Hey guys -
A friend and I started Shadow Era with the physical cards sold at our local game store. We fell in love with it, based on the cost, and the fact that is wasn't Magic: The Gathering. It seemed, as far as card games go, harder to make one or two game breaking decks out of the set, making it more newb friendly. In addition, I couldn't seem to find an exhaustive rules document on shadowera.com .
However, starting with this friend and a couple of other people we've recruited since then, as we had read over the Quick Start Rules, we were confused about a number of things. Granted, playing the game online clarifies a lot as the computer prevents you from doing anything against the rules. However, for people we recruit who are only interested in the physical cards, this could become problematic. In my humble opinion, the quick start rules could be written better and have more explanation about specifics. I know they're "quick start," but it's simply not enough for us to make big gameplay errors. For instance:
-Sacrifice does not specify that the chosen card must come from your hand, or from any specific place.
-The method of randomly choosing who goes first. Most card games allow the winner of a roll-off to choose whether they go first or not. Shadow Era's rules *should* specify the winner of a roll-off must go first.
-The use of cards that incorporate the use of an opponent's card, like "Transference", needs to specify that when sent to a graveyard, they are sent to the original owner's graveyard.
-Action Phase. The description should specify that one can cast cards, use abilities, and attack in any order as long as it is legal to do so (not being legal as in an exhausted card using abilities).
- "More About Combat" ... doesn't explain effectively how defense works and how order of attacks go. For instance, Magic: The Gathering veterans are likely to read this and believe that combat acts very much like it does in Magic. Attacking "Allies" implies that your attackers hit the allies as a group, and defenders react based on who the player wants to take the hits. The rules ought to say, "When attacking with an ally or hero, you can choose an attacker's target to be your opponent's hero or any of their allies. You may attack in any order you wish." ...also, "Target will defend" may mean the target card *must* defend, but the wording leaves room for questions. It should just say "target must defend".
-Elemental Damage, and damage types. Isn't described in the quick start rules, but is all over the cards. I have yet to see a gameplay mechanic that incorporates damage types, such as sword, claw, or elements. So what purpose do they serve? If nothing else, specify that it has no effect on gameplay currently, but may be used in future versions of the game.
Not trying to be a negative nancy, I'm just offering up some constructive criticism. We love the game and hope it continues to grow with the physical copies.
