In a StoryNexus game with “grind” cards – cards with options you repeat over and over to increase your stats and unlock lateral content – do you prefer those grind cards to be Always or Sometimes cards?
Does it change your opinion if the cards have a strong sense of place (e.g. the grind card is Stuff You Do at the Carnival versus Stuff Around Town) or if they represent actions you proactively do instead of things that happen to you (e.g. Ask Jane to Lunch versus Bump Into Jane at the Market)?
[quote=Gordon Levine]Looking for general preferences here. :)
In a StoryNexus game with “grind” cards – cards with options you repeat over and over to increase your stats and unlock lateral content – do you prefer those grind cards to be Always or Sometimes cards?
Does it change your opinion if the cards have a strong sense of place (e.g. the grind card is Stuff You Do at the Carnival versus Stuff Around Town) or if they represent actions you proactively do instead of things that happen to you (e.g. Ask Jane to Lunch versus Bump Into Jane at the Market)?
Thanks much![/quote]
A little of both, so I can choose. Give different rewards for cards and storylets, so they feel varied. Also, consider having the cards give slightly lower rewards due to the fact you get 3/action.
Alternately the sometimes cards may not always come up so you could make an argument that they should offer more stat or a treat of some kind. It should also depend on story. If the grind is “hit this boulder repeatedly to gain strength” it makes sense as always. If you’re learning magic from a gypsy caravan that appears occasionally, it’s sometimes.
[quote=Gordon Levine]Looking for general preferences here. :)
In a StoryNexus game with “grind” cards – cards with options you repeat over and over to increase your stats and unlock lateral content – do you prefer those grind cards to be Always or Sometimes cards?
Does it change your opinion if the cards have a strong sense of place (e.g. the grind card is Stuff You Do at the Carnival versus Stuff Around Town) or if they represent actions you proactively do instead of things that happen to you (e.g. Ask Jane to Lunch versus Bump Into Jane at the Market)?
Thanks much![/quote]
I agree with Aximillio that it’s better to have a mix of “always” and “sometimes” grind cards. I also think that whether any individual grind card is “always” or “sometimes” or place-locked should depend upon how the card contributes to the story.
For example, if the type of action meant to give the stat would naturally be place oriented, the card should be (e.g., “Going to the Library” to boost a Knowledge quality). If the type of action is person-based (“Going to See Daisy”), then the card need not be place-locked. If the action is something the character “proactively does”, whether the card is place-locked depends on whether it makes sense to associate the activity with an in-game location or not. “Giving to the Homeless” need not be place-locked, but it may make sense for “Hitting the Gym” to be.
The same sort of thing applies with regard to whether the card should be “always” or “sometimes.” If the action is something a character can do a lot (like going to the library) it should be an “always” card. If the action is something that naturally would happen only occasionally (“Your Uncle Dave from Anchorage is in Town”) then it should be a “sometimes” card.
If the stat you are using the cards to grind is an important, need-it-for-lots-of-types-of-goals stat (like, say, Watchful in Fallen London), you want to give your players cards of both kinds to boost it. If the stat boosts a rare quality that’s only necessary for a few objectives (e.g., Making Waves in Fallen London) it may be okay to have only a few Sometimes cards to boost it. edited by cathyr19355 on 2/15/2013