Non-Magic CCGs

[SolitonMan]

Hi,

I was going through my game closet recently and was looking through some of the boxes of CCGs I've acquired (but never play) over the years. I was wondering what other CCGs (besides Magic:The Gathering) people out there own. The ones I found and wish I could play again at some point include the following:

Vampire/Jyhad
On the Edge
Heresy: Kingdom Come
Shadowfist
Deadlands: Doomtown
Legend of the Five Rings

What about it? Anybody have some cool card games that just didn't make it to the success of sustainability but are still a lot of fun to play? I remember some really cool games of Jyhad back in the day, and when Shadowfist debuted (I think I got it at Gen Con 1995) my friends and I kept our roommates awake (and annoyed) playing all night long.

On the Edge I actually did some demos for at various game stores, but I never got a regular game going with anyone, although it had a feature I really thought was cool, which was that the winning condition is based on scoring points of influence and not killing off opponents. That meant everyone was in the game until the end, although the fundamental drawback was that you need at least three players to really get that game going.

Heresy was interesting, great artwork, interesting concept but it never really went anywhere and I only managed to play a handful of games. Still, I wouldn't mind giving it another go. I always thought that the setting would be great for an RPG, and last I heard WotC purchased Last Unicorn Games some years back.

Anyway, if you have any interesting game suggestions or stories that are related to non-Magic games, please post them here. Thanks!

 

[mlund]

Well, I'm not sure I'd call all these games "unsustainable" in a broad sense. Certainly they didn't all take root as a permanent presence in every metropolitan area and college town like Magic has, though.

Vampire/Jyhad

Vampire is still played and developed. It seems to be kind of an East Coast thing, though. It is also notoriously hard to start a play-group since it is essentially a 4+ person game to implement properly.

Shadowfist

Shadowfist is still alive as far as I can see. It has had at least one relatively recent release. Again, its pockets of activity are harder to actively farm because you really need at least 4 people to get in a good game.

Legend of the Five Rings

Still kicking, extensively. They are having a global event at 315 different stores this weekend, from Nov. 7-9. They are also gearing up for a new base-set release in Summer of 2009.

A game that I never see anymore but enjoyed? Warlord. It had some balance problems in the end that forced a reset, and I think the direction of the storyline aspects of the game just didn't work out, but the underlying mechanics and themes were a lot of fun.

- Marty Lund

 

[SolitonMan]

Nice! I didn't know about any of those, I guess because I can't find the cards at my FLGS. And, I don't know anyone who plays. I suppose a little internet search wouldn't have hurt...

 

[Siberys]

Magi-Nation is still my favorite card game of all time. Though dead, it's easy to collect.

 

[Victim]

I really enjoyed playing Magi Nation on CCG workshop. It's a shame it got taken down; I don't think I've even seen a physical Magi Nation card product anywhere.

 

[Nimloth]

On the Edge

Played some On the Edge. I particularly liked the cards that let you change the victory conditions of the game or play a card from another card game. Wacky fun, to bad the card art wasn't that good.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Besides M:tG?

Gads...without actually looking, I know I have cards from:

Star Trek NG (it was a gift)
Middle Earth (which, BTW, has some cards that are identical to the game's later incarnation)
On the Edge
MechWarrior
X-Files
Shadowfist or Lot5R- I don't recall which. Both maybe?
DoomTrooper (a really good game, actually- sorry to see it go)
Hyborean Gates (only the art made this game worth buying...and it didn't)
Ultimate Combat! A martial arts game that was a blatant ripoff of M:tG's mechanic
A superhero game
Rocketmen Adventures
Illuminati: NWO

As well as quasi-CCGs like Munchkin and Nuclear War

 

[scitadel]

Hmmm, brief collections (not all here with me of)

Vampire/Jyhad - was fun, but never really got going on that one.
Rage: Werewolf the Apocalypse - or something like that. Again as above, really my brother's copies.
Shadowfist - this one was fun. I enjoyed playing with my brother but never got really going; it was gone before I started my CCG phase.
Legend of the Five Rings - he had copies, I never really learnt it. Looked fun though.
Middle Earth - oh god, I collect 99% of this game. I still love it to death. I really should look up some players in my region. It was so good.
Star Wars the CCG (original Star Wars version) - not sure which variant it was called. I still have an unopened box somewhere. It was... ok. It took a lot of time to drain force points, and it wasn't really that exciting. Sold off the majority of my decks of this one.
Some marvel superhero game - i can't recall how it played, beyond simple like heck. A big meh!

And that's about it. The others I don't even recall hearing of.

 

[Stormborn]

Shadowfist is still alive as far as I can see. It has had at least one relatively recent release. Again, its pockets of activity are harder to actively farm because you really need at least 4 people to get in a good game.

- Marty Lund

This was the first CCG I ever really played (limited exposure to some others, never really had my own deck of anythign). When I first started dating my wife she had a ton of these cards. She used to play with some friends and had enought for a good dozen decks and we would build them and then try them out in various combinations. We eventually stopped playing because it got predictable to just play the game with each other all the time. However, I would disagree that you need 4 people for a good game, although she says that she used to play with 2-6 people regularly.

 

[reanjr]

Middle Earth by I.C.E.
Blood Wars from TSR <- awesome game