IAmBatman's Public Design Workshop

[IAmBatman]

Yeah I had them a bit more conjoined in a previous draft but I figured that high price Event Heroes need to be independently draftsble. I considered giving Hal Temporal Defense but I decided that could be Extant’s role in any Zero Hour situation.

I’m totally up for streamlining the Entity.

I think I looked into the Sentinels minis before and they were hard to find and the wrong scale but I’m not 100% on that.

[Ronin]

I've read the conjoined versions before and I do like this direction better.

I think Hal looks cool, but I agree that he could probably use some Yellow Constructs to help him out.

On the entity, here's a first pass at streamlining and trying to condense stuff, changing as little as possible, mechanically:

PARASITIC POSSESSION
At the start of the game, instead of placing Parallax on the battlefield, choose a Unique Hero you control and place Parallax on the chosen Hero’s Army Card. That Hero is considered to be Parallax's Host. // Parallax's Host has a Terrified personality instead of what is listed on its card. Order Markers may still be placed and revealed on this card while Parallax is on its Host's card. At the end of each round, roll an unblockable attack die against Parallax's Host. If you roll a blank, remove one yellow Battery Marker from the Host’s card. // If the Host is destroyed, or if all yellow Battery Markers are removed from its card, remove Parallax from the Host’s card and place Parallax on any empty spaces in your Start Zone, if possible. Whenever Parallax is removed from its Host’s Army Card, remove all Order Markers from the Host's card, then return control of the Host to the player that controlled it before it became the Host. That figure is no longer considered Parallax's Host.

FEAR CASTING
Start the game with eight yellow Battery Markers on this card. After revealing a numbered Order Marker on this card, if Parallax is on its Host's Army Card, you may move one yellow Battery Marker from this card to the Host’s card. If Parallax is on the battlefield, you may instead roll an unblockable attack die against a Unique Hero engaged with Parallax. If you inflict a wound with Fear Casting, place one yellow Battery Marker from this card onto the affected figure’s Army Card and immediately end your turn.

TERRIFYING POSSESSION
Instead of attacking with Parallax, you may choose an adjacent Unique Hero with four yellow Battery Markers on its Army Card to become Parallax's new Host. Take control of the Host and the Host’s Army Card and remove any Order Markers on that card, then place Parallax on the Host's card.

I did change the name from Parallax Entity to just Parallax - from what I gather, either is legitimate and dropping all those 'Entity' references saves a lot of text. Switched 'Possessed Figure' to 'Host' for pretty much the same reason.

I moved a lot of Terrifying Possession into Parasitic Possession. If we could whittle it down to the point where we had room, I could see breaking Parasitic into two powers, at either one of the places where I put a red double-slash. Might be hard to get it short enough, though.

I did make one simplification which was that when Parallax is chucked out of a Host, the Host goes back to whoever controlled it at the start of the game instead of letting you choose an opponent.

That's potentially a problem if you're trying to get it so that Parallax (Hal) will turn on you if you draft him and possess him, but then he gets de-possessed. I'd address that on Hal's card, though. I think there are willing hosts you might want to draft into your army and try (like any of the Yellow Lanterns), who wouldn't necessarily backstab you if they got de-possessed.

The part I highlighted in blue is kinda being covered on Entity and on Hal, in Fight Against Fear - I think it just needs to be on Entity. You could clear that off Hal to make room for any 'Oh no, I got de-possessed, I'm switching sides now' stuff that I just mentioned.

That first pass is still I think about 1.5 times as long as Dracula's card, and needs a little further cutting. So... second pass:

PARASITIC POSSESSION
At the start of the game, instead of placing Parallax on the battlefield, choose a Unique Hero you control to be Parallax's Host and place Parallax on the Host’s card. The Host has a Terrified personality instead of what is listed on its card. Order Markers may still be revealed on this card while Parallax is on the Host's card. At the end of each round, roll an unblockable attack die against the Host. If you roll a blank, remove a yellow Battery Marker from the Host’s card. If the Host is destroyed or all yellow Battery Markers are removed from its card, place Parallax on any empty spaces in your Start Zone, if possible. When Parallax is removed from the Host’s card, remove all Order Markers from the Host's card and return control of the Host to the player that controlled it before it became the Host. It is no longer considered Parallax's Host.

FEAR CASTING
Start the game with eight yellow Battery Markers on this card. Instead of taking a turn with Parallax, you may choose Parallax's Host or a Unique Hero engaged with Parallax. Place a yellow Battery Marker from this card onto the chosen Hero’s card.

TERRIFYING POSSESSION
Instead of attacking with Parallax, you may choose an adjacent Unique Hero with four yellow Battery Markers on its card to become Parallax's Host. Take control of the Host and the Host’s card and remove any Order Markers on that card, then place Parallax on the Host's card.

That's a pretty dramatic simplification/buff to Fear Casting, but I think it makes it a lot more viable - he already has to roll unblockables against his Host while he's on their card, it seems like overkill to make him wound them four times (on an unblockable that replaces his whole turn) before he gets a chance at making someone his new Host.

Pretty sure that version still needs a little extra trimming to fit onto a card, but I've got it fairly close. I think changing the Host's personality would be the first mechanic I'd cut, if some of those had to go,

[IAmBatman]

Thanks for the work on this. My head is a bit too foggy to really process it all well right now, but if it clears up tomorrow/later, I'll try to take it in better.

One thing your post makes me realize is that my earlier cutting of the "Parallax Entity may not put a fifth yellow Battery Marker on a card" text (paraphrasing here) means he'd likely be overpowered when possessing a Yellow Lantern. I'll have to figure out a way to change that while also getting the text trimmed. This should have a side benefit of helping Hal stay the best target for Parallax, since he can use both green and yellow Battery Markers and thus have a higher charge than, say, Sinestro with Parallax.

[IAmBatman]

OK, here's the big question - why the change to returning control to the original player? It's not just Hal who's negative affected by that change. Thematically, any hero that was being possessed by Parallax should want to fight him once free, including one who started in Parallax's army.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

OK, here's the big question - why the change to returning control to the original player? It's not just Hal who's negative affected by that change. Thematically, any hero that was being possessed by Parallax should want to fight him once free, including one who started in Parallax's army.

He can only possess a friendly Hero at the start of the game, and he only wants to do that with figures that have a use for yellow Power Batteries. Of those, you've got Hal (who's an unwilling captive that will want to turn on Parallax) and the Yellow Lanterns, who don't seem to me like they would. Not a Green Lantern buff, so I might be getting the theme wrong here, but doesn't Sinestro open himself up to Parallax deliberately a few times?

It just seems to me like, with the friendly hosts you would choose at the start of the game, only Hal is actually an enemy to Parallax rather than someone who would have knowingly let Parallax in.

Also, when you take control of an opponent's Hero in a game with multiple opponents, I prefer that when they get de-possessed you have to give them back to their original owner rather than whichever opponent is most advantageous.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I suppose that's a fair view of things. I could probably find some potential corner cases other than Hal Parallax, or find times when Sinestro wanted to work against Parallax, etc., but they're probably insignificant enough not to worry over.

OK, lemme look at trying to shorten this up.

[IAmBatman]

NAME = PARALLAX
SECRET IDENTITY = ENTITY

SPECIES = ENTITY
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = PARASITE
PERSONALITY = TERRIFYING
SIZE = HUGE ?

10 LIFE
MOVE 5
RANGE 6
ATTACK 6
DEFENSE 6
600 POINTS ?

PARASITIC POSSESSION
Parallax starts the game with 8 yellow Battery Markers. At the start of the game, choose a Unique Hero or Event Hero you control to be Parallax's Host and place Parallax's figure and one his yellow Battery Markers on the Host’s card. While Parallax is on the Host's card, Order Markers may still be placed and revealed here.

FEAR CASTING
Instead of taking a turn with Parallax, you may choose Parallax's Host or a Unique Hero engaged with Parallax. Place one of Parallax's yellow Battery Markers onto the chosen Hero’s card. If you would place a fifth yellow Battery Marker on an opponent's card this way, place Parallax there instead, take control of the Hero and its card as Parallax's Host, and remove any Order Markers on the card.

FIGHT AGAINST FEAR
At the end of each round, roll an unblockable attack die against your Host. If you roll a blank, remove a yellow Battery Marker from the Host’s card. If the Host is destroyed or has no yellow Battery Markers on its card, place Parallax on any empty spaces in your Start Zone, if possible, remove all Order Markers from the Host's card, and return control of the Host to the player who controlled it before it became the Host. It is no longer Parallax's Host.

FLYING
SUPER STRENGTH

As short as I could get it without losing any meaning. I realized that if you don't place one of the yellow markers from this card on a non-Yellow Lantern you're possessing at the start of the game, it kind of breaks the card (or at least makes it unclear if you auto-lose that figure as your Host or what) so I fixed that (with the addition of more text than I'd like). Hopefully the additional trimming I didn't isn't the cause of any lack of clarity.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

@IAmBatman Did you Kickstart Oblivaeon and Sentinels of Earth Prime?

[IAmBatman]

Oblivaeon I preordered through the backerkit. With the extreme delays for that, I've made it a point not to get involved with any other Greaterthangames Kickstarters until it delivers (and I do like their company and their stuff. With limited funds I need a delivery I can count on, though).

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

PARASITIC POSSESSION
Parallax starts the game with 8 yellow Battery Markers. At the start of the game, choose a Unique Hero you control to be Parallax's Host and place one of Parallax's yellow Battery Markers and his figure on the Host’s card. While Parallax is on the Host's card, Order Markers may still be placed and revealed here.

FEAR CASTING
Instead of taking a turn with Parallax, you may choose Parallax's Host or a Unique Hero engaged with Parallax. Place one of Parallax's yellow Battery Markers onto the chosen Hero’s card. If you would place a fifth yellow Battery Marker on an opponent's card this way, place Parallax there instead. Take control of the Hero and its card as Parallax's Host, and remove any Order Markers on the card.

FIGHT AGAINST FEAR
At the end of each round, roll an unblockable attack die against the Host. If you roll a blank, remove a yellow Battery Marker from the Host’s card. If the Host is destroyed or has no yellow Battery Markers on its card, place Parallax on any empty spaces in your Start Zone, if possible, remove all Order Markers from the Host's card, and return control of the Host to the player that controlled it before it became the Host. It is no longer considered Parallax's Host.

As short as I could get it without losing any meaning. I realized that if you don't place one of the yellow markers from this card on a non-Yellow Lantern you're possessing at the start of the game, it kind of breaks the card (or at least makes it unclear if you auto-lose that figure as your Host or what) so I fixed that (with the addition of more text than I'd like). Hopefully the additional trimming I didn't isn't the cause of any lack of clarity.

You've got it down to a manageable length there - it's right up there with the longest cards we've done, but it should all fit onto a card, and I don't think we've trimmed out anything critical to comprehension (EDIT: though I've been looking at the powers so long that I may just have them stuck in my memory).

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Oblivaeon I preordered through the backerkit. With the extreme delays for that, I've made it a point not to get involved with any other Greaterthangames Kickstarters until it delivers (and I do like their company and their stuff. With limited funds I need a delivery I can count on, though).

I got notice of mine shipping. Supposed to arrive on my birthday!

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Ronin

You've got it down to a manageable length there - it's right up there with the longest cards we've done, but it should all fit onto a card, and I don't think we've trimmed out anything critical to comprehension (EDIT: though I've been looking at the powers so long that I may just have them stuck in my memory).

Yeah, I know how that can be!

Sadly when I was going through to take stuff out, I realized a few things that needed to be added, so it was definitely a struggle to trim him down. Still, once I get around to updating the OP here, I'll add him with this revised text. If he ever gets into an LD (which would be after Hal Parallax) I can just get fresh eyes looking at him then as well.

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

I got notice of mine shipping. Supposed to arrive on my birthday!

Congrats! I've at least been playing Benchmark and Stuntman on Steam. That's been pretty fun. Looking forward to going against the big guy, though.

What made you think of all of that in this thread? Are you wanting an Oblivaeon Event Hero?