Why red versus blue and not black versus white? Or yellow versus purple...red vesus blue it is such a simple thing. Those were the pokemon colors for two different generations. It is a good combo. It should of been black versus white though, though maybe to many people would try to be on team black. People are boring.
Now that I insulted everyone OTHER game time! At the very least I wanna record my thoughts on the game before they fade away from me cause that would be sad panda time.
Okay so essentially this game is going to excist to replace Netrunner for me. Netrunner is hard but the cards are increadibly hard to find and all my runner resource cards got damaged which sucks. So it is time to break out into something new.
The best way I can see to massively take advantage of the board gaming format and the theme is to break it up. The runner side uses cards and a series of deck drafting rules to build an engine that is capable of taking on the corp.
The corp uses a set of worker placement rules to run the corporation and fend off the runner.
As such not a whole lot is going to change for the runner. The runner always traditionally had massive control over their deck. With a 10 card limit, several different common cards that let you search your deck or trash, LOTS of card control. It was just up to you to put the cards in you needed to make a deck that wins. The runner had three/four basic stradegies:
Straight: Icebreaker suit, monies, direct damage essentially
Virus: pop in on the corps weak point and make them waste actions
Stealth: These let you get in for free allowing you to spend your resources on nasty surprises
Runner decks were always very static and runner cards were mostly useless except for the things you always used. So what needs to be done is to give the runner more power over what can go into the deck and when he gets it in order to hopefully allow for more flexibility. Flexibility is FUN and don't you forget it.
I reffer to it as deck drafting rather than deck building because I am pretty sure that it isn't going to be a dominion/resident evil/tanto curo/et cetera stack of ten cards which you dig through and grab what you want. Instead...what I am leaning towards is two buying options. One which takes longer but what you get is garenteed and the other which is shorter but you end up choosing from a semi fixed number of drawn cards. Or:
White Market: Long but steady
Black Market: Quick and dirty
I am pretty sure I want a fix income source and not a card in the deck that represents income because really? That's annoying and it clunks up the game. Also...no shit, differnet cards for the different decks.
There might also be a prepwork deck that will be full of handy one time use cards that you earn through doing stuff maybe...I dunno.
There is also going to be a GOAL deck for the runner. They are going to have a series of semi secret goals to choose from which will allow them to persue their own agendas. One of the problems with netrunner is that the game was slightly balanced towards the corporation because the corpoeation didn't need the runner to win. 100% of the corporation's problems were caused by the runner. The runner couldn't score points without the corporation's help. It was a tuff life. With the runner goals it encourages a different sort of play and encourages the runner to take various risks. The goal deck is a really big deal and there will be stuff to do for that.
Lots of elements.
I'd enumerate the corp side but lunch is ending. I'll get it tomarrow. This game is going to be on the back burner for a bit because I am really exited about the hero game. But my idea for this is super solid so I definitly want to at least get some goals and ideas written down so I don't forget.
Okay I have some time before I leave for work so CORP SIDE!
There was a lot of really cool bluffing and secret elements to playing the corp in netrunner that needs to stay.
Meeples will be in the form of system operators.
There is going to end up being more access points for the runner in this game than netrunner. That is slightly on purpose.
Ic needs to be more dynamic. As such, Ic is either going to be movable in game, non random/semi random, or both. I am also going to add IC synergies. That was the thing with netrunner most of the ic in the game was utterly ineffective and massively overpriced. Take the lich 14 monies for 3 1 brain damage routines and one end the run routine. Most runners can get through that at 8 that number goes down with a shield and clows get through it for free most times. Whereas a Banapie which costs 1/4 as much costs 6 to get through and that number can't be reduced.
The point is that ic prices are all sorts of jacked up in netrunner 90% of it is crap and it is all generally ineffective as acting as a deterrent. I've found that nodes are 100% more effective at keeping runners actually out of a data fort than ic is. The corp can also have a near perfect defense in netrunner with Viral Breeding ground, Vacuum link, cheap crap ice, and rio's city grid. Getting through means death and each piece of ice gives you a 1/6 chance of your connection dropping and if you do make it through well...certain death! HOORAY!
No no no there will be more of making IC actually effective. I mentioned synergies before. I am going to have families of ice that do things and if the families come one after the other they become stronger. Neat! and simple. Though I really wanted to use blocks for ice and not cards. I am pretty sure that would be impossible. I'll think on it today at work...speaking of which.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
There are Some Things I'd Like To Talk About
Hey! So I saw the Avengers last night! I liked it! Blah blah blah blah. Enough about that. Seeing the Avengers made me realize that I don't really like seeing big movies on opening night. Sure it is exciting and it is nice to be there and I can gloat about how I am cooler than you and stuff it is a good time. I like being me. But the movie started at 12:20. It did you know what time is started because that's when you showed up at the theater and bought your tickets. The time was printed on them. Now knowing how long the movie lasts...well okay that requires a minuscule amount of effort on your part but whatever. Everyone knows there is an after credits sequence. I mean EVERYONE. Last night some dude bro loudly declared, "I don't care it is 3:20 and I want to go home". Actually when I say declared I meant whined. Seriously dude what the fuck? You can't handle staying out late with the big boys then stay home sucking your mom's tit and shut the hell up. Late night activities isn't for bitches you like you. Joel joined us, he complained once about being out late but he ended up sitting next to me which pretty much killed his ability to take part in our reindeer games. That's really all I have to say on that subject.
Now on to my game:
I did some major work on it recently and when I checked my internet posts to see how it synched up with my original goals I realized my internet stuff was woefully out of date. So here we go!
Turn order is going to look like
Bookkeeping
Moral
Initative
Action!
Broken Units Shuffle
Assaut
and back around again.
This is similar to ASL's and I like doing the shooting before the moving. It is also, for now, going to be Igo, yougo though I am considering my turn your turn. We'll see.
One of the big things I am going to do is that during the iniatuve stage you announce that you are going to be using one of three stances, Offensive, Defensive, Tactical. Each of the three stances alters your hand size and determains how many units you can move before you opponent gets to move some units. So tactical lets you move less units per activation but you will be able to out activate your opponent and respond to what they do and potentially out manuver them which is important.
Each unit will just have a whole pile of action points which they can use to shoot, move, and special actions. Shooting will be expensive, like half of a unit's total action points expensive. So if you a unit wants to shoot it is not going to be doing a bunch of other stuff. One of the main design goals is tough tactical choices and when to shoot or when to dig in and do other things is important to me.
I orginally wanted to have a shooting phase come first and then a general action phase but that becomes messy with igoyougo. This has a certain elegance to it as well as flexibility. It rides the line between miniature skirmish game and hex and chit war game which is right where I like it.
Let's talk about the stances:
Offensive:
Half your units activate.
No defensive actions (like digging in, overwatch, et cetera)
Hand size 5
Tactical:
Hand size 7
1/3 of your units can activate
No action restriction
Defensive:
Hand Size 9
1/2 of your units can activate but they may only take certain actions
-Overwatch
-Dig in
-Lay Explosives
All units to gain a defensive bonus.
Initiative goes:
Base Flip
Cheat (cheating gets no redraw)
Winner decides who announces Stance First
Winner decides who goes first.
The winner can choose to force his opponent to annouce his stance first then choose to go first. Winning iniative is a big deal. Big enough so that we might make it so that there are two contests one for stance announcement and one for intative.
Also any discarding that would happen from stance changes are random.
I am considering adding another stance to make things like protecting convoys easier. But that would be something that would only need to be available on a per senario basis.
GNAR my lunch is over so I will have to finish this up tonight.
Alright back! I am riding the clock at work because my boss is the master of scheduals and the lady who works in the morning is a nosy bitch who can't mind her own business.
ANYWAY!
One of the things I really want to do is to make ALL the cards in your hand valuable. So if you got a hand of one's and two's you can still do something...just so long as it isn't win fights. However, the way to replenish cards in your hand is to get into fights. After a fight where a combat flip is made you redraw back up to your max hand size. That kinda makes offensive stance a little rough. The way I want it to work is instead of using offensive stance to demolish some people it is more to build an excellent hand so you can decisivly win two or three key battles while your heroes do their things. So you could resolve a couple of random outlier skirmishes or harrass your enemy's flank for a couple of fights, gathering up the right cards you need before striking at the target you really want to split open. I am hoping it will work that way. I'll know once I see it in action. I already suspect that Defensive and tactical stances will be used to the most so perhaps I should give the offsenive stance a bit of a boost. I dunno.
As for making the cards valuable. Most of the special actions like laying down smoke, setting explosives, setting fire to things, digging trenches...et cetera will require a card to be discarded, perhaps a card of a specific suit or a specific colour, maybe of a certain numerical component. I haven't decided. What I have decided is that by discarding cards to do stuff your lower number stuff is gonna be handy. It is also going to make the larger hand sizes of tactical and defensive stance useful so you can get things done. Offensive stance doesn't need a whole lot of options because...well it is more for building the perfect offensive hand then using it, not getting shit done.
Oh! Also heroes won't need cards to preform the majority of their feats.
One of the ways offensive stance can get an interesting buff is that before you redraw you have the OPTION of discarding one card. So you would use some cards in combat and stuff like that then you could discard another card before redrawing up to full. THAT HAS POTENTIAL!
Alright well that is about where I am at right now. My next problem is how to distribute hits amoungst multiple targets in the same hex. I'll get it though, I am rapidly closing in on the answer. Tonight though? It is a night for steak, movies, and video games!
Now on to my game:
I did some major work on it recently and when I checked my internet posts to see how it synched up with my original goals I realized my internet stuff was woefully out of date. So here we go!
Turn order is going to look like
Bookkeeping
Moral
Initative
Action!
Broken Units Shuffle
Assaut
and back around again.
This is similar to ASL's and I like doing the shooting before the moving. It is also, for now, going to be Igo, yougo though I am considering my turn your turn. We'll see.
One of the big things I am going to do is that during the iniatuve stage you announce that you are going to be using one of three stances, Offensive, Defensive, Tactical. Each of the three stances alters your hand size and determains how many units you can move before you opponent gets to move some units. So tactical lets you move less units per activation but you will be able to out activate your opponent and respond to what they do and potentially out manuver them which is important.
Each unit will just have a whole pile of action points which they can use to shoot, move, and special actions. Shooting will be expensive, like half of a unit's total action points expensive. So if you a unit wants to shoot it is not going to be doing a bunch of other stuff. One of the main design goals is tough tactical choices and when to shoot or when to dig in and do other things is important to me.
I orginally wanted to have a shooting phase come first and then a general action phase but that becomes messy with igoyougo. This has a certain elegance to it as well as flexibility. It rides the line between miniature skirmish game and hex and chit war game which is right where I like it.
Let's talk about the stances:
Offensive:
Half your units activate.
No defensive actions (like digging in, overwatch, et cetera)
Hand size 5
Tactical:
Hand size 7
1/3 of your units can activate
No action restriction
Defensive:
Hand Size 9
1/2 of your units can activate but they may only take certain actions
-Overwatch
-Dig in
-Lay Explosives
All units to gain a defensive bonus.
Initiative goes:
Base Flip
Cheat (cheating gets no redraw)
Winner decides who announces Stance First
Winner decides who goes first.
The winner can choose to force his opponent to annouce his stance first then choose to go first. Winning iniative is a big deal. Big enough so that we might make it so that there are two contests one for stance announcement and one for intative.
Also any discarding that would happen from stance changes are random.
I am considering adding another stance to make things like protecting convoys easier. But that would be something that would only need to be available on a per senario basis.
GNAR my lunch is over so I will have to finish this up tonight.
Alright back! I am riding the clock at work because my boss is the master of scheduals and the lady who works in the morning is a nosy bitch who can't mind her own business.
ANYWAY!
One of the things I really want to do is to make ALL the cards in your hand valuable. So if you got a hand of one's and two's you can still do something...just so long as it isn't win fights. However, the way to replenish cards in your hand is to get into fights. After a fight where a combat flip is made you redraw back up to your max hand size. That kinda makes offensive stance a little rough. The way I want it to work is instead of using offensive stance to demolish some people it is more to build an excellent hand so you can decisivly win two or three key battles while your heroes do their things. So you could resolve a couple of random outlier skirmishes or harrass your enemy's flank for a couple of fights, gathering up the right cards you need before striking at the target you really want to split open. I am hoping it will work that way. I'll know once I see it in action. I already suspect that Defensive and tactical stances will be used to the most so perhaps I should give the offsenive stance a bit of a boost. I dunno.
As for making the cards valuable. Most of the special actions like laying down smoke, setting explosives, setting fire to things, digging trenches...et cetera will require a card to be discarded, perhaps a card of a specific suit or a specific colour, maybe of a certain numerical component. I haven't decided. What I have decided is that by discarding cards to do stuff your lower number stuff is gonna be handy. It is also going to make the larger hand sizes of tactical and defensive stance useful so you can get things done. Offensive stance doesn't need a whole lot of options because...well it is more for building the perfect offensive hand then using it, not getting shit done.
Oh! Also heroes won't need cards to preform the majority of their feats.
One of the ways offensive stance can get an interesting buff is that before you redraw you have the OPTION of discarding one card. So you would use some cards in combat and stuff like that then you could discard another card before redrawing up to full. THAT HAS POTENTIAL!
Alright well that is about where I am at right now. My next problem is how to distribute hits amoungst multiple targets in the same hex. I'll get it though, I am rapidly closing in on the answer. Tonight though? It is a night for steak, movies, and video games!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
April In Review part 1ish
So March happened to me and it was pretty good. I liked that month however at the tail end I was feeling a little down and at around the second week in April I had myself a shiny care of full blown depression. I realized this when I had an abusurd reaction to the ending of the second season of Farscape when a certain character died...even though I KNEW she didn't stay dead forever. I was pretty annoyed. On the other hand it felt like a blessing. I'm not seeing anyone nor am I emotionally attached to anyone. It was still a good span of time away from my birthday, and there was litterally NO outside sources to make me feel the way I felt. I was sad because of the temporary death of Arron Sune and that was it. So I rode it out let it happen and I popped out of it in a little bit and it was like nothing happened. Afterwards normal services resumed. A lot of times with depression there are these doubts, "what if I really am this upset?", "What if I never feel better?", "What if there is nothing wrong with me and it is all in my head?" they go on but you get the idea. Even in the movie Melancholia which gives a pretty good look at what it is like you had to admit that girl had a shitty time at her wedding. This time though there was no catylist no direct reason. No girl to make me sad, no family drama, no stresses, nothing. Yet it still happened. It is nice to know that it is there and it isn't my fault.
So what else happened in April? Well I in one glorious weekend I saw Cabin in the Woods and The Raid. I know three diffrent groups of people who saw those movies in that order on that weekend. Life is weird like that. Unlike everyone else though I saw Lockout. Lockout was actually suprisingly amazing. It has two rather unfortunate sequences in it which really should just be removed. Other than that the movie is surprisingly superb. When cory and I were discussing it a couple of days later we found that we were fondly recounting just about the whole movie it is fun to quote, talk about, and watch. Good stuff.
I also saw God Bless America on my birthday. That was great and I loved it. Actually my whole birhday was great. I was planning on doing nothing but my friends got together and in a Herculean act of organization threw me a suprise party at anime club. I am really glad I went cause I came pretty close to not going due to feeling slightly ill. The main reason why I went is because I knew we were watching a movie and I wouldn't have to think or teach people things or anything. No joke, best friends ever.
It was kinda sad because a couple of people got excluded who would of helped but that's what you get for not being in the know. Oh well.
I bought Cassoconne and man do I like that game. I've been playing it quite a bit and it is a lot of fun. It is also one of those games that I just sort of enjoy playing and winning or loosing doesn't really matter as much to me. Like I loose Agricola a lot and that does bother me. Carssoconne even if I am way behind I still enjoy playing.
I've undertaken a new project where I am designing a hex and chit war game that takes place on an alternate earth where a world war has broken out and the normally neuteral super heroes have picked sides and joined in. It is going to use cards as a randomizer and it is barrowing things from both ASL and Sekigahara along with some good old fasioned original ideas. It is going to be asymetric senarios that feature tough choices. One of the nice things is that the way I have it set up I will be able to have a great deal of senario variation as a result of all the different elements I can throw around. Right now I am looking into various resolution mechanics that are quick, elegant, and decisive. Once that's done I can start stating out units and designing scenarios in earnest.
I also have an idea for a cyberpunk hacking game in the vein of Netrunner though instead of using two decks of cards the runner uses a combination drafting/deckbuilding set of rules and the corporation uses a worker placement set of rules. I am REALLY excited about this but I want to get a lot of basic leg work out of the way for the hero game before starting another one. This way I can choose to either do heavy design work or basic playtesting or something like that. I know by the end of May I'll have some interesting things to report.
For now though it is time for me to sign off.
So what else happened in April? Well I in one glorious weekend I saw Cabin in the Woods and The Raid. I know three diffrent groups of people who saw those movies in that order on that weekend. Life is weird like that. Unlike everyone else though I saw Lockout. Lockout was actually suprisingly amazing. It has two rather unfortunate sequences in it which really should just be removed. Other than that the movie is surprisingly superb. When cory and I were discussing it a couple of days later we found that we were fondly recounting just about the whole movie it is fun to quote, talk about, and watch. Good stuff.
I also saw God Bless America on my birthday. That was great and I loved it. Actually my whole birhday was great. I was planning on doing nothing but my friends got together and in a Herculean act of organization threw me a suprise party at anime club. I am really glad I went cause I came pretty close to not going due to feeling slightly ill. The main reason why I went is because I knew we were watching a movie and I wouldn't have to think or teach people things or anything. No joke, best friends ever.
It was kinda sad because a couple of people got excluded who would of helped but that's what you get for not being in the know. Oh well.
I bought Cassoconne and man do I like that game. I've been playing it quite a bit and it is a lot of fun. It is also one of those games that I just sort of enjoy playing and winning or loosing doesn't really matter as much to me. Like I loose Agricola a lot and that does bother me. Carssoconne even if I am way behind I still enjoy playing.
I've undertaken a new project where I am designing a hex and chit war game that takes place on an alternate earth where a world war has broken out and the normally neuteral super heroes have picked sides and joined in. It is going to use cards as a randomizer and it is barrowing things from both ASL and Sekigahara along with some good old fasioned original ideas. It is going to be asymetric senarios that feature tough choices. One of the nice things is that the way I have it set up I will be able to have a great deal of senario variation as a result of all the different elements I can throw around. Right now I am looking into various resolution mechanics that are quick, elegant, and decisive. Once that's done I can start stating out units and designing scenarios in earnest.
I also have an idea for a cyberpunk hacking game in the vein of Netrunner though instead of using two decks of cards the runner uses a combination drafting/deckbuilding set of rules and the corporation uses a worker placement set of rules. I am REALLY excited about this but I want to get a lot of basic leg work out of the way for the hero game before starting another one. This way I can choose to either do heavy design work or basic playtesting or something like that. I know by the end of May I'll have some interesting things to report.
For now though it is time for me to sign off.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
And now Maybe Something Different
I bought a table! I am actually considering buying another one because having a table and a couple of chairs means gaming ANYWHERE! Of course this is silly and unessiary but I like to consider all possible avenues. I don't spend long considering the obviously bad ones but you know what I mean.
In other news I settled on a card based mechanic for the hero game. I love the cards in Sekigahara and I love them in Malifaux. Mostly though the thing that pushed me over the line is the fact that with dice hero on hero combat is going to be boring. Heroes can blow up building, throw tanks around, summon the undead, dig mile long trenches, dig mile deep trenches, transport troops, and all these other wonderful things. But when one punches another it is going to be some roll of a dice and consulting the chart. There is no drama in that. With cards we have a much greater option for how this is going to work.
The computer hacking game wasn't a joke. I wanna do that. It made realize something though. The Hero game which needs a name is actually pretty easy to design. I mean there isn't a lot of leg work to it. Even if it was a skirmish based stradegy game you basically set up some parameters then fill them in. Then you run a play test find what works, what doesn't. Fix what doesn't and then test again until you get everything working. It is a little hard but it isn't like there is a some MASSIVE set of problems that needs to be solved. While the computer hacking game... that's different entirely. Lets pretend for a moment that it is going to be a competative deck building game with two different decks, like the original netrunner. Even that would nessesitate coming up with draft rules, mechanics, resource gathering and manipulation. The whole nine yards. Doing a deck building game+ worker placement game? Well that is just plain old challenging. Not insurmountable though. I might wanna play more Lords of Waterdeep and Tribune though. I have a very good sense of how different card games both collectable and draftable work but less so of worker placement games. I've played all three of the games listed but never quite from a "well how does this game work?" standpoint. Maybe some more worker placement games would be nice but I don't wanna own any more...well okay I do want Lords of Waterdeep that game is fantastic. Puerto Rico is also an interesting canidate for how I want the corporate side to work.
Much like I did for the hero game I need to write up a design document and start fiddling things out. That's the other thing is that this game is going to require that I make a large number of end user components whereas the hero game doesn't. That's interesting.
Part of me is worried about how to publish this but I guess I should actually make and playtest and have everything good to go first. Everything else can follow later assuming I get that far. I think I will though. I have a good feeling about this project. It feels right in all the correct ways and so it might end up being permanently in play test with only my friends playing it. Well, who cares! This is being made because ASL is being a jerk. So I am okay with this.
In other news I settled on a card based mechanic for the hero game. I love the cards in Sekigahara and I love them in Malifaux. Mostly though the thing that pushed me over the line is the fact that with dice hero on hero combat is going to be boring. Heroes can blow up building, throw tanks around, summon the undead, dig mile long trenches, dig mile deep trenches, transport troops, and all these other wonderful things. But when one punches another it is going to be some roll of a dice and consulting the chart. There is no drama in that. With cards we have a much greater option for how this is going to work.
The computer hacking game wasn't a joke. I wanna do that. It made realize something though. The Hero game which needs a name is actually pretty easy to design. I mean there isn't a lot of leg work to it. Even if it was a skirmish based stradegy game you basically set up some parameters then fill them in. Then you run a play test find what works, what doesn't. Fix what doesn't and then test again until you get everything working. It is a little hard but it isn't like there is a some MASSIVE set of problems that needs to be solved. While the computer hacking game... that's different entirely. Lets pretend for a moment that it is going to be a competative deck building game with two different decks, like the original netrunner. Even that would nessesitate coming up with draft rules, mechanics, resource gathering and manipulation. The whole nine yards. Doing a deck building game+ worker placement game? Well that is just plain old challenging. Not insurmountable though. I might wanna play more Lords of Waterdeep and Tribune though. I have a very good sense of how different card games both collectable and draftable work but less so of worker placement games. I've played all three of the games listed but never quite from a "well how does this game work?" standpoint. Maybe some more worker placement games would be nice but I don't wanna own any more...well okay I do want Lords of Waterdeep that game is fantastic. Puerto Rico is also an interesting canidate for how I want the corporate side to work.
Much like I did for the hero game I need to write up a design document and start fiddling things out. That's the other thing is that this game is going to require that I make a large number of end user components whereas the hero game doesn't. That's interesting.
Part of me is worried about how to publish this but I guess I should actually make and playtest and have everything good to go first. Everything else can follow later assuming I get that far. I think I will though. I have a good feeling about this project. It feels right in all the correct ways and so it might end up being permanently in play test with only my friends playing it. Well, who cares! This is being made because ASL is being a jerk. So I am okay with this.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Design Notes 2
Conflict Resolution in an Age of Conflict:
I am thinking of using a ratio system similar to ASL's close combat resolution. This would still use a chart, but it would keep the chart small and it would be easy to eyeball. Moreover when simulating defensive powers it could be a simple matter of making the people's always roll on one ratio set.
The problem with this? I have no idea how to design/balance this. Of course I have no real idea of how to balance a chart either so either way I am kinda stuck here. AJ would be the best person to help with this also I am sure I can rustle up some web sources.
It really is the only thing I can think of. I wish people would upload issues of Stradegy and Tactics to the internet so I could have a broader base of information to work with. A base to-hit number is out because it is incompatable with super heroes. SO I need to get a better handle on how to calculate and use ratios. Once I do that I should be able to move on with coming up with stats.
The ASL ratio table goes from <1-8 to >10-1...
Oh hey I think the best way to do the randomizer factor is to use cards A LA Sekigahara. However, making cards is annoying and I don't think it will work for this game so I will use dice instead. ALTHOUGH cards produce an interesting set of options. Let's kick that idea around for a bit.
Okay first and foremost lets base it off of the standard 52 card deck just for ease and simplicity. We could do this Malifaux style where each unit has a certain set of stats like attack and defense. The cards would also be used for moral resolution, initative, and every other damn thing. Best of all we can control card draw based on the objectives held and used. This frees the players ever so slightly from the yoke of straight up randomization. The biggest downside is that it would be yet another component when we could just as easily use dice. If I did use cards I would have to find a way to make it quick. I mean it is a hex based game where a hero can swoop in and decimate whatever he wants. So I don't need that intricate of a mechanic. Still the cards in Sekgahara are engaging and interesting.
It is an interesting problem but it does combo well with the heroes. The heroes abilities can be used to mess with the card values or the number of cards flipped or both.whereas the dice a little bit more static but potentially faster. There is also the question of what to do with the face cards.
I need to seriously think on this some more. I also think that before I can come to a proper decision I am going to have to sit down and define what I want each unit to be able to do and then figure out which tool would be the best way to implement this. Cards are indeed quick and visual and that is a good thing.
I am thinking of using a ratio system similar to ASL's close combat resolution. This would still use a chart, but it would keep the chart small and it would be easy to eyeball. Moreover when simulating defensive powers it could be a simple matter of making the people's always roll on one ratio set.
The problem with this? I have no idea how to design/balance this. Of course I have no real idea of how to balance a chart either so either way I am kinda stuck here. AJ would be the best person to help with this also I am sure I can rustle up some web sources.
It really is the only thing I can think of. I wish people would upload issues of Stradegy and Tactics to the internet so I could have a broader base of information to work with. A base to-hit number is out because it is incompatable with super heroes. SO I need to get a better handle on how to calculate and use ratios. Once I do that I should be able to move on with coming up with stats.
The ASL ratio table goes from <1-8 to >10-1...
Oh hey I think the best way to do the randomizer factor is to use cards A LA Sekigahara. However, making cards is annoying and I don't think it will work for this game so I will use dice instead. ALTHOUGH cards produce an interesting set of options. Let's kick that idea around for a bit.
Okay first and foremost lets base it off of the standard 52 card deck just for ease and simplicity. We could do this Malifaux style where each unit has a certain set of stats like attack and defense. The cards would also be used for moral resolution, initative, and every other damn thing. Best of all we can control card draw based on the objectives held and used. This frees the players ever so slightly from the yoke of straight up randomization. The biggest downside is that it would be yet another component when we could just as easily use dice. If I did use cards I would have to find a way to make it quick. I mean it is a hex based game where a hero can swoop in and decimate whatever he wants. So I don't need that intricate of a mechanic. Still the cards in Sekgahara are engaging and interesting.
It is an interesting problem but it does combo well with the heroes. The heroes abilities can be used to mess with the card values or the number of cards flipped or both.whereas the dice a little bit more static but potentially faster. There is also the question of what to do with the face cards.
I need to seriously think on this some more. I also think that before I can come to a proper decision I am going to have to sit down and define what I want each unit to be able to do and then figure out which tool would be the best way to implement this. Cards are indeed quick and visual and that is a good thing.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Apparently my Notebooks Are All Full
I have two 70page spiral bound notebooks with me and both are full of stuff. It is always gratifying when I fill a notebook but it is annoying because what I am about to do works better for me when I do it on pen and paper. Oh well.
Super Game Brain Dump.
Step one come up with a better name. That's a big one.
The point of this post is to come up with some design goals and ideas of how to implement them.
1) Keep the base rules simple. That is keep the terrain rules easy to understand, make shooting resolution easily done in one to two dice rolls, avoid using a chart, all the basic rules should fit on a double sided 8.5 by 11 piece of paper.
2) Troops should be useful. I hate games where toopseses because obsolete almost immediatly. Make it so that when a hero has a choice between going after some grunts or a super heavy tank it is a difficult choice.
3) Keep the base units simple and defined:
3 Troop Types
Grunts
Stealth Operaters
Cape Killers
2 Tanks
Tank
Superheavy Tanks
2 Fast Support
1 Transport
1 Attack Craft
2 Artillery
Immobile
One AOE
One poking
4) Make it so that the game can be played without the supers though might might be a little bit generic/bland
5) Do we want the game to be ASL style scenario based where we can test and balance certain senarios or DIY malifaux style senarios. I am thinking a synthasis of both. I'll mediate more on this in a bit.
6) Decide on Map size early! This will be important for defining movement rates and ultimately how quickly the game will play along with senario types and sizes.
7) Decide on Superhero effect. I want these guys to have a big, defining effect on the battle field but how big is to big? Once we have the games skeletol frame work down then will will be able to get to work on that.
8) Counter size? I am thinking popsicle stick maybe balsa wood.
9) Keep the setting loose and generic for now. We can ramp the game up once it gets going similar to ASL/Battletech. Keep the basic game with lots of senarios, then add onto the basic game.
10) Remember that this is only the start. Keep it simple, easy to tinker with, and then you will have unlimited expandability.
So back to 5. I am starting to think more and more that a series of predefined senarios is going to be the best rout. This gives me as the designer so much control over things like game balance and hero balance that I can define all the troops for both sides to letting the players fiddle around with ideas for what they want or don't want.
It also lets me control the heroes, the effects they can have on the battlefield and the sort of balance involved. Once I am more comfortable with the senario design we can move on a bit. One important thing with senario design in a game like this is VARIETY. We have so many options. So lets take a look at the basic skeletol frame work.
-Capture the flag
-Take and Hold Objective
-Destroy Stratigic Object
-Transport Object
-Assasinate
-Eliminate All Enemy Forces
-Escape
-Hold Out (my favorite)
We can also have sub objectives. One thing I really want to do is to have cross objectives. This happens a lot in Malifaux and I love it. So one side is just trying to Transport and Object from one area to another. The other side is trying to Take and Hold an Objective. They still have to stop the transport or they risk loosing. Similarly if they do stop the transport but don't hold the objective they might not win. The idea is that there is ALOT to do in every senario and the heroes can help with that but as mighty as they are they can't be everywhere at the same time. THAT'S the most important thing.
Super Game Brain Dump.
Step one come up with a better name. That's a big one.
The point of this post is to come up with some design goals and ideas of how to implement them.
1) Keep the base rules simple. That is keep the terrain rules easy to understand, make shooting resolution easily done in one to two dice rolls, avoid using a chart, all the basic rules should fit on a double sided 8.5 by 11 piece of paper.
2) Troops should be useful. I hate games where toopseses because obsolete almost immediatly. Make it so that when a hero has a choice between going after some grunts or a super heavy tank it is a difficult choice.
3) Keep the base units simple and defined:
3 Troop Types
Grunts
Stealth Operaters
Cape Killers
2 Tanks
Tank
Superheavy Tanks
2 Fast Support
1 Transport
1 Attack Craft
2 Artillery
Immobile
One AOE
One poking
4) Make it so that the game can be played without the supers though might might be a little bit generic/bland
5) Do we want the game to be ASL style scenario based where we can test and balance certain senarios or DIY malifaux style senarios. I am thinking a synthasis of both. I'll mediate more on this in a bit.
6) Decide on Map size early! This will be important for defining movement rates and ultimately how quickly the game will play along with senario types and sizes.
7) Decide on Superhero effect. I want these guys to have a big, defining effect on the battle field but how big is to big? Once we have the games skeletol frame work down then will will be able to get to work on that.
8) Counter size? I am thinking popsicle stick maybe balsa wood.
9) Keep the setting loose and generic for now. We can ramp the game up once it gets going similar to ASL/Battletech. Keep the basic game with lots of senarios, then add onto the basic game.
10) Remember that this is only the start. Keep it simple, easy to tinker with, and then you will have unlimited expandability.
So back to 5. I am starting to think more and more that a series of predefined senarios is going to be the best rout. This gives me as the designer so much control over things like game balance and hero balance that I can define all the troops for both sides to letting the players fiddle around with ideas for what they want or don't want.
It also lets me control the heroes, the effects they can have on the battlefield and the sort of balance involved. Once I am more comfortable with the senario design we can move on a bit. One important thing with senario design in a game like this is VARIETY. We have so many options. So lets take a look at the basic skeletol frame work.
-Capture the flag
-Take and Hold Objective
-Destroy Stratigic Object
-Transport Object
-Assasinate
-Eliminate All Enemy Forces
-Escape
-Hold Out (my favorite)
We can also have sub objectives. One thing I really want to do is to have cross objectives. This happens a lot in Malifaux and I love it. So one side is just trying to Transport and Object from one area to another. The other side is trying to Take and Hold an Objective. They still have to stop the transport or they risk loosing. Similarly if they do stop the transport but don't hold the objective they might not win. The idea is that there is ALOT to do in every senario and the heroes can help with that but as mighty as they are they can't be everywhere at the same time. THAT'S the most important thing.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Lunch Time is the Right Time
I've been tired recently. That is the only way to put it. It seems like no matter what some rediculous thing will end up happening causing my sleep cycle to be interupted. Then I got depressed recently. It lasted for about a week and a half and it was throughly miserable. Its over now though I still feel a bit rickity. Rickity is a really fun word. I think it is increadibly creepy. Now that the fog has lifted I am not sure what I want to do with my time now that it is my own again. I've been doing some serious thinking about Advanced Squad Leader and trying to find a way to where we can play it more fully without having to devote our lives to it. I am thinking a series of cheat sheets printed up on 3x5 index cards. I can get enough information on the cards so that they will be useful but not so much that it will become rediculous. Best of all we could have little "decks" of information that are easy to reffrence and which will contain links to the relevent rule book sections.
I am thinking things like certain terrain rules, certain charts, how to do that funky boarder movement, expanded CC charts, special rules for ordinance and vehicles, and stuff like that. Stuff so that we will have as little to remember as possible so that we can focus more on the game. I also want to make special senario card that we can keep in front of us that will have fillible information such as ELR, country special rules, and any I dunno hidden information that normally gets written down.
I think the best way to do it is to pick a really complex senario with LOTS of elements and then gather together everything I need to know to play it and figure out the best way to organize the cards. For example rules for snipers take about 1/2 a card. So what would I put on the other half? What would I put on the back. Fire is another example but a little bit easier because I can bundle in the rules for smoke, and fire spreading and stuff like that. Reduncancies aren't a bad thing as I think it will cut down looking for information. Like I definitly want to have a card that lists everything a generic MMC/SMC can do and how to do it. That's everything from movement to fire lanes, to smoke granades.
I think once this is done the transistion between starter kit ASL and ASL proper is going to be much smoother and it will be nice because we will have a set of clear, informative play aids instead of devoting our lives to memorizing rule books. This will be especially important for terrain, I know I will want at least one card for buildings, and another for elevation, then one for each of the specialized terrains.
This needs to be done otherwise we are going to have a very difficult time enjoying the game as it is meant to be played. Anyway lunch time is ova.
I am thinking things like certain terrain rules, certain charts, how to do that funky boarder movement, expanded CC charts, special rules for ordinance and vehicles, and stuff like that. Stuff so that we will have as little to remember as possible so that we can focus more on the game. I also want to make special senario card that we can keep in front of us that will have fillible information such as ELR, country special rules, and any I dunno hidden information that normally gets written down.
I think the best way to do it is to pick a really complex senario with LOTS of elements and then gather together everything I need to know to play it and figure out the best way to organize the cards. For example rules for snipers take about 1/2 a card. So what would I put on the other half? What would I put on the back. Fire is another example but a little bit easier because I can bundle in the rules for smoke, and fire spreading and stuff like that. Reduncancies aren't a bad thing as I think it will cut down looking for information. Like I definitly want to have a card that lists everything a generic MMC/SMC can do and how to do it. That's everything from movement to fire lanes, to smoke granades.
I think once this is done the transistion between starter kit ASL and ASL proper is going to be much smoother and it will be nice because we will have a set of clear, informative play aids instead of devoting our lives to memorizing rule books. This will be especially important for terrain, I know I will want at least one card for buildings, and another for elevation, then one for each of the specialized terrains.
This needs to be done otherwise we are going to have a very difficult time enjoying the game as it is meant to be played. Anyway lunch time is ova.
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