Don’t Make Me Move
DISCLAIMER: You’ll need an understanding of how to play Stoicheion: Elemental Clash to fully enjoy this article.
I’ve gotten plenty of suggestions from play testers to add/alter an element that would cause another player to shift along the Leyline, or to switch places with a player on the Leyline. While I immediately understand where they get this idea from, I’ve kindly dissuaded them each time. To know why, I’ll first explain some other effects Stoicheion has tried on for size.
The original effect of the element Torrent is significantly different than what it does currently. Intended to represent a more visceral whirlpool effect, Torrent cards would cause all players to trade cards in a circle. The player using Torrent (Player A, in this case) would pick an element and a direction (left or right). Each player would take all cards in their hand that matched that element, and then pass them to the next player over. (A passes to B, B to C, C to A.) The intended use-case was that you would choose your own element or the one you wanted to score on. This way, if someone was hoarding high-value cards of your desired element, you could rip them away. As a tradeoff, you had to give up whatever you’d stockpiled up to that point. It would require a good sense of timing to use effectively, and opponents who were focused on denying you cards. (You could theoretically have pulled some tricks with that first incarnation of the Shift Action, which required you to discard ALL CARDS of your Current element to shift off that element.)
The problem was, that’s not really how any one used Alpha Torrent. They’d wait until the end of the game, then a player on Catalyst, Torrent, or Moment would drop a Torrent and deny the player in the lead (or the 2nd place player, if they were leading) all the cards they’d collected over the course of the game. In a single action, one player’s hard work was completely undone, with no time to pivot. That’s a feel-bad moment, and something that was immediately changed. Torrent received what is now its Mana-Pool-refreshing ability, and has remained that way ever since.
I really should’ve seen this coming from a design standpoint (and it was probably too similar to Maelstrom anyways, which has retained its original ability through all incarnations of Stoicheion), but it wouldn’t be the last time a card would receive an effect that led to mechanically similar outcomes.
Firmament had a revision with the effect [Discard: Block all other players from shifting along the Leyline this round.] Its use was much clearer; When someone was straying too far from the element they wanted to score on, you could punish them by preventing them from moving for a round. It was a way of throwing a wrench into their plans, and potentially devastating win-piece if you could go first in the last few rounds AND your opponents weren’t doing their math. Some players had a lot of fun with this (mostly when they won using it), but like Alpha Torrent, it was a feel-bad. Keen players would plan around the threat of a late Firmament. Some would get to their desired element and stay there without shifting, meaning they drew less cards and did less each turn. Others would venture out 1-2 spaces from their desired scoring element but give PLENTY of time to get back before they were blocked. This significantly stagnated the variety of player choices and led to some stale games. Not to mention, this was about the ONLY use for Firmament, making it a pretty niche pick. So, Firmament was changed too, although it had a rougher time settling on a final effect.
What I took from these learning moments is that no one wants their hard work spoiled; If the sum of a player’s efforts throughout the game can be undone in a single turn by another player with no recourse and no time to recover, that’s probably unfair. (Put aside your Cyclonic Rift and board-wipe effects, MTG.) Stoicheion is a mechanically simpler game, by my estimates. It can’t support the sort of effects that would allow players to counter these massive shakeups to the ‘board-state’. I ended up adopting a guideline that each Elemental Action should affect things in groups of one. Ignition discards 1. Catalyst recovers 1. Maelstrom trades 1 for 1. Absence blocks 1 element. Firmament blocks 1 player’s elemental action for 1 turn.
Moment, Continuum, and Torrent are exceptions to this rule, but their effects are limited in scope. Continuum needs a wider pool of card effects for utility. Moment gets an extra space of movement to boost its appeal, and it doesn’t impact other players. Torrent must affect multiple cards in the pool, or else it’s severely underpowered. The exceptions make sense for their domain of play.
As well, I’ve barred ANY effects that would forcefully alter another player’s position on the Leyline.
But what’re your thoughts? Can you think of another way to prevent these issues, but retain those more drastic effects?
