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From: Marcus Porter <marcus@cyberdude.com>
Due to popular (one actually) request, here is Jack Reda's
Elementals Rules and the postscript code I worked up
to print them.
Elementals
Copyright Jack Reda 1993
Elemental cards are designed to increase the potential for
good cards without increasing the number of cards. Each
elemental is divided into four categories. Each category
denotes a different card "value". These values can only be
used when the holder of the Elemental is involved in a
challenge. How he or she is involved dictates which value
they can use. The four categories are:
Fire Offensive main player
Water Defensive main player
Air Offensive ally
Earth Defensive ally
For example, the player may have an Elemental that looks like
this:
Fire Cosmic Zap
Water Reinforcement 3
Air Finder
Earth Allies gain rewards as if they were a main player.
If the player with this card was the offensive main player,
they may only use the value under "Fire". As long as they are
the Offensive main player that Elemental IS a cosmic zap.
They may not use it as a Reinforcement (water) as they are
not a defensive main player. For all intents and purposes,
when a player with an Elemental is involved in a challenge,
they are considered to be holding the value of the Elemental
(as if it were that actual card). This means that if someone
plays a Finder, looking for a Cosmic Zap, that Elemental is a
Cosmic Zap (so long as 1- the player is involved, 2- the
value matches his involvement, and 3- the value matches the
named card.) If this same player is Plagued, they may only
throw away the Elemental for the edict (it is still
considered a Cosmic Zap), and must do so if he does not hold
any other edicts. If he is Plagued, and the Elemental said
Attack 15 under "Fire", he could throw it away as the attack
card (since that is what it is at the moment), or a different
attack card he has one. If he does not use it, and becomes
(for example) the Defensive ally in a different challenge, he
may now only use the value under "Earth". A player with an
Elemental who is not involved in a challenge is not
considered to be holding any of the cards specified on the
Elemental. Elementals themselves may not be targeted as a
specific card type. For example, a player may not specify
that she is looking for "an Elemental" when playing a Finder
nor does the Plague cause a player to discard and Elemental
as one of every kind of card (though they may have to discard it if
they are involved in a challenge). A player using the Keeper may
not keep Elementals (unless they are involved in a challenge,
and the Elemental has a value of a card normally protected by
the keeper). A value on and Elemental may be a description of
a small benefit or action rather then the name of another
card. See the above example under "Earth"
Here is is the postcript I worked up (based on Ken Cox's stuff) to
print elementals along with the Elemental's we printed up for
play testing.
-------Snipity Snipity --------Cut here -------
%!%!
% PRINT ELEMENTAL CARDS
% version 1.0, August 1993
% Code copyrighted (C) 1993, Marcus Porter, nvmkp01@nt.com
% This software is freeware
% This code is meant inserted into Ken Cox's card printing routines
% after CARDS.PS and before the card descriptions. This is simply
% a modification of some of Ken's routines.
% Elementals
/ElemInfoDict 20 dict def
ElemInfoDict begin
/ElTitleFont /Helvetica findfont 8 scalefont def
/ElnameFont /Helvetica-Bold findfont 16 scalefont def
/ElboldFont /Helvetica-Bold findfont 8 scalefont def
/ElnoteFont /NewHelvetica findfont 8 scalefont def
/LeftMargin 15 def /RightMargin Width LeftMargin sub def
/LineLength RightMargin LeftMargin sub def
/Index {
.5 setgray
28 216 23 0 180 arc fill
.75 setgray
28 216 23 90 270 arc fill
1 setgray
28 216 23 180 360 arc fill
.25 setgray
28 216 23 270 360 arc fill
28 216 moveto
28 193 lineto
51 216 lineto
closepath fill
1 setgray
} def
/Title {
ElTitleFont setfont /Elypos 225 def
[(Fire=Offensive Main Player)
(Water=Defensive Main Player)
(Air=Offensive Ally)
(Earth=Defensive Ally)] { 54 Elypos Left /Elypos Elypos 8 sub def }
forall
} def
/Name { ElnameFont setfont (ELEMENTAL) Xcenter 175 Center
/Elypos 170 def } def
/Text {
/Elypos Elypos 15 sub def
ElboldFont setfont LeftMargin Elypos moveto show
ElnoteFont setfont currentpoint pop RightMargin exch sub exch
BreakLine show
/Elypos Elypos 9 sub def
{
dup length 0 eq { pop exit } if
LeftMargin Elypos moveto
LineLength exch BreakLine show
/Elypos Elypos 9 sub def
} loop
} def
end
/Elemental {
ElemInfoDict begin
NewCard ReversePrint
Index
Title
Name
save /Fsave exch def
3 index (Fire: ) Text
2 index (Water: ) Text
1 index (Air: ) Text
0 index (Earth: ) Text
Fsave restore
EndCard
4 { pop } repeat
end
} def
% End of card definitions!
% Here are some sample Elemental descriptions
Setup
(Emanual Cant\rwas a real pissant\rwho was very rarly stable.)
(Hideger, Hideger\rwas a boozy Begger\rwho could drink you under\
the table.)(David Hume\rcould out comsume\rWillheilm Freidrick\
Hagle.)(And Wicktenstein\rwas a beery swine\rwho was just as
schloshed as Shlagal) Elemental
(Compromise)(Attack 20)(Your tokens gain rewards as if the cone
were reversed\rPlay after the challenge is resolved)(You may give
Lucre to your ally.) Elemental
(Kicker 2)(Compromise)(Reinforcement 3)(Cosmic Zap) Elemental
(Mobius Tubes)(Unzap)(Space Junk)(Reinforcement 2) Elemental
(Attack -5)(Kicker 1)(You may cause any Super Flare to become
it\251s wild as it is played. The flare is discarded even if
unplayable.)(Reinforcement 1) Elemental
(Attack 15)(Finder)(Flare Zap)(Unzap) Elemental
(Rebirth)(Emotion Control)(Your tokens are worth double this
challenge)(Breach) Elemental
(Kicker -3)(Reinforcement 4)(Edict Zap)(New Moon) Elemental
(Hand Zap)(Kicker 3)(Draw two cards from the deck as soon as you
have allied)(Lose no tokens as a result of the outcome of this
challenge) Elemental
(Solar Wind)(Victory Boon)(Cosmic Zap)(Collect 5 Lucre) Elemental
Finished
-----snip snip -----
Marcus Porter | The opinions expressed herein are entirely my own and
marcus@cyberdude.com | not in any way those of Northern Telecom or BCI Inc.
"All men naturally desire knowledge." - Aristotle, Greek philospher
(384-322)