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[Mephansteras]

Shouldn't you be on a honeymoon right now instead of talking to us nerds?

Nah, we don't leave for Ireland until May 10th. So I'm actually at work today. :/

[Mephansteras]

So, more work on the Magitech Mechs game. Pondering an initial story to use for my prototype. It's fairly straightforward, but has some good possibilities for exploring the various mechanics of the game.

Invasion Light	Invasion Dark
The land is being invaded by a neighboring kingdom trying to capture some disputed land.
Initial encounters are tough, trying to blunt the attack, rally troops, and build up defenses.	Failures early on lead to increased problems with desertion and lost supplies.
Mid story encounters get a little easier as the enemy is pushed back and the country's forces start to pull it together.	Futher failures have the enemy pressing ever inwards. More and more encounters deal with demoralized troops, deserters, and large numbers of enemy troops
Late game the story is about pushing the enemy out completely, taking out their main commanders/heroes, and some difficult battles reclaiming some fortifications taken early on	A dark end game involves desperate battles in the heartland cities and castles, attempts to feed starving people trapped by sieges, and the like.
Final battle is against the Lord General, Crown Prince of the enemy Kingdom, in the enemy's border stronghold, trying to force him to surrender.	Final battle is a desperate battle to save the life of the king in the Capital and get the royal family out safely into exile as the kingdom falls.

[Mephansteras]

Added another game to the idea backlog, Earthseed. Prompted by a dream I had last night, although they're only vaguely related.

On the Magitech Mechs front I've started pondering the characters a bit more. Would people be interested in coming up with character descriptions and backgrounds? I've got a list of 10 Roles I want the characters to fill, but don't have the details of the characters fleshed out at all yet. Except a little bit on the Captain, but that's not much.

I'm also putting some more time into Deep Dark trying to get that to full prototype level. If I can find the time tonight I'm going to try to get it done up for a friend's birthday party tomorrow.

[Toaster]

You're invited to my next party.

[EagleV]

Well, you managed to inspire me to get an old project going again. It's a mech game (but not very similar to your magitech) played with d8s. I'll let you know if there is some decent progress.

[Mephansteras]

Excellent! Glad to help with inspiration!

[Stas]

Cool.

I haven't designed that game out all that much, but one consideration I've had is that you have to be careful not to make it too fiddly. With so much going on you don't want to bog the game down too much with minutia between turns.

One way I had for markets was to simply have boxes for the goods with prices depending on the box. So if there were, say, 6 in stock the item would only cost 1g whereas the same item with only 2 in stock might cost 3g. That way the players only need to worry about how much is in each market to figure out the costs, rather than something more complicated.

How were you handling that?

That's a good idea, I can't believe I didn't think of that. I just had the goods that were sold/bought disappear, but your idea is way better.
I was thinking of using event cards that would say things like "Drought! : City of Somethingville's crops have suffered greatly this season, there is not enough food to go around. (Purchase: Cost of Food is increased by 4g, Luxury Food increased by 7g.  Sale: Cost of food increased by 3g, Luxury Food increased by 5g) Better written, though.
Your model I like very much because it would allow for a finite amount of resources in places.
I could have a booklet with all the towns in it, with their requirements for food/tools/etc. and have a list that would have negative effects when there is not enough resources, which would put pressure on the local lord to do something.

Ex: Player A is a merchant Prince from an overseas land with a lot of Luxury Food units (cardboard tokens or cards, not sure yet) and he travels to a small port town which belongs to player B. Player B had drawn a card earlier that said that this town had tensions between commoners and nobles, already dropping his power to declare mandates by 1 (draw event cards) and cut his taxes by 3g, along with the stipulation that if there were negative effects due to lack of resources, whichever level was achieved, it would be one higher. Player A buys all of the Food and Sells all of his Luxury Food. Since there is not enough Food for the commoners, and the amount of Luxury Food surpasses the amount of Food, tensions erupt. Player B rolls (looks at a chart?) and sees that the current tensions mean he is losing population (token?), taxes are reduced, and production has severely decreased. Not so bad, until he is reminded of the card he had drawn earlier. Full blown revolt. No taxes, no production, clashes in the streets, etc. Player B has to send in soldiers, buy food from player C and safely bring it to his city. He also makes a law that allows hims to outlaw foreigners (costing a certain amount of authority points) With this law he then confiscates all of Player A's goods and banishes him out of his territory, meaning that A, due to the town he was in, can only go North where player D is fighting off an invading force, making roads very unsafe. The law and the banishment both are not well received in player A's country of origin, which brings them over a certain amount of points and they send a punitive force over the sea. A global event card is then drawn and it looks like there is a very harsh winter ahead.

This is the sort of gameplay I am aiming for.

[Mephansteras]

Hmm. I like the narratives you're going for. Does sound very complex, though. Not a bad thing, but definitely look for ways to make it more streamlined. As it is you're looking at very long game times.

I'd probably look at each piece and decide how you can make each do what you want while being as simple as possible (which may not be very simple for some things).

Combat, for example, sounds like it's going to be only a small piece of the overall political game. So make it easy. Have conflict simply be a case of getting enough soldiers to the right spot before things get too bad. Player vs Player might be a little more complicated, but stuff like revolts or raiders or whatnot can simply have consequences for every turn they're left alone. Simple but engaging.

[Stas]

Yeah, combat will not be the biggest part of the game, but I plan on having it depend on a combination of unit compositions and the leaders that are chosen, along with placement of said units on a battleboard where they will be filling the positions of vanguard, bulk, flanks, and reserve. It sounds complicated, but it will be a series of dice rolls that look fancy.
So you would put a good cavalry leader from the steppes with a group of steppe horsemen on an army's flank, which would yield good results, as opposed to a random noble leading archers in the vanguard, which would not end well. (Think of a very simplified version of CK2's battle system, tweaked with some of my own ideas)

I don't want the battles to end instantly with one side annihilating the other, so that retreating battles can be fought for a few turns until they run into reinforcements. The whole idea is to make battles a costly affair that will be such a hassle that it will not be the focus of the game, or rather its use should be limited and used precisely and efficiently.

[Mephansteras]

Out of curiosity, are you making this game for just your own use or are you thinking of trying to publish it?

[Mephansteras]

Added yet another game to the backlog, Shipyard. Almost more of a theme concept than a true game idea, but thoughts bubble anyway.

Created a simulation program to test out the Captain's deck for Magitech Mechs. Mostly figuring out what kind of numbers I can assume the player will get so I can determine an initial difficulty point for things. Works out to be pretty simple. An easy task is 1 Diplomacy/Wealth/Work per player, average is 2, difficult is 3, and very difficult is 4. Of course, that's off of a specific combination of decks that includes a fair amount of extra card draws, so we'll have to see how it shakes out in practice.

I'm continuing work on the Story and Plot cards for the Invasion Story. My goal is to have a prototyped version of the game ready by the end of the month. Lots more work to do there, of course, but I'm hoping I'll be able to do at least some of it on my Kindle while I'm traveling. Lots of downtime in airports to fill for the upcoming trip.

[EagleV]

Is the Attack Run game finished?
Also, just in case I get far enough to have something to show, is this the (Meph's board game design) thread or Meph's (board game design thread)?

[Mephansteras]

Is the Attack Run game finished?
Also, just in case I get far enough to have something to show, is this the (Meph's board game design) thread or Meph's (board game design thread)?

Yeah, Attack run is pretty much finished. One of my goals for the summer is to get a slightly nicer prototype made up and start pitching it to publishers.

It is both. I'm going to use it for all of my board game designs, but people are more than welcome to post their own ideas and whatnot.

[Mephansteras]

Plot outline for the initial story of the Magictech Mechs game is complete. As is a first pass of all of the Plot cards. Still need to do the filler Story cards, but progress is good!

Here is the outline. I'm sure things will be tweaked, changed, and fleshed out as I work on stuff, but it is enough to start building cards off of.

Prologue
Pressing a generations old claim, of perhaps dubious legality, a neighbouring nation has invaded the northern provinces! The Heroes are sent forth to aid in the battle.

Light Story

• Enemy forces have penetrated deep into the surrounding countryside and the Heroes must aid local forces in blunting the attack. They square off against a famous Enemy Captain, also in a Mecha, along with his personal compliment of troops.
• After defeating the Captain and his push southward, the Heroes work to rally the demoralized local troops by getting them the supplies they need to properly fight again.
• The Heroes hear of an advancing enemy force closing in on an important Fortress. They must rush to its aid. If they don't get there in time, they'll be caught out in the open by large numbers of enemy troops.
• After successfully defending the fort, the Heroes help lead the Counter offensive to try and drive back the enemy forces. The first of a series of battles is against The Brigadier and his guards while the rest of the army engages his troops.
• While great strides are being made, the Enemy still controls much of the North. The Heroes get word of an allied force pinned down by a superior enemy force. Unfortunately, the Bridge they need to cross has been destroyed and they must move quickly in order to get to their allies in time.
• With their allies saved, the heroes come to the manor house of a wealthy family who has refused to aid in the war effort. They must somehow convince them to join the effort, as they have resources badly needed by the local forces.
• The next step to liberating the North is aiding the army in taking back a captured fortress. It will be a tough fight, unless the Heroes can make an easier way in.
• As they advance on the last town held by enemy forces, the heroes are Ambushed and caught in a desperate battle for their lives!
• With the main army still a few days away, the Heroes find the Enemy guards lax. They have an Opportunity to destroy much of their supplies!
• The Enemy forces have been driven back across the border, but resistance there is high. The Heroes lead a small force to try and flank the main defending force.
• With the main force defeated and your armies securing the border the Heroes advance, only to be challenged by a Legendary Warrior and his Companions.
• Finally the Heroes confront the Crown Prince, High Commander of the enemy forces. If they defeat him and his forces in battle, they can force a final surrender and end the war!

Dark Story

• Enemy forces have penetrated deep into the surrounding countryside and the Heroes must aid local forces in blunting the attack. Badly outnumbered, they square off against a famous Enemy Captain, also in a Mecha, with his personal compliment of troops as well as regular soldiers.
• With the war going badly, the Heroes stop to try and aid a company of troops that has been badly mauled in the fighting. They need their equipment repaired and medical supplies to tend their wounded.
• Nearly surrounded by enemy troops the Heroes take refuge in a border fort. The soldiers there are disheartened and most want to just surrender. They must rally the troops and defeat the attacking enemies.
• The Heroes has been called to help spearhead a counter offensive in the hopes of driving back some of the enemy forces. They must first take out some screening troops before engaging with The Brigadier and his guards.
• Cut off from friendly forces, the Heroes find themselves trapped with their backs to a river. If they can cross it in time, they can avoid the enemy troops hunting them.
• The military has set up their HQ in a manor house not far from the front. The Heroes witness an advance column of enemies bearing down on it. They must warn the HQ in time!
• The Enemy has captured a nearby castle and imprisoned the children of some prominent nobles to use as hostages. The Heroes need to rescue them, ideally without being noticed by the large numbers of enemy troops garrisoned in the castle.
• While scouting around enemy territory the Heroes spot a large group of enemy soldiers moving towards them. The woods the Heroes are in would be perfect for an Ambush, and if they can pull this off they'll have an easy fight on your hands.
• An enemy camp is up ahead. It is a camp of Mercenaries working for the enemy! Perhaps they can be bribed to fight for the Heroes' side instead?
• Word of the enemy army advancing on the capital worries the Heroes. They must cross a difficult check-point held by the enemy in order to help the besieged capital!
• The Enemy has breached the walls. The Heroes find themselves face to face with a Legendary Warrior. He offers to Duel one of the Heroes in honorable combat.
• His Majesty is in peril. The Heroes must rescue him and escort the Royal Family to safety before the city falls.

[Stas]

Out of curiosity, are you making this game for just your own use or are you thinking of trying to publish it?

Long term goal is to try and kickstart it. I already got a potential artist lined up for the art, but before I get there I need to do the bulk of the written stuff.