I've bee working on a Rebel Faction card game with feverish delight for the past few hours, and have finished the rules. I've also written up a number of the cards, their abilities, and so forth, and have even started making them in paint shop pro. Why? I don't know! Sudden inspiration! I felt it'd be a fun way to poke lighthearted fun at TRF and fool around for a while.
Here's the rules:
TRF: The Card Game.
The objective of the game is to dominate the galaxy by defeating your enemy’s fleet and taking his or her’s homeworld in a simulation of the online world of The Rebel Faction. To do this, you will take on the role of one of the Rebel Faction’s writers, field some of its’ best known characters, and employ special abilities to defeat your enemies! 2 players, could be modified to account for more.
To play, the following will be needed:
-At least one “Account” card for each player
Each account card represents who you are playing as from the Rebel Faction. Each card gives you bonuses or weaknesses, special abilities, or so forth, and will greatly shape how you play the game.
-One deck of “Asset” cards for each player, assembled as the player sees fit.
Asset cards are drawn every turn and kept in the player’s hand. Assets come in three types - planets, which are played at the beginning of the turn to provide resources, characters, which are used to attack the other player or defend your homeworld, and OOC, special cards used to unconventionally harm the other player or benefit you. No more than nine planet cards may be in this deck, and no two of the same character card if it is marked ‘Unique’.
-At least one “Homeworld” card for each player
Your homeworld is one planet asset card chosen at the beginning of the game by the player. It will provide the initial resources and must be protected - losing the homeworld means losing the game.
-One die
Some special cards or abilities make use of a die, so one should be on hand. A die is also used to determine wether a card’s fight will be resolved this turn, making it important.
-Tokens or damage counters.
Some special cards or abilities have long-term effects that players need to keep track of.
*Playing the game*
At the start of the game, each player places their homeworld face-up in front of them. They then draw a starting hand of six asset cards from their deck. Each player will then take turns, determined by a die roll or perhaps a coin-flip. At the start of each turn, a player may draw a card from the asset deck and put down up to one planet, if there’s one in their hand.
After that, the player may play character cards, if they have the resources to use them. Once played, these cards go face up in front of the player, in front of the homeworld in an area designated “The Battlegrounds”. The meter requirement in the top left has to be paid before a character card can be used, and the amount of meters the player has to spend each turn is determined by their planets. This total refills every turn, but cannot be saved up.
For example, if your homeworld gives five hundred meters a turn, you could play two cards worth 250, one card worth 500, five cards worth 100, or so forth. A counter should be used to mark exhausted planets, and all characters being summoned should be put down at once to avoid any confusion about leftover ‘change’.
The next part of the turn is the “Roleplay” phase. The player whose turn it is can attack with any characters they have played, so long as they were NOT bought this turn. They may also use OOC attacks by spending “words”, the second resource on a planet card. These OOC attacks would come either before, during, or after any character attacks the player might make, according to the wording of the card.
If a player does choose to attack, they move their chosen attacking characters forwards, and the opposing player moves his or her characters forwards as well to defend. The defender chooses which characters will fight who, and can choose to not block attackers or to gang up on one or more. Some cards affect this, however, especially OOC cards that might be played at this time - in that case, whatever the card says should be applied.
When characters fight, first, a die is rolled for each separate fight - on a one or two, the cards stay committed, but the fight is not resolved this turn because of roleplayer bickering. Next turn, they may roll again, but no new combatants may join that particular fight unless an OOC card specifically allows it. How the fight is resolved is explained under “Assets - characters” further down.
Any attackers that were not blocked may attack planets. To get to a player’s homeworld, they must first capture any other planets that player has played - planets shield the player’s homeworld. To do this, any and all unblocked characters are assigned to a planet or planets of the attacker’s choice. The total capture value (bottom left value on a character) of the attackers is compared to the planet’s capture value (The one on the left of the bottom left of the card), and if it equals or exceeds it, the planet is taken.
If there are no other planets, then the homeworld is instead directly attacked. Homeworlds use the homeworld value for their capture value (The one on the right of the bottom left of the card), making them harder to capture. Once again, any OOC cards the players have that could help them here can be played.
Finally, once a fight is resolved, any captured planets are transferred to the other player’s discard pile (After being taken, a planet is too beat up to be of any worth). Any defeated characters got to the appropriate discard pile, as do any OOC cards that don’t specify they have an ongoing effect. Any characters who participated in the battle cannot be used on the next player’s turn to attack or defend, and any fights bogged down by OOC arguments have markers placed on them, to be dealt with next turn. All attacks must happen at once, meaning that the characters cannot attack again after attacks were declared, and any characters not sent in during the initial attack cannot attack any more on that turn.
Play continues until one player’s homeworld is taken!
*Account Cards*
Each player only gets one account card, chosen at the start of the game. Some abilities or OOC cards might affect them, or change this, but normally the player sticks with one the whole game. If an account card has an ability that can be ‘activated’, and is not simply passive such as a gameplay bonus or additional draws, then this ability is activated during the Roleplay phase.
Each account comes with a title, and a faction, like a character card. Titles only matter in determining special effects, and are unique to each character.
Example: Omnae is a Veteran Admin. Dolash is a Veteran Mod. That means that Dolash’s special weakness, ‘Kneels before Zod’, comes into play because Omnae is a Veteran. Also, Dolash can use Staff Ruling OOC cards without having to pay double the cost (as none-staff members do), but Omnae is an Admin, meaning his Staff Ruling cards override Dolash’s.
Some accounts also have special abilities, such as Affinitiy. These abilities are marked by * either side, and are abilities common enough not to need constant restating. They will be detailed in the rules later, with the release of the cards.
*Faction*
The faction determines which cards the player can play, only gaining the use of cards of other factions according to special abilities or OOC cards.
Example: Dolash is a Coalition account - he can play Coalition cards without penalty. Also, the Coalition is lightside (denoted by a colored mark next to the Coalition symbol), so he can play any other lightside card for twice the price in meters or words. This does not affect his choice of planets, either for homeworld or to play each turn. Some cards will let him use Neutrals, or other Lightsides without penalty, but he cannot use Darkside cards.
Faction is determined by the background colour of the card. Universal cards are not affected by faction and can be played by anyone. A universal account can play any card.
*Asset Cards*
Asset cards are the meat and potatoes of this game, and come in three varieties: Planets, Characters, and OOC.
*Planets*
Each planet gives a player a certain number of meters and words every turn, to buy characters and use OOC cards. Some also have special effects or abilities - if an ability must be activated, that planet cannot be used that turn to buy characters or OOC powers. Sometimes these can only be made available if the planet is your homeworld.
Example: Azguard has a passive ability that makes Azguard cards cheaper. If it is your homeworld, and you are playing Dolash, you can revive any Azguard card by discarding two cards from your hand.
Planets that are captured by an enemy player are discarded, although there might be an OOC card to bring them back into play. Only one planet can be played a turn. All of a defender’s planets have to be taken before the homeworld can be attacked.
*Characters*
Characters are used to capture planets, destroy enemy characters, and take the enemy homeworld. Each character costs a certain number of meters to play, and cannot attack on the same turn they are bought. Characters are roughly split into two groups - Fleeters, and Individuals.
Fleeters are whole fleets, meaning they can fight other characters and take planets. Individuals, however, cannot take planets, they can only fight characters. An individual can be combined with a fleet, however, meaning that any attempt to block the fleet means fighting the individual as well. Only one individual can be combined with a fleet at any one time, and this can only be done during the Roleplay phase, before any attacks are declared.
Example: Regrad is an individual. Azguard Warfleet is a fleeter. Regrad cannot take planets. He can attack or defend alone, however, and fight other characters, wether they be fleeters or individuals. To increase his effectiveness, he can be combined with the Azguard Warfleet - now any character or characters that tries to block the Azguard warfleet faces their combined strength. Regrad’s “Visionary” ability can be used as part of the fleet, but it also uses the fleet’s turn as well as his, so neither can attack that turn (They can defend if another player attacks on their next turn). As the ability means he can do nothing more that turn, he could not leave the fleet, use the ability, then rejoin - individuals may only join/leave a fleet once a turn. Once he has done so, he is stuck where he is until the next turn.
To work out character combat, the total combat value of the characters on either side of the fight is made a total, then each side rolls a die, and adds that. The higher number wins, and the defeated cards are discarded. The winner can do nothing else that turn, and can’t defend during the opposing player’s turn.
When taking a planet, the capture total of the characters is simply tallied up, and no die is rolled. If it is too low, the planet is not taken.
Characters marked as unique in their title may be discarded when defeated, but the controlling player may pay double what they originally payed for the character to return it to life - if it is of the same alignment but a different faction, they will be paying four times its’ normal cost. Titles also affect some special character abilities, passive abilities, or OOC cards - read them carefully.
Faction is also important to characters - the background colour shows what faction they belong to, as well as the symbol in the top right, and wether they are light, dark, or neutral. In rare cases, a character might have a different or even opposite alignment to the rest of their faction - this card may still be played if the account card is universal/of the same faction, but cannot be played at double the cost as other members of the faction can be by accounts of the same alignment
Example: Gash is a Jedi, but can only be played by a Jedi account due to his Darkside alignment. The Coalition can generally pay double to employ Jedi characters, because they are lightsided, but not Gash, because of his darkness.
*OOC*
OOC cards involve all manner of unique abilities or powers, that affect the game based on faction, title, what account is being played, what homeworld is in use, and more. Most are not faction specific, although some are title specific - Mod cards cost double for those whos accounts are not mods or admins, and admin cards cost double for anyone but admins. Troublemakers are the only ones who don’t pay double for troublemaker cards, and so forth.
Cards which say “Persistent” remain in play until a condition the card specifies is met, or until another OOC card is used to counter it. None-combat cards, such as 5000 Words, must be used BEFORE any combat, while post-combat cards, such as Back From Vacation” must be played BEFORE the player declares the end of the turn, but AFTER the fight.
*In Conclusion...*
That’s all there is to it! Go out there, pick yourself an account, some characters, a couple planets, maybe a sprinking of OOC, and start setting the galaxy right!
I've even got some example cards attatched to this file. So, tell me what you think!
Here's the rules:
TRF: The Card Game.
The objective of the game is to dominate the galaxy by defeating your enemy’s fleet and taking his or her’s homeworld in a simulation of the online world of The Rebel Faction. To do this, you will take on the role of one of the Rebel Faction’s writers, field some of its’ best known characters, and employ special abilities to defeat your enemies! 2 players, could be modified to account for more.
To play, the following will be needed:
-At least one “Account” card for each player
Each account card represents who you are playing as from the Rebel Faction. Each card gives you bonuses or weaknesses, special abilities, or so forth, and will greatly shape how you play the game.
-One deck of “Asset” cards for each player, assembled as the player sees fit.
Asset cards are drawn every turn and kept in the player’s hand. Assets come in three types - planets, which are played at the beginning of the turn to provide resources, characters, which are used to attack the other player or defend your homeworld, and OOC, special cards used to unconventionally harm the other player or benefit you. No more than nine planet cards may be in this deck, and no two of the same character card if it is marked ‘Unique’.
-At least one “Homeworld” card for each player
Your homeworld is one planet asset card chosen at the beginning of the game by the player. It will provide the initial resources and must be protected - losing the homeworld means losing the game.
-One die
Some special cards or abilities make use of a die, so one should be on hand. A die is also used to determine wether a card’s fight will be resolved this turn, making it important.
-Tokens or damage counters.
Some special cards or abilities have long-term effects that players need to keep track of.
*Playing the game*
At the start of the game, each player places their homeworld face-up in front of them. They then draw a starting hand of six asset cards from their deck. Each player will then take turns, determined by a die roll or perhaps a coin-flip. At the start of each turn, a player may draw a card from the asset deck and put down up to one planet, if there’s one in their hand.
After that, the player may play character cards, if they have the resources to use them. Once played, these cards go face up in front of the player, in front of the homeworld in an area designated “The Battlegrounds”. The meter requirement in the top left has to be paid before a character card can be used, and the amount of meters the player has to spend each turn is determined by their planets. This total refills every turn, but cannot be saved up.
For example, if your homeworld gives five hundred meters a turn, you could play two cards worth 250, one card worth 500, five cards worth 100, or so forth. A counter should be used to mark exhausted planets, and all characters being summoned should be put down at once to avoid any confusion about leftover ‘change’.
The next part of the turn is the “Roleplay” phase. The player whose turn it is can attack with any characters they have played, so long as they were NOT bought this turn. They may also use OOC attacks by spending “words”, the second resource on a planet card. These OOC attacks would come either before, during, or after any character attacks the player might make, according to the wording of the card.
If a player does choose to attack, they move their chosen attacking characters forwards, and the opposing player moves his or her characters forwards as well to defend. The defender chooses which characters will fight who, and can choose to not block attackers or to gang up on one or more. Some cards affect this, however, especially OOC cards that might be played at this time - in that case, whatever the card says should be applied.
When characters fight, first, a die is rolled for each separate fight - on a one or two, the cards stay committed, but the fight is not resolved this turn because of roleplayer bickering. Next turn, they may roll again, but no new combatants may join that particular fight unless an OOC card specifically allows it. How the fight is resolved is explained under “Assets - characters” further down.
Any attackers that were not blocked may attack planets. To get to a player’s homeworld, they must first capture any other planets that player has played - planets shield the player’s homeworld. To do this, any and all unblocked characters are assigned to a planet or planets of the attacker’s choice. The total capture value (bottom left value on a character) of the attackers is compared to the planet’s capture value (The one on the left of the bottom left of the card), and if it equals or exceeds it, the planet is taken.
If there are no other planets, then the homeworld is instead directly attacked. Homeworlds use the homeworld value for their capture value (The one on the right of the bottom left of the card), making them harder to capture. Once again, any OOC cards the players have that could help them here can be played.
Finally, once a fight is resolved, any captured planets are transferred to the other player’s discard pile (After being taken, a planet is too beat up to be of any worth). Any defeated characters got to the appropriate discard pile, as do any OOC cards that don’t specify they have an ongoing effect. Any characters who participated in the battle cannot be used on the next player’s turn to attack or defend, and any fights bogged down by OOC arguments have markers placed on them, to be dealt with next turn. All attacks must happen at once, meaning that the characters cannot attack again after attacks were declared, and any characters not sent in during the initial attack cannot attack any more on that turn.
Play continues until one player’s homeworld is taken!
*Account Cards*
Each player only gets one account card, chosen at the start of the game. Some abilities or OOC cards might affect them, or change this, but normally the player sticks with one the whole game. If an account card has an ability that can be ‘activated’, and is not simply passive such as a gameplay bonus or additional draws, then this ability is activated during the Roleplay phase.
Each account comes with a title, and a faction, like a character card. Titles only matter in determining special effects, and are unique to each character.
Example: Omnae is a Veteran Admin. Dolash is a Veteran Mod. That means that Dolash’s special weakness, ‘Kneels before Zod’, comes into play because Omnae is a Veteran. Also, Dolash can use Staff Ruling OOC cards without having to pay double the cost (as none-staff members do), but Omnae is an Admin, meaning his Staff Ruling cards override Dolash’s.
Some accounts also have special abilities, such as Affinitiy. These abilities are marked by * either side, and are abilities common enough not to need constant restating. They will be detailed in the rules later, with the release of the cards.
*Faction*
The faction determines which cards the player can play, only gaining the use of cards of other factions according to special abilities or OOC cards.
Example: Dolash is a Coalition account - he can play Coalition cards without penalty. Also, the Coalition is lightside (denoted by a colored mark next to the Coalition symbol), so he can play any other lightside card for twice the price in meters or words. This does not affect his choice of planets, either for homeworld or to play each turn. Some cards will let him use Neutrals, or other Lightsides without penalty, but he cannot use Darkside cards.
Faction is determined by the background colour of the card. Universal cards are not affected by faction and can be played by anyone. A universal account can play any card.
*Asset Cards*
Asset cards are the meat and potatoes of this game, and come in three varieties: Planets, Characters, and OOC.
*Planets*
Each planet gives a player a certain number of meters and words every turn, to buy characters and use OOC cards. Some also have special effects or abilities - if an ability must be activated, that planet cannot be used that turn to buy characters or OOC powers. Sometimes these can only be made available if the planet is your homeworld.
Example: Azguard has a passive ability that makes Azguard cards cheaper. If it is your homeworld, and you are playing Dolash, you can revive any Azguard card by discarding two cards from your hand.
Planets that are captured by an enemy player are discarded, although there might be an OOC card to bring them back into play. Only one planet can be played a turn. All of a defender’s planets have to be taken before the homeworld can be attacked.
*Characters*
Characters are used to capture planets, destroy enemy characters, and take the enemy homeworld. Each character costs a certain number of meters to play, and cannot attack on the same turn they are bought. Characters are roughly split into two groups - Fleeters, and Individuals.
Fleeters are whole fleets, meaning they can fight other characters and take planets. Individuals, however, cannot take planets, they can only fight characters. An individual can be combined with a fleet, however, meaning that any attempt to block the fleet means fighting the individual as well. Only one individual can be combined with a fleet at any one time, and this can only be done during the Roleplay phase, before any attacks are declared.
Example: Regrad is an individual. Azguard Warfleet is a fleeter. Regrad cannot take planets. He can attack or defend alone, however, and fight other characters, wether they be fleeters or individuals. To increase his effectiveness, he can be combined with the Azguard Warfleet - now any character or characters that tries to block the Azguard warfleet faces their combined strength. Regrad’s “Visionary” ability can be used as part of the fleet, but it also uses the fleet’s turn as well as his, so neither can attack that turn (They can defend if another player attacks on their next turn). As the ability means he can do nothing more that turn, he could not leave the fleet, use the ability, then rejoin - individuals may only join/leave a fleet once a turn. Once he has done so, he is stuck where he is until the next turn.
To work out character combat, the total combat value of the characters on either side of the fight is made a total, then each side rolls a die, and adds that. The higher number wins, and the defeated cards are discarded. The winner can do nothing else that turn, and can’t defend during the opposing player’s turn.
When taking a planet, the capture total of the characters is simply tallied up, and no die is rolled. If it is too low, the planet is not taken.
Characters marked as unique in their title may be discarded when defeated, but the controlling player may pay double what they originally payed for the character to return it to life - if it is of the same alignment but a different faction, they will be paying four times its’ normal cost. Titles also affect some special character abilities, passive abilities, or OOC cards - read them carefully.
Faction is also important to characters - the background colour shows what faction they belong to, as well as the symbol in the top right, and wether they are light, dark, or neutral. In rare cases, a character might have a different or even opposite alignment to the rest of their faction - this card may still be played if the account card is universal/of the same faction, but cannot be played at double the cost as other members of the faction can be by accounts of the same alignment
Example: Gash is a Jedi, but can only be played by a Jedi account due to his Darkside alignment. The Coalition can generally pay double to employ Jedi characters, because they are lightsided, but not Gash, because of his darkness.
*OOC*
OOC cards involve all manner of unique abilities or powers, that affect the game based on faction, title, what account is being played, what homeworld is in use, and more. Most are not faction specific, although some are title specific - Mod cards cost double for those whos accounts are not mods or admins, and admin cards cost double for anyone but admins. Troublemakers are the only ones who don’t pay double for troublemaker cards, and so forth.
Cards which say “Persistent” remain in play until a condition the card specifies is met, or until another OOC card is used to counter it. None-combat cards, such as 5000 Words, must be used BEFORE any combat, while post-combat cards, such as Back From Vacation” must be played BEFORE the player declares the end of the turn, but AFTER the fight.
*In Conclusion...*
That’s all there is to it! Go out there, pick yourself an account, some characters, a couple planets, maybe a sprinking of OOC, and start setting the galaxy right!
I've even got some example cards attatched to this file. So, tell me what you think!
