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In the last set of new Fluxx cards I'd made -- Odds
and Ends -- I had several cards that dealt with the discard pile. Making
sure those cards work well was trickier than I'd have thought at first.
For example, "Retrieve 1 Keeper" and "Retrieve 1
Goal" would allow an easy win by getting a Keeper needed for the current Goal,
or vice versa. So I said the retrieved card could not be played in the
same turn -- it is set aside face up, and added to the hand after the turn is
over; that way the other players could see what might be coming and possibly do
something about it.
Even trickier was "Muckraking", which allows
players to draw from the top of the discard pile any time they may draw a
card. A simple thing, which we do in many games like Uno, but this might
break the game in Fluxx unless certain measures were taken:
First, make sure that all Action cards are
discarded *after* their action, just like they say in their instructions.
Otherwise, one could play Jackpot and draw 3 cards -- two from the draw pile,
and Jackpot from the top of the discard pile. If the current rule says
Play N, you'd get 2N cards in your turn; with Play All you could get the entire
draw pile. Discard and Draw would cause similar problems. Take
Another Turn would be worse -- you could take an unending number of turns in a
row. So, make sure you discard Jackpot *after* you draw 3, Take Another
Turn *after* your extra turn.
Second, specify an order for drawing and
discarding, especially when they have to do it simultaneously -- e.g. Hand
Limits or Eradication Bonus. When you can see the cards you may be
getting, it matters who draws when, or who discards when. Therefore on the
back of the title card for Odds and Ends I said that simultaneous drawing or
discarding should go in turn order, starting with the active player. (Of
course, anyone who does not actually discard, such as the active player during
Hand Limits, is skipped in this order.)
When playtesting Muckraking, I wondered if it was
too troublesome to include. But with the rules restrictions above, I think
it fits in fine. I was also comforted that
the issues with Muckraking also appear with Composting when the discard pile is
very small -- Alison described the strictness of Action discarding on this list
: http://lists.looneylabs.com/pipermail/fluxx/2005-November/000092.html .
You can still do some snarky things with Muckraking, like:
1. Play Steal a Keeper and
Taxation
2. Play Draw 2 and Use 'Em, play Steal
a Keeper and Taxation again.
3. Play Draw 3, Play 2 of Them to play
SaK and T a *third* time.
But this doesn't break the game like the perpetual
loop would. This kind of play is rare and should be applauded when people
think of it, rather than forbidden, IMO.
Any comments? Does drawing from the discard
pile sound fun or problematic? Do you think players should be able to draw
or discard in any order if the discard pile is available? Can you think of
any game-breaking situations I haven't thought of?
Bryan
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