This may be a bit too powerful. May lower it to once per game.

Playtesting Report

Playtesting went really well last night! In fact, it went much better that I expected!

In the first game the players did not purchase any relics and few intercession/sin cards. This concerned me, so in the second game I dropped the cost of these cards by 1 holy/unholy point. However, this created a situation where a player could run away with the game once they had control of all three souls in play (which seems to be a hard thing to do) and could purchase relics every turn while the other player was essentially shut out.

We changed the cost back for these card in the third game and the balance was excellent. The players were not purchasing relic and sin/intercession cards in the first game simply because they did not understand the advantages of doing so. And there are clearly advantages.

No one purchased single victory point cards, but the last game was determined by a single point, so if just two victory point cards were purchased the outcome would have been different. I think further playtesting will reveal that these cards can be an important element for the game.

Being able to draw a free intercession/sin card with two pair made for a really exciting and interesting dynamic and a few times a player had more than one hand with two pairs in a row on the same turn! This never created a runaway leader situation though, and to the contrary, it seems to be a path for getting out of a sticky situation by working to build a hand of two pairs.

Angel/devil cards are more difficult to gain then I thought they would be, but I'm not convinced this is a bad thing. They should be the most difficult thing to earn and when a player is able to earn one it brings with it a nice sense of accomplishment.

Order of play will be important, so I will need to include action order hint cards.

We also got a good sense of which special abilities were good and which were not so good, so I will be changing some of the card abilities for cards that did not make the grade, like Selaphiel's Thurible and a few others.

Now that I have a better sense of how gameplay actually unfolds, I can tweak card abilities to really accentuate the gameplay.

I am very excited about Battle For Souls after last night!

Michael The Archangel

First Playtest Results

I have the first prototype copies in and the first few games of Battle For Souls have actually gone better than expected.

We did not see the "runaway leader" problem that I was worried about and in each game the winner was only ahead by 3 to 5 points.

I have updated some of the devil powers. Some of the text was just too much and caused some confusion, so I will be working on simplifying the cards as much as possible without "dumbing down" the game.

For example, Beelzebub has a completely new power that simply allows the player to draw up to 6 cards into their hand each turn instead of 5. This is simple, desirable and worked better. I am using tape on the face of the cards to make changes as we play test to see what works the best.

I have changed the card  set rules and was happy with the set-building mechanic. It made for a lot of great decision points. Here are the new set-building rules. There are a lot of them, but shipping the game with a cheat sheet will alleviate any confusion for players until they memorize the rules.

• Pair: Allows a player to take a victory point card for each pair played, but they must be placed in the player’s discard pile
• Two Pair: Allows a player to take a Sin/Intercession card, draw up to a full hand and take another turn 
• Set of 3 different colors:  Allows the player to add 1 holy/unholy point to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color as any one of the cards played
• Set of 4 different colors: Allows the player to add 2 holy/unholy points to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color as any one of the cards played
• Set of 5 different colors: Allows the player to add 3 holy/unholy points to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color as any one of the cards played
• 3 of a kind: Allows the player to add 3 holy/unholy points to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color
• Full house (3 of a kind and 1 pair):  Allows the player to add 3 holy/unholy points to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color as one of the cards played, AND/OR gain a free holy/unholy relic card
• 4 of a kind:  Allows the player to add 4 holy/unholy points to a soul with a spiritual strength/mortal weakness of the same color, AND/OR gain a free holy/unholy relic card
• 5 of a kind: Allows the player to add 5 holy/unholy points to ANY soul, AND/OR gain a free holy/unholy relic card

Some of the above are new as we found that the Sin/Intercession and Relic cards were not being bought that often. Players went for souls and angels only, so the two pair and full house rewards were added to get these cards in the game more. I am looking forward to seeing how this works out. Another option is to lower the cost to buy the cards to pull them into the game more. Sets of different cards were the most prevailing, although we did see a bunch of 3 of a kind hands and a few full houses. But we did not really explore building our hands much, mostly players played what they could every turn, but discarding instead of playing may be a viable strategy to build better hands. We will see how this plays and maybe increase the rewards for 3 of a kind and above if the balance isn't there.

We also found people did not buy victory point cards, but I am not convinced they won't be part of a solid strategy. The close nature of the games we played means that incorporating the purchase of victory points cards into a strategy could have resulted in a different winner.

An interesting part of the game is that once you can get a single holy/unholy point on a soul it's easier to gain more points on that soul since there are more ways to add points than take them away. So any time the other side gets a point on a soul tensions rise to remove that point, or counter by getting a point on a remaining neutral soul. I have a thought that maybe we should make relic cards be what helps subtract points from the opposition?  

The mechanic does make for the feeling of a "battle" and fits the theme well. Also, when the other player does max out, or reap a soul, it did not seem to tilt the balance since when your opponent does this a new soul comes into play and you have first crack at it. Reap cards were also used to reset souls, which I though added a good balance mechanic. For example, if the soul draw favors your opponent because the colors needed match the angel/demon cards they have in play you can play reap to send the souls to purgatory and get fresh souls that you may have a better crack at. To eliminate a constant refreshing I incorporated a rule that to reap, the souls must have a minimum of 5 holy/unholy points in total in any combination. This seemed to work very well and I expect it will become a final rule.

The game seemed complex to some and there was a lot to think about once a player got a bunch of angel/devil cards down, and will become even more complex when multiple relic cards are in play as well. There are just a lot of abilities to keep track of, and if the complexity turns out to be too much, or if it causes too much analysis paralysis I will need to work on simplifying the game. 

One thought is to completely remove special abilities from angel and devil cards. Their natural ability to move a matching color on a soul's track once per turn, and the 3 victory points they are worth may be quite enough. This would also make Sin/Intercession and relic cards more interesting. This is a main point of focus for me right now as play speed will be important. I hope to do some videos soon so you can see more of what it is like, please share!

Sin Card Back Art

"Hell" by Dieric Bouts the Elder, Circa 1470

(click to enlarge)

Sin And Intercession Cards

Another option that players have in Battle For Souls is the purchase of Sin/Intercession cards. These cost 2 holy/unholy points and can be purchased after a player draws up to their 5 card limit. I am also considering allowing a free draw with some combination of cards (maybe a full house or 4 of a kind?).

There are two types of Sin/Temptation cards. The first type is worth 1 victory point, but the card also has a color that can be used to bring a player's hand to 6. These cards also have a special ability to add or subtract 2 holy/unholy points at the player's choice from multiple mortal weaknesses, heavenly virtues. A colored Sin/Intercession card can only be used on the current turn. In the case of the saints the cards are in synch with the spiritual path that each saint took in real life.

So for example, let's say my hand is two pair (orange and yellow) plus one green card and unfortunately, these colors do not match any of the souls in play. I can choose to pay 2 holy points for an Intercession card, which will add another card to my hand. If the card is St. Rita I would then have red in my hand as well. So for example, if one of the souls in play had the heavenly virtue of Patience I would play Rita with two different colors from my hand to gain one holy point on the red soul. I could then add 2 more holy points with Rita's special ability to this soul. These cards can only be played when drawn -- they are "use it, or lose it". After playing this hand Rita would have to be discarded to the player's private victory point pile to have the card's victory point counted at the end of the game, whether or not the card was used.

The second type of Sin/Intercession card is identified by its gray color, and these are not worth a victory point and cannot be used as a color to improve a player's hand. However, there is a trade off -- the player can choose to play the card's special ability immediately, or put it face up on their tableau for a future turn.

So gray Sin/Intercession cards can only be used once, but the player can hold onto it and play it on any turn they choose as opposed to the colored cards, which must be played on the same turn.

First prototypes have been shipped

The two prototypes of Battle for Souls I ordered have finally been completed by the printer and have been shipped. Hopefully, I will get them before Wednesday so I can bring it to my game group for its first play test!

I think I will buy some small white label stickers, this way I can change card text directly on the cards as we play and discover issues.