So, not long ago I posted my custom quest which tried to essentially pass MtG stuff as something LotR. During the discussion I've come to realization: why would I try to pass MtG stuff as LotR, if I just can create an MtG-themed spinoff without any lame excuses?

And that's what I started doing, little by little, exploring my possibilities and various ways I can approach that. My plan right now is to create a single quest and a single player deck (maybe two) to play agaginst that quest, to see how it turns out. And here I will be posting my progress, WIP's and various thoughts.

Needless to say, I've already tried my hand at a couple of things...

I thought that Clue mechanic in a dueling game like MtG was silly, but here, in a co-op adventure game, it might be just spot on, so I decided that the player deck will be designed around that mechanic:

Among things I'm fascinated with in MtG are tokens. They open limitless possibilities for card design, and I think it's a big shame LotR doesn't utilize such great mechanic!

Token cards open a whole load of new possibilities...

It'll be curious how it's gonna turn out. Until the next time!

Woah! This is completely awesome. I always try to think of ways to make mtg coop like LoTR. Never actually thought about just making LoTR style cards and a scenario. Although that would be obvious. And I never thought about making LoTR style mtg cards. But I love both games. Would love to see what else you come up with! Keep it up

Continuing iterating on how I should deal with the different types of support cards that MtG has and how will they work in LotR. Here is the current state:

The quipment cards will be played into the player's playing area instead of immediately being attached to something. Then, the player would have to pay the equip cost and choose a legal target to equip the equpment to. If equipped character would leave play, the equipment would return to the player's playing area, unequipped, and player will be able to pay it's equipement cost to equip it on someone again. Player is also able to re-equip the equipment on someone else even while it is currently equipped.

I also started putting thougt into Flying keyword, one of the most prominent and well-known keywords in the MtG.

I'm thinking about the ways it can be implemented within LotR's range of mechanics (it obviously can't be just ported, as not being able to attack something can be extremely frustrating or gamebreaking), and the current state of keyword is this:

Entities (I will use that term to represent both player characters and enemies) with Flying get +1 Attack while attacking entities without flying. Entities without Flying or Reach get -1 Attack while attacking entities with Flying.

I'll keep thinking about it.

I like the token idea. We have a little bit of that with the reanimated dead in the Dread Realm, and kind of with Ranger of the North and Ranger Summons. It would be fun if the designers explored that space some more.

Flying is for now shelved due to it being a much bigger game design challenge than I initially anticipated, creating too much conflicting situations.

But Clue mechanic is not, and contiuing it, I present you with an additional ally that supports it, as well as an enchantment that introduces player token allies:

As for the quest development itself, I decided on the Unbreathing Horde as the main antagonist of that one. Therefor, the quest itself would be about fending off the sudden undead invasion from the city.

Just in case you're wondering what those keywords stand for, here is a quick breakdown:

Enormous - enemy with Enormous never leaves the staging area and is considered to be engaged with each player who's threat equals to or is higher than the engagement cost of that enemy. During combat, this enemy attacks each engaged player in player order (discard old shadow cards and deal new ones before each attack).

Unstoppable - enemy with Unstoppable cannot be exhausted by player card effects (in this modification enemies exhaust when they attack, so exhausting an enemies is essentially Feinting it in LotR terms).

Persistent - enemy with Persistent can only leave play by accumulating enough damage om him to kill him.

Slowly but steadily, I'm starting approaching the hero territory. To kick this off:

First one is works with the Clue mechanic mentioned previously. The second one simply works with Humans and Soldiers, especially when they are both. It's kinda tough because I don't want to cross with anything currently existing in LotR, but I don't wanna to overcomplicate or stray away from theme iehter.

Still making progress bit by bit.

Today, I want to introduce you to the Defender keyword, perhaps the easest keyword to port from MtG to LotR

It comes so natural. Here is the text:

Defender - as long as there is at least 1 Defender enemy engaged with a player, attacks cannot be declared against non-Defender enemies engaged with that player.

That could make those little nasty buggers like this one even nastier:

Good thing Avacyn is here to help:

If you got an event, she can temporarily dispose from Gravecrawler so you won't deal with his attack this turn. Or, if you got her divinge judgement, you can make yourself some room to deal with the Gravecrawler in a more permanent manner:

Man that art of Divine Judgement is badass Where does this come from?

Check this out, I made custom card color background desgin for White, Blue and Green!