Disney Lorcana rules aim to be accessible for new and old TCG players

since the first card disney lorcana was released last September, but Disney fans and hardcore gamers have one question in mind: what are the rules of the game and how does it differ from established franchises like Disney? rice field. Magic: The Gathering and pokemon trading card gameAfter all, it’s hard to put a lid on this magical little game and those rules were leaked early on Monday. has been missing so far.

Earlier this month, Polygon disney lorcana We invite co-designer Ryan Miller to learn all he can about the hottest new Disney collections. What we have found is a product designed with a surprisingly light touch. In fact, the rules fit pretty well front and back. a piece of paperBut don’t mistake that brevity for simplicity.

“What we wanted was something accessible. I like the word accessible because it doesn’t mean simple,” says Miller. “There are concepts and elements that are easily understood by people who have never played a game of this kind before, and that was evident in the early playtests.”

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

of disney lorcana, players take on the role of Illumina, a powerful individual who uses a unique resource called ink to bring versions of classic Disney characters and items to life on the table. Each player comes to the table with her own deck of cards from her own collection, or a pre-made starter her deck purchased at the store. The goal is to collect “loars”, a kind of magical macguffins that substitute for life-his-points or hit-his-points in similar games. Lore is collected by sending characters on quests, and the first player to earn 20 points of lore wins the game.

To bring a classic Disney character to life, you first need to generate a pool of ink. disney lorcana Used to enhance in-game actions.So, true to what Miller said, the process is familiar, generating ink to create a character, then sending that character on quests to collect lore, but it’s not quite as simple as that. Setting up the resource system properly was one of the hardest parts of the design disney lorcana in the first place.

ink

Two of the most popular trading card games include magic and Pokemon, cards and their abilities cannot be played freely. They have a cost that must be paid in resources first.These resources are represented by special cards unique to both games — land cards, which generate mana magicand energy cards. Pokemon.

However, before you can bring lands and energies into play, you must first add them from your deck to your hand.in the case of magicyou might actually need a few different kinds There are different types of lands, each producing different colors of mana. This allows you to play different cards from your deck. This can make the first few opening rounds difficult. This is because players size each other and table the first few tentative steps with very few resources.

Miller and his co-designer Steve Warner spent six months trying to find alternative solutions before finally settling on their own.

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

Almost all cards initially disney lorcana Can be used to generate resource ink at a rate of one per turn. This solved the problem of not having enough resources in the early rounds fairly easily. Then they started removing that ink ability from some of their more powerful cards, reducing their usefulness in some ways and boosting it in others. However, it is up to the player to decide whether or not to include them in their custom-made decks.

“This allows for some very interesting balancing that we can do,” said Miller. “Because if I take the ink off a card and say that this card doesn’t provide ink, it really changes my evaluation when building a deck”. […] Experienced trading card gamers will find it very interesting. ”

As written, disney lorcanaThe ink system keeps resource generation away from lottery chances and instead makes resource generation selective (based on experience and skill). This can be done by the player himself, both while playing and custom building his deck. To further complicate matters, cards converted to ink cannot be used for other functions later in the game. That’s why it’s such a bad idea to melt more powerful cards to generate ink. Unless you need to avoid being cornered.

“[I’ve] I had to decide which of these cards was the least useful to me in this game,” said Miller. [other cards on the] table. As a player, he feels he’s using his skills now, so it’s the best decision. You can tell from what they’re playing that they’re executing this strategy. […] so i’m gonna go ahead [high-value card]I am happy with the decision: I feel like I used my skills.

Another key advantage of the ink design that Miller enjoys is increased “dispersion,” as he calls it. That his 60 cards by giving every card in his deck multiple functions (used as ink, used to collect lore, or used for other unique actions) , which further complicates the amount of variance for all decks.And that’s the variance to make disney lorcana It’s a lot of fun to play with, collect, and experiment with, even if it means losing an intense match.

“The reason we want to add variance is that variance gives us hope,” Miller said. Without that additional variance, a player who begins losing races to his 20 lore would Continue You will lose the race over time. The higher the variance, the more players can do and play more cards to narrow that gap.not a blue shell from Mario Kart Regardless, it gives each game more drama.

“Without dispersion, there is no hope,” continued Miller.

song

According to Miller, once the ink system was in place, many of the other elements of the game’s design began to take shape during playtest iterations. Among them were his three card types available at launch: Character, Item, and Action.

A character called Glimmer in the universe of disney lorcanasourced from a vault filled with a back catalog of Disney’s classic animated films and empowered with unique themes to play with at the table. Items like Ariel’s Dinglehopper little mermaidjumped out of the margins of the film’s script and played an important role, such as healing other injured characters. teeth, sleeping beautywas the natural next step in the evolution of the game.

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

Image: Ravensburger and Disney

But one subtype of cards, called “songs”, stands out. The songs draw from Disney’s vast catalog of cultural touchstones that are also mighty earworms. Any song can be played on any player, as long as you pay for the ink. However, the songs are also sung by the individual characters played at the table, so the player is free to use the ink for other tasks. Mechanically, it’s another way to add variance. disney lorcana.

As an example, Miller points to a card called One Jump Ahead, named after the Disney song of the same name. AladdinPlayers can pay 2 inks to play One Jump Ahead on their own. This allows him to draw a card from his hand and immediately turn it into ink. This means that in the next round he can move 1 jump or he can move 1 ink ahead. Alternatively, the player can have any character he or she controls that is worth his 2 or less ink sing instead, essentially turning that round’s action into an opportunity to generate more ink for free. increase. However, that choice – exercising a character rather than using it to generate lore – is a trade-off that may have more impact in the future.

community

Ultimately, time will tell if players are as thrilled with these clever design choices as Ravensburger’s team is. According to Miller, the rules themselves are intentionally skeletal, and much of the essence of the game resides in the first few hundred cards included in many sets, much of which has yet to be revealed. not.

But the real magic is disney lorcana It will only happen if fans are ready to play it when the final game hits retailers this summer. What is the source of his optimism? It goes back to those earworms.

“One of the things we noticed,” Miller said. [first] line of it. Like “One step ahead of the bread line!” […] It’s like the rules of the game, it happens so often that people sing while playing the song. ”

An Army veteran with a beautiful baritone voice, Miller said he especially liked singing “Let it go!” Dispel the glare of your enemies with Elsa’s powerful song.

“Imagine a room full of people. You’ll hear random people singing snippets of Disney songs,” Miller continued, shuffling and bridging a stack of pre-production cards. A broad smile spread across his face. “That’s just great!”

disney lorcana The will first go on sale at this year’s Gen Con and shortly thereafter in hobby stores starting August 18th. Then there will be 12 weeks of organized community play. Fans can be found at major retailers from September 1st. ShopDisney.com.