Human Fodder, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Slaughter Human Adventurers for their Powerups

Greetings, Bearmasters!

Yesterday we talked about bears. Today we’re not going to talk about bears. Please do not be disappointed, for although they are not the topic of today’s discussion, the whole entire blog is bear themed. So if you need a fix of ursine goodness, just close your eyes, place your hand on the screen, and drink in the bear-scented atmosphere.

Today we’re going to talk about the source of the Bears’ power. With so many powerful and deadly Bears in the world, there are bound to be many adventurers who seek to slay these monsters. And the adventurers would undoubtedly prepare themselves by equipping powerful magic items. Little do these intrepid men and women know, the only thing that can slay a Bear is another Bear. As the waves of warriors wash upon the Bears’ deadly paws, their enchanted weapons are gnashed away and thrown aside. The Bears, infinite in their might and knowledge, take up these legendary  arms when engaging in the true conflict, the Great Bear War.

So translated into the terms of game mechanics, the majority of the cards in a deck are actually human adventurers that are trying to slaughter your bears. There are going to be two different types of adventurers (More bullets!):

•  Equips
•  Attacks

I will come up with creative names for ‘em later, but for now, let’s just focus on how they work. Equips are Adventurers that have magic items that the bear can pick up and use. These cards stay attached to your Bear and permanently increase its stats or grant special abilities. There are three types of Equips, and your bear can only wield one of each:

• Weapons
• Armor
• Accoutrements

Examples:
“Amulet of the Three-Armed Warrior (Accoutrement): Your Bear may attack one additional time each round.”
“Cleric’s Wand (Weapon) : Equipped Bear may sacrifice one attack each round to instead heal target bear by 5HP. [1AP cost]”

Equips can only be used on your turn.

The attacks are not always physical. There will be both aggressive and passive attack spells. They are also one-time use cards. They are usually cost fewer resources and have less of a long-term payoff, but they can be used at any time in a round, including your opponent’s turn.
Examples:
“Ancestral Horn: Target Bearmaster draws three cards”
“Dance of Madness: one target Bears cannot attack or use Bear Blasts on their controller’s next turn. [2AP} three target bears cannot attack or use Bear Blasts on their controller’s next turn.”
“Mage Armor: Increase one Bear’s Defense stat by 6 until the end of the round”

As you’ve seen, some cards have a prerequisite AP cost, while some have an optional increased cost to increase the magnitude of the effect. There is also another material cost for these cards which we will go over in Monday’s post.

Friday will from this day forth become LORE FRIDAY!. Every Friday I’ll be filling in the fictional world of BEAR GAME with history and flavor! Look forward to it.