Menagerie Card Help

You did great work :grin:

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Okay, something I could use an extra set of eyes on. I am wrapping up an environment deck and want to also close out the flavor text. This is Challenger Park, an amalgamation of different locations from the game (the area around Tasha Star’s studio where the first couple games took place, as well as all the different coffee shops) wrapped up as an inter-city park and the surrounding area.

There are space requirements, so trust me when I say I did the best I could with the space provided.

Community Service
Art: Unmute and crew cleaning up the park.
Quote: Park clean-up sucked, but Becky still took any opportunity to get out of her cell she could. And if she got time off for good behavior, all the better.

Corner Store Snack Run
Art: Mercury running into a store to pick up an armful of snack food.
Quote: “Hey Harry,” the shop owner called to the speedster, “I got in a box of those Norwegian fish-flavored chips you wanted.” “You’re the best, Mister Fleuter!”

Falling Debris
Art: Rocks fall, everyone dies.
Quote: Lucius’ fight with his spectral foe had gotten out of hand. The creature thrashed about, tearing debris loose from any buildings it touched.

In the Shadow of Justice
Art: Armiger looking at the statue of Justice
Quote: Justice was Halcyon’s first hero and a symbol of what could be accomplished to all future generations. Today, many aspiring heroes flock to her statue for inspiration.

Interview with Tasha Star
Art: A panicky Concord sitting down with Tasha Star.
Quote: With a studio overlooking Challenger Park, Tasha Star is always on the hunt for new supers. Most think it’s for her tv show, but they don’t know her corporate sponsors.

Jaycee
Art: Jaycee at Haas Beans with a towel over her shoulder, to make her look a bit more like a boxing trainer.
Quote: Named Halcyon’s Best Barista by the Halcyon Herald, Jaycee spends her evenings improving her pastry cooking, researching history, and training the Grail Knight Will Eddison.

Lucius
Art: Lucius sitting at a table in Haas Beans, with a checker board set up in front of him.
Quote: The retired Knight only takes up the sword in times of need, but is always around for the next generation of heroes to consult in matters of the mystic and supernatural.

Power Pony
Art: Power Pony, pony on the street.
Quote: “Thanks for the tips on handling Ego Trip, I’ll relay them to Link,” Jason Quill said with a smile. “Can you also tell him to follow my Twitter? And the rest of your team too!”

Public Nuisance
Art: Ego Trip throwing a park bench at an airborne Concord.
Quote: “How does he keep getting stronger?” Jason wondered aloud. “That’s Ego Trip!” a girl behind him shouted. “He gets more powerful the more people are paying attention to him.”

Small-time Thief
Art: A bargain-bin super mugging Summer. (see above)
Quote: Kevin knew his fatigue-inducing powers wouldn’t do squat against an actual superhero, so he took to robbing coffee shops and corner stores.

Weekend Training
Art: Armiger on a morning run, while Jaycee watches with a stopwatch.
Quote: As Armiger turned the corner, Jaycee checks the stopwatch. “3:40 isn’t bad, but the rest of your team-” “Can you at least compare me to Alloy? She doesn’t fly.”

Thoughts? Corrects? Things that don’t look right if you squint at it wrong?

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  • It’s spelled Haas Beans here and for Lucius, but was originally Has Beans. Is that change deliberate?
  • Would it be better to call him Armiger throughout, for consistency?
  • “on mystical matters” might sound better, would be shorter, and I think conveys the same thing

I think we spelled it Starr originally

I’ve been using that spelling for a while, as I thought it was the correct version. Typo ascended to canon? :stuck_out_tongue:

Likely. I have been using real names interchangeability with hero names depending on the circumstances, but I think using Armiger here might help tie things together.

See, I’m actually worried about shortening this one and creating dead space. As is, it fills the quote box nicely (max of four lines is the standard for these).
image

Looks like it. Need to get better about checking these spellings on names I don’t use frequently.

Thanks Bill!

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Jesus, that’s how I felt playing Charade in Masks, too. :grimacing:

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So I finished my first pass on Unmute’s bio which is definitely rough first draft. I’m going to work on so re-writes, but if anyone has recommendations feel free to add some comments in (either here or directly in the doc).

I’m also not tied to any of the details except for the broad strokes: (i.e., Unmute got her tech from Tyran, her first appearance was with Ego Trip during the first issue, she showed back up for an one-off story at St. Lucia’s hospital, eventually she gets out because Tyran faked her and other villains’ deaths) so if something sounds better, feel free to suggest it.

Looks pretty close to what happened in game, but with a new backstory. It’s JJJ if he’d been the one in the Scorpion suit

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Unmute is all wrapped up, along with digital conversions of Radiance’s Princess variant and Ghost Girl’s Christmas-themed variant are up on Steam and being pretty well received. In an odd twist of things, Spirit of the Solstice was the one I saw the most clamor for. Bizarre.

In other news, I am continuing along with my work on Challenger Park but I also managed to pull Ghost Girl’s home of Oakland Cemetery across the finish line. If I can manage to finish it and St. Lucia up, I’d like to package all three environments together since environments tend to be the least exciting new addition to the game. St. Lucia is proving difficult on that front, however, so it might be two environments.

With that in mind, I would certainly appreciate some input from @Margie on Oakland Cemetery since it is Ghost Girl’s home, though as always input from everyone is much appreciated. In particular, I feel like my handling of all of Charlotte’s dialogue is only adequate at best.

Charlotte Palmer’s Grave
Art: A mid-shot of Charlotte’s headstone. In the background, Netherwarden is lurking, just barely visible except for their glowing right eye.
Quote: Nono was very confused. “So if your ghost was turned into a person, does that mean your dead body is still down there?” “I hadn’t thought of that, dear.”

Devon Crowninshield
Art: Devon looming from a catwalk, observing something we cannot see.
Quote: Devon’s PAIMON project started a lot of buzz around Tyran Tower, he just needed suitable test subjects to test his theories on divinity.

Echoes of Battle
Art: A two card spread, with only half the art on either card (there are two copies total). Dr. Infinity/Clockwork and the Magus are locked in combat, each at arm’s length from one another.
Quote: Echoes of the battle between Clockwork and the Magus rung out throughout time and space. Just whenever one thought the fight was finally over, they reappeared.

Free-Roaming Spirits
Art: A group of ghosts (see here) are swirling around a character, probably one of the Ponies. The character looks apprehensive about this.
Quote: “They’re harmless,” Charlotte said with a laugh that betrayed whether she fully believed that. “Just don’t let too many of them gang up on you. They’re… feisty.”

Hallow’s Eve Picnic
Art: Ghost Girl and the Ponies setting up a picnic in the cemetery. Around them, friendly-looking ghosts are looking to join.
Quote: Charlotte loves these get-togethers with the girls. Leslie called it a séance, but Charlotte just saw it as a get-together between both her new families.

Magus Griffith’s Tomb
Art: A still smoldering crater in the ground, ringed with sparks of eldritch fire.
Quote: A crater named for what seemed like the end of a fatal clash between Clockwork and the Magus, but then they showed up again, and again, and again…

Manny’s Left Arm
Art: A disembodied skeletal arm strangles Pietro the Plasma Prince. Manny is floating nearby, but doesn’t seem to concerned about this.
Quote: “Watch out for it, lad!” Manny shouted as the skeletal arm wrung Pietro’s neck. “'Tis a sinister appendage!”

Whisper of Pandemonium
Art: Someone walking through the Cemetery, assaulted by ghostly faces that they do not seem to notice, except that they look unwell.
Quote: The Netherwarden’s nemesis, the terrible Pandemonium, is less an entity than an idea. A dark cloud of directionless divinity that could form wherever lost souls congregate. The pull to join is hard to reject.

Tyran Scientists
Art: A pair of nerds stealthy exploring the Cemetery. Ghosts lurk nearby.
Quote: Devon brought assistants to help him conduct his research. He did, however, fail to mention that they were also part of the test group.

Wound in the Worlds
Art: Leo Snow stands in front of a small portal with a sparking handheld device, like the sensor from the Ghostbusters movie Egon always had.
Quote: Cancerous tumors on the multiverse created from the battle between Magus Griffith and Clockwork. Ghost Girl is driven to find the answer to getting rid of them.

In particular, the quotes on Devon, Manny, and the Scientists are bit short with the Tyran pairs having a bit of dead space on the fourth line, while Manny’s only takes up part of three lines which looks super awkward in the space.
image

The quote on Whispers of Pandemonium, however, take up five lines and so could use some tightening up. What I have right now was definitely written more towards just having something to put there as opposed to something I felt strongly about, so if anyone has a better/different direction to take that one, feel free to take a crack at it.

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Message relayed.

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Margie has read it, but not yet commented.

While work progresses with Challenger Park and Oakland Cemetery, I also figured it would be a good time to finally convert Ghostheart to the digital friendly Netherwarden. This should be a low effort change, given I just need to fix a couple pieces of art and it’s wild to see the difference.


I think my perspective work’s gotten a bit better. :wink:

While I work on that artwork, I also figured it was good opportunity to interrogate the aesthetics and flavor of the cards I originally produced for Ghostheart.

The specters I think are all appropriate. The names (The Haunted, The Possessed, The Strickened, The Tormented, and the Wretched) are all descriptions I feel like Netherwarden (as I’ll call them from here on out for consistency) would call them, though in a more generalized way. A particular specter wouldn’t be the Wretched in their eyes, but all the specters are wretched in a given spiel.

The Goetic demons (Eligos, Malphas, and Naberius) were chosen from a list of Goetic demons based on two criteria: having cool sounding jobs/tasks that they were supposed to be in charge of in myth, or having descriptions that vaguely fit cool designs I had already made. Of the three, Eligos is one I am least bound to. I like the idea of them, but I’ve bounced all around on designs for them. Additionally, I wanted there to be three of them because I wanted there to be a small theme of 3’s in their deck. In particular…

The Curse of Three fits this theme to a T. Also the art is fun because it includes three of the Irregulators: A10, Armiger, and Telekinetician.

Call of the Necromancer, Perdition’s Gates, and Wake the Dead are all necromancer-themed card names and feel pretty positive about them (in particular, I really wanted Wake the Dead in there, being the name of a really good episode of JLU I enjoy).

Finally, the last two cards are Seize Power and Sigil of Command. Mechanically, both cards work great: Seize Power is setup disruption/hero card destruction that slows down the heroes; Sigil of Command is a big damage hit that causes Netherwarden to cause both a specter and an environment card to hit heroes. Thematically, meh.

Seize Power represents a moment from the story I had built around the Stanley Sports Center where Netherwarden steal the Staff of the Magus from Ghost Girl, which I enjoy, but the name is a bit meh. Sigil of Command is sort of in the same boat, but the art may save it.

If anyone has suggestions, feel free.

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Stricken is already past tense.

Hmmm. Seize the Deity (as a pun)? Power Grab, maybe? Staff Takeover, perhaps?

Carpe Numen? Nah, too confusing with the presence of the Newmen. :stuck_out_tongue:

Alycia: seize Summer and you’ll lose your hands
Jason: I wasn’t even thinking about it!

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Good names would probably follow the theme you’ve set out. So I could suggest the jokey “Understaffed” for Sigil of Command, but maybe that isn’t a good fit? “Wight Power” is right out.

So here’s a few pitches.

  • Chilling Grasp
  • Spectral Snare
  • Grave Peril (or Consequences)
  • Mirror Shades
  • Poltergeist Pincer Attack

Well… I guess I continue to be bad at words. :stuck_out_tongue:

This is definitely in the right wheelhouse, but it feels like it is still missing something. Needs something macabre. :thinking:

Oh this is perfect as a replacement for Sigil of Command. And I now realize I never put any Grave wordplay into this deck? That’s an oversight that is going to be rectified.

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Since the Agents of Aegis storyline has wrapped up, it’s time for a bit of a mental exercise: How would I represent various characters (specifically the cast of antagonists) as cards in Sentinels.

Pyrrhus would obviously be a villain deck unto himself. The question is what would his particular challenge look like? Here’s my initial thoughts:

  • His deck would consist of minions and tools to help him beat down the heroes while his one-shots would probably be takes on Charade and Jason’s cards with an eye towards disrupting the heroes plans. No combination of Chins and Quills would come at you straight forward.
  • With that in mind, I think Pyrrhus’ primary gimmick would be the faces he presented. On the front side of his villain card, each turn you would see a different facet come to the front: Achillies, Byron, Jason, Alycia. These would have some mechanical effect leaning into that facet’s particular strengths (i.e., Alycia is the forceful personality and would increase Pyrrhus’ damage, Amir is beneath notice and so would be difficult to damage). The issue here is finding a distinct mechanical niche for each facet to embody.
  • On the backside, however, much like in the finale of the story, Pyrrhus lets all the misdirection drop and faces you with guns in hand. This version will probably spray the battlefield with bullets and need to be dealt with swiftly, least the heroes be overwhelmed.
  • Difficulty in conversion: Moderate. Clear themes to work off, just need to find mechanics that fit.

Next is the Russian contingent of Sidorov, Jenny, and TALOS.

If I were doing this just for me, I would make Jenny the star of show here, but probably not for the reasons you expect. With the Poppet system, Jenny has a clear mechanical hook: she has a set of cards that augment her abilities.

  • I would probably put a couple of TALOS minions in there and either represent Sidorov as flavor in some of her cards.
  • This makes her a bit one note (almost like Pyrrhus’ gimmick, but more open as multiple could come out and they aren’t constantly switching) so I would probably make her a Vengeance villain instead of a full Villain deck (I believe I’ve explained that concept before). The only difficulty would be in coming up with a setup of cards for her different Poppet programs.
  • Difficulty in conversion: Moderate.

But let’s say we were going to make a Sidorov deck. He’d probably also be a Vengeance villain (might as well make it so you could fight both him and Jenny in the same game). I’d probably steal Dr. Zola’s gimmick from the Marvel Champions game, where he slowly builds up a field of minions (hover tanks are minions, right?) that the heroes can disrupt. Like say a Lab card with HP. It starts at low HP and each turn Sidorov heals it (representing his working on a new device). If it can get to full HP, he gets to find a device in addition to his normal card plays. Since it has HP, the heroes can disrupt it by focusing their damage on it as well. A bit simple, but we’re talking Vengeance villains, so that’s fine.

  • Difficulty in conversion: Moderate-to-high. My biggest worry would be making Sidorov a one-note mad scientist.

And if we’re making those two Vengeance villains, let’s just make TALOS one too. If we do, then in an three player game you can just face off against these three thematically linked villains.

  • His gimmick would probably be that he’s very damaging and hard to hurt, but very predictable. Have something like a Targeting card that moves around and he’ll always go after his target. Fitting given how Jason dealt with him.
  • Difficulty in conversion: Minor-to-moderate. Most of the work will be in fleshing out the robot.

Not going to include the Atlanteans here because I feel like they’re going to be their own thing. Plus I don’t think we’ve seen all Senior Commander Saito has to offer yet.

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And because it was interesting to noodle out, I put together the start of a villain deck for both Pyrrhus and Jenny Byrne to show how they have similar mechanics but represent themselves differently. (Note: nothing about these is set in stone yet, everything is for demonstration purposes at the moment.)

Pyrrhus’ personas come out randomly and the only predictable thing about them is that you won’t get the same one twice in a row. But there is only ever one at a time. And the only way to get rid of them is to take out Pyrrhus.

Jenny’s poppet programs, however, are a part of her deck, so she could presumably have multiple in play at a time (and I’ll probably add a search card from them in the final deck). And because they have HP, if you get one that is seriously hosing you over (I need cards and can’t have the Infiltrator Program eating my hand) you can take it out with the downside that she’ll get a new one. But if she has two or more in play, you can destroy one (presumably the worse one in a given situation) without getting a new one.

On the surface very similar gimmicks, but they will feel very different in play.

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So just like I did with the AoA storyline, the Magic Kingdom is wrapped up and so we’ve gotten another look at Dr. Infinity and her plots. As you might remember, last time I talked about her I had no idea how to handle this. Let’s see if time, some additional reading material, and a fresh look at things helps.

So the commonality we’ve seen with both Dr. Infinity stories is you don’t beat her by standing toe-to-toe with her and duking it out. The Magus tried that and look how it turned out for him. Both times, it was all about striping away the artifice Dr. Infinity had built up around her (literally in the first story) and trying to reach the person locked away inside her armor. While I don’t think we can handle the emotional bits that follow that (Sentinels is, unfortunately for this scenario, a game about dealing damage to bad guys until they stop being a problem) I do think we can handle the thematic bits of that.

So how do we do that? So I see the initial side of Dr. Infinity/Clockwork (I’ll refer to her as Clockwork from here on out for simplicity) is that stand up, toe-to-toe fight. She needs to be nearly implacable. I’m going to steal a mechanic from another villain and give her 2 damage reduction for each Device card in play and then load her deck up with Devices: the Starfish Drones, Weird Time Gadgets, and of course the Keynome she uses to travel time. In fact, that Keynome is going to be a key part of her deck, summoned out at the beginning of the game. But how do you defeat her?

Once all her Devices are destroyed, she flips, showing the vulnerable Pnuema she really is. It only lasts for a moment (a single turn) but this is your real opportunity to reach her. To represent this vulnerability and to make up for all the damage you couldn’t do to her before, we’ll increase the damage she takes in this form (say +1 damage taken). But once that moment’s over, she builds her defenses back up. Bring the Keynome back to protect her again, maybe have a big burst of damage to signal we’re back to slugging it out.

I think it would probably be fun to show some time-shifted characters as well (it was one of the fun parts of the Magic Kingdom storyline). Like Nono from Atlantis, Clockwork would have collaborators from across timelines. Nono and Rossum would be the easy ones (and taken directly from the Magic Kingdom) but I wonder what others might be fun to throw in as “what-ifs”? Definitely something I’ll need to think over.

That gives us the following to-do list on the conversion:

  • Create devices to fill out at least half of Clockwork’s villain deck (12-14/25)
  • Create a handful of alternate timeline characters (5/25)
  • Fill out the rest of the deck (6-8) with some devastating one-shots.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Now also with a deck skeleton.

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Can “device” include time tactics, like an interdiction that forces heroes to discard some of their own cards?

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