Looney Labs Fluxx Mailing list Archive

Re: [Fluxx] Thoughts on new Eco-Fluxx cards

  • FromAndy Looney <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateFri, 06 Nov 2009 16:27:27 -0400
Hey Bryan! As usual, you have many interesting ideas. But we're also way ahead of you. We're currently in production on version 2 of EcoFluxx, which will include 16 new cards, 3 of which will be Creepers.

I see where you're going with using Eco-Creepers as parts of Goals -- it's pretty clever, actually -- but it doesn't seem right to me that a Forest Fire or a Drought should be a Goal in EcoFluxx.

Fire as such also doesn't seem like a Creeper to me. (There's one version of Fluxx in which it's a Keeper, after all.) Moreover, I don't know if you've ever been out in the woods without matches or a lighter, but judging from what I've seen on Survivor, Fire can be a very tough thing to obtain in the wilderness. Small fires die easily, and controlled fires were mankind's first and most important tool. Fire just doesn't fit the Creeper profile. Creepers show up unbidden, whether you want them or not. Keepers are things you have to work to obtain, are easy to lose, and are sorely missed when gone.

That said, a big, out-of-control Fire, like a Forest Fire -- well, sure, that's a Creeper.

So rather than a generic Disaster Creeper, the Creepers will be specific disasters: Forest Fire, Drought, and Flood.

And here's the extra twist: In EcoFluxx, the Creepers don't just prevent you from winning. They prevent EVERYONE from winning. They all say "Nobody can win while this card is on the table." After all, a disaster affects everyone, so no one can win if there's a Forest Fire raging. And while Creepers in other versions are usually bad but occasionally good, the Eco-Creepers are always bad. That's why there'll be just a few of them, plus they're all designed to dispose of themselves quickly: Forest Fire burns itself out after destroying your other stuff (akin to Death in Fluxx 4.0), Flood is passed from player to player and goes away after it's been all the way around the table, and Drought is automatically discarded if Water or Flood are in play.

Of course, EcoFluxx 2.0 will be packaged in the great new two-part box everything is being done in now, and will feature awesome new color artwork done by Derek Ring (the Zombie Fluxx artist) based on Alison's detailed originals. Derek's been sending us the first of the finished pieces this week, and they look AMAZING.

The new EcoFluxx will also include 4 new Keepers, a bunch of new and revised Goals, a cool new Rule, and a new Action.

The new EcoFluxx will go on sale on February 26th.

-- Andy Looney


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