Gccg. Middle Earth: The Wizards
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Documentation by Peter van Hardenberg (pvh).
If you notice any mistakes, or omissions, or would like to contribute
your wisdom, please email me at pvh(at)uvic<dot>ca.
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I am going to be cruel and assume at this point you have just installed
GCCG and MeTW and are now staring at a black background, with what look
like some booster packs at the bottom, some text across the top, and an
assortment of icons.

This is the lobby view of GCCG. From here, you can create decks, join
games, buy or sell cards, and chat with other players.

Notes: All references to cost are virtual money, and a context menu is
the popup menu you get by right clicking a window or the background.
Never type the <>. Those are just to show parts of a command that you
have to type in yourself.

Getting Started:
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A Tour of the Starting Window:

The top of the screen is the chat window. This is where any system
messages and text will appear.  In the top right corner you will see a
box with your name, your current money, and your currently selected
deck.

Underneath the chat window is a list of players currently online. Under
that is a summary of the tables available. If any players are currently
in a game, their icons will appear on the table. Below that are
quick-links for purchasing individual starter packs and boosters, just
click them to buy one. Finally, at the bottom is the text input bar
which shows the current line of input you have typed.

Chatting:

First things first, you should know how to ask for help if you need it.
To chat in the lobby, type your question, followed by <enter> to send.
Simple.

You can also issue commands in the chat window, which are prefixed with
a / character. Lists of these commands are available by hitting F1, or
by typing /help. More information about most commands can be found by
typing /help <commandname> (eg. /help loadimages).

TIP: Changing your avatar from a rat might be a good first step into the
advanced commands. Type: /set avatar <avatarname>. A bunch of avatars
everyone will have can be found in the graphics/avatar directory of your
gccg installation. The <avatarname> is the image name without a .png
extension.

Buying cards:

You start with $900 to spend how you please. It would be wise of you to
save some of that money in case you end up playing ante games (the
non-ante tables may be full), or if you need to buy a card to get rid of
the proxy cards in your deck...

Cards can be bought in individual starter or booster packs by clicking
on them. The price and the series is listed with the package.

To buy multiple packs at once, you can use the "/buy <number> <pack
type>" command.  For example: "/buy 5 tw starter" will get you five
booster packs of the original "The Wizards" set. "/buy 10 td booster"
will get you 10 "The Dragons" booster packs, all at once.

Cards can also be bought individually, if someone is willing to sell
them, from the collection view by right-clicking them and choosing "Buy
<cardname>".

Browsing cards:
To see what cards you have in your collection, right click anywhere in
the black area of the screen and select "Show/Hide Collection" (Ctrl-B).
Cards you own will appear as images, cards you don't will just be purple
boxes with a name and, if they are available for sale, a price.

To jump to a specific collection, open the context menu and choose the
name of the set you want to view. To scroll page by page, you can either
use your mouse wheel, page up/page down, or in the context menu under
"Next Page, Previous Page".

IMPORTANT: To bring up a full size image of a card, hold down SHIFT when
your mouse is over it!

Selling cards:
To sell a card, right click a card you own and choose "Sell" (Ctrl-S).
By default, it will be placed on the market at a small markup above the
current going price. To change the list price, type the new price you
wish to sell that card for into the chat line at the bottom, and with
the mouse over the card, press Enter. This will update the price you are
selling for. You do not need to be online to sell your cards.

Example: 
I would like to sell Adunaphel. As of this writing, Adunaphel was
selling for 1.00. I'd like to sell for 0.99. 

With my mouse over the card, I press (Ctrl-S). The card now says "Sell:
1" on it, and the price by default is 1.10. I type 0.99 into the chat
window and press enter WITH MY MOUSE STILL OVER ADUNAPHEL. The price
listed is now 0.99, and my name appears in yellow as the seller.

Advanced note: To change your default selling margin, use the /set
command. Probably the most useful value is "/set price lower" which
will set your default selling price to be slightly less than the going
rate. Use "/unset price" to return to the default behaviour. Other
options are "/set price higher" (default), "/set price same" to set
always the same price as the current best offer and "/set price
default" to set always the price chocen by you for each rarity (see
"/help default").

DECKS:
------
Your decks are manipulated from the "Edit Deck" window. Press Ctrl-E to
edit your current deck. Any card may be put into your deck, regardless
of whether or not you own it. Some people may prefer to play against you
without the use of any of these "proxy" cards, so be warned.

The game comes with several decks premade. You can import these to get
started, or you can use the "/newdeck <deckname>" command to create a
new deck. Once you have created or imported a deck, you can select it
with the "Select deck" command available in the context menu for the
lobby background.

To put cards into your deck, middle-click them in the "Browse
collection" window. To remove a card, left-click it.

Cards will be added to the main segment of your deck by default. To
change where the cards are added, select a different segment of your
deck by clicking on it in the "Edit deck" window. At the moment the
segments are "deck", "sideboard", "pool" and "sites". The pool is
where you place your starting party and the two minor items you would
like them to have.

Once you have finished adding cards to the deck, you can test its
legality by choosing "Check legality" from the Edit Deck context menu.

At the moment, the error messages may be a bit obscure. Asking in the
chat line may clarify what the error messages mean.

GAMES:
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Tables:
Games are held at tables. Tables have two important settings. 1) The
number of players. Right now there is a 1 player table for deck testing,
and 2 2-player tables. 2) The ante. At the moment there is one table
which costs 5.00 to play, and two which are free.

To sit down at a table, left click it. To play a table, middle click it.


Sitting and Playing:
---------------------
When you are sitting at a table with someone else, you can give them
cards, and they can give you cards. To give someone a card, open your
collection browser (Ctrl-B) and right click the card. "Give <cardname>
to <player>" should appear in the menu if they are sitting with you.

When you choose "Play or Watch" you signal that you would like to join
that game. In a two player game, the first two players to middle click
will get to play, and everyone else will watch. The game will not start
until both players have chosen "Play or Watch". You will wait in the
lobby until then.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want to spectate MAKE SURE you wait until the
"Game started..." message appear. If you don't, you might find yourself
in a seat, and everyone will be frustrated.
