Smarty's Land Now! A Table Top Card Game

[alphamule]

Orange pony sees optical illusion on pavement. Orange pony drowns. Hehe, nice reference.

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Got the table set up. I’m just about ready to release for testing into the wild. Got to tighten up the rules and get them posted into Table Top Simulator.

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I’m taking this project in a slightly different direction. I created a version I’m calling “Homeless Unicorns,” which I play tested with some people who knew nothing about fluffies.

The rules are basically the same, with a few modifications brought about by playtesting. The cards are slightly different (e.g. less gruesome and fluffycentric).

How to Win:

At the end of 3 rounds, players count their resources and assign points. The player with the most points wins:

• 1 point per nummies
• 2 points per foal
• 3 points per Unicorn
• X points per Territory, as listed on the card.

What you need to play

• Unicorn/Foal Tokens (15 x Single, 10 x Five tokens, 5 x Ten tokens)
• Event cards (121)
• Territory cards (14)
• Play mat per player
• Coin for flipping.

Play

Pregame Setup

• Assemble Playmat counters, if not done already.
• Deal 5 Territories cards, face up into Territory Area.
• For every additional player beyond 2, player, add 2 areas. You can play with up to 4 people.
• Shuffle together Events cards. Deal 5 cards to each player. Set your Morale counter to 5.
• Take 10 Unicorn/foal tokens. Put into Safe Place.
  • Decide how many Unicorns vs foals you want. You may start with no more than 8 foals.
• Set Nummies counter to 10 Nummies.
• Roll d10 to see who goes first. Play proceeds to the right.

Draw Phase

• If your morale is 0, start draw phase with 4 morale. (Unicorns have short memories and are rarely stymied for long.)
• Adjust your Morale for foals. (3 foals = 1 Morale, up to 10 morale)
• Adjust your Morale for Events or Territories in play.
• Everyone draws up to Morale. All other players who have a morale of 0 reset their morale to 4.

Plan Phase

• You may play any cards in your hand as the “Played” option. This includes permanent cards, such as special unicorns or permanent events.
• Announce Territory explorations by moving Unicorn tokens into territories. You must explore a territory if you want to gain nummies from it during your turn.
• Deal or Play Events to territories face down and one at a time until Events equals the Unicorns attempting to explore territory.
  • The current player may play the first event before dealing from the deck.
  • All players may play Events face down to territories, but are not required to do so.
  • “One at a time” proceeds to the player’s right.
  • If no player wants to add an event, deal Events face down from the deck.

Event Phase

• Flip over events at territories.
• Spend resources (Unicorns, cards, foals, morale) or cards in hand to cover or counter events.
• Any player may counter any event, either flipped or played.
  • Countered events and their counters are discarded without effect.
  • Counters may be countered, resolving with last played card first (e.g. Event A is countered by Player 2. Player 1 Counters Player 1’s counter, and Event A occurs)
• Territories are captured when you meet the following conditions:
  • You have played events equal to the number of Unicorns sent into the territory during the Plan Phase.
  • You have more Unicorns present than the Occupy listed on the card and more Unicorns than any other player has at that territory, individually, not combined.
• Unicorns remain at territories until moved either by Event or by Plan phase.
• Discarded Unicorn tokens go into a pile to count against morale at the end of event phase.
• Reduce Morale for lost Unicorns if necessary. Lose 1 morale for every 5 Unicorns lost.

Maintenance Phase

• Add Nummies based on territory held/events in play
• Count remaining Unicorns in all territories and safe place.
• Add half as many foals as you have Unicorns, rounding down.
• Promote previous foals to Unicorns by flipping foals to Unicorns.
• Subtract a nummy for every Unicorn and foal. For every nummy short, remove a foal or a Unicorn.
  • You may remove permanent Events played in this way. (Nummy finder, Story Friend, etc)
  • Reduce Morale for lost Unicorns if necessary. Lose 1 morale for every 5 Unicorns lost.
• Reduce/draw hand to morale. If your morale is 0, you may not play any more cards this turn.
• If this is the last player in this round, apply any Events and Territory specials before proceeding.

Resources

Unicorns

• Can explore territories.
• Can capture Territories
• Can be spent against events
• Produce Foals
• Consumes Nummies

Foals

• Raises morale at 3:1 during Planning Phase. (3 foals = 1 Morale, up to 10)
• Can be spent against events
• Promotes to Unicorns after 1 turn.

Nummies

• Reward for holding Territory
• Reward for Events
• Resource to maintain Unicorns

Morale

• Determines hand size
• During your turn, you should always have the maximum number of cards in your hand.
• Lose 1 morale for every 5 Unicorns lost.
• When Morale reaches 0, your turn is over. If you run out of Morale during your turn:
  • Complete your maintenance phase.
  • Reset your Morale to 4 and draw 4 Event cards.
  • You may not play any more cards this turn.

Territories

Territories are put into play at the start of the game. Territories have four pieces of information on them:

• Nummies: Number of nummies gained from taking territory
• Unicorns: Number of Unicorns required to take territory. This is also the minimum number of events at location.
• Special: Any special things about the area such as actions needed during maintenance phase
• Points: Value of territory at the end of the game.

The number of Unicorns needed to hold Territories is in addition to other players Unicorns in the territory. For example: If Player A has 3 Unicorns on a territory at the end of their turn and it takes 2 Unicorns to hold the territory, Player B need 4 Unicorns to take the territory. (2 to hold, 1 more to have more unicorns than the other player)

Events:

Events are the primary action cards. When events can be played:

The plan phase

• Events may be played face up to immediate effect before announcing Territory exploration.
• Events played after anoucing territory explormust be played face down into territories for the exploring player to encounter.

The event phase:

• The current player may play any event from their hand during the event phase.
• Follow the instructions on the event as they are turned over at areas.
• Counter events can be played by any player to counter events turned over during the exploration phase, or to counter events played by other players.

The maintenance phase:

Events may be played face up to immediate affect before the end of a player’s turn.

Event cards have the following information:

• As Played: Trigger an event, counter an event, gain resources.
• As Event: What resources must be spent/are gained from card as territory event
• Counters: What the card counters/ is countered by, if any.
  • You may counter a card in play if it is in your safe area, or in a territory.
• Event type: Abuse/Hugbox/Nummies/Neutral/Unicorn.
• Permanent Effect: Events that stay in play until countered, discarded, or destroyed have a checkered background.

Events that Count as Unicorns

A certain number of Event cards count as Unicorn or Foal tokens. They remain in play in your safe place, consume Nummies, and otherwise count as normal unicorns for scoring or morale purposes. They cannot attempt to take territories. They can be discarded due to a shortage of nummies or countered with their appropriate Event.

Glossary

• Abuse: Some people don’t like Unicorns and will make their lives miserable at any opportunity. Unicorns also abuse other Unicorns with as much zeal as their human counterparts. Abuse cards are red.
• Counters: Some cards counter others, meaning they nullify that card. Counters are resolved in the order they were played. A card played in a territory or a Safe Area can be countered during the Event phase.
• Counts as Unicorn: Some cards are counted as Unicorns and play into your safe area. Count these as you would tokens, meaning they consume Nummies like normal, and can be discarded as if they were tokens.
• Unicorn: A small Unicorn horse like creature that can speak a babyfied version of English. Everyone who wants one has one, so there’s a ton of homeless Unicorns running around. Unicorns explore territories, eat Nummies, and produce Foals. Unicorn cards are Purple.
• Foal: A baby Unicorn pony! Adorable, trusting and sweet. They’re almost too cute to look at. Bad things happen to them all the time, so don’t get too attached.
• Hugbox: Many good things happen to Unicorns. The people who love Unicorns are called hugboxers. Hugbox cards are blue.
• Morale: Morale determines hand size.
• Neutral : Sometimes things just happen. Things tend to happen a lot to Unicorns. Neutral cards are grey.
• Nummy: What Unicorns call food. A resource that feeds a Unicorn at the end of your turn. Nummies cards are green.
• Play into Territory/Safe Place: Some cards, identified by the checkered background, are played into a territory**,** meaning they stay there until countered or the game ends. These cards usually have a function that is activated every turn or round.
• Round: When every player has played one turn. Game plays to 3 rounds.
• Safe place : A staging area for Foals, Unicorns, and Nummies, as represented by the play mat. Safe is a relative term.
• Territory : A card in the middle of the table where Nummies are gained by controlling said territory. Territory cards are orange.
• Turn: A single run through of the four phases by a player.

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Here’s a revised card list:

Card Name	#	As Played	As Event	Counters	Countered By	Flavor Text
Abuser	1	Play into territory. All players lose 1 Unicorn per turn in this territory.	Play into territory. Lose 1 Unicorn. All players lose 1 Unicorn per turn in this territory during the maintenance phase.			Depending on State laws, Unicorn abuse can be anything from a felony all the way down to a ticket for littering.
Baby Nummies	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Player loses 1 Foal per maintenance phase.	Lose 1 Foal from Safe Place. Gain 1 nummies.			Unicorns taste great. Nobody likes to talk about it, but they’re delicious.
Bad Mummah	1	Take 1 Foals from another player’s safe place and place it into any player’s safe place.	Take 1 Foals from your Safe Place and place it into any other player’s safe place.			There’s plenty of Unicorn mummahs that think they’re excellent parents, but are really just factory for turning foals into corpses.
Cannibalism	1	You may exchange any number of Unicorns for Nummies in your safe space.	Lose 2 Unicorns from this Territory. Gain 2 Nummies. Lose 1 Morale.			There’s plenty of downsides to eating your own, but it does save on food costs.
Everything is Horrible!	2	Counter any hugbox event.	On this turn, counter the next hugbox event at this territory	Any Hugbox Event	Nothing Bad Happened!	It’s horrible, that’s what matters.
Foals for Food!	1	You may exchange any number of Foals for Nummies.	Any player with Unicorns in this territory may exchange Foals for Nummies. If any player does this, an equal number of other player’s Foals are exchanged for Nummies.			The Foals for Nummies programs was too successful in that it cause Unicorns to start kidnapping foals to exchange for Nummies.
Greedy	3	Target Player Loses 1 Nummies	Lose 1 Nummies		Rasberries	Unicorns are supposed to share and car, but not every unicorn got the memo.
Kick!	3	Target Player lose 1 Unicorn from a territory or Safe Place.	Lose 1 Unicorn from this territory.			Cruelty comes in many forms.
Horrible Dismemberment	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn token. Player loses 1 Morale during Draw phase.	Plays into territory. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Controlling Player loses 1 Morale during Draw phase.	Run Away!	Worstest Owies!	It’s not how time till weggies? it’s when. And the answer is never.
Racoons	3	Target Player loses 1 Foal.	Lose 1 Foal from Safe Place.			Raccoons love Unicorn foals. They’re the perfect size to take back to their kits.
Rasberries	1	Target player Loses 1 Morale and you Gain 1 Morale.	Lose 1 Morale. Another player at random gains 1 Morale.	Greedy		Though not intimidating to people, Unicorns often intimidate other Unicorns by blowing rasberries at them.
Snack Attack	1	Target player loses 1 Nummies. You gain 1 nummies.	Lose 1 Nummies. Another player at random gains 1 Nummies.			Unicorns steal food from each other all the time.
Unicorn Recycling	1	You may flip any number of your own Unicorns back to foals in your Safe Space	Any player may return Unicorns from this territory to their safe place as Foals. If any player does this, an equal number of other player’s Unicorns are returned to their safe space as Foals.	Unicorn Rescue	Unicorn Rescue	Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Worstest Owies	1	Player may spend Morale instead of Unicorns to resolve events this turn at a rate of 1 Morale per 3 Unicorns. Unicorns lost this way do not count for Unicorns lost during your maintenance phase.	Players may spend Unicorns in their Safe Place instead of Unicorns in this terriotry until the end of their turn.	Pillowed		Unicorns can take a lot of abuse, but are really big babies when it comes to minor injuries.
Adopted!	1	You may exchange any number of Foals for Morale at a rate of 3 Foals to 1 Morale	You may exchange any number of Foals for Morale at a rate of 3 Foals to 1 Morale		Hopeless Nihilism	Adoption is the ultimate goal of most programs, but successes are few and far between.
Discipline	2	All Players gain 1 Morale until end of turn.	All Players gain 1 Morale until end of round.	Nummy Thief		Discipline is the key to a Unicorn that will listen.
Free Candy!	2	You may exchange any number of Nummies for Unicorns this turn.	You may gain Unicorns instead of Nummies from this Territory this turn. These gained unicorns do not consume nummies for this turn.			Unicorns love candy. Giving a piece of candy to a stray unicorn will attract a herd of them.
Good Mummah	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Good Mummah may prevent 1 Foal loss per turn	Prevent all all Foal losses until the end of this round. Foals may not be exchanged or spent during this round.			Plenty of unicorns are unfit parents, and most are just okay, but the good mothers can raise generations.
Help!	2	Move up to 5 Unicorns from a Safe Place to a Territory.	Move up to 5 Unicorns from a Safe Place to this Territory.	Shortcut	Lost	Unicorns will often help other unicorns, even to the detriment of themselves.
Hope Spot	2	Counters any event that targets Morale	On this turn, counter any event that targets Morale	Any Morale effecting event		Hope is the gift you give yourself when all else is lost.
Huggies	3	Gain 1 Morale	Gain 1 Morale	Hopeless Nihlism		Huggies make everything better.
Nothing Bad Happened!	2	Counter any Abuse event	Counter the next Abuse event at this territory on this turn.	Any Abuse Event	Everything is Horrible!	Sometimes, nothing is the best thing that can happen.
Unicorn Rescue	1	You may exchange any number of your Unicorns from anywhere for Morale at a rate of 3 to 1.	Lose 1 Unicorn from this territory. Gain 1 Morale.	Unicorn Rescue	Unicorn Recyling	There’s plenty of organizations that rescue Unicorns, but it’s never enough. Donate today to support your local unicorn rescue!
Achievements in Ignorance	2	Counter any Neutral event	On this turn, counter the next Neutral event at this territory	Any Neutral Event		Unicorns aren’t known for their wits, and often find themsleves in inexplicable situations.
Car!	2	Target Player lose 2 Unicorns from a territory or Safe Place.	Lose 2 Unicorn from this Territory.			The car is the natural enemy of the slow moving Unicorn.
Colony Collapse	1	Target player loses 3 Foals from Safe Place.	Player loses 3 Foals from Safe Place	Lots of Babies!	Unicorn Growth Hormone	Certain pesticides target Unicorn foals, but its never enough to stop the homeless unicorn population.
Herd Raid	1	Take 1 Unicorn from another player’s safe place and place it into any player’s safe place.	Take 1 Unicorn from this Territory and place it into any player’s safe place.		Stray Dog	Herd raids seem like a good idea, but often lose more Unicorns than they gain.
Hopeless Nihilism	2	Target Player Loses 1 Morale	Lose 1 Morale	Adoption	Huggies!	Some Unicorns become aware of the futility and sadness of their exsistence. It’s usually fatal.
Lost	2	Move up to 5 Unicorns from a Territory to Safe Place.	Move up to 5 Unicorns from this Territory to Safe Place.	Help!	Shortcut	Unicorns are not known for their sense of direction
Nummies Stash	1	Counter an event targeting Nummies	Unicorns at this Territory do not consume Nummies this turn.	Starvation		Smart Unicorns know to stash nummies for lean times. Smarter Unicorns will also hide them from the herd because they know they can’t be trusted.
Run Away!	2	Counter any event. It is shuffled back into the draw pile along with any discards.	On this turn, you may counter any one event at this territory. It is shuffled back into the draw pile along with any discards.	Any	Horrible Mutiliation	He who fights and runs away, lives to run away another day.
Shortcut	2	Move up to 5 Unicorns from any Territory to another Territory.	Move up to 5 Unicorns from any Territory to this Territory.	Lost	Help!	Unicorns show up in the darndest places with no explaination how they got there.
Sickies	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Player loses 1 Unicorn per maintenance phase.	Play this card into territory. All players lose a unicorn here at the end of every turn.		Vaccinated	Unicorns have hardy immune systems, but when illness takes hold, it’s usually contagious and fatal.
Spay and Neuter Your Unicorn	1	Counter any Event that adds Foals	Play this card into territory. Unicorns at this territory do not add foals at the end of any turn.	Any Foals adding Event	Unicorn Growth Hormone	Bob Barker would have hated unicorns.
Starvation	1	Target territory produces 3 less nummies until the end of this turn.	This Territory does not produce Nummies this turn.	Any Nummies Event	Nummies Stash	Most unicorn herds lack the foresight to stash food for lean times.
Stray Dog	1	Play into Territory. All players lose 1 Unicorn per round in this territory.	Play into Territory. All players lose 1 Unicorn per round in this territory.	Herd Raid		Dogs are a massive threat to Unicorns. Dogs think they taste great, and they’re not wrong.
Unicorn Growth Hormone	1	You may flip any number of Foals to Unicorns in your Safe Space	Any Foals generated from Unicorns in this Territory are upgraded to Unicorns instead.	Spay an Neuter Your Unicorn		No one really knows why this was invented. Unicorns are fully independent at 10 weeks and can reproduce at 16 weeks.
Bad Nummies	2	Counters any Nummies event	On this turn, counter the next Nummies event at this territory.	Any Nummies Event		Just because it fits in your mouth doesn’t mean you should eat it.
Candy!	2	Gain 3 Nummies and 1 Morale	Gain 3 Nummies and 1 Morale			Unicorns love candy more than anything.
Fast Food	2	Gain 3 Nummies	Gain 3 Nummies			What child wouldn’t want to share a meal with their best friend?
Feast	1	Gain 4 Nummies	Gain 4 Nummies			Leaving out food for Unicorns feeds both the Unicorns and the local predator population.
Flowers	3	Gain 2 Nummies	Gain 2 Nummies			Some flowers are poisonous, but Unicorns don’t know that.
Grass	3	Gain 1 Nummies	Gain 1 Nummies			Though they don’t like it, Unicorns can survive entirely on grass.
Hay	2	Gain 3 Nummies	Gain 3 Nummies			A bale of hay will keep a herd in Nummies for a week.
Leftovers	3	Gain 2 Nummies	Gain 2 Nummies			Able to eat nearly anything, Unicorns make good use of wasted food.
Morsels	3	Gain 1 Nummies	Gain 1 Nummies			Every little bit counts.
Poison	2	Target player gains 2 Nummies. At the end of their next Maintenance phase, they lose 2 Unicorns.	Gain 2 Nummies. At the end of this Maintenance phase, lose 2 Unicorns.			Posions are especially effective against unicorns since they’ll eat anything they can get their mouths on.
Snacks	2	You may exchange any number of Nummies for Morale at a rate of 5 Nummies per 1 Morale.	You may gain Morale instead of Nummies from this Territory this turn at a rate of 5 Nummies per 1 Morale.			Snacks are a vital part of Unicorn’s mental health.
Spoilage	2	Target player Loses 2 Nummies	Lose 2 Nummies	Vaccination		Unicorns can digest most things, but even an iron stomach has its limits.
Trash nummies	3	Gain 1 Nummies	Gain 1 Nummies			Making the most of their envrionment, Unicorns compete with other scavengers.
Unicorn Milk	2	You may exchange an number of Nummies for Foals this turn.	You may gain Foals instead of Nummies from this Territory this turn. These gained Foals do not consume nummies for this turn.			Unicorn milk is high in fat, and makes for excellent ice cream.
Babies!	2	Gain 2 Foal at your Safe Place	Gain 2 Foals at your Safe Place			Where there’s one foal, there’s often another.
Baby!	3	Gain 1 foal at your Safe Place	Gain 1 foal at your Safe Place			A misplaced foal is a common sight, as Uncirons aren’t great at keeping track of things.
Fluffy Unicorn	3	Gain 1 Unicorn at your Safe Place.	Gain 1 Unicorn at this Territory.			Consumers prefered fluffy unicorns, and commanded a premium when Unicorns first became available.
Lots of babies!	1	Gain 3 foals at your Safe Place	Gain 3 foal at your Safe Place		Colony Collapse	It’s not uncommon to find abanadoned litters of Unicorn foals. Unicorns aren’t great parents.
New Friends	3	Gain 2 Unicorns at your Safe Place.	Gain 2 Unicorns at this Territory			Unicorns make friends easily.
Nummie Finder	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 2 Nummies during Draw phase.	Plays into player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 2 Nummies during Draw phase.			Nummy Finders are special unicorns with particuarly sesitive noses.
Nummy Thief	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player loses 1 Nummies during Draw phase.	Territory produces 2 less Nummies this turn.		Discipline	Unicorns are allegedly noble, but there’s always a few that hold no morales.
Princess Unicorn	3	Gain 1 Unicorn at your Safe Place.	Gain 1 Unicorn at this Territory.			Princess Unicorns are slightly larger, have shiner coats, and pointier horns. They are also more delicate and bossy.
Rejected	2	Counters any Unicorn event	On this turn, counter the next Unicorn event at this territory.	Any Unicorn Event		I don’t want to be your friend is the meanest thing you can say to a unicorn.
Soon Mummah	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 1 Foal during Draw phase.	Plays into player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 1 Foal during Draw phase.			Unicorns don’t know the word pregnant.
Story Friend	1	Plays into target player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 1 Morale during Draw phase.	Plays into player’s Safe Place. Counts as a Unicorn Token. Player gains 1 Morale during Draw phase.			Unicorns loves stories, and a few smart ones learn to tell their herds stories ofhow things were supposed to be.
Stray herd	2	Gain 3 Unicorns at your Safe Place.	Gain 3 Unicorns at this Territory			Roaming Unicorn herds are a real problem for areas trying to get rid of Unicorns.
Stress Eating	2	Target Player loses 2 Foals	Lose 2 Foals from Safe Place.			Unicorns, like hamsters, will eat their young when stressed. Or hungry. They’re not great parents.
Unicorn	3	Gain 1 Unicorn at your Safe Place.	Gain 1 Unicorn at this Territory.			Standard Unicorns are sturdy quadrapeds that resemble minature horses, despite having no equine DNA.
Vaccinated	1	Play into Safe Place. Vaccination prevents loss of 1 Unicorn per turn.	Play into territory. Vaccination prevents loss of 1 Unicorn per turn.	Sickies	Spoilage	Vaccination programs have greatly reduced the number of Unicorns dying from preventable diseases.

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Oh you want the cards too? Fine, check this shit out:

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Territories!

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Abuse Cards? Hell yes. I had to get rid of “Enfie Baby” and “Bad Special Hugs,” but hey, progress.

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Hugbox cards!

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Sometimes things just happen. That’s why we have Neutrals!

I don’t know why but this card always makes me laugh.

It’s stupid, but I really like this one.

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Lastly, we have the Nummies.

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The last thing is the play mat.

Everyone gets a mat. Cut out the spinners at the bottom and use chips for your unicorn tokens.

So what am I doing with this mess? Well, I can’t really sell it, since it’d be about $40 a game with the tokens, cards, and playmat. I think I’m just going to print up a few games for myself, make some boxes and leave them at my local board game bar to see if there’s anyone interested. But feel free to print out your own and let me know if you’ve played.

[Chikahiro]

Wow, you’ve been busy!

Still using Inkscape for everything?

I’ve been meaning to try VivaDesigner since it has a free version.

Designer

I like Affinity’s suite too, but not for me. I’m too used to Adobe’s stuff because of work.