Doomtown
| Designer(s) | David Williams |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Wizards of the Coast, Five Rings Publishing Group, and Pinnacle Entertainment Group |
| Players | 2-6 |
| Age range | 10+ |
| Playing time | Approx 45 min |
| Random chance | Some |
| Skill(s) required |
Card playing Arithmetic Basic Reading Ability |
Doomtown: Reloaded (originally Deadlands:Doomtown) is a collectible card game, a companion to the Deadlands roleplaying setting.
The game sets itself apart from other CCGs by having each card also serve as a playing card and resolving certain in-game situations with a hand of poker, thus accentuating the Old West atmosphere of the game. The game involves complex deck construction and deep strategies, and was designed with multiplayer (three or more players) in mind. The sheer amount of card draw in the game makes luck much less of a factor, while the movement rules (in the style of board games such as chess) reward intelligent strategy.
Doomtown was heavily story-driven as well, with a detailed and intriguing storyline that affected cards and play styles. An example was the Fear Level that changed with each expansion and improved or disrupted play styles. Doomtown also held storyline tournaments in which players could directly influence the storyline. For instance, in the finals of a major storyline tournament, Sheriff Coleman was killed by a Sweetrock hired gunman; the sheriff was subsequently killed in the storyline, resulting in new events and action cards, and a later experienced version was Harrowed (revived as living dead) to avenge his own death.
Discontinued in 2000, a flier from the 2014 GAMA Trade Show revealed that Doomtown: Reloaded would be released in August 2014. This new version of the game is sold in the non-collectible "living card game" format.
Doomtown, like most collectible card games, has two places where a player can show their skill and creativity: deck construction and playing skill.
The game uses the terms below to define the game mechanics. Some of these terms are printed on certain cards, while others are produced or mentioned in the game during play.
There are eight types of cards in Doomtown: Actions, Dudes, Goods, Events, Deeds, Spells, Improvements, and Jokers. Each of those cards uses a specific Poker suit: Spades (Dudes), Clubs (Actions), Hearts (Goods/Events/Spells), Diamonds (Deeds/Improvements). Players use a variable number of each type of card (depending on their focus) to construct their deck. Furthermore, each card has a rank (from Ace to King, 1-13). In some types (Dudes and Goods) cards with high rank are generally more powerful, while in the others (Deeds and Actions) cards with low rank are generally more powerful. Each Doomtown deck resembles a poker deck, but with one major difference: players are allowed to include multiples of a specific rank-suit combination, at the risk of making some of their poker hands illegal. This way, players not only have to choose cards with useful powers, but also have to choose cards that will allow them to draw good poker hands.Outfits are also represented by a home card which gives starting funds, starting income and a useful ability.
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