A History of Mushrooms

Back in the development of Mutiny of Belittled Spirits, Moogs really wanted to try a card called Dubious Mushrooms. It had two effects, the first was to get yourself into trouble by encountering 5 mobs. The second was to draw 10 cards when you are about to be defeated.

The idea was, since small-fry retreat at the end of the turn, you could make a high stakes bet by adding a bunch of mobs and then defeating choice ones to give yourself an edge. The second half’s concept was that if you were defeated while waiting for your chance to pull off your combo, you could get an instant second wind. Exciting, right?

This card lasted 3 days of playtesting and most of that was just the time it took to make a new release. The card had only a few outcomes:

• If one had the firepower, the 5 mobs could be defeated and completely tilt the game in your favor.
• If one did not have the firepower, you just got murdered by the mobs.
• The second effect just ended up being a weaker 1up, without a guaranteed life gain the comeback mechanic nature of it simply didn’t pan out.

Dubious Mushrooms was replaced by what would become Demon Book. The new card still allowed you to get yourself into trouble by encountering a bunch of mobs, but it also allowed you to just take a mob into your hand. Free minions with a hint of danger! It was very Forbidden Scrollery so Kosuzu graced the card illustration. Moogs was satisfied when he noticed players taking risks on the 3 mob bet.

“I continue to support allowing players to get themselves into trouble.” Moogs had said.

“I might have an idea.” Carrot replied.

While the original Dubious Mushrooms eventually turned into Demon Book, we really liked the idea of dubious mushrooms - that is, in Touhou lore. For those that don't know, Marisa spends a lot of time around her home in the Magic Forest looking for various mushrooms to eat. She claims that these are the source of her magic power. Others claim that they've stunted her growth. What's clear is that there when it comes to mushrooms, there are good mushrooms, poison mushrooms, and... dubious mushrooms.

You'll notice that the above incident doesn't have anything to do with mobs or drawing cards. Rather, it came from a completely unrelated thought. When playing Danmaku, people often use dice to represent their life total (with a 6 representing that they are defeated). This led to the amusing idea of just rolling your life total. While it started as a joke, upon further consideration, if the effect is optional, it becomes an actually interesting proposition. Clearly you don't want to reroll if you're at max life, but the further behind you are, the more worthwhile taking the risk is. At even 3 life, you only have a 50/50 chance of losing life. At 2, it's only a 1/3 chance, and at 1 life you are almost guaranteed to go up. However, in every case you have the chance of just self-destructing completely.

It might not be a good enough idea to make it through the playtesting process to make it to print, but it's certainly the kind of interesting one-shot event that some players would enjoy, though it does add a lot of variance and has the chance of drawing a game out longer. It's the perfect kind of design to have in an opt-in setting.

And what's more, we think the gameplay now is a better match for the concept of dubious mushrooms. Everyone has the option to eat it or not, but you never know what you're going to get until you bite down.