Non-Renewable Resources

The one-sentence "definition" that should be in italics.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

One-time special abilities

Support Cards in Star Trek Catan "When a player uses a Support Card ability for the first time, they may trade it in for a Support Card of their choice or keep it for a second use, but they may only trade immediately after use."

Boss cards in Boss Monster "All Bosses have a Level Up Ability. This ability activates the first time a Bosses Dungeon reaches the maximum 5 Room limit. This ability cannot be saved and only happens once."

characters in Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

Dominion

Euphoria ethical dilemmas

Samurai Spirit becoming beast form

Betrayal at House on the Hill boosts from gym, chapel, etc.

Dog allies in Arkham Horror and Dead of Winter that disappear to restore san or die instead of you respectively (double check)

"Got Your Backs" ability in Shadowrun Crossfire

Special abilities in Shadow Hunters require revealing your identity "Each player can only use his/her character’s Special Ability in return for revealing his/her character’s identity"

Using the pattern

Non-Renewable Resources is typically designed as part of guaranteeing that Complete Resource Depletion will occur during gameplay. While this may not always be the case, e.g. by players hoard the Resources but not using them, the end result is typically the same: that the Resources aren't used to perform certain actions and therefor those actions don't occur.

Non-Renewable Resources can be designed in two ways. One is that the Resources are globally non-renewable while the other is that they are non-renewable on a per player basis. The main difference between these is that the Resources cannot be tradeable in the latter case.

Resources cannot quite naturally be both Non-Renewable Resources and Renewable or Regenerating ones. It can be problematic to use globally Non-Renewable Resources in Persistent Game Worlds because this more or less requires that gameplay can function well forever without the Resources affected after they have been depleted.

Consequences

Complete Resource Depletion can be guaranteed in games with Non-Renewable Resources and Consumers that consume these resources, and this may create Tied Results as a follow-up effect. Experimenting that requires the use of Non-Renewable Resources encourages players to engage in Stimulated Planning to avoid squandering those Resources. In games with Capture actions related to the Non-Renewable Resources, these Resources will become fewer and fewer over time. This makes it likely that the latter actions more important and thereby create Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses in such games. Any kind of consumption, Capture, or removable of Non-Renewable Resources from the game state are by definition Irreversible Events since the Resources cannot be re-created.