A new (Keyforge) Adventure

I’ve got an unusual opinion regarding Keyforge, the innovative masterpiece born from Richard Garfield’s genius. I think it is one of the best solitaire games out there.

I don’t think it gets nearly the attention it deserves from the solo community. And why is this? I believe because it was originally envisaged as a two player game.

However, the release of Keyforge Adventures meant that anybody can use any of their decks against an automated opponent. And seeing as every single one of Keyforge’s decks is unique, this makes for almost infinite replayability.

As if that’s not enough, you can play Keyforge entirely free (or at least, at your usual PNP costs), at both player counts. During lockdown Fantasy Flight Games released four free Keyforge decks, as downloadable PNP files. Both original Keyforge Adventures (Rise of the Keyraken and Abyssal Conspiracy) were also released as free PNP files.

So, with all this said, why am I bothering to design my own Keyforge Adventure?

While I love the Keyforge Adventure system (and Keyforge as a whole), I find it a little too much to have to manage two decks while I play. (Although this says more about me than it does Keyforge.) To be fair, neither “Adventure” really takes all that much management. But personally, when I’m playing solo games, I like to keep things nice and breezy. For me the cognitive load involved sometimes detracts from the whole experience. I would rather not have part of my brain dedicated to making sure I don’t forget one of the Keyraken’s effects; I prefer the feel of a game when I can just focus on my own deck.

I know that this probably goes against why many people get into Keyforge, and TCGs in general. Games like Magic the Gathering or Pokémon are typified by having several interweaving effects in play at once, both for your own deck and your opponent’s. But I’m not that kind of player. I only really play games solo. I have never played Pokémon and I’ve only played Magic once.

So, I am going to design a new Keyforge Adventure deck. My guiding principles are these:

  • All card effects will come from existing Keyforge cards. This is to mimic the feel of playing against a genuine deck.
  • Effects will be easy to manage, and/or will be effects that happen immediately when that card is drawn.
  • The player will not need to make decisions for the AI opponent, in terms of optimising how, or when, a card is played.
  • The deck will consist of 36 cards, just like a real Keyforge deck.

I will be entering this into the 2024 Solomode Design Contest hosted by BoardGameGeek.com. Watch this space, and please let me know any thoughts you have about this - either here, or at the “Work in Progress” thread for this project.


File downloads:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tetroku

Image
Tetroku is a really simple (but devilishly complex) roll and write. I entered it into the 10th BGG Roll & Write Contest in 2021 . Despite having a really simple ruleset (so much so that all the rules fit onto the gamesheet), it is rich with meaningful decisions. Even though its rules are so straightforward, in many ways it is one of the games I am most proud of. It requires a single game sheet per player, and just one six-sided die for the whole group. It plays in about half an hour, regardless of the number of people playing. The game involves filling tetromino shapes into a 9x9 grid, and the scoring system was inspired by Sudoku puzzles - hence the name Tetroku. The original version I made for the BGG contest involved an end-game process designed to (a) increase player interaction, and (b) prevent some players waiting for the game to finish, after they had done so themselves. However, I have since found that some players find this end to be somewhat convoluted. Worse,
Read more

Age of War: Demon Daimyo

Image
You are Oda Nobunaga, the Demon Daimyo. The first Great Unifier of Japan: brutal, ruthless, and arrogant; innovative, powerful, and revered. Japan during the Sengoku period was a time of chaos, with warring daimyos vying for power. Most of these feudal lords recognised the benefits of a unified Japan, but Nobunaga was the first for whom this goal might seem attainable. This is a solo variant for the Reiner Knizia classic, Age of War . In this variant you play against an automaton which simulates multiple acts of rebellion, dissent and rival daimyos. Your aim is to unify Japan - or as much of it as possible - before the end of your era. It requires two normal six-sided dice, and about twenty tokens. Here are a few lovely comments from BGG users who tried out Demon Daimyo: "Great variant!" "Wow! This variant is great! It’s fun, challenging, and I like the mechanics." "Beginner level was easier to beat and gave me the chance to learn the way the variant
Read more

Bang! The Dice Game: Vigilante Posse

Image
This is a solitaire variant for Bang! The Dice Game , and it was entered into the 2020 Solomode BGG Contest . The files are available from BoardGameGeek.com . There's gonna be a shoot-out ... The aim of this variant is not to recreate the feel of playing Bang! The Dice Game , but to use the components to provide the Western theme, while making a different solitaire game entirely. I know that some people find this a little controversial; some feel that a solitaire variant of a multiplayer game should recreate, as faithfully as possible, the feeling that one gets from playing that multiplayer game. I believe that route is absolutely valid, but not a requirement. To me, when I set out to design a solitaire variant, I simply try to make the best game I can. I normally start with something along the lines of the multiplayer, but for various reasons I find that its mechanics are not necessarily optimised for solo play. For example, when I was making the Demon Daimyo variant of Ag
Read more