Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Due to growing complexity and inconsistencies between play groups with the optional advanced rule for Name-On-Name bonus, beginning with the 2016-2017 tournament season (after Nationals 2016) we are planning to eliminate this rule from official tournament play.

If you enjoy the Name-On-Name bonus rule, we encourage you to continue to use it in casual games provided both players agree before hand.

We will consider alternative options if a better solution is presented.

Some of the problems we've seen are:

• Confusion over what qualifies for NoN bonus.
• Some play groups use NoN for all standard play. Others never use it.
• Due to the increase in powerful special abilities, numbers are less meaningful than they were years ago when NoN was instituted.

We welcome your feedback and questions about how this might impact the game we all enjoy.

Simpler is always better.

never really remembered to use name on name bonus anyways cause it was so rare to use

I approve.  Simpler is better.

I support this ruling, but I'll still remember with fondness the days of covenant with Moses on him for a 14/6 enhancement.

I don't really see a reason to get rid of name on name bonus. it is a very simple thing, and is something that does come up at times.

I'd rather keep it optional than get rid of it, but making it mandatory still solves the second problem.

The third is patently untrue, especially in light of Faith of Joshua and the forgotten-but-now-broken Job cards (and to a lesser extent Faith of Samson and many other "faith of" cards). In fact, with Colosseum stopping most CBI battle-winners, huge numbers like the ones the Giants can attain with their spears are actually crushingly good. This change would gut a very cool as-yet-undiscovered defense before it even gets noticed. That's not to say we shouldn't change rules because of power shifts, just to say that the third bullet point is way off.

As to the first problem, the rule itself isn't confusing (if it has the same name as the person you're playing it on, it gets double numbers). What can sometimes be confusing is when there's a common noun that corresponds to name-on-name. It's not that big of a deal and only really affects Angel's Sword and Faith of Moses' Parents, and there have been so many times people were encouraged to read the story of Balaam to find out why one particular angel gets NoN from Angel's sword, I'm rather fond of that FAQ-level confusion.

A third alternative would be to simply make NoN work regardless of whether it's referring to that person in the Bible, as long as the names fit. Again, Angel's Sword and Faith of Moses' Parents would be the only ones affected in one case giving an unnoticeable boost to an already juggernaut-class attack, and tons of more Angels being able to eke another 3/2 out of a card that grants initiative anyway.

Ditch it! Simplify!!!

Quote from: wyatt_marcum on July 18, 2016, 01:34:07 AM

well, I believe Philistine Chariot also gets name on name with Philistine Garrison, If I remember correctly.

Nope, generic characters cannot receive name on name bonus.

There is a perfect example of simplifying it.