I’ve ordered myself a few decks to playtest with as well as a complete set. If you are interested in helping playtest feel free to print out cards from THIS GALLERY (you can fit 6 cards sideways on a sheet of 8.5 x 11″ paper at 300 dpi.) and refer to the rules below:

Myriad CCG Rules

Introduction

As with most card games, the objective of Myriad is to win. The basic duel rules of Myriad represent a battle between two combatants and victory is achieved by forcing your opponent to run out of draw cards (or Stamina) before you. The most common way to do so is with damage from Attacks. Effect cards can enhance your attacks and defenses to whittle down your opponent more efficiently, while preventing your opponent from doing the same to you.

I. Getting  Started

Each player will need a deck. A deck consists of a Main Character Card and a draw deck of 42-72 cards. Starter decks are preconstructed and should be playable right out of the box. Customized decks need to follow certain rules to build and will be explained in “Building a Deck”. At the beginning of the game, each player draws up to their Resource Score and rolls a die. The player with the highest result goes first.

II. Phases of a Turn

Each player’s turn is broken down into 4 phases. It will be helpful to familiarize yourself with these phases and what you are allowed to do in each before learning how the cards themselves work.

1. Maintain Phase

A. Shuffle your Rolled Pile into your Stamina.

B. Remove any Tactics or Instant Effects remaining on table from the previous turn.

C. Discard any non-Compulsory Continuous Effects from play that you control.

D. Switch your Main Combatant.

2. Respond Phase

A. Play a defensive Tactic for each Attack your opponent played against you on his turn or any Effect that allows you to avoid attacks or reduce damage.

3. Initiate Phase

A. Declare 1 Attack at Base Damage OR play any Tactic: Attacks you wish to play (as many as you can pay for).

4. Balance Phase

Draw up to or discard down to your Resource Score. Your turn ends.

III. Card types & How they work

Characters

Character cards are played in two different ways: as a Main Character or an Ally.

A Main Character is played before the game begins and usually defines a special power you can use during gameplay and cannot be removed from play. If you use a particular Main Character, you may include Specialty Cards from that character in your deck, but not from other characters unless another card or effect allows you to. The Stamina score on your Main Character also defines the size of your draw deck but the Character Card itself DOES NOT COUNT toward your deck size limit. Other Ability Scores on your main character are used to pay costs for cards during game play.

An Ally Card is a character card shuffled into your draw deck and played as a “helper”.  Once per turn (during your Maintain Phase) you may switch control between your  Main Character and/or an Ally. This is called switching your Main Combatant. An Ally may pay costs and play cards while the Main Combatant just like a main character, but any Continuous Effects (like Weapons or conditions) on a character are ignored whenever that character is not your Main Combatant. You may include a number of Allies in your deck equal to your Charm score. Allies cost nothing to play, but you may only play 1 Ally per turn. Including an Ally in your deck allows you to include Specialty Cards from that character during deck construction.

Tactics: Attack

Attacks are the most basic action in Myriad. Once per turn, you can make an Attack without a Tactic. Simply declare you are making an Attack during your Initiate Phase. Add your base Damage Score and Damage Bonus of any weapon your character is weilding (and any other relevant bonuses) to determine the total damage your attack deals. Your opponent must discard a card from the top of his deck to his dead pile for each point of damage you inflict. Your opponent can respond in one of three ways: Play a Tactic: Evade, Play a Tactic:Block, or ENDURE the Attack. Enduring an Attack only reduces its damage (to a minimum of 1). The Attack is still considered successful even if Endured.

You can enhance an Attack by playing a Tactic: Attack. When declaring an Attack, you may play a Tactic: Attack (paying its Ability costs) and apply its Damage and other relevant Bonuses to your own base Damage Score and Weapon Bonuses. When using Tactics you may play as many Attacks as you can pay for. Play your Tactic: Attack toward your opponent to allow him to select an appropriate response. Your opponent can choose to play a Tactic: Evade, Tactic: Block, or Endure the Attack.

Tactics: Block

Tactic: Blocks are played in response to an attack. To play a Block pay its cost during your Response Phase. If the Block covers the same the area of the combat grid as the attack, add the Block’s Endurance Bonus (and any other relevant bonuses) to your own Endurance score and reduce the amount of the incoming Attack’s Damage by that total. If a Block would reduce an attack’s Damage to zero or less, the result becomes zero and the attack is deflected and considered unsuccessful.

Tactics: Evade

Tactic: Evades usually cost Agility to play and are played during your Response Phase against an opponent’s incoming attack by paying its cost. If the Evade covers the same area of the combat grid as the incoming Attack, the attack is avoided (as is all damage) and considered unsuccessful.

Continuous Effect

Continuous Effects can be played during any Phase (unless specified on the card)  and go into effect immediately upon being played. They will have an effect on game play and will usually specify if they affect you, your opponent, or all players. You may willingly discard an effect from play during your Maintain phase unless it is COMPULSORY.

Conditions

Conditions are Continuous Effect cards which go into effect immediately upon being played. They will have an effect on game play and will usually specify if they affect you, your opponent, or all players.

Locations

Locations are Continuous Effect cards which like Conditions go into effect immediately upon being played. Most Locations have two Continuous Effects: a Battlefield effect text that affects all players and a Headquarters (HQ) effect which only affects character with the one or more of the matching Traits on the Headquarters text box. Locations have no cost, but you may only play one Location card per turn.

Items

Items represent tools or weapons usable by the characters in the course of the game and work basically like Conditions but for the most part generate Effects that benefit you specifically. (There are exceptions though.)

Challenge

Challenge cards are Continuous Effect cards played on your opponent. They have a text box which affects your opponent only, restricting his ability to play cards, causing him damage, or otherwise harms him. They have no cost to play but you can only play 1 Challenge per turn. Challenge cards have a “Solve” cost which your opponent can pay to remove the Challenge from play. Challenges “Solved” in this manner trigger the Reward text at the bottom of the card from which your opponent will gain some benefit.

Instant Effects

Instant Effects have an immediate effect and remain on the table until the beginning of the owner’s next maintain phase.

Events

Events are Instant Effects that may be played during any phase of your turn (unless specified by the card).

Splode!

Splode! Cards are Instant Effects that may be played during any phase of your turn (unless specified by the card) or during your opponents turn. Splode! cards interrupt the play of another card if it nullifies, counters, or modifies another card in play.

IV. Game Mechanics

1. Rolling Dice

Some cards or effect will require you to roll a die to determine a random outcome. “Dice” are rolled by turning over the top card of your Stamina deck to the top of your Rolled Pile and using the die roll number in the lower right hand corner.

2. Dead Pile & Rolled Pile

Myriad uses two different discard piles: the Rolled Pile & the Dead Pile.

The Rolled Pile consists of the cards you have used to roll dice for random effects. During your Maintain Phase, you may choose to shuffle your rolled pile into your draw deck. Any time you take damage and there are no remaining cards in your Stamina Deck or you take damage greater than the cards remaining in your Stamina Deck, the remainder of cards discarded due to damage is discarded from the top of your Rolled Pile instead.

The Dead Pile consists of cards that you have actually discarded after use or been forced to discard due to damage from attacks or other effects. These cards are in effect “dead” and can only be retrieved if another card or effect specifically allows you to. When all your cards from your Stamina, Rolled Pile, and Hand are in your Dead Pile, you lose the game.

3. Ability Scores – Ability Checks & Paying Costs

Ability Scores are used primarily for paying card costs, but may also be used for Ability Checks and to fulfill other card requirements. Some Ability Scores also have built-in functions.

You can only play a number of cards allowed by your Ability Scores. Most cards will have a “Cost” box listing the Ability Cost of that particular card card. You may play up to each Ability Score’s value per turn.  (Example: Your Main Combatant has a Dex Score of 3 and Int Score of 2. You Play and Attack that Costs 1 Dex and 1 Int, and an additional Attack that costs 2 Dex. You have used all your Dex for that turn and may not play anymore cards with a Dex cost. You have an Event in hand that cost 2 Int and 2 Spi. You may not play that card this turn as its Int Cost (in combination with the previous Tactic you played) would exceed your Int score.)

Some cards require you to make an Ability Check and list a Threshold number. In this case roll a die and add it (and any applicable modifiers) to the relevant Ability Score. If the total result is greater than the Threshold listed the Check is successful.

Other cards will require you to make an Ability Check against your opponent. Both players roll a die and add it to the relevant Ability Score (and any modifiers). The Player with the highest total wins.

Two Ability Scores also have built-in functions: Endurance and Charm. Endurance applies whenever you are unable to play a defense or choose not to. If you choose to Endure the Damage of an Attack, you may reduce its damage by your Endurance Score (to a minimum of 0). Your Charm Score determines the number of Allies you may include during deck construction.

4. Concealed cards

Certain cards or effects allow cards to be “Concealed”. Both Attacks and Effects can be Concealed, but behave a little differently.

A Concealed Attack is played face down and its cost is paid immediately upon doing so. The opponent must guess an appropriate defense against this attack. Once a Defense is chosen, the Concealed attack is flipped to determine if the Defense is successful.

A Concealed Effect is played face down and has no effect on the game until activated and flipped face up. The cost for the Effect is played at the time it is activated. If you cannot pay the cost of the card, it cannot be activated.

V. Keywords:

Some cards contain boldface Keywords in the beginning of their text box. Some of these have special functions.

Compulsory

A card which has the keyword “Compulsory” in bold text cannot be willingly discarded. It can only be removed by another card or effect that removes cards.

Unique

When a card has the keyword “Unique” in bold text in the beginning of its text box, you may only have one copy of it in play at a time. The same applies for a Character with “Unique” as a trait.

VI. Deck Construction

1. Deck Size (Stamina)

Your deck size is determined by the Stamina range on your main character card. Your deck size must be in multiples of six (see Deck Balance.)

2. Core Tactics

Your deck must include at least one copy of each of the 9 Core Tactics. Each Core Tactic is marked as such on the card type. These 9 Core Tactics are: Right Arm Strike, Head Strike, Left Arm Strike, Right Leg Strike, Torso Strike, Left Leg Strike, Right Arm Block, Left Arm Block, and Shin Block.

3. Deck Balance

Your deck must contain an equal number of each die roll in the lower right hand corner. That means a deck of 42 cards must contain seven 1′s, seven 2′s, seven 3′s, and so on. If a card does not have a die roll on it, it can not be included in a draw deck and is intended for Pre-game (Main Character)  use only.

4. Specialty cards

Specialty cards are cards that represent a favored technique or ability of a particular character. They have a portrait of the chracter it is intended for in the upper right hand corner as well as the name of the character down the right hand side of the card image. They generally can only be included in your deck if the listed character is your Main Character or is included as an Ally in your deck. Some other effects will allow you to include and play Specialty cards from other characters, however if a card text begins with a phrase like “Hailey ONLY” or “Teen ONLY”, then only a Main Combatant with that matching name or trait may use it.

5. Card Limits

Some cards have limits listed below their main text box. This determines the maximum number of this card that can be included in your deck.