Cipher, Fluff, and Narrative Gamplay

[False Prophet]

The release of series 8 and the “Alternate Awakening” cards gives me something to think about Cipher, more specifically the topic of fluff and narrative gameplay.

First, let’s explain the words:

- Fluff: In layman’s term, it is all the background information in a game but only have a small interfere with the gameplay. Think of it like the novels, comics, animations of video games such as Halo.

- Narrative gameplay: In tabletop RPGs, it is the whole session itself - The story that the Game Master tells and the Players participate. However, in this case, I uses the word as it is understand in Wargames: Where there is a story/background/setting to the game session, and the session is deliberately modified to suit that narration. The modifications can be on the rules, the players’ choice, the scenery, etc.

So, why are these two important?

Let’s take Yu-gi-Oh to be our example. Despite sometime being unbalance and less than ideal for both casual and competitive play, how can such a TCG last so long? Fluff, or more exactly, the anime and manga (fluff). Almost all players started on as fans of the shows/comics. They buy their first pack to emulate the play of their favorite characters (narrative gameplay), before moving on toward a more competitive direction. There are even many who are not the fan of the game but instead a fan of the franchise for the supplemental materials.

The formula of a solid gameplay and an established setting, with multiple supplemental materials (manga, novel, anime) and the implement of those materials (not just seems to be a good idea with TCG, namely in the case of Magic: The Gathering and Yu-gi Oh. Of course, it is not always work (Force of Will, for example), but it does work most of the time.

So, I wish to ask these two questions:

- Will the developers of Cipher go on creating unique narrative to their cards? And will them be in the form of print-on (directly on the card, like Shinra Bansho) or supplemental materials?

- Will the player-base begin to adapt those narratives into their game?

[Flamy]

Answer 1: Possibly! I mean, this isn't quite the first time we had "alternative" cards to things. We've had Healing Hero, Wrys, and Vermillion Vortex, Minerva. You could also consider the new royals from Set 6 and 7 to be alternate forms, though it's really more of "post-Revelations". (Hence, why Corrin and Azura aren't really around.)

Answer 2: Probably not. See: Jariu.