GO ONLINE WITH LORD OF THE RINGS TCG

by Tom Lischke, Decipher Senior Game Designer

This article appears on p. 11 of the "Scrye presents The Lord of the Rings: Your guide to gaming in Middle-earth" special edition of Scrye Magazine and is reprinted with permission.

Hankering for some late-night Cave Troll of Moria action? Can't find anyone to Hate at 8 on a Tuesday morning? Frozen by Fear at the prospect of driving two hours for a DGMA-sanctioned tournament? Is the number too few for a good multi-player game? Help is on the way, for a new way to play draws near.

Decipher and Worlds Apart Productions have teamed up to bring the magic of The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game to your computer. Scheduled for release in the first quarter of next year, The Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game will expand your LotR TCG universe, offering opponents from all over the world, any time of day or night.

The online game will consist of a single piece of software that includes an on- or off-line deck builder, a variety of means to facilitate secure trading, and special collector and collection-management features for both your physical and digital cards. Best of all, the game will be able to be played on computers supporting both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

"One of our goals is a high degree of user customizability," said Scott Martins, lead designer for Worlds Apart. "We're looking for as many ways as we can to give the player a choice for the initial launch, from playmat and card presentation to customizable culture-themed skins for the interface."

Plans include support for a variety of play formats, including unlimited number multi-player games, sealed-deck, and booster-draft play, as well as special-event formats such as Highlander and Culture Shock. In addition to tutorials and strong support for new and casual players, you can look forward to high-end tournament action, with automated, around-the-clock tournament support that integrates with your real-world DGMA rankings.

The online game will feature full enforcement of the LotR TCG rules. Rules enforcement and management of gameflow serves a couple of purposes. It provides a great learning tool for new and intermediate players -- the infrastructure for rules enforcement allows the software to provide visual cues as to what cards can be played or activated during a phase, as well as highlighting valid targets for those cards.

Martins added, "The automated moderation provided by the rules engine not only helps with being able to support online tournament play more efficiently, but also helps to decrease the impact that a grief player may have on your or my gaming experience."

The online version of the game will not only allow you to play the game against opponents around the world, but will provide a ton of new features supporting the LotR TCG community, in general -- including real-time celebrity and designer chats, special league play formats, online guild and clan support, strategy articles, polls, and deck-building and deck-sharing utilities. You name it, there's a good chance you'll find it!

If you'd like to be a part of the development process, point your browser to http://lotronline.decipher.com/, the official development site for The Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game. Here you'll be able to sign up for the open beta testing, and stay updated on the latest development news.