When it was a CCGBasically I'm branching this out DF into a Euro. I love Euros, and this is just my attempt in riding the wave of Dicey-euros, Caylus-likes and Rosenberg-likes. It is not a short game - but the use of dice should restrict options somewhat, so it won't be as drawn-out or be so prone to AP.
St...Roll the Dice!In this dice-based Euro (because everyone loves dice, right?), one play the role of dwarven pioneers building a brand new fortress. It was, for now, just a small hole in earth, but given time it will grow into a megalopolis.
For the time being, though, survival is first priority. Dwarves need food for nutrients, and they also love booze to lighten up their minds. Workshops must be built before any meaningful industry can be carried out; Stone, ores and gems will have to be dug out from earth, before being transformed by master craftdwarfship into trade goods. Soon the fortress will attract more dwarves, including professional craftsmen, soldiers, scholars, nobles, and all kinds of folk. Traders both coming from your mountainhome and other cultures, like humans or elves, will come to trade, hoping to get some of your wealth. Unfortunately, not every race preferred a civilized way; some underground creatures treat dwarves as invaders, some are naturally hostile, and goblins and trolls will try to outright conquer and loot you. You thus also need to raise an militia, then army, to repel these attacks.
The fortress, given time, will reach deeper than any dwarf have previously been to. In addition to Magma, there are rumors of an extremely rare material which can be only found at such depths. Finding this material will always be great news, and the king even wanted to move here. He also wanted a new Chancellor - a fitting job for the dwarf who has best managed the new Mountainhome.
Game Materials:
Several Starting Buildings (Outside, Farm, Still)
? Square tiles, in 3 piles (Age I, Age II, Age III for the time being), representing the land, providing resources
? Square tiles, each with a cost (dice+resources), depicting buildings (workshops)
? Cards, divided into 3 piles of age, depicting traders and encounters. Traders only come from surface, Goblins might come underground.
? Cards, depicting incoming professionals
? counters in X (# of players) colours
? black counters (representing spent resources)
1 Common Board (like in TTA: to remove need of a large crate of resource tiles like Le Havre), for points, resources, ownership of equipment and so
Laying out:
Setting aside ? tiles per age (according to # of players), shuffle the rest into 3 stacks by age
give player starting resources
Determine starting player
Gameplay (very simplified):
4 distinct phase per game year (a la kingsburg)
For first 3 phases, all players roll (a set # of) dice. Then in player order, each use 1 dice to either:
- work a tile: extract resources
- explore: draw 1 tile and can use dice immediately to work it; i.e. a calculated gamble <- thinking of adding 1vp per exploration
- build a building (use a dice or not, expend resources, add some points)
- use a building (use a specified dice, expend resources, take resources or VP)<- not sure about ownership of buildings: need a way to prevent it being too Caylus or Rosenberg
- Explore (Special action of Outside or Underground Cavern card)
- Trade (Main way of acquiring VPs, as well as advanced artisians)
- Fight Invasions (to gain VPs)
Repeat for 3 phases.
At the end of each phase, a card is drawn and put to the specified space replacing the previous card (except if there is already an invasion)
4th phase is Invasion Phase. Card by Card, players try to combat them. Failing so will lead to resources or VP lost. Dwarves have to be fed by expending food and booze.
Start player shift to next, game goes on.
Endgame
In Deck 3 there are several "adamantine" cards. When a set # of adamantine cards is drawn (similar to Diamant/Incan Gold), Adamantine is found. Players now play the current year to Autumn, before The king comes to evaluate the progress. Game winner is determined by points (some artisans are points themselves), followed by various tiebreakers.
This game has undergone zero playtesting. Feel free to give any ideas.
(potential suggestions: Ownership of buildings, getting away with the dice if drawbacks outmerit, mechanics of gaining extra dice)
Author
Topic: Dwarf Fortress: Roll the Dice! - a Eurogame idea (Read 1182 times)