SolForge is a digital collectible card game. Pretty far away from an RPG, right? Well, it still involves monsters, spells and plenty of combat -- all things an RPGer should be familiar with. And, where there are familiar concepts, there are ideas to steal.
To start with we have a concept that is not entirely unique to SolForge -- the deck. Decks and deck-building is a staple in many card games and provides one of the biggest strategic considerations for those games. Why not bring that to RPGs?
Don't harsh on my freedom of choice, man! I hear you say. We aren't playing card games, we're playing RPGs! I know, I know -- freedom to do whatever, even 'I swing my sword' over and over, is a major part of RPGs, but I feel there is a place for a deck and a decent in-game reason for it.
To start with, combat is a heat of the moment kind of thing, supposedly. Characters are trying to read their opponents, act on their training and other sorts of things. Card decks duplicate that. Especially when done in the way that SolForge draws cards. You see, SolForge draws a full hand of five cards every turn -- you use two cards and the rest go to the discard pile, a new hand drawn for your next turn. This is quite similar to how many RPGs work right now -- you get two actions per turn. The cards you draw would be the potential actions your character is thinking about, that their reflexes are straining to perform. They act in the flow of combat, not sitting around taking their time, wondering if they want to strike with their sword or their axe. I feel this flow would work quite nicely in an RPG.
Of course, it's not just about the speed of combat but the deck-building, as well. Figuring out the type of build -- or training regime -- you want your character to have, the strategy that goes into it, is very interesting. To me, at least. And it creates a fun little activity to do outside of game night. How this could be done is fairly simple. Is your character a magic-user? Do they have certain spells? Add the spells to cards -- the number of which would be determined by their levels and spells slots -- and blam! Instant start to a deck. Toss in some other actions -- drinking potions, swinging the staff, running away (typical mage things) and you'll have a full deck in no time. And, as with many digital game to tabletop ideas, this would likely work best with 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Bet you didn't see that coming, right? Right?
The deck isn't everything, though, not in SolForge, at least. There is one more element that the game has that actually does relate to many tabletop RPGs -- a playing field. The field of SolForge consists of two rows of five spaces -- or lanes -- that players place their creatures into. You can think of it in a similar fashion to a battlemat for RPGs. The players then utilize their creatures and spells to try and gain board control -- much like players of RPGs might use their tactics to try and gain control of an encounter. It's a fairly similar concept, so you might be wondering what there is to pilfer from it. Simple: simplicity.
Having such a small, basic playing field is actually a nice boon to play. There are still elements of strategy in play -- the ability to manipulate creatures to different spots, area of effect spells or abilities, etc -- but everything is slimmed down to help speed up play. At the moment, your average, miniature-using RPG has loads of tactical placement and options that can really bog down a combat. Taking SolForge's method would provide a light option to that, while still keeping some of the features.
And those are just two little ideas from SolForge. I could go on, and I just might in a future post, but that is all for now. I would recommend checking SolForge out if you are interested in card games, at all, as it does provide quite a bit of fun and some nice light strategy.
