I'm interested to hear how people feel about randomness in board games with regard to attacks. In Sotm, attack values are fixed. If a card says it does 5 dmg there's no randomness involved. The randomness is in drawing that card from your deck, and whether the villain has drawn things like damage reduction or immunity.
In other games they use dice, but I'm not crazy about dice. I don't know if you're familiar with Gloomhaven, but it has a different system for randomness. You have a party in a fantasy setting, attacking enemies in a hexagonal grid location. Each character has a limited hand of cards (for example 10 cards) with abilities. For example, one card may attack for 2 dmg, another may move 2 hex grids, or throw a fireball in 4 hex grids. You choose the 2 cards from your hand that you want to play, so there's no randomness there. However, there's some randomness in the enemy response (they draw a random card, for example, a shield card for -1dmg). A significant randomness though is that, before you apply the dmg from your attack, you have to draw a card from an "attack modifier" deck. This desk has -1, +1. -2, +2 and other cards that modify your dmg. So -1 will reduce the dmg you do.
Over time each character gains experience and perks that let them modify the "modifier" deck. For example, you may add more +1 cards, or add special cards for your class ("push back" modifier, or "fire dmg modifier", "blessing" or "curse").
I'm thinking to design a game and am wondering whether to have randomness in the cards you draw, but fixed attack values, or randomness in a "modifier" deck. Do you like fixed attack values? Do you enjoy randomness as well, for the unexpected swings in combat?
I think it completely depends on the game, and changes the tenor of the game. Fixed damage in SotM is critical for planning with your teammates and using all your resources to their exact maximum potential. With random damage, you can end up letting your allies down by not holding up your end, or worse, not dealing with a threat at all and leaving it alive to pound on or hinder your team for an extra round. Nightmist has random damage, and in our games, we find it's critical to have her go early in the turn order (so others can make up for her flubs), and it's usually best for her to focus on the big bad rather than mooks that need to die quickly.
In other games, like Arkham Horror for instance, random damage is an essential part of the game. Fixed damage in that would turn it into a resource-gathering game in which you attack only when ready (or just die automatically), not so much an adventure game with the hovering risk of failure and the potential for outrageous, desperate success.
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I agree with MindWanderer. It depends on the feel of the game.
Some games I enjoy the randomness. I wouldn't have had as many antics in D&D without crazy rolls in both directions. However, when you have randomness, it requires a bit more leeway in terms of difficulty, and I feel it suits a more laid back environment versus a competiive one.
Also, remember that in a co-op game, randomness generally hurts the players. Sure, there's the possibility for exceptional success, but consistency and reliability are the player's friends.
Sentinels Statistics Project -- Statistics updated daily!
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I've moved this topic over here - Not so much a discussion on the card game, but a discussion about games in general. Thanks for your understanding! (and good luck on designing your own game!)
Lynkfox.
http://sentinelswiki.com/ The Sentinels of the Multiverse Wiki
http://mindwanderer.net/sotm/ - SoTM Statistics! Updated DAILY!
PM me if you're interested in playing with the Statistics Data!
Moderator Voice: Sorry Trajector. I am getting the hang of this, and the previous post before yours was a spam linkage. This is what Trajector Said!
Lynkfox.
http://sentinelswiki.com/ The Sentinels of the Multiverse Wiki
http://mindwanderer.net/sotm/ - SoTM Statistics! Updated DAILY!
PM me if you're interested in playing with the Statistics Data!
A Trajector impersonator from the Multiverse! Gasp!