So what I discovered is a couple of things.
Functionality isn't about '/or/' it's about whether or not the power can do multiple things. Moving terrain is useful in a couple of different ways. It can move your hero from one place to another...or move an opponent out of the way...or move an object closer to you...or...or...Cards that move a hero 1 hex are the same way. Or Hera's Throw 5 hexes. It could be a curse in one situation or a boon in another. If a card gives you multiple paths of use, it is a powerful card, and that can be accomplished without an '/or/'.
Force Fumble on the other hand. Only has use in specific situations. A hero must be holding an object, and they must be in 'range' of the hero to make it happen. It has ONE function. A card that is played on Force Fumble needs to have extra stuff with it to make it useful to play. On the other hand, a fumble miracle is more useful, because heroes WILL hold onto the Godball at some point, and YOU the god get to pick where it goes, and and making them drop it so they can't score a point is a pretty big incentive.
So making sure that a card in the hand enhances the play enough to be used in several circumstances.
You need knowledge to play a card - Hera has some cards that are played without knowledge, like her 'everyone discards a card.' You don't know what your opponents have, you could be affecting them...but maybe it helps them because you can't see it. For Dionysus, that would be okay, he's going to be a pretty willy nilly kind of god anyway. But for Hera, that's not really about the scheming she has. Even for Dionysus though, the player won't want to play the card unless they know they are getting some kind of benefit from it.
For each card you need to ask, "If I don't know what's going to happen, would I play this card." Which leads to:
Incentives
It all boils down to incentives. What do I get out of playing this card? And do the card sets lend itself to promoting that kind of play with their abilities? Incidentally, this is how we can enhance the personalities of the God further. All of Athena's incentives lead you to playing gifts to create combos of hero actions. Zeus's cards are slated to direct zapping.
Poseidon is very close in this regard, his cards definitely have a 'do stuff with terrain' bend. We have to keep making sure those terrain cards are useful.
Aphrodite, too, is headed in the right direction, a lot of her cards have that 'I affect you, you affect me,' feel to them. What with her manipulating multiple heroes most of the time. We need to continue in that direction and drive the point home with more cards that have those sorts of incentives.
Hera, on the other hand, isn't that close. She's a mish-mash, because her incentives were all bent on tearing other players down. This is a mistake, because a) any time she tears someone else down, she's not helping herself, and b) that's not a ton of fun to play in a modern board game setting. She has interesting cards, (5 hex throw, the kick and slip) but she doesn't have a lot of direction into who she is. Hera, in particular, will need more thought on her set. Mike: Maybe you, with the Percy Jackson guide, have some ideas on how to rewrite her?Statistics: Posted by Eliahad — Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:01 am
]]>