Genesis

(Why a card game? Theme versus mechanics.)

As a gamer, my tastes lean more towards eurogames than ameritrash (they really need to re-brand), meaning game mechanics come before theme. Yet this game started with the idea, "Hey, let's make a game based on Narbonic!" Thus I had my theme; now to think of mechanics that go with it.

Well, what do I think of when I think of Narbonic? I think of a character-based webcomic, the volumes of backstory, and the hilarious side of mad science. Following this line of thought doesn't get me very far, though I knew the players would play characters from the game.

Then I envisioned the game as a card game. This is a bit odd since, up to now, I've mostly thought up mechanics more appropriate to boardgames. But as a card game, things started clicking. Card games are naturally good at displaying the diverse Narbonic universe (think how big the M:TG universe must be by now) and showcasing a visual medium like a webcomic.

Though I've never heard the word "narrative" used in conjunction with board and card games, I think there's something in it. Almost all games with a theme at all have the players working toward some objective (victory conditions), usually reacting to the changing situation (game state). So what is the narrative of Narbonic? Told through Dave's eyes, it's an exploration of the wild, terrible, fantastic world of mad science, his losing battle between evil and how cool (read: geek-tastic) it is, and eventually his Breakthrough as a full-fledged maddy. For Helen, there's her constant attempts to prove herself against Madblood and the shadow of her mother, and then there's her romance with Dave and her inner conflict over saving him from madness. For Artie, it's a struggle to show that genius can be used for good as opposed to evil. For Mell, it's finding more things to blow up and more ways to blow them up.

I settled on a rather traditional theme: mad scientists trying to outdo each other. The trouble with personal drama and romance is that it's hard to do in the confines of a board or card game, and they belong more in the realm of RPGs, and that is already in the works. However, since each character has a different take on this theme, I think I can work with this.

Tomorrow, a closer look at the characters.