Design Article #2: An Overview of TSSSF and Its Card Types

[Ithry]

Discussion of Design Article #2, which you can read here: https://childrenofkefentse.com/news/7

[Lord LunaEquie is me]

Urgh, sorry I'm so behind. I got stuck in a rut and then started DMing (for the first time ever) a Ponyfinder campaign... Well, sort of. It's complicated.

Anyway, I've been neglecting this site and these articles, and I should rectify that. As for the article itself, you have a brilliant way of breaking down the core premise of the game. Not covering actual turn structure, it's not exactly a complete run down of how to play, but even with that I'd be willing to bet you could explain the game to someone with these articles inside of five minutes.

I'm reminded of a video I watched recently, breaking down the rules of Magic: the Gathering in a simple and comedic way. It was still a twenty minute video covering a wealth of information and still didn't catch some of the nuances of play, and as someone who has played Magic for somewhere over a decade, it makes me appreciate how overly complicated Magic is.

Now, I say that because, as someone who has played Magic for over a decade, I've come to love more simplistic games that can be explained and understood within a few minutes. That's something that's always drawn me to TSSSF (and other card games that aren't trying to ape MtG) — it doesn't concern itself with complicated turn structure or damage calculations or any of that fiddly stuff. You can bring someone in, show them a few cards and explain the basic rules, start a game with them, and by turn three they've already hit the ground running and playing on their own.

My point is that articles like this are important, not just to showcase how straightforward the game is, but to provide a base for others who may either not know how to explain things themselves or who never have heard of it before and want to know how it plays.

Wow that's more words than I expected.

Video for those interested: https://youtu.be/ZixWqaGJVQs

[N.A. Larson]

Since you brought it up the phases of a turn, as laid out by HPG, are documented in Section 5.7 of the Style Guide.

1) Beginning of Turn
2) Replenish Goals
3) Play Cards
4) Redraw Hand
5) End of Turn

I don't know if this will ever come up in an article, but we definitely need to talk about power resolution order/grid cleanup/Goal requirement checks at some point.

[Lord LunaEquie is me]

Now that's what I'm talking about. None of that Main Phase 1 and 2 confusing nonsense. Just simple, straightforward turn orders. I like that.

I don't know if this will ever come up in an article, but we definitely need to talk about power resolution order/grid cleanup/Goal requirement checks at some point.

That might be worth going over. I find it's not too big of an issue when playing with the core or first few expansions, but when you start including some of the really out-there cards and expansions, it can get confusing.

[N.A. Larson]

Honestly, I don't know how "straightforward" it is, because this means cards like Tantabus and Jumpin' Jack activate BEFORE Goals are replenished, which means you have to break the grid BEFORE you know which Ponies will be relevant. I don't think most players are aware of this situation, but however people are handling it is probably fine (I've never had anyone ask me about it, at least).

[Lord LunaEquie is me]

I think the nature of the game is such that even cards that would break the grid before goals are flipped are more of a corner case than a big worry. Most of the time you should be cycling through goals that you aren't close to finishing anyway, and if you're playing well the goal discard pile will stack up fairly quickly.

At least, that's been my experience. All my games have been... I wouldn't exactly call them fast-paced, but there's not so much emphasis placed on individual goals; if you missed getting a goal by a turn or two, or a new goal pops up that someone just wiped the ingredients for, you shrug (maybe yell at the table a bit), and move on. In my experience, there's always plenty of goals and points available even when you cycle through them a lot.