Deckaton: Enhance your game (print&play)

[nova3k]

When i was really into Mechaton, i made a bunch of custom rules and homebrew stuff for it. One of my favorites was this deck of cards which you use during a regular game of Mechaton. It's a really simple concept of having 1 deck available for all players, and whenever you activate a mech, and any of its white dice roll a 1 or 6, you draw a card. These cards break the rules and help you or hinder your opponent. It was a lot of fun. It added sort of this randomized tactical aspect to the game, as apposed to just a game of mech-bashin'. When you get a certain card, you sort of planned your moves to play the card, often to awesome or hilarious effects.

Again this designed for old school Mechaton, but you can be sure that i will redo it for MFZ, as well as some of those awful pictures on the cards.

Better play instructions are on the front page.

The commons. Print this page 3 times.

The uncommons. Print this page 2 times.

The rares. Print this page once.

[MikeDamrat]

Cool idea! Thanks for posting this.

[nova3k]

Cool idea! Thanks for posting this.

Thankyou! It really is a lot of fun. There's no feeling like your opponent taking down one of your mechs in hand-to-hand, and then shut him up by revealing the 'critical reactor' card.

I'm already brainstorming the new cards for the rules reset. I'd love to hear some ideas/suggestions.

[NotMantisking]

I'd love to hear some ideas/suggestions.

Change the name of the Initiativecard to Quick Reaction. Change the name of the Final Act card to Last Ditch Attack, remove the 1 White die roll, and make the attack work at all three ranges. Add "Cannot be played on the last turn of the game." to Station Defenses. The All Power To... cards for Spotting and Defense could be a little broken. Normally, you can't roll a d8 for either of those systems and these cards both potentially allow you to do so.

[nova3k]

Change the name of the Initiativecard to Quick Reaction.

Good idea. That could get confused with the actual initiative rules.

Change the name of the Final Act card to Last Ditch Attack

Ok, that works. Will do.

remove the 1 White die roll, and make the attack work at all three ranges.

I originally didnt want a downed mech to be able to do an artillery attack, but i guess since the card is a rare, it would make it more useful.

Add "Cannot be played on the last turn of the game." to Station Defenses.

I didnt think of that. Good idea.

The All Power To... cards for Spotting and Defense could be a little broken. Normally, you can't roll a d8 for either of those systems and these cards both potentially allow you to do so.

That was sort of the idea. But i was thinking of combining all the 'power to' cards into one and making it rare. However during playtesting you would be suprised how often you DONT actually use those cards. They are a lot more situational than you would think.

This is awesome. Already things are looking better.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

You don't always know what turn is last. You might want to say "At doomsday 1 or 2" or "At doomsday 3 or lower".

[nova3k]

You don't always know what turn is last. You might want to say "At doomsday 1 or 2" or "At doomsday 3 or lower".

Good point. Although in original mechaton rules this would be after all mechs have had a chance to act, and before you reroll the initiative dice for the new round. Again ill update once i get a copy of the game PDF. Thanks for reading Josh!

[NotMantisking]

Change the name of the Initiativecard to Quick Reaction.

Good idea. That could get confused with the actual initiative rules.

That was my thinking.

remove the 1 White die roll, and make the attack work at all three ranges.

I originally didnt want a downed mech to be able to do an artillery attack, but i guess since the card is a rare, it would make it more useful.

You could always limit the attack to whatever ranges the mech had avaialable at the beginning of the game. Also, this has the potential for some weird interaction with the Double Attack card.

Add "Cannot be played on the last turn of the game." to Station Defenses.

I didnt think of that. Good idea.

That was my first thought when I saw the card.

The All Power To... cards for Spotting and Defense could be a little broken. Normally, you can't roll a d8 for either of those systems and these cards both potentially allow you to do so.

That was sort of the idea. But i was thinking of combining all the 'power to' cards into one and making it rare. However during playtesting you would be suprised how often you DONT actually use those cards. They are a lot more situational than you would think.

You could always make something slightly different for Spotting and Defense that doesn't involve the potential for d8s. Although, thinking about it, the All Power To Shields is the only real problem card under the old rules.

This is awesome. Already things are looking better.

Cool. I have a couple more ideas that haven't quite crystallized yet. Though you may need to make two versions of these cards, one for each set of rules.

[nova3k]

You could always limit the attack to whatever ranges the mech had avaialable at the beginning of the game. Also, this has the potential for some weird interaction with the Double Attack card.

That's a good point. Perhaps that can be solved with a small addition of "This unit may only attack once with the use of this card." would solve it?

You could always make something slightly different for Spotting and Defense that doesn't involve the potential for d8s. Although, thinking about it, the All Power To Shields is the only real problem card under the old rules.

Yeah, a high enough d8 roll would make a unit undamageable. But that's what makes it so sought after, especially if i make it a rare card. The rare cards really don't come up as often as you would think. This isnt a card game, its use of card in addition to a game of mechaton. So think of a card game, and quarter the deck rotation and you get the rate you see cards. A couple games i played we didnt even finish the deck by the end of the game.

Cool. I have a couple more ideas that haven't quite crystallized yet. Though you may need to make two versions of these cards, one for each set of rules.

I'd love to hear them! I'm not going to try updating the cards for Mechaton though, i will be making a new version for the MFZ rules and go from there.