User blog:Taylor Gorrell/Card game concept: Incardnate

So I had this little idea while at work one day. I push carts out of the parking lot at Wal-Mart, so I had a LOT of time on my hand. :P So here we are: Incardnate.

'Please don't be afraid to ask questions. These mechanics are all still in beta, so I may very well be missing aspects in such a way that makes my explanation confusing.'

Concept
The idea of Incardnate takes inspiration from Tensou Sentai Goseiger, as within the lore of the world, the game is played by angels known as "Soulmeisters" rather than humans. The cards also take the idea of monster spirits and make it a foundation of the lore: Every single main deck monster card in the game contains the soul of a creature, person, or what have you within it, and through facing other players with Soul Card Decks, the creatures can live again and even keep their skills sharp as if the Duels were an Asgard-like realm.

Basic Rules
Similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! in Master Rule 4, Incardnate uses a 7x2 field with a single Zone behind them for both players: 5 Soul (Monster) Zones, 5 Support Zones, 1 Main Deck Zone, 1 Soul Abyss (discard pile), 1 Arena Zone (detailed later), and 1 Ascend Deck Zone, with a Patron Zone in the back.

These Duels run off of Deck Master-like rules: You're required to have a specific kind of Soul, known as a "Patron", as your Deck's leader, the Patron being capable of supporting the Deck from the rear. Actually Incardnating the Patron is a risky move, as destroying it costs you the Duel (it's the main way to win, actually), but actually doing so gives you one final line of defense, as the Patrons are very strong monsters.

Power Scale
Monsters in Incardnate run off an Ascension system, measured in "Stages" like YGO's Levels or Vanguard's Grades. Monsters in your Main Deck are always Stage 1, while Stages 2 and up are kept in your Ascend Deck, which has no limit. Stage 1 monsters are roughly in the range of a Level 1-4 monster, Stage 2s are 5-6, and so on in groups of 2 Levels. Patron monsters are always Stage 4, while most "boss" monsters are Stage 3, sometimes Stage 4. Stage 5, the highest, is reserved for the strongest cards in the game. Ascending a monster to the next Stage requires Material Cards, which will be touched on later.

Card Usage
When attempting to place monsters on the field, you have two options: Incardnating and Ascending, and you may not do both in the same turn outside of Support Cards. Incardnating allows you to Incardnate (essentially Summon) any number of Stage 1 Souls from your hand, either in Offense Stance (vertical) or Defense Stance (horizontal). Offense Stance Souls are allowed to attack during your Battle Phase, while Defense Stance Souls gain their DEF as Damage Reduction. Ascending allows you to use Material Cards along with a Soul on your field to Ascend a higher-Stage Soul from your Ascend Deck.

Support Cards are a group of cards outside of Souls, designed to (as the name implies) support your monsters further through various ways. Under normal circumstances, Support Cards have a gray border. Similar to Spell and Trap Cards, Support Cards can be placed face-down (Hidden) to be flipped face-up (Revealed) later. Types of Support Cards include:

Arena: Basically Field Spells. Unlike main YGO games, there's always an Arena Card active no matter what, but the Arena CAN be changed mid-battle. Contract: Essentially the main Continuous Cards, Contract Cards stick around in emulation of Passives. Blessing: Cards designed to give you an edge. Equivalents to Equip Cards are often in this section. Curse: Cards designed to hurt your opponent. Curse Cards are most often used like Trap Cards. Judgment: A dedicated section to instant-win cards. Using Judgment Cards is one of the main ways to win outside of depleting your opponent's LP or destroying their Patron. Material: This is the main way to Ascend Souls to their next Stage. While they're not truly treated as Souls, Material Cards have Elements and Stages just like them and essentially act as Spell/Trap Monsters. You don't actually need to have them on the field to use them, but doing so can help due to their Passives.

Individual Soul
Each Soul possesses all of the following:

Stage: The current power level of the Soul, as mentioned previously.

Race: Which species the Soul belongs to. This aspect plays into effects and support cards. Confirmed Races include Human, Beast, Demon, Dwarf, Elf, Goblin, Ogre, Plant, Spirit, Reptile, Dragon, and Construct.

Class: An aspect that determines what the Soul is likely best at, also playing into effects and support cards. Seven Classes are known to exist:

Warrior: Physical power, often Melee-range. Caster: Magical power in tandem with non-monster support. Rogue: Sneak attacks and better dodge chances, but garbage HP and defenses. Anima: Very high health to survive long charges. Buffer: Defensive specialists that take the worst hits. Healer: Self-explanatory. Lord: Balanced monsters that can fit any role.

Element: An alignment that, like the previous two, plays into effects and support cards. All Soul Cards have color-coded borders to represent their own element, and there are nine Elements: Fire, Earth , Thunder , Wind , Ice , Water , Void , Light , and Dark.

HP: How much health the Soul has. Being attacked, among other means, causes HP loss. Typical HP range for a Stage 1 is 3000-8000.

STR: How much power the Soul's basic strikes possess. This value is deducted from an enemy Soul's HP on an attack and may be mitigated by outside factors.

DEF: How much defensive power the Soul has. When an attacked Soul is in Defense Stance, this value is applied as Damage Reduction.

Attack Class: How the Soul's attack is perceived by effects, separated into two parts: Matter and Range. Matters include Physical (actual material weapons), Magical (self-explanatory), and Spiritual (possessing energy not defined as magic). Ranges include Melee (close-range), Projectile (long-range with required travel time), and Burst (spontaneous strike on target).

Passives: These effects work simply by the Soul being on the field and require no activation. There is no limit to how many Passives a Soul can have regardless of Stage (some have none at all), but Passives always scale to the Stage and may not change at all upon Ascension. Passives always have a name to go along with them, and some Passives are common across multiple Souls.

Techniques: These effects must be activated by the player, and doing so often causes an alternate attack for the Soul or forfeits their attack altogether for a supportive effect. All Souls have a number of Techniques equal to their Stage: No more, no less. Techniques may remain and scale up with Ascension or be completely overhauled on Ascension depending on the Soul. Like Passives, Techniques always have a name to go along with them.

Ascension: States what kinds of Material Cards you need to Ascend the Soul, as well as what you can Ascend it into. If the Soul cannot be Ascended further, this section will read "FINAL FORM" and list nothing.

Flavor Text: Simple text that tells a bit about the soul within the card. Mainly done just for fun.

Example Card
Lancer Raiten Stage 1 Human Warrior Element: Thunder HP: 5500 STR: 1600 DEF: 1500 Attack Class: Physical Melee Flavor Text: "Once an ordinary farmer, Raiten's unlikely skill with long weapons once let him block a lightning strike with a spade." Passives: * Piercing: Reduce any Damage Reduction on the target by 25% when this card attacks for damage calculation only. * Long Reach: This card's attacks do not trigger effects that activate when the target is hit by a Melee attack. Technique 1 - Trigger Stab: [Attack] Gain 300 ATK, then attack 1 opposing monster. The target must attack this card during your opponent's next turn, if able. Ascension Cost: 1 Stage 1 Thunder Material + 1 Stage 1 monster > "Spark Lancer Raiten"