Inspirations - npruehs/pinned-down GitHub Wiki
Game Design
Fans will note that Pinned Down is clearly inspired by the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game by Decipher Inc., definitely the greatest trading card game I've ever played. Credit must be paid.
The player fleets are led by a flagship of their choice and pass different locations on their journey. Their ships are enhanced by equipment and effects, and every time the players lose a fight, their ships get damaged and have to be repaired. They can overload their ships to gain special benefits, and there's no way of recovering destroyed ships at all. The stronger the players get, the greater is the opposition they have to face as they advance.
The main difference between the two games is that Pinned Down is cooperative, whereas Lord of the Rings obviously is not. Furthermore, there is no One Ring in Pinned Down of course, and no similar mechanic to protect (or corrupt) the flagship. Finally, there's no archery phase in Pinned Down, as all ships use long-range weapons, and there are no ally cards - the players support each other instead.
Other mechanics like cloaking ships, having them enhanced by their matching commander or reducing their attributes by damage cards are derived from similar mechanics in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, another great trading card game by Decipher. The initial version of Pinned Down contained some kind of location spaceline and additional challenges to be solved using the teamwork values of characters, too, but these mechanics have been removed because they didn't really seem to add fun to the game. The focus of Pinned Down clearly is on collaborating, on discussing decisions and planning the use of limited resources, as well as finding clever ship fight assignments.
The terms battle destiny and upkeep are borrowed from the Star Wars Customizable Card Game and Magic: The Gathering, respectively. Giving the players the chance to choose the location to jump to pretty much works like in Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, and the idea of assigning different roles to the players has been taken from Pandemic. Both are amazing (semi-)cooperative games that led to the idea of creating this game.
Card Lists
- Star Trek CCG: http://www.trekcc.org/1e/index.php?id=122
- Star Wars CCG: http://www.starwarsccg.org/cardlists/PremiereType.html
- Lord of the Rings TCG: http://lotrtcgwiki.com/wiki/start
World Design
Universes
- Wing Commander
- Babylon 5
- EVE Online
- Freelancer
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Conflict Freespace
- Battlestar Galactica
- Master of Orion
Races
- KILRATHI
- CENTAURI
- DRAKH
- TERRANS
- MINBARI
- NARN
- VORLONS
- AMARR
- CALDARI
- MINMATAR
- PAKMARRA
- ABBAI
- BRAKIRI
- DILGAR
- DRAZI
- GOBLYNS
- MARKAB
- VENDRIZI
- VREE
- DOMKAVASH
- AMACARIANS
- ANDORIANS
- ANTARANS
- ARCADIANS
- BAJORANS
- BOLIANS
- CARDASSIANS
- EDOSIANS
- FERENGI
- JEMHADAR
- KLINGONS
- ROMULANS
- VORTA
- ABYSSINS
- AMANIN
- ANSIONIANS
- ANZATI
- ARCONA
- ARKANIANS
- ARUZANS
- BOTHANS
- CAAMASI
- CATHAR
- DANTARI
- DROVIANS
- ELOMS
- EWOKS
- FEEORIN
- FERROANS
- GAMORREAN
- GENDAI
- GIZKA
- GORITH
- GOROG
- GUNGANS
- HABASSA
- HIMORANS
- HUMANS
- IRIDONIANS
- ITHORIANS
- KALEESH
- KELDOR
- KIRDANS
- LETAKI
- MANDALORIANS
- MIRIALAN
- CALAMARI
- PALOWICK
- PAUAN
- PSADAN
- QUERMIAN
- RAKATA
- ROONANS
- SAURIN
- SELKATH
- SITH
- SULLUSTAN
- TALORTAI
- THEELIN
- TOGORIANS
- TUNROTH
- TWILEK
- UTAI
- VAGAARI
- VEKNOIDS
- VODRANS
- VRATIX
- WHALADONS
- WOOKIES
- ZABRAK
- SHIVANS
- ALKARI
- MEKLARS
- BULRATHI
- MRRSHANS
- DARLOKS
- PSILONS
- ELERIANS
- SAKKRAS
- GNOLAMS
- SILICOIDS
- TRILARIANS
- KLACKONS
Ships
- Wing Commander: http://www.wcnews.com/ships/armadaconfed.shtml
- Babylon 5: http://www.shipschematics.net/b5/
- EVE Online: https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Item_Database:Ships
- Freelancer: http://www.discoverygc.com/wiki/Ship_Portal
- Conflict Freespace: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/FreeSpace_2_Ship_Database
- Battlestar Galactica
Ship Class Abbreviations
- TCS - Terran Capital Ship (Wing Commander)
- USS - United Stars Ships (Star Trek)
- IKC - Imperial Klingon Cruiser (Star Trek)
- GTC - Galactic Terran Cruiser (Freespace)
- SC - Shivan Cruiser (Freespace)
Empire Designations
- Federation (Star Trek)
- Republic (Babylon 5)
- Regime (Babylon 5)
- League (Babylon 5)
- Empire (Star Wars)
- Collective (Star Trek)
- Alliance (Star Trek)
- Dominion (Star Trek)