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Old January 5th, 2015, 10:31 PM
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Power Creep Customs: Open Challange to the Custom Community

If you are looking to create a unit that “feels” like it belongs in classic scape, is unique and will be accepted by others playing classic scape the following are a compiled list of common comments among the custom thread. I guess it is a list of way not to “Baby” your custom, to avoid making over powered. Many of these points are a great starting point for avoiding common pitfalls for your custom. I myself have repeatedly had to alter customs after realizing that my unit is too good, because I wanted to see my customs shine, even if that meant that other units would be duller for it.

If you, however, are Posting your customs to share your creativity and don’t care about wide acceptance, more power to you. If you want to create a game of My little Pony scape with Crazy powers, cards without points and simple rules so your “little sister” will play Heroscape with you, go for it! Don’t feel like all your units have to fit into Vanilla scape. Pokemon Scape, Super hero scape, @Grishnakh unique rules all march to the beat of their own drum and the custom community is better for it.

If you still want to create Vanilla customs:

Dear Creators,

I think it is time to step back from the drawing board. Put the pen/tablet down and think about what you are doing. Frankly some of your customs are too good. They are simply too good and are making old units feel bad. Sure we can price for power, but when that power pushes units out of the game, that custom is being a bully, and no one wants to be a bully. To help I have weaved together a few guidelines form the various threads in this forum:

1. No more bonding. If your unit cannot stand on its own two legs it has no business standing on a heroscape field. Bonding is great but it more impressive when a hero is worth drafting on their own.

2. Limit Attack. Double attack, triple attack, multiple attacks, where does it end? Let's try to think about creating a figure with more of a one shot, one wound mentality. This is not to go to the extreme of One shot one kill, since that would be an opposite extreme.

3. Un-reliable D20. In classic scape most D20'ers were threat figures. This means their power was a threat, not a sure thing. As an opponent I should have to think about the chance of the power kicking in and then make a decision, not believe the power will kick in and act as any reasonable person would (i.e. very predictably). If you are making a D20 roll be 11 or higher that is 50%, that is not a chance hit that is a fairly likely outcome. Swingy figures make for great stories and memorable games, which is way better than always winning in my book.

4. Rock, Paper... There should be something that will tear your figure apart. There should always be a draft choice that I would make as a counter to your custom, otherwise I'm stupid not to draft your custom.

5. More Cheerleaders, Defenders and niche. We have tons of sharks, bread and butter and menacers and those a fun to play. It is a lot more tricky to design a good cheer leader that you will want to field. (Raelin Notwithstanding)

6. Choice. Heroscape is about choice. I want to play figures that offer strategic choice, not determined outcomes. Do I play out the elementals, or summon a new one? Do I bond with Migol or take the extra move. Do I engage with more Mohicans or fall back for range. Do I wait or move then fire? All are good choices. Your figure should get me thinking, get me excited about the next round.

7. Clump them up. The romans are a great target for DW9000, however most other units you are always better to spread them out. Getting your custom squads to provide the decision of staying in formation or spreading out is a great way to provide innovation. More formation powers would be very interesting. Really does your aura have to be 2 or more clear sight spaces? Are you only leaving that gap to keep your figures from falling prey to area of effect special powers? You are babying your custom! Let them die like heroes, not spread out like cowards.

8. One less power. I have seen it mentioned before, but get the flavor of your custom from the stats and try not to jam too many powers/words on a card. Some of the best customs have 1 or 2 powers. At worst they have three powers with two of them being super simple. Make it short and sweet, and the card will feel elegant not bloated.

9. No more 4/4. We all know 4 defense or 4 attack is when a figure gets good. Hell there is some crazy math in the the Theoryscape library that does a great job proving it. However, can you make a figure good with 1, 2, or 3 on their stats? What about 6, 7 or 8? Can you make them balanced? Change up the 4/4 and really get creative.

10. Weaknesses. Some of the best units/most interesting units have weaknesses. Marcus and Sir Hawthorn always make for a tense game. Having a weakness really can make for some creative play and requires detail strategy. When the player has to ask themselves how they will combat their own failings, it adds choice and diversity.

I think making Balanced but interesting customs is way better than building that next triple A unit. When I have to spend time trying to figure out the best combination of units or the worst matchups I might face, it really gets me deeper into the game. As much as I dislike Raelin, rats and Q9, but trying to figure out the best assassin, exterminator and can opener can be as much fun as actually playing the game.

Heroscape is as much about “deck building” as it is about rolling dice and moving figures on the map. I believe the custom creator’s first order of business is to add to the creative options available, demanding creativity from players to figure out synergies and counter drafts for themselves.

Sincerely, wriggz

PS: Much of this has been said by Members with much more "custom cred" than I have, but as an avid "Theoryscaper" I felt that putting it all in once place was a valuable endeavor.


wriggz's custom Figures, Terrain and Glyphs

Last edited by wriggz; January 6th, 2015 at 08:22 AM.
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