CCGs, They is Evolvin'

Has anybody noticed that they don't make CCGs the way they used to?
No, I don't mean that the old CCGs that I remember from when I was a
boy were made of iron and today's games are made of plastic... I mean
when I first got into playing, every game was a twist on Magic.

Magic is a simple game when you just look at the basics - well, Magic
was simple until the game had added to it rules clarifications, errata, hid-
den loopholes and secret nuggets. You use the cards in your deck to
reduce your opponent's life points to zero. Pretty straightforward, no?

Then it seemed that every game that came out after Magic's success
was a variation on that theme. Most games had monsters that caused your
opponent damage - they even tapped when you used them - and sup-
plemental cards to make the creatures stronger (Magic calls these "enchant-
ments"). There were items and objects that weren't monsters (read

"artifacts"), cards with effects that must be
played on your turn (read "sorceries") and cards
that had effects that could be played whenever
(read "instants"). Games tried to put cute spins
on the Magic theme. Maybe you got to vote
with your opponents, maybe lands were treated
differently, but games were designed along
Magic's premise. Hell, playtesting late one night
we read a preliminary rulebook to a game
(which will remain nameless) that still had
Magic's terminology in it.

Nowadays, however, most of the high-pro-
file games coming out are based on storytelling,
where you don't need to kill your opponent
necessarily, but you're trying to move along a
"plotline" and accomplish certain goals. Mid-
dle-earth was the first game to get this system
working right, after Star Trek: TNG's awkward
attempt, and now we've got Star Wars, Mythos,
and original series Star Trek and X-Files games.
The appeal of these games seems to be the fun
of getting into the adventure itself. In Mythos,
it's great fun to walk to a haunted mansion to
meet a certain ally and drive to an old crypt
because you know you can get a certain artifact
there. (Okay, we're still working with things like
"artifacts" and such here, but these storytelling
games are taking it to the next level.)

Maybe designers realized you can only go
so far with the kill-your-opponent theme.
That'd be my guess. As the next step, the new
storytelling games offer many more opportu-
nities to make you think and pretend you're
actually in the game environment. Almost
sounds like roleplaying, doesn't it? I wonder
if future games will require one player to act
as a dungeon master...

Douglas Goldstein
Special Editions Editor