Shadowfist
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| Shadowfist | |
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 Shadowfist logo |
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| Designer | Robin Laws and Jose Garcia |
| Publisher | Z-Man Games and Daedalus |
| Players | 2 or more |
| Age range | 13 and up |
| Setup time | 5-10 minutes |
| Playing time | variable |
| Random chance | Some |
| Skills required | Card playing Arithmetic Diplomacy |
Shadowfist is a collectable card game that was created by Robin Laws and Jose Garcia and released in 1995. It shares the same background as the Feng Shui role-playing game, which was also created by Laws and Garcia and released the following year. Shadowfist is a multiplayer asymmetrical strategic game, the design of which is influenced by games such as Cosmic Encounter, Dune by Avalon Hill, Magic: The Gathering and its direct predecessor, On the Edge.
Shadowfist was primarily inspired by Hong Kong action and wuxia films of the late 1980's and 1990's, and by action films in general. In the game various factions from across time battle for control of the world's Feng Shui sites in a conflict known as the "Secret War." Time travel takes place through an alternate dimension known as the Netherworld which opens to various junctures. The current open junctures are A.D. 79, 1860, 1936, 2006, and 2066.
Shadowfist was originally published by Daedalus Games and then moved to Z-Man Games who brought the game back into publication in 2000. It is now being published by Shadowfist Games.
The titles of cards and the flavor text in the game are rife with humor and pop culture references, especially the Jammers faction, which contains cards such as "Furious George" and "Entropy is your friend."
Contents |
[edit] Basic Story
In the world of Shadowfist, the art of Chinese geomancy, or Feng Shui, is real. So very real, in fact, that control of the world does not depend on military might or political pull but on control of major Feng Shui sites, those physical locations that channel the greatest amount of Chi, the energy of life. If you have more personal Chi than your opposition then "everything goes your way," statistically speaking. If you have enough Chi, then you can see portals to the Netherworld, an alternate dimension that connects the various Junctions in time. Finally, if you and your faction manage to seize enough sites in a past juncture, you can take control of the planet and dramatically alter all subsequent junctures. Of course, those who already control the past and the future are all trying to do the same. That's where things get interesting.
[edit] Game Play
Players create a deck of cards (typically 40-80 total) and draw blind from a randomized stack, playing cards when possible and discarding unneeded cards. Card types include: Sites, Characters, Events, Edges and States. Sites are considered locations that stay in play permanently until removed or destroyed. Characters are used to attack and defend locations or other characters or generate effects and stay in play until 'smoked' or 'toasted', Events are played at any time and generate a specific effect and are then discarded. Edges are permanent cards that generate effects. States are played on other card in order to modify them or provide an additional effect.
The goal of Shadowfist is to accumulate five Feng Shui sites (or six in a duel). These can be played from a player's hand or taken from other players. However, in order to win the game, a player's final Feng Shui site must be taken from another player. Attacking and attacking to win the game are very different events during the game. The former may just draw a response from the defending player while the latter will draw a response from all the other players in the game.
Players must meet the power cost and resource requirements of a card to play it. Power represents a player's assets (money, firepower, chutzpah, etc.) and is derived primarily from the player's Sites at the beginning of their turn. Resources are most commonly provided by characters aligned with one of the ten factions in the game and represent either that faction's increasing involvement in the conflict or additional access to one of the three talent resources (Tech, Magic, and Chi). Spent power is taken from the player's power pool but resources remain, serving more as a threshold. A foundation is shorthand for a card that requires no resources but provides one or more resources.
Shadowfist uses a "first in, last out" or FILO system for resolving effects. When an effect is generated by the playing of a card or from the rules text of a card in play, a new scene begins and players can generally respond with new effects. After the final new effect in the scene is generated, they begin to resolve beginning with the newest effect and ending with the oldest.
Shadowfist, released in 1995, differs from its CCG contemporaries in that focuses on multiplayer gameplay rather than dueling. A key factor in Shadowfist gameplay is that players must team together to stop the player who is poised to win the game. All players can play cards that effect any other player's cards, even if they are not directly involved in attacking or being attacked. One of the most important skills in the game is judging when and how to use resources for defense against other players in lieu of attacking power. One of the other major differences between Shadowfist and other CCG's in multiplayer is the fluidity of the game: players are never removed from the game and can often recover quickly from even the most crushing defeat.
[edit] Factions
There are currently ten factions involved in the secret war.
- The Eaters of the Lotus are a cabal of evil eunuch sorcerers from ancient China who have usurped power in the Imperial court using black magic and demons.
- The Architects of the Flesh are scientists from the future who have figured out how to combine magic and technology into a perverse new form of science called Arcanotechnology, which they use to convert captured demons into creatures known as abominations. The Architects formerly controlled the future, but a civil war split them in half, and then a critical shift in 1934 essentially wiped them out of the timestream. The faction's two halves have now been split across the time-stream: The BuroMil, the military arm lead by Johann Bonengel has taken over Nazi Germany from within, while the CDCA, the research division headed by Dr. Curtis Boatman, now heads a multinational corporation in 2066.
- The Dragons are a rag-tag collection of mavericks and heroes from across time who've banded together to fight against evil and tyranny in the name of freedom and justice. Their success in the 1930s Pulp junction (in conjunction with the Purists' major failure) caused the most recent critical shift and made their defacto leader, Zheng Yi Quan, the new master of the modern world.
- The Guiding Hand are a secret society composed of monks, revolutionaries, and martial artists lead by the Perfect Master Quan Lo who seek to drive all foreign influences out of China in 1859 and extend their vision of a world based on neo-Confucian principles across time.
- The Ascended are animals who achieved human form long ago and who once controlled the world both in 1860 and 2006 from the heart of a vast conspiracy. They still have control of 1860, but have lost much of their power and influence in 2006 following the critical shift in 1934.
- The Jammers are a loose organization of rebels, malcontents, anarchists, and cyborg monkeys. Originally a rebel group in opposition to the Architects of the Flesh, they believe that the only way to free humanity from tyranny and oppression is through the destruction of every feng shui site in existence. They operate primarily out of the Netherworld.
- The Four Monarchs are two brothers and two sisters of incredible magical might who once ruled the modern world in an alternate timeline. Their version of reality was erased by the Ascended, forcing them into exile in the Netherworld.
- The Seven Masters are a group of legendary warrior-monks who live in isolation and practice a philosophy of non-intervention, except in the most dire of situations. They appear to be based in the 71 juncture.
- The Purists began as Lotus infiltrators of the Architects sent to study that faction's Arcanotechnology and, being unbound by Lotus traditions, developed a radical new "pure" and math-based sorcery known as Paradox Magic. Having recently lost their stronghold in the future, they've quietly re-established themselves in 1936.
- The Syndicate is a secretive organization which rules the world in 2066 through control of all the major criminal organizations and corporations. They came into existence after the critical shift in 1934 that erased the Architects' version of reality.
[edit] Set History
- 1995 - Release of the first Shadowfist 'Limited' set. Consisted of randomly-packed 60-card starter decks and 13-card booster packs. This set was printed by Upper Deck and boosters have fancy foil packaging. Included the original five factions: Architects, Ascended, Dragons, Hand, and Lotus, and a few cards from the Four Monarchs and Jammers. These cards bear a gold foil Ting Ting (a popular card from the Dragons faction) logo in the upper right hand corner.
- Late 1995 - Shadowfist 'Standard' set. Identical to the Limited run, except for certain Unique characters that were said to have "died" (though some copies of these cards made it into Standard boxes anyway). Cards from this set bear no foil stamp or other set logo. So many Limited and Standard cards were printed that they are relatively easy to find online today.
- 1996 - Netherworld. This booster-only set included cards from the first five factions and also fleshed out the Monarchs and Jammers, though they would remain the less well-rounded of the seven. These cards also bear the gold foil Ting Ting logo. Netherworld boxes are practically extinct.
- 1996 - Flashpoint. Another booster set, with a focus on the Architects and Dragons (though still including cards for all seven factions). Cards from this set bear a gold foil rifle logo. Flashpoint had a very annoying rarity distribution scheme and was the last expansion printed by Daedalus. Boxes of Flashpoint can still be found online with relative ease.
- 2000 - Year of the Dragon. This set marked the beginning of the Z-Man Games era and consisted of a brand new set of 50-card fixed starters, one for each of the original five factions. Many of these were Daedalus reprints but the starters also included quite a few new cards. YotD cards bear a white, non-foil, dragon's-head-in-profile logo.
- 2000 - Throne War. Booster-only. Focused heavily on the Lotus, who got 1/4 of the cards in the set, bringing them into line with the power level of the other four original factions. Throne War cards bear a white pagoda logo.
- 2001 - Netherworld II: Back Through The Portals. This booster expansion focused on the Monarchs, who got 1/3 of the cards in the set. Despite this their power level would remain a bit below the other factions until later. N2 cards have a black-and-white vortex logo.
- 2001 - Shaolin Showdown. The cards in this booster expansion focused somewhat on the Ascended and Hand. This set generated some complaints about low power level, but still included quite a few important cards. SS cards have a white crossed-swords logo.
- 2002 - Dark Future. This booster expansion introduced the Purists as a new faction and also emphasized the Architects. Boxes of DF are now hard to find because they contain most of the foundation cards for the Purists; without foundations they are, of course, hard to play. Dark Future cards have a three-diamond logo that is white, gray, or black if the card is rare, uncommon, or common, respectively. (This rarity color coding has continued in every booster expansion since.) This set was reprinted with the release of Critical Shift in July of 2007.
- 2002 - Boom Chaka Laka. A small (91-card) booster expansion that generated some controversy based on its '70s theme. BCL had a very short print run. Cards from this expansion have a nunchuks logo.
- 2002 - 10,000 Bullets. A fixed 50-card starter expansion with one deck for each of the eight factions. 10kB cards have a row-of-bullets logo that is overlaid with the faction symbol of the deck it came from. There is no rarity coding since all the cards are fixed.
- 2003 - Red Wedding. Generally held to be the best booster expansion to date for reasons of playability, balance, and art. Naturally, RW sold out quickly; another, smaller run was reprinted in 2006. Red Wedding cards have a knife-through-the-heart logo.
- 2004 - Seven Masters vs. the Underworld. This booster expansion introduced the Seven Masters mini-faction, bringing the faction total to nine. 7M cards have a scroll logo.
- 2004 - Two-Fisted Tales of the Secret War. Another 'themed' booster expansion, this time based on pulp fiction; gave fairly equal weight to the first eight factions. Last of the Z-Man Games expansions. 2FT cards have a 'dime' logo.
- 2006 - Shurikens & Six-Guns. This booster expansion is the first to be printed by Shadowfist Games. It, too, is themed, based on Westerns; there has been some controversy as to the prudence of releasing two themed expansions back-to-back. Also introduces a new faction, the Syndicate. SSG cards have a sheriff's badge logo.
- 2007 - Critical Shift. The second Shadowfist Games set. It focuses on the aftermath of the most recent Critical Shift and fleshes out the Syndicate as a complete faction. Both this set and the previous set have been designed as "draft-friendly" with their relatively large number of Feng Shui sites and even distribution of new foundation characters for nearly every faction.
[edit] The Future
The next release, "Empire of Evil", will focus on a plot by the Eaters of the Lotus.
