The resource system

I previously referenced a resource system that I was using from the game Magi-Nation: Duel.  I should probably explain this in more detail to the people who are not familiar with that game.

The system should be able to work for a variety of games, but in this context, you would be controlling a main character who would have an amount of resources to be able to spend to cast spells, summon creatures, or use abilities.  Anyone who is familiar with Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, Yugi-Oh, or any number of other games should be familair with a similar concept of controlling a main character that battles against another character controlled by an opponent through the use of creatures, spells and abilities.

You start with a number of resources represented by tokens or dice.  In Magi-Nation, this was called energy and the main characters that you controlled were called Magi.  So your Magi would have an amount of energy that they started with, and gain a fixed amount of energy at the start of each turn.  This energy would be spent to cast spells, summon creatures and use abilities.  When you cast a spell or used an ability, the energy would be discarded, completely lost.  When you summoned a creature, the energy would be moved onto that creature and act as both it's attack value and it's remaining health.  So if I spent 5 energy on summoning a creature, I would move 5 energy from my Magi to that creature card and it would have 5 attack and 5 health.

The combat system for the game would work that both creatures involved in an attack would remove energy from one another simultaniously.  So if my 5 energy creature attacked your 3 energy creature, I would remove 5 energy from your creature and you would remove 3 energy from my creature.  Your creature would be left with zero energy, and be discarded from play, while my creature would be left with 2 energy and be able to continue to fight, although in a much weaker state.

To my knowledge, this system hasn't been used in another game as of yet, and it's somewhat original in the sense that it has yet to be used by another game, but it's not really unique in the sense that similar systems have not been used before.  The idea where you move the resource from your character to the creature that you summon is a unique idea I believe, but gaining a fixed amount of resources each turn is not.

What I really like about the system is the simplicity.  You don't need to create attack and defense values to balance vs. a casting cost of the creature, which enevitable causes a power creeep that you can't really do anything about.  It's easy for people to understand and easy to track combat.  It also promotes some basic math skills, which is always a plus when you're thinking about a younger audience.  I have changed the reference names for the resource (Essence) and the main characters (Awakened) for Affinity to fit the world that I'm designing for the game, but the rest of the general mechanics as explained are still intact.