BetterRounds

BetterRounds is a draft-focused ROUNDS mod that combines a class-driven custom card ecosystem with built-in long-match settings.

The target is a real draft system:

• class starters
• later class-only payoffs
• wildcard bridge cards
• large non-class side pools that stay interesting without belonging to one draft lane
• troll cards that are funny without being dead picks
• 320 total cards split across 80 class cards, 200 non-class cards, 20 wildcard bridge cards, and 20 troll cards

The point of the pack is not raw stat inflation. The point is to create readable builds with obvious strengths, obvious weaknesses, and enough room for RoundsWithFriends and longer in-mod match settings to turn a short match into a bigger draft.

Current implementation

The code in this repo now includes a real 320-card runtime pool:

• 80 class cards
• 200 non-class cards
• 20 wildcard bridge cards
• 20 troll cards
• automatic card discovery and registration
• a data-driven template card pipeline with reusable effect modules
• built-in rounds/points/card-offer settings with host sync
• all host-facing rounds, points, cards shown, and cards selected settings exposed in the main-menu Mods tab with a 1-99 range
• class-aware toggle categories
• player build analysis from owned cards
• a per-pick filtered card pool that starts broad and becomes more class-specific later
• separate opening-draft and round-draft settings for cards shown and cards selected

The runtime pool now covers:

• class lanes for Marksman, Bulwark, Skirmisher, Trickster, Demolitionist, Brawler, Arcanist, and Gambler
• broad non-class families for tempo, ballistics, stockpiling, splitfire, rebounds, pull control, knockback control, softstep mobility, stonehide bulk, lift-kit gravity, guardline block economy, rangefinders, glassmaker damage, bastion defense, crossfire sweep, heatcheck burst, tune-up smoothing, faultline tradeoffs, dragline stickiness, backspin weirdness, and oddjob utility
• wildcard cards that bridge multiple lanes
• troll cards that are intentionally high-volatility rather than just dead picks

Full design target

The full card plan is documented separately:

• docs/CLASS_SYSTEM.md
• docs/CARD_CATALOG.md
• docs/CARD_AUTHORING.md

That catalog now anchors the actual 320-card split the mod ships with.

Design rules

• Most cards are allowMultiple = false.
• Every card must trade power on at least one axis.
• Commons should create a nudge, not decide the game by themselves.
• Uncommons should define a play pattern.
• Rares should feel real, but still have a punishable downside.
• Cards for big RoundsWithFriends lobbies should stay readable and avoid hidden exponential scaling.

Full balance notes live in docs/BALANCE_MODEL.md.

Recommended play profile

This mod is meant to sit in a profile alongside:

• RoundsWithFriends

BetterRounds now owns the long-match and pick-count support itself, so SetRounds is no longer required for the intended profile.

Profile setup notes are in docs/PROFILE_SETUP.md.

Build setup

This project builds against DLLs copied into Libs. The helper script scripts/Sync-RoundsLibs.ps1 copies the needed files from:

• your ROUNDS install directory
• your mod-manager profile directory

Once Libs is populated:

dotnet build .\RoundsPartyPack.sln

Packaging notes

Use docs/RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md before cutting a new Thunderstore build.