Legends of Norrath Preview: Light and Shadow

Legends of Norrath Preview: Light and Shadow
by Chuck Kallenbach, Game Designer

I've designed cards for over a dozen paper TCGs, but I'm fascinated by the possibilities that online games offer. Mechanics in the tabletop world are often simplified to keep the burden of rules manageable by the players. For an online TCG, we can provide more depth by using the computer to do the bookkeeping. A good example is the tracking of faction in Legends of Norrath.

The Oathbound story concept describes the player as an agent of Order, working for The Tribunal on the Plane of Justice. You fight against the forces of Chaos, represented in our ongoing scenarios by Chaos Lord enemies.

Good and evil, however, are tools for you to use as you see fit. As long as you persevere against the Chaos Lords, you are free to use helpful, healing ways as well as life-draining and poison. You can even use some of both!

Light and shadow are factions in the game, as explained in the tutorials. Some cards have the light or shadow trait, and when you play enough of them, your avatar gains that trait as well. Light cards have a predominately white background, while shadow cards are mostly black.

Each time you play a card that has the light or shadow trait, your 'faction meter' changes. The amount of change is equal to the cost of the card. A three-cost shadow card moves you three points toward shadow, for example. When you reach 10 points of either light or shadow, your avatar gains the appropriate trait. When your avatar becomes light or shadow, you can use bonus game text on your cards.

In the simplest implementation, there are light cards that give other light cards bonuses, and the same is true for shadow cards. For example your Gnoll Scout, a shadow unit, gets +2 health when your avatar becomes shadow.

This unit gets -1 damage bonus.
This unit gets -1 health.

Cards that have neither the light trait nor the shadow trait are called 'neutral.' Neutral is not a faction, it is actually the absence of faction. Cards like the Giant Field Rat are happy to exist without either faction, and actually get rather surly when your avatar gains one.

All light units get +1 defense. All shadow units get +1 attack.

Some cards, however, give bonuses to both light and shadow, which is to say it's a drawback to be neutral. Balance is a card that allows players to mix light and shadow units together and provide a bonus for both.

This unit gets +1 attack for each light unit at the same quest.

There are also cards that receive a bonus when with cards of the opposite faction. Many of these are based on your opponent's cards and beyond your control, but the Thought Defiler can get her bonus from your other light units as well.

Each time you build a deck, you'll have to take into consideration the number of light and shadow cards in it. Most decks will choose to include either light or shadow cards, and not both. The starter decks are all constructed with this in mind.

When you become more experienced with deck building, you can include cards from both factions. However, once your avatar becomes light or shadow, you'll take 2 damage for each card of the opposite faction you play. Decks that have both light and shadow cards have to watch out for this penalty.

A balance is the symbol most often seen for The Tribunal, since shadows can't exist without light. Too much of either and the symmetry of the universe suffers. Examine the benefits and penalties for light and shadow cards and you'll become an expert deck builder for Legends of Norrath!

Discuss this article in the forums.