Ye Olde Inn

UPDATE -> AVAILABLE NOW!
This little project went so well, I took the leap and bought commercial rights to the art, and put the deck up for sale on TheGameCrafter. You can find it here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/loot-the-room1

UPDATE -> SHOW-OFF
Here is a low-res compilation of the initial set!



ORIGINAL POST
Hello again! I have enough content to warrant a new thread for this, so lets get started…

Having recent resurrected this game for my family and friends, we’re fast approaching the point where we need to expand a little to keep things interesting. I was able to find KK and ROTWK, but the EU and solo expansions have proven cost prohibitive to obtain. Thus, I have been making attempts to consolidate our online resources (THANK YOU FOR THOSE!). Unfortunately, the home-printed treasure cards just don’t shuffle well at all with real cards. I looked into getting a fresh set printed… and hit an IP (intellectual property) wall. The printers are unable to legally reproduce (even out of print) cards that fall under Milton Bradly’s existing copyrights. So, I have taken it upon myself to completely reimagine a comprehensive treasure deck that encompasses the functionally of all of the existing cards, but with fresh IP owned by myself. This will allow me to have a real deck of cards printed once all is said and done. I also will output a printable PDF version that I can share freely with the community.

Without further adu… here is what I’ve got so far. I have had to reword/relabel things a bit, but you shouldn't have any trouble recognizing everything.

Qty/Deck____Card Name____Card Text
2 Large Gemstone! You find an old boot, tucked inside is a large polished gemstone worth 35 gold coins. Record your loot, then discard.
2 Small Chest! Half-buried in the grime and gravel, you find a tiny copper chest. It is lined with fine linen, and filled with tiny jewels. The lot is worth 50 gold coins. Record your loot, then discard.
4 Gold Coins! While kicking around in the dirty and gravel, you stumble across a small linen pouch with 15 gold coins. Record your loot, then discard.
4 Gold Coins! Hidden behind a loose stone in the dungeon wall, you find a leather pouch with 25 gold coins. Record your loot, then discard.
2 Trap! While searching, you trigger an old forgotten trap! An arrow launches from a hole in the wall, dealing you 1 damage. Return this card to the bottom of the deck.
2 Dungeon Hazard! While searching, a sinkhole opens up beneath your feet! This square is now a pit trap, dealing you 1 damage, and ending your turn. Return this card to the bottom of the deck.
6 Monster! While searching, a wandering monster sneaks up on you and attacks! Once the attack is resolved, you may finish your turn. Return this card to the bottom of the deck.
12 Potion! Wrapped in a bundle of filthy rags, you find an unfamiliar potion! Hold on to this card until your potion can be properly identified, then discard.
2 Trap! Wrapped in a bundle of filthy rags, you find a broken bottle. A foul-smelling, runny brown fluid leaks all over your hands, dealing you 1 poison damage. Return this card to the bottom of the deck.
2 Trap! While searching, the floor beneath you ignites into a brilliant array of magic sigils! A writhing ball of arcane energy begins forming at the center of the room (place magic trap token). Return this card to the bottom of the deck.
1 Large Chest! You discover a loose floor tile, and a large wooden chest hidden beneath it! Inside is 300 gold coins worth of assorted treasure. Cash this card in, then discard.
1 Magic Item! You have discovered a mysterious magic item! These powerful artifacts are a rare and valuable commodity. Hold on to this card until your magic item can be properly identified, then discard.
2 Dungeon Hazard! While searching, the ceiling above cracks and falls away and you are buried under a pile of falling rocks! You take 2 damage, and your turn is ended. Return this cad to the bottom of the deck.

The Potion! and Magic Item! cards are meant to be rolled for on randomized tables. Below is a rough draft of the potions table. I’ll crank out the Magic Items table this weekend, but you can expect it will be populated by the lesser Artifacts and lootable items from the original game. I am considering adding in Spell Scrolls onto this table, or even adding a Spell Scroll! card with a table of it’s own.

Chances___Potion Name__________Effect
1-3 Potion of Healing Heal 1D6 points of battle damage.
4 Potion of Strength +2 Attack until end of turn.
5 Potion of Defense +2 Defense until end of turn.
6 Potion of Heroism Attack twice per action, until end of turn.
7 Potion of Alchemy Transform a piece of equipment into 100g.
8 Potion of Charm Drink before hiring a mercenary, get a 25g discount.
9 Potion of Arcane Might Gain extra Cast Spell action this turn.
10 Potion of Arcane Resistance Ignore effects of next spell cast on you, until end of your next turn.
11 Potion of Fire Resistance Immune to fire spells and effects, until end of your next turn.
12 Potion of Minor Levitation Ignore all traps (including open pit traps) for remainder of this turn.
13 Essence of Wolfsbane Cures Werewolf Curse.
14 Potion of Warmth Heal 1 point of battle damage, or 2 points of cold damage.
15 Antidote Remove all poison damage.
16 Cure Disease Remove one disease.
17 Holy Water Throw at an adjacent undead, dealing it 1 battle damage.
18 Potion of Restoration Heal 1 point of permanent mind and body damage.
19 Potion of Dexterity Add +5 to your next movement roll.
20 Potion of Battle Re-roll one attack roll (all dice).

The principle artwork for the new card back is done. The space at the bottom will get cropped slightly, and covered mostly by the label scroll.

Instead of 12 random potion cards, I'd prefer some dedicated cards and then some random cards. I wouldn't have the spell scroll on the potion table as it breaks the immersion "until your potion can be properly identified" an unknown liquid can't suddenly become a scroll of paper. I love the idea of some bottles been unknown.

How about blank spell scrolls? This adds a feature to the Sorcerers Table, The wizard can spend his action here to inscribe the scroll with a known spell, enabling it to be cast again, stored or past to another etc.

mitchiemasha wrote:Instead of 12 random potion cards, I'd prefer some dedicated cards and then some random cards. I wouldn't have the spell scroll on the potion table as it breaks the immersion "until your potion can be properly identified" an unknown liquid can't suddenly become a scroll of paper. I love the idea of some bottles been unknown.

How about blank spell scrolls? This adds a feature to the Sorcerers Table, The wizard can spend his action here to inscribe the scroll with a known spell, enabling it to be cast again, stored or past to another etc.

I meant to say that I was considering putting the Spell Scrolls in the Magic Item table. Also, I went with 12 potion cards because that was the total number of treasure potion cards across all of the sets. How about a compromise, we can cut that number of random potions in half (6 cards), and add in 6 Magic Scroll! cards. I can word it in a way that would allow for the Wizard to program them (as you suggested) or use a randomized table like the others.

I would have preferred some dedicated potion variants, but couldn't afford that much new art. At least not right now. If nobody minds that I use the same picture, I don't mind add those back in.

LOL. I am glad I can share this project here and get feedback BEFORE i go to print.

So, after some thought...
OPTION 1:
Release a Core version of the deck that mirrors the original, without the extra stuff. Just print them off and get the game going.
Then put together an Advanced expansion that includes the random potion/item/scroll cards, Poison, Magic Trap, and some more loot cards with higher payouts.
OPTION 2:
Release the entire thing as one big deck, and let the end user decide what to use and what to sideboard.

Think about the ratio of good vs bad cards. At least in the original deck the heroes get to keep the good cards while the bad cards go back into the deck.

There was 50/50 good/bad cards in the original; however most of us prefer rather 60/40.

Also, the smaller the deck, the faster the danger ramps up, the bigger the deck, the slower the danger ramps up. A typical quest has about 10-15 rooms plus some furniture to search, so I was going for 50 cards in my deck. I have LOTS more, so before each game I replace missing good cards with ones from the big pile that I haven't used yet. Like that you never know what you can find this quest. I don't know it myself.

Most others prefer to have a fixed number of potions (especially healings)/coins/scrolls/others... that can be solved by a referential card: "Draw from the potion deck" "Draw a healing from the potion deck" "Draw a spell scroll" or the 100-point winner for the evening "draw an equipment card".

Anderas wrote:Think about the ratio of good vs bad cards. At least in the original deck the heroes get to keep the good cards while the bad cards go back into the deck.

There was 50/50 good/bad cards in the original; however most of us prefer rather 60/40.

Also, the smaller the deck, the faster the danger ramps up, the bigger the deck, the slower the danger ramps up. A typical quest has about 10-15 rooms plus some furniture to search, so I was going for 50 cards in my deck. I have LOTS more, so before each game I replace missing good cards with ones from the big pile that I haven't used yet. Like that you never know what you can find this quest. I don't know it myself.

Most others prefer to have a fixed number of potions (especially healings)/coins/scrolls/others... that can be solved by a referential card: "Draw from the potion deck" "Draw a healing from the potion deck" "Draw a spell scroll" or the 100-point winner for the evening "draw an equipment card".

I like the 50 card deck as a rule. 20 Bad Stuff cards, 30 Loot Cards. The loot could be broken up into... 15 treasure/gold, 10 potions, 4 scrolls, and 1 magic item/artifact?

The set will likely end up with everything one might need, then they can construct the actual play deck however they want. Ultimately, everybody can just print off as much of a given card as they want then go from there. Win-win-win!

Oh the principle art came in! I've got a bit of finishing work to do, but they're a great start. The Monster Attack! image is a ninja goblin, lol. I have a pair from Reaper, my kids won't let me use anything else when we play.

I really like the artwork. Is that yours or that guy from DeviantArt that you mentioned?

Honest opinion: What is the purpose of cards in a game like this? To get rid of random tables. Get rid of the random tables!

The artwork looks pretty appealing

StratosVX wrote:I really like the artwork. Is that yours or that guy from DeviantArt that you mentioned?

these sketches and the card back are Blaz's work. i CAN draw, but not as well as he can. next step is to finishing them myself, then processing them for the cards. the card back, however, will remain largely unaltered.