Potions

[knightkrawler]

Perhaps you can't use "discard this card" since these potions may not be actual cards, but simply a written down item on a hero sheet... In that case, discarding a potion still seems odd to me, because then it is like the hero tosses the potion on the floor and somehow gets healed by the fumes... Maybe there should just be a defined term for "drink"... It could mean the same thing as "discard" but just be used for drinkable items...

Either way, the point about instructions first, then italicized fluff still stands.

Thanks for your thoughts, but no worries there.
The one is the cross-referential linguistic, no-bullshit, unambiguous rule text.
The other is the fluff text I will add later on as mentioned before.

In my rulebook, there is a definition of drink. As soon as a hero drinks something, he has to discard the corresponding card. He can only drink something that he has a corresponding card for. In short, drink a potion = discard a card with the keyword potion.
We never write down things. Every item, every number, every effect is represented by a card, counter, or marker.

And yes, I will have fluff text. It's rather obvious now that you guys pointed me to it. Thanks again.

To further iterate for those unaware of my rule threads:
Every item is represented by a card in my game. Even when it's special treasure given in the quest notes, the hero is given a card. That's why I'm including potions in the artefact deck. To further compress things, I might as well combine artefact and equipment deck with a capture on artefacts: "This item cannot be bought." where equipment gives a gold cost. But this all depends on how many cards there will be. I don't want a stack of 80 equipment cards to leaf through - the fact that every individual item is represented means that there will be 3 shortsword cards, 3 shield cards, and so on. Probably I'll make Weapon, Armor, Item, Scroll and Potion decks, to which the artefact cards are added as per their features. This gives me some more simplification of keywording and cross-referencing.

The way your comments sometimes give me these awesome ideas sends shivers down my spine.

[knightkrawler]

Substance over style, in that case. Discard is a very important term in my rules.
You can imagine that disposing of it in favor of drink, lose to rust, and all that would make a linguistically sound ruleset like mine pretty complicated.

The only issue I have with this explanation of using "discard" instead of "drink" is that you are using "potion" instead of "card". Should it not be "discard this card"? How do you discard a potion? Is "potion" a defined item in your ruleset? If so, why can't "drink" be defined as a certain action as well?

I am a big fan of using rules terms only as instruction, and then adding flavor text in italics to describe what is happening (which I believe would work best for sound ruleset like yours). For example:

TONIC OF HEALING

You may discard this card and take up to 3 point counters from the pool to restore lost Body and/or Mind points.

Drinking this frothy liquid gives you a burst of rejuvenating invigoration.

Only now did I notice this post, underlined by Goblin-King's. I get the point now and both of you are right.
There will be a clear distinction between mechanic text and fluff text. Editing the first post this instant.

I'll post new card patterns this afternoon, using these four potions as examples.

[knightkrawler]

An example:

Tonic of Healing
- potion -
-IMAGE-
"Drinking this frothy liquid gives you a burst of invigoration, but choose wisely when to consume it."
When you discard this card, you may take a total of 3 points from the pool to restore your Body and Mind points.
After the quest, discard this card into the Artefact deck.

[clmckay]

I like it. I think that feeling of throwing the potion on the floor was what felt off.

Not to change th topic, what do you use for you mind point tokens? I use tokens, cards for everything, except mind points. I haven't found anything I like for them. I use these for body points right now. I like them, wish they had ones with little brains or something.

http://campaigncoins.com/coins/heart-coins/

[knightkrawler]

I use a lot of stuff from Descent, 1st edition.
The hearts for Body, obviously, and the drops for Mind. Isn't too farfetched and they fit in style.

[cornixt]

I've always thought that just adding "one use only" implies that the potion/equipment is worthless after being used. Whether you return the card to the pool, discard it, erase from the character sheet, or rip it up , you can't use it again.

[Saiyaforthelight]

Hey! Sorry to weigh in, I've been following the thread, and thought I'd throw in my thoughts on 'discard', a word which has nothing to do with cards. It is a term which means to throws something away or rid yourself of something, so within the context of HQ (and if using cards) then you get rid of the card. Within the narrative of the game, to discard a potion would be crazy, as you would certainly drink it, before discarding the empty bottle. So I agree that from a mechanics point of view discard is absolutely correct, because you get rid of it (hand the card back, cross it off your character sheet etc.), whilst flavour (fluff ) text would make more sense sticking to what might occur narratively.

Can you tell I'm bored at work and needed a distraction? Always a pleasure to see new rules and elements to this wonderful game!

Saiya