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Have dice, will [game design].

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Posts

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    It might be neat to have a system where the DM/antagonist deck is made by the players, shuffled and draw from X times per their own turns.

    Maybe as a risk-reward system of gaining money, experience and/or mana from monsters, with the tougher ones granting you more.

    It depends very much on what the game is about at its core, but maybe the players are competitively out to look the most heroic, most cool, or having landed the most killing blows on monsters.

    Again it depends on what cards are in the game, but perhaps they have to work together to have a powerful enough team to defeat the final boss too.

    Edit: for the typos

    Endless_Serpents on
  • El FantasticoEl Fantastico Toronto, ONRegistered User regular
    It might be neat to have a system where the DM/antagonist deck is made by the players, shuffled and draw from X times per their own turns.

    Maybe as a risk-reward system of gaining money, experience and/or mana from monsters, with the tougher ones granting you more.

    It depends very much on what the game is about at its core, but maybe the players are competitively out to look the most heroic, most cool, or having landed the most killing blows on monsters.

    Again it depends on what cards are in the game, but perhaps they have to work together to have a powerful enough team to defeat the final boss too.

    Edit: for the typos

    This idea reminds me of Cutthroat Caverns, which is a competitive/co-op game. You shuffle up 10 monsters out of a big deck that has about 20-30 or so for the group to deal with, and everyone's working together to kill them, but individually, you want the final blow so you get the most rewards, so you can throw cards at your competitors that nullify the damage they just did, or heal the monster, or other shady tricks.

    That was a direction I was considering to take the idea, because I don't like big, drawn out 3-4 hour long experiences. There's a place for them at every board game table, but faster games with quick setup and tear-down are usually easier for most groups to handle.

    That kind of fast plays per round style can be fun, but doesn't involve a lot of strategy since many things come down to "what cards do I have in my hand?" I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily. I would need to work in how does playing as the monster work versus playing as the robot, versus playing as the human or whatever. What benefits playing as one race over the other, which is really the same kind of class-based decision making you might make in other games. Balancing that is probably the first step to take.

    PSN: TheArcadeBear
    Steam: TheArcadeBear

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    I’ve had a similar game in mind for awhile, save you’re robbers doing heists, with damage being money taken, and killing blows being a treasure.



    Perhaps a neat game might be character creation?

    The entire game is built upon choosing race, nationality, backstory, class, sub-class, abilities and equipment. Who can end up as the most Final Fantasy looking character? How many belts are you wearing?!

    Maybe enemies could be simplified down to their barest form, and colour coded. You know, slimes, zombies and other gross stuff are green counters, while beasts, drakes and ogres are red etc.

    Then it could become a puzzle game of shifting the position of monsters on the board and taking them out in certain orders, changing the counters into a currency to buy more outlandish traits and fashion accessories per turn.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    That sounds not unlike the concept for Roll Player. The specifics are way different, of course, but there would need to be an obvious hook to differentiate it.

    jswidget.php?username=JonBob&numitems=10&header=1&text=none&images=small&show=recentplays&imagesonly=1&imagepos=right&inline=1&domains%5B%5D=boardgame&imagewidget=1
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Had a playtest session over the weekend and found a few things out of balance. But more importantly, I got a lot of the rules cleared up and rewritten for better clarity. I think it's actually starting to come together nicely. :)

    I've attached the updated stuff if anyone cares to check it out.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • El FantasticoEl Fantastico Toronto, ONRegistered User regular
    edited April 2019
    JonBob wrote: »
    That sounds not unlike the concept for Roll Player. The specifics are way different, of course, but there would need to be an obvious hook to differentiate it.

    Uhh, the hook is how many belts and zippers can my dream hero have? Also, pizza cutter swords and useless buckles on my elbows.

    EDIT: Bonus points if this expands into general jrpg tropes. Magical girls with big anime eyes and gets more and more ribbons in her outfit. Generic silent protag hero who's not actually silent, he's just lonely and emo, but also, crazy hair.

    El Fantastico on
    PSN: TheArcadeBear
    Steam: TheArcadeBear

  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    I've been kicking around and testing a game design for about a year or so, but mostly just on my own with note cards and thoughts and small test sessions. Moving up to printed cards in sleeves, and I started to find some really amazing stuff out there.
    Here's what I'm workin' with so far:
    Arkship(name still a work in progress)
    Elevator Pitch
    It's Monster Hunter in Space meets 7th Continent-ish. A tactical co-op for 2-4 players where you jointly control a generation ship after it crashes into a planet way before its goal and try to repair it and explore your area. It's a Dungeon Crawler where the Dungeons are Planets Inhabited by Menacing Things!

    Premise
    It's KDM without the Anime Bewbs / Random Dicks, with way less paperwork and more interesting decisions baked into the player turns. To essentially apply some of the lesson Aeon's End / Gloomhaven use to increase player agency and apply it to a Monster Hunter-like boss fight. In Space!

    Core Gameplay Loop
    Similar to Gloomhaven, you have a hand of cards. Each card has a top (movement) and a bottom (attack) action. Pick 2 cards. You must overlap one card with the other so that the bottom card only has either its Left or Right margin visible. Since the values of your move/attack are in the margins, this effectively means that you lock in 2 "main" actions on 1 card, and then use the second card to Boost the values of either your move or your attack.

    Once everyone picks their pair, players have an Initial Phase (name TBD) where you take ONE of your two actions. Then, the Monster draws a card and executes its turn. Then the players finish their actions. This is similar to the Spirit Island Fast / Invader / Slow paradigm.

    There's a little cooldown mechanic (a la BattleCON) where you have space for 2 pairs of cards to recharge/wait, so picking a pair of cards locks it out of use for 2 full turns.

    Secondary Gameplay Loop
    I've also been toying with expanding the typical dungeon crawler settlement phase with an exploration section similar to 7th Continent. It'd be a bit less convoluted than 7th continent (which hides tons of its rules behind discovery...for reasons?), but the idea would be to use cards to explore a galactic map one tile at a time. This would provide a similar mechanic to Gloomhaven Road/City events, but it would be a bit more visual in nature. This portion of the game is much less fleshed out.

    Anywho, that's what I've been working on. So, now that I'm trying to print out cards / decks and actually see if my boost mechanic will work as I though it would, I've stumbled upon a few amazing tidbits of video.

    First, if you have lots of cards with variables and frames and such:
    Basically, you have your card data in a spreadsheet. You design a single template in Adobe InDesign. Then you use the function DataMerge to populate the template with all your unique cards. Generates hundreds of cards at the push of a button, easily update-able whenever you make a change in your spreadsheet. It's made the idea of my game using multiple decks (some with unique backs, some with unified backs, etc) a daunting, dizzying prospect, to something that seems like it would be way tedious.

    Now all I need is a nice paper cutter....

    JustTee on
    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Thanks to that video link in the spoiler, I finally got steered to game-icons.net. After just a few minutes of looking around and messing with the in-browser tools, I think I found some easy icons for my game. Super glad I found this site. Thanks @JustTee!

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
    Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
    Steam ID
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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    Now that I’m not acting as the host for far too many roleplaying games I think I’ll take a stab at making a card game. In no small part inspired by MC Dover.

    For now I’m calling it Sector Control. The vague backstory is you are a mastermind behind the scenes of a near-Singularity very far future galaxy in a hundred sided Cold War. There are no factions for you though, you can use any card. You’re not out to kill, you gain a nebulous currency of “advancement” by pitting them against each other in a societal/politick sort of way.

    The initial mechanic is every card has up to 8 arrows on it, which can be used to connect a card to another one. If three are connected you gain 3 points, and the cards are taken from the board after a countdown of turns stated on the card.

    Two players play their cards on the same board. Blocking each other, playing cards that forcibly move theirs or convert them would be a big part of it.

    This simple system will be bolstered by effects and all that fun stuff we know from card games.

    Junk below:
    9dxl2rgkmhfq.jpeg

    Lotus Monolith
    S, SE
    Countdown: 3
    Resolution: Convert adjacent cards.
    (Hard to connect, but if you manage it once it’s countdown is complete and removed from the board you might change your opponent’s cards to your side.)

    Zillion Barrage
    W, NE, SE, S
    Countdown: 2
    Trigger: If a Zillion card is placed, reset this card.
    (The Zillion are a rush down faction. If you play another card with Zillion in the name you remove any effect on it and, if it’s countdown has begun, it deactivates. This allows you to connect it up again with new cards.)

    Continuous Motion
    X
    Countdown: X
    Placement: Rotate a card and resolve this card.
    (Part of a hippy faction, this card is an ‘instant’. Rotating a card alters how it can connect to other cards. It’s a risk not to put a card on the board; I’ll have to see if it works as I produce enough cards and play-test them.

    Glory Seeker
    NE, NW, S
    Countdown: 2
    Trigger: If an opponent plays a card adjacent to Glory Seeker, destroy it and destroy Glory Seeker.
    (An obvious block, but if your opponent has a card in their hand that doesn’t work with what they’ve got set up easily overcome. Later cards will allow a player to thrive on a more violent style, and this ‘Sudra’ faction card would do that.)

    Planted Agents
    SE, NE, NW, SW
    Countdown: 3
    Resolution: If you have the least advancement when Planted Agents resolves, you gain +3 advancement.
    (A rare sort of card that can only connect to opponent’s cards. A bit of a gambit, as you might give your opponent points, but if you’re behind it can give you a leg up. Played with other sneaky cards I’m sure it can have some purpose.)

    Edit: I’ve also realised cards need to be noticeably activated, so I’m thinking either:
    - Cards are double sided, with a glow put on the art and arrows to show activation.
    - Just put a counter on it, I’ll need numbered counters to check the countdown anyway.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    To follow-up on the game-icons site, I messed around with the editor and created these icons:

    c68u13aduoqt.png
    87c6adakmlvg.png

    While I don't think either will make it into the final game, it was nice knowing that I could whip up something that looked semi-professional in a short period of time.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
    Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
    Steam ID
    Twitch Page
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Those are very cool! Now I’m interesting in that site too, even just for a short term bit of prototyping.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    Beware, this post is just rambling with no content:

    So for Sector Control I’ve dropped resolved cards (ones that have been activated, finished a countdown, then removed from the board) giving you points automatically. It has to say it’ll grant you a point on the card now.

    What this means is you’ll have to put more consideration into your deck, as most cards with effects won’t also grant points, so you’ll have to weigh how much you want to mess with your opponent verses gaining pointing.

    I’ll have a skeleton of a rule book up tomorrow, and a small card list. I’ve tons of them already, an unreasonable amount, as designing cards doesn’t seem to be a problem, so I’ll just show the best few for now.

    For what little it’s worth to the actually design I’m enjoying the idea you and your opponent are using these factions locked in wars of ideology but you’re far above them. A mastermind. It hopefully won’t step on the other sci-fi games in this thread, as you’re not fielding units, you’re sending out things like massive orbital habitats, an entire fleet, internal distrust, a space anomaly (as the game is simple these things are equal in power) and in-universe the factions you’re using aren’t necessarily aware you’re using them. You’re New Media or the Illuminati, not a general or representing a group.

    I’ve got twenty factions in mind. As you can use any they’re essentially just a rough indicator of play-styles. Mix them as you wish to broaden your focus.

    Exodian. Migrants, rebel alliance, pirates. Anarchist styles, no two ships alike even in a formation of fighters. Their little narrative would be they’re a bunch of species that are homeless so they just keep moving. Built around being the most linkable to other cards, being quickly resolved, moving your cards across the board, and stealing effects from your opponent’s cards.

    Kozen. Chilled out monk-like civilisation with garden worlds and philosophy major A.Is. Stealing a good bit of China for this, if I’m honest. I’ll try to keep their look fresh in the art somehow (as if this gets made). Their main thing is converting your opponent’s cards to your side, having effects that pop off much later, and being able to smile knowingly as your opponent appears to succeed.

    Sudra. These guys build a sci-fi Tower of Babel and, as it does, it fell and destroyed their civilisation. Used to be the main players, they want to crawl their way back. Built around self destruction, revenge and going all in. I’m thinking ornate ships, Persian trappings, fall of Rome inspired, desert-y and religious.

    Zillion. Based on enemies from SHMUPS, a mindless virus-like swarm that consume, build, repeat. Their look would be all techno-organic, with ships that have articulated wings and full on heads. Their cards are all about searching your deck for more of them, taking over the board and rushing in offensively.

    Shem. A decadent civilisation at its peak, and about to collapse. They’re terrified of that, and will stop at nothing to cling to the pedestal. All about putting their cards in ‘bubbles’—halting their progress to being resolved but making them immune to effects, keeping hold of points they’ve already got, and stopping the opponent from getting them.

    I’ll spare you the rest. Thanks for reading.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    As threatened/promised: giant update post! So I mentioned I was changing a LOT of stuff. That's true, in that these changes had far-reaching effects on everything from enemy templates to like 1/3 of player cards and abilities. But, it's not revising the core way the game is played. Essentially, one major system got replaced, and a notable player-based component got some big revisions.

    Armor and Shields - Old

    Originally, the way Armor and Shields worked in Triptycho was that they provided Reactions, or defensive options you play when an enemy plays a hostile Action (attack) against you. The game is active defense, so you choose one Reaction to play. Armor Reactions tended to have low avoidance chance ("Miss dice") but high damage reduction ("Defense dice"), while Shields were the opposite, often lacking any damage reduction at all.

    In the beginning, I liked this concept. It was pretty simple to grasp and slick to play. But, there were three major problems with it. First, all players gravitated to basically one Armor option and one Shield option for characters that could equip them. You'd go with the most extremes - so, the highest Defense Armor and the highest Miss Shields. Then, you'd choose which of those Reactions to play based on the incoming attack. Any other combination was substantially less effective. This mostly even carried over to players who didn't use Shields, only there'd be two choices instead - the best Miss Armor and the best Defense Armor. There were few reasons to choose any of the other options.

    The second issue was even bigger, since I couldn't solve it by simply reducing options or adding other ways to differentiate. And that's that it doesn't make any sense. Your Armor basically just goes "poof" if you play any defensive option other than your Armor that doesn't specifically have you play your Armor's Reaction as part of it. I tried to solve this by doing things like having a Layered Defense card, which lets you roll dice from both an Armor and a Shield and choose which one to go with, but that doesn't apply to tons of other Reactions from cards, and it requires you to have the card in hand.

    Third, if you happened to not have any Armor or Shields, you'd often not be able to play any Reaction at all (depending on cards in-hand), guaranteeing that the enemy hits. This was a big problem for spellcasters who couldn't equip either and had to rely entirely on cards to dodge everything. That obviously didn't work, so I wound up having to shove a bunch of Reactions onto all their Implements, which just crowded and complicated things.

    So, I decided to opt for something slightly less beginner-friendly and completely revise how these work. Note that the other systems don't really have either of these problems, as your Expertise provides sensible defensive choices there. This is unique to combat.


    Armor and Shields - New

    Under the new system, everyone gets a basic combat Reaction to play with a Miss: 1d4 entry. Armor provides a Defense entry to your basic Reaction, but now they differ circumstantially. One might give better Defense against ranged attacks but poorer Defense versus melee, and vice-versa. Others might sacrifice a little Defense in order to provide the same Defense bonus to your Actions, protecting you from damage included with enemy Reactions, while still others give you a HP boost but less Defense. And everyone can now equip Armor; spellcasters get Light, and most previous Light got pushed up to Medium.
    g1sexf1sv0zc.jpg
    Shields now give a bonus to your base Reaction's Miss entry. As with Armor, they may give more or less against certain attacks. Additionally, the bonus is split between an automatic one you get from having it equipped to another that requires playing a Strategy to further boost. In this manner, any Shield-equipped PC may sacrifice drawing an extra card or playing other Strategy options in order to keep their Shield up and maintain good defenses.
    mxg5im7vmzdf.jpg
    This let me change a ton of stuff - spellcaster Implements, player cards, and more now riff off the basic Reaction. The Swashbuckler gains an extra Miss dice number against enemies in the same occupied section (melee range), meaning they get a base 2d4 that can be boosted further with Gear like a Buckler or a Parrying Dagger for an utterly absurd Miss-tank style (but their Defense suffers as they're stuck in Light Armor with the casters).

    Viable character build options exploded, and everything feels a lot more "right" with how it plays out. It's closer to a typical RPG's system, but hey, they work that way for a reason. For scaling, I give bonuses (mostly Miss) to the Armor Enchantments, which now works since everyone can equip some, but there again are a lot of interesting choices to be made. Also, higher-level Reaction cards have you play your base Reaction with notable bonuses to the entry or entries.


    Conditions - Old

    Triptycho has had a set of like a dozen or so conditions that do your usual effects - Stunned to lose an Action, Controlled to be an enemy puppet, Hindered to take penalties to various specialty dice rolls, etc. These were binary, on/off status effects that applied to enemies and players alike, each with their own durations (usually start/end of someone's next turn or until end of the scenario). Such a system inherited all the problems that every other game that uses this system has, three most notably.

    First, the really rough conditions are extremely anti-fun. Getting nailed with a Stunned, Controlled, Paralyzed, etc condition just means you're straight-up out of the game, and with 5+ players that might be an extra 10-20 minutes of doing basically nothing. You could carry around Items that could cure these, but Items that can cure anything are too powerful, while those that cure only a handful might see relatively rare use, making their investment simultaneously questionable and necessary. It's not enjoyable to purchase these things; there's little planning or strategy involved.

    Second, the strongest conditions could effectively seal a scenario's conclusion. Nail an enemy with the Disoriented condition so they can't play Reactions while in interaction, and everyone gets free Debate Counter advancements that can insta-win the scenario if you can stack enough of them fast enough (you usually can). Handing out immunities made enemies feel cheap and PCs overpowered. This is effectively the save-or-die nonsense that I abhor and really didn't want stuck in my game.

    And third, it's easy to forget them, especially the minor ones. Debilitate an enemy so it gets a Hit penalty? Eh, maybe we'll remember to apply it, maybe we won't. Maybe we'll remember when a duration ends and maybe we won't. Trying to track all that with counters or paper was a nightmare. I tried a bunch of tokens with different icons on them, one for each condition. I couldn't even remember what the icons were for, much less remembering to apply the token at the right time. Plus, it's a huge learning curve to memorize these. I've had them printed on my custom DM screen for most of the past 4 years, and playtesters who have been around that entire time were still looking at it to reference them.

    These problems really became noticeable when we got to testing the mid levels where they came into play much more often. I really, really wanted to fix this, if only to largely nix the save-or-die effect (or at least make it super rare). I'd heard of systems with something called "condition tracks" that are less binary. I've never played one, but I could imagine how they work. So, without looking into them (to reduce temptation to simply copy mechanics), I made my own.


    Stat Tracks - New

    Triptycho never had stats. I mean, there's HP and other-scenario equivalents, and there's dice entries for things like Initiative and Search. But, this is a card-based system, not a character sheet one. I didn't want to have the usual array of stats that modify stuff. However, when I started toying with condition track design, I suddenly realized that I had an excellent opportunity to use that available flavor space in the design. Because what I realized I wanted was a track that didn't just go negative, but also to the positive, for buffs. Enter the Stat Track.

    ALL entities - PCs, monsters, interaction Opponents, even exploration Challenges like rock walls and locked doors, have a Stat Track. The Stat Track has the same four stats, each of which goes from -5 to +5: Power, Resilience, Mind, and Skill.

    PCs determine their base stats by starting at 0 for each, then adding / subtracting modifiers from their Background and the relevant Role. So, if you're in combat, you'd use your Class together with your Background to get your base stat positions. That can result in a different array than in interaction, where you instead apply your Profession and Background. But since the Background applies to all three the same way, your character will tend toward a certain set of strengths and weaknesses. You can further modify these base values with certain Gear; in combat there's Clothing you can equip, while Rituals and Augments that buff your character in the other systems now have inherent base stat track bonuses.

    Enemy base values are much easier: they depend on their rank. Mooks get -1s, Regulars get 0s, Mini-bosses get +1s, and Bosses get +2s. That's across the board, though I could always note that specific enemies get additional bonuses or penalties in their entry (I've avoided this so far for complexity's sake alone, but we'll see).

    The -1 to +1 range have no effect. Below -1 penalties start applying each slot, and you accumulate all the penalties up to your current value. Above +1 bonuses start applying each slot, and you accumulate all the bonuses up to your current value. Base values have a hard limit at +2 and -2, though in true RPG fashion, some rare and special mechanisms exist to let you go beyond those limits.

    At the end of each round, after discarding (drawing and discarding are now done simultaneously between rounds instead of on every turn to speed things up), any stat that did not move that round moves 1 closer to the base value.

    Additionally, if a stat track hits +5 or -5, then as soon as the bonus or penalty applies, the track immediately resets to its base value.

    Various plays of all types can boost or reduce your stats, your friends' stats, and/or your enemies' stats. Basically, most buff and debuffs, including most old condition imposition, now affects stat tracks instead. This makes everything coherent and standardized, which is awesome.

    The way this interplays with the negative effects is fantastic. Players with a high base stat enjoy both inherent resistances to the associated debuffs while also making it easier to reach the buffs. Because the stats are fairly standardized, all four of them are useful to nearly every Role, so there's some real choices to be made in where you want to put your focus. And focus is necessary, because to get the big bonuses and penalties, you'll usually need to stack various effects. Of course, you can work your way to a base +2 to get a constant, if mild, bonus, which is super cool and feels very natural for an RPG.

    And most importantly, the truly bad effects, which are all the way down at -5, are harder to have imposed and only hit you once instead of lasting for a duration (and then the track has to be moved all the way down again for the same character to suffer the same effect). Plays with substantial stat moves are rare, while +/- 1 or 2 are quite common.

    Items are better, too; instead of there being a large assortment for various condition groups, now there's a pair for every track in each scenario type. One gives you a straight +2 boost to a certain track, which you can use to recover or, more likely, to pursue bonuses, while the other restores a certain track, moving it back to the base value if it's below. With this, players can apply their general strategy with their stat tracks to their Item selections, which is delicious.

    The biggest problem with this design was, how do you track it in tabletop? It's easy for a computer, but this could quickly become a mess of numbers that move around. How do you keep it all straight? The answer came in these neat little square stat track gaming mats (which could be printed at home on paper just as easily as using these nice formally-printed component pieces). There's a bar for each track with the effect summary (for players) written below each slot. Colored counters track the current position of each track, and a separate counter in the little spots above the track denote the track's base value. When you move a track during a round, you change the color of the counter. Then, at the end of the round, only counters of the original color move back to the base, while color-changed counters are replaced with the original color (but do not move).
    i4wnacndaktt.jpg
    This tracks everything for players, and it does so while also presenting all the effects right in front of them. It's easy despite being complex, and it works great.

    For the DM, we've used spreadsheets to great effect. Since we don't use a laptop at conventions, I'll print out some spreadsheets prepared for each of the scenarios in the adventures we'll be running, and just pencil in things on there as-needed. It's easier than tracking the dozens of conditions with varying durations that we had before.

    Various effects from tracks are replaced for certain DM-controlled entities. Mooks, Regulars, and Challenges don't draw cards, for instance, so they get rerolls instead of Hand Limit bonuses. Challenges (exploration "enemies", including Traps and Obstacles and such) are automatically defeated at -5 Skill, so you can Skill-debuff your way through such things instead of having to deal damage to it.

    These changes had far-reaching effects. By giving Bosses static +2s across the board, I was able to remove their usual dice bonuses from their templates. Similarly, Mooks lost their usual dice penalties, but with -1s they're easy to debuff. As a result, enemy dice across the 10 levels became standardized, which meant redoing basically all their entries. But that has real gameplay effects - Bosses start out scary, but now you can remove their bonuses fairly quickly, which is super great; Mook swarms are easy because they get weaker as you kill them off, but Bosses had nothing similar before. Now, there's a new cadence to scenarios depending on how stats are being used by players and enemies alike.

    And of course, character builds are fun. You can opt for a big Power focus to hit harder and more often, but going Skill instead could give you extra attacks at times, which could be even better. A standardized way to find a card from your deck means you can go with a lot of niche and specialization stuff in your deck, maneuvering up your Mind to give you the right card when you need it. And of course, tanks tank real good with large Resilience, but it keeps everyone else more alive just the same.


    Since I was going to be changing so much stuff, I figured I may as well give a facelift too. So, I added colored borders and icons to cards in hand (and put the icons on Gear in front of you, too). This makes it much easier to find the cards you can play and stay organized.
    y38kuk6bpajf.jpg
    ylopnrmirmvr.jpg
    2ddmttdx9pts.jpg
    It also meant I've had to reprint something like 1500 cards so far just for a full level 1 playtest. Obviously I can sell the game with far fewer cards in a box, but gahh. This has been weeks and weeks of work for these changes, but wow has it ever been worth it!

    I haven't updated anything on the website / wiki yet. That's going to be another whole set of work...

    Fleur de Alys on
    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    I love the new armour and the condition tracks! I’ve not seen enough to comment on the other changes but I’m certain they’re great. Also I may have spent far too long on your game’s wiki today.

    Dramatic Upstaging is fantastic too! I’m keeping that Brian Blessed young lord idea I had for that ill-fated PbP game you set up and one day I’m using that exact move in a real life game.



    Now then, not much from me today. A very light touch on the rules of my three day old game.

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IYvfZMl9m8P3uitccaO1bTVBw13iDzj8hz7K4u2Sf_M

    I’ve postponed showing off the cards because they’re not that fun to see until I at least get some prototyping done; they don’t make a lot of visual sense as text.

    An example of how they’re written out for now:

    Lotus Monolith
    [Kozen]
    S, SE
    Countdown: 3
    Resolve: Convert adjacent stratagems.

    Names at the top, pretty simple.
    Then the faction, which I think I’ll switch over to a small symbol eventually.
    The arrows used to connect the cards would go around the edges. South = down etc.
    The countdown indicator would be a number in a circle.
    The last bit would be written, of course, as it’s the effect. I’m trying to keep the effects of cards very, very tight. A keyword, then no more than six words would be ideal. Stratagems is just my current word for cards, I might just call them cards but I like the far future mastermind angle even though the game is super simple.

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    My artist friend just posted his first piece of ship art for the game I'm working on:

    5e07ynzbofod.jpg

    That's like really good artwork. Makes me feel like this could actually be a professional product one day.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Wow! That’s great!

    Keep up the good work, with your design and this style of art I think you’ll go far.

  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    0sifwxqvcu2s.png
    New convention set arrived! Can't wait to take it to the local con in just a few weeks. This will be the first public test of the changes, and it's been awhile since I've had so much stuff to test at a con. I also repurposed the very first con adventure, adding tons of branching and the new things from all the updates since. Has me nervous-excited again, which feels great.

    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    The Sauce wrote: »
    0sifwxqvcu2s.png
    New convention set arrived! Can't wait to take it to the local con in just a few weeks. This will be the first public test of the changes, and it's been awhile since I've had so much stuff to test at a con. I also repurposed the very first con adventure, adding tons of branching and the new things from all the updates since. Has me nervous-excited again, which feels great.

    That for real looks impressive AF. I don't know if I missed it in the thread or not, but what are you using for card design / printing?

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    I’ve had a hunch for awhile that The Sauce is a sorcerer. A saucerer, if you will.

  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Thanks!

    I'm using an ancient GIMP 2.6 for card
    design. It's basically open source Photoshop if you're unfamiliar.

    The card design is the result of a few years of iteration; I'm no artist! The images are public domain, from places like pixabay.com, various museums, and even Wikipedia (you can check the license of every image on Wikipedia).

    All the visual stuff is basically temporary. I have a vague idea of what I want to do with it, but that'll wait for crowdfunding and paid artists.

    I print from The Game Crafter. The cards have the laminated option but not the expensive texture option. They're good quality, but the color isn't. Every print is a different color, which is a non-starter for a deckbuilder.

    Fleur de Alys on
    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    I was so excited when TGC added their linen finish texture option, but the results really aren't worthwhile. It's way too subtle a difference.

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  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    I tried it once. It's okay on certain graphical designs (solid colors probably) and does make them feel a bit more expensive.

    But it ruins the compatibility with dry erase that you get from the laminate. And it's definitely not worth the asking price.

    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    Con time!

    zk77wp8azmcm.jpg

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    So I'm starting to make some real progress on my Gloomhaven/KDM/7th Continent/Spirit Island smash up (lul). Still don't have a name for it, but calling it Arkship for now.

    The overall design goal is as follows:
    Take the idea of committing to a course of action (a la Monster Hunter World), and fight against a monster that telegraphs its actions (a la Wildstar) using mechanics and ideas from KDM, Gloomhaven, and spirit island - all altered and twisted.

    One of the things I wanted to "fix" about KDM's core mechanics is how any given individual's turn is pretty much 0 decision. I've easily been able to solo the game just by making all decisions for all survivors. This means, to me, it's absolutely not a good 4 player game (at least 1 person is going to have entire combats where they're best served not attacking at all). It's also not great at 3 players. Generally, while I *love* KDM, I think it's best viewed as kind of a story that everyone is watching unfold, rather than a game that each player is playing? I dunno. It's hard because I feel like the monster design in KDM is brilliant, but the player-side decisions are kind of...bad? There's a lot of interesting decisions and choices to make outside of combat, but those are mitigated by many, many, many instances of Roll a d10, on a 1 or 2, you/y'all die. Which is super uninteresting.

    So the first "step", for me, was to come up with an action selection mechanic that leads to interesting turn-by-turn decisions, as well as provides some kind of trade off between tactics and strategy.

    So far, I have that locked in pretty solid at the basic level, and need to flesh out the various mechanics and interactions, but I'm really happy with how all that turned out. My fiancee is a wiz at InDesign, and using the videos I linked before, we used spreadsheets and Data Merge to mock up cards that already look pretty neat. Pictures to follow when I get a chance.

    The basic idea, in short, is that you pick 2 cards and overlap them in a way to combine some of the effects / powers. It's sorta-kinda-similar to Gloomhaven, but a more physical design so it feels different. There's also a consistent cycling of cards that is similar to the card cycling in BattleCON that effectively locks cards out for ~2 turns after use. So you don't always have exactly the right cards unless you plan correctly.

    Next, I wanted to "solve" the problem with KDM that certain pieces of gear that allow you to see what the monster is doing next feel mandatory to bring. So, not only is that not particularly interesting for whoever gets stuck with the support character, it also means that you're stuck bringing those same gear cards for pretty much the whole game. Which honestly feels pretty...bad? If it's such an integral part of playing the game to be effectively mandatory...shouldn't it be just part of the base game?

    So, that's what I did. I borrowed a bit of Spirit Island and have the monster Action cards dealt out 3 at a time, face down. Different player class cards can interact with them in different ways. Some classes can reveal a card on a successful hit. Some classes can re-arrange the cards. Others can trash / shuffle / otherwise manipulate. All of those actions are core bits of each class, and all of them are tied to things you already want to be doing (avoiding getting hit, successful attacks, blocking hits, etc).

    The next big thing I want to change is how damage / hitting the monster works. In KDM, you roll a d10 against a target number provided by your equipped weapon, and possibly (unlikely until much later in the campaign) modified by your survivor. If you succeed, you pull a card from the Hit Location Deck, which then tells you:
    -If you can hit
    -What happens if you hit, or fail to hit (or sometimes, just a thing that will happen after your attempt regardless)
    -If you can critically hit

    So, you roll another d10, adding another number from your weapon, again possibly (more likely) modified by the survivor's stats, against a target number based on the Monster's toughness.

    This is another aspect of the game that I thoroughly dislike. More often than not, you are going to only have 1-2 survivors that are focused on dealing damage. The way the Hit Location Deck is organized means that you want to attack only a few times per attempt, as hitting the Trap card (there's 1 in every monster deck) cancels all other wound attempts, so it can potentially wreck an entire plan (as well as being genuinely bad in its own right). So, you couple all that together, and it means that missing your attack roll feels like shit, and missing your wound roll feels *even worse*. And in a game where outside of combat dice rolls are generally all super terrible and really bad, it feels just like...real bad that your actions in combat can *also* completely whiff (and sometimes the whiff can ALSO bone you and your party).

    So, my fix for the first die roll:
    All the basic player cards come with Range. The number value of the range can vary between 1-2 for melee/close combat, up to 6-8 for long range. If you manage a clear line of sight, and you're in Range, your attack hits. Since there's a ton of movement involved, this isn't 100%. I don't know if this is enough, yet, to be a satisfying part. But right now, it feels solid - you have to worry about your positioning in order to land your hit, which means sometimes you have to stand in places you might not otherwise want to in order to still hit the monster.



    The next thing I'm struggling with. How to make the "Hit" portion feel right. What I've settled on, for now, is that your player cards, in addition to having a Range, also have a Power value. The monster will have Reaction cards, similar to Hit Location cards from KDM, but each card will have a different Power Target Range that you want to shoot for. Some locations might want high powered attacks, some locations might want low, some might let you wound with anything but come with a really bad effect that goes off as well (unsure). The difference, though, is that the *back* of every card will tell you a general body area. So, on a cockroach like monster, you might see card backs with "Carapace", "Antennae", "Feet", and "Head". Each will *tend* towards specific types of power values that it wants, types of reactions it has, and so on.

    The question then became - should this just be a straight up deck that's shuffled, or one of my playtesters suggested possibly making a Monster Board with specific slots for each "body part" card. So you'd shuffled all the "head" locations together, and place them face down onto a spot on the board labeled HEAD. Then, once you'd depleted each stack, it might affect the monster Action cards in various ways. So once the head was damaged, maybe the monster can't do its audio attacks because its jaw is broken or w/e. Or if you break the carapace maybe the monster starts rampaging around. I like the idea of depleting the decks having effects, but I worry that it makes each monster fight a bit too static? Where, I'd like you to ostensibly be able to fight each monster more than a couple times, and having to print a unique board for every monster complicates both component lists and box packaging...

    But, I mocked up some hit reaction cards, and we have a scheduled playtest for Friday evening. It'll also be the first time we playtest with more than 2 people at a time, and I'm really interested to see how it plays with that many. And we'll see how the hit reaction happens.


    The next thing I have to figure out is how the monster deals out damage to the players. Initial designs of the monster cards basically whiffed every single round, but I'm starting to have the monster land successful hits. So now I have to figure out what that means. I was thinking that maybe it messes with the card cycling part of the player cards, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do that without completely removing player agency from the equation. Also, since the theme of the game is kind of weird-shit-in-space, I wanted to make a differentiation between damage to the players abilities (thematically, some kind of exo-suit that they're wearing), and damage to the player's psyche. Still not quite sure how to manage that part.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2019
    Perhaps I missed it when I read that, but have you considered that by shuffling the body positions and dealing them out you could get a unique monster?

    What are we facing in the damp cavern?
    Head — Dread-Bug
    Torso — Dragon Turtle
    Limbs — Stallion of the Wind
    Reaction/Features — Will o’ Wisps

    Perhaps the monsters are more in-depth than the cards drawn for them, but it’s a thought.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    Perhaps I missed it when I read that, but have you considered that by shuffling the body positions and dealing them out you could get a unique monster?

    What are we facing in the damp cavern?
    Head — Dread-Bug
    Torus — Dragon Turtle
    Limbs — Stallion of the Wind
    Reaction/Features — Will o’ Wisps

    Perhaps the monsters are more in-depth than the cards drawn for them, but it’s a thought.

    That'd be kind of interesting to do as a potential one-shot mode. But, at the moment, planning more direct design on the monsters themselves, so each monster will have a unique Behavior deck (I call it the Monster Action deck for now), and a unique Hit Location / Reaction deck (calling it the Monster Reaction deck currently). The m-reaction deck may consist of multiple small decks laid out on a board, or it might end up being one big deck that's shuffled together.

    I'm still kind of struggling with the Hit-Confirm portion of the damage though. I'd really like to avoid dice if possible, as I'd like the sources of randomness to be more controllable from a design stand point, and have the players have more agency in their ability to deal damage based more on good map positioning rather than leaving it to the die itself...

    Decisions decisions. However, a play test is scheduled for tonight to putz around with the Reaction deck in both forms, so we'll see how it feels!

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Again, I’m talking without full knowledge of the game, but maybe monster damage is set up in ranges?

    So say the Gammadron breathes fire.
    If the player is in 1 range, they always take 6 damage. If the player is in 5 range, they always take 1 damage. In between that is 3 damage.

    Now, dependent on cover or something, that damage is reduced, and if the monster has an advantage, it deals more, but regardless it is always dealing damage.

    It’s not a question of if it hits, but if the player can position themselves well before the monster attacks.

    Taking 0 damage on the monster’s turn would require a good strategy by the players, by applying their movement and skills well enough to reduce the damage to nothing.

  • ToothyToothy Registered User regular
    Could always do the hit locations as three face down cards, (or a really small deck,) that gets shuffled at the start of the enemy's turn and reveal them with high "accuracy" cards or something similar. When each one is struck, there is a reaction of a particular type. Maybe hunting for the weak spot could be disadvantageous in the long run.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited June 2019
    So a while back I spoke of creating a card game called, for now, Sector Control!

    ...I don’t have much to report other than I’m working on it.

    The basic rules, written roughly:
    A handful of cards I’m happy with.
    Some time between tomorrow and next Sunday I’m hoping to find an artist I can commission just to make some plain cards with arrows around them, because right now it’s impossible for you to get what I’m talking about without them.

    What I’m looking for is incredibly simple, just for prototyping, but I’m just not a great visual designer.

    Then it’s on to some serious play tests!

    Endless_Serpents on
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    So a while back I spoke of creating a card game called, for now, Sector Control!

    ...I don’t have much to report other than I’m working on it.

    The basic rules, written roughly:
    A handful of cards I’m happy with.
    Some time between tomorrow and next Sunday I’m hoping to find an artist I can commission just to make some plain cards with arrows around them, because right now it’s impossible for you to get what I’m talking about without them.

    What I’m looking for is incredibly simple, just for prototyping, but I’m just not a great visual designer.

    Then it’s on to some serious play tests!

    Draw the arrows by hand. I started prototyping cards by drawing out a 3x3 grid on printer paper of 3.5x2.5 cards. Then I stacked a bunch of sheets, clipped them together with the black binder/paper clip things you see in offices everywhere, and used an exacto knife and a metal edged ruler to slice out a bunch of blank poker card sized sheets.

    Then I just penciled in words and symbols. With a good eraser, you can use and reuse those bits for as long as it takes to nail down the basics. Lastly, I sleeved up a bunch of poker cards, and slipped the sheets of paper in there. Nothing pretty or fancy, but workable.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • IanatorIanator Gaze upon my works, ye mighty and facepalm.Registered User regular
    Speaking of binder clips, I'm using some as bases for some standees I printed out over the last few nights. The paper slips are a bit big for the clips' footprint so they fall down easily - I'm probably gonna whiteglue/hotglue them to some bath tiles for stability.

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  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    Ianator wrote: »
    Speaking of binder clips, I'm using some as bases for some standees I printed out over the last few nights. The paper slips are a bit big for the clips' footprint so they fall down easily - I'm probably gonna whiteglue/hotglue them to some bath tiles for stability.

    No idea if this would work, but popsicle sticks or Q-Tips might work without the hot glue, if centered. Probably cheaper than bath tiles? I don't actually know what you're referring to by bath tiles though...

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • IanatorIanator Gaze upon my works, ye mighty and facepalm.Registered User regular
    JustTee wrote: »
    Ianator wrote: »
    Speaking of binder clips, I'm using some as bases for some standees I printed out over the last few nights. The paper slips are a bit big for the clips' footprint so they fall down easily - I'm probably gonna whiteglue/hotglue them to some bath tiles for stability.

    No idea if this would work, but popsicle sticks or Q-Tips might work without the hot glue, if centered. Probably cheaper than bath tiles? I don't actually know what you're referring to by bath tiles though...

    I went to Home Depot and browsed the floor tile section for neat things and found a square foot of one-inch bath tiles held together by a mesh. I peeled the tiles off the mesh and put soft furniture feet things on the bottom to make heavy game pieces with soft bottoms.

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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Cool tips all around guys!

    I’m reworking Sector Control to be an even simpler game at the moment. I do like the ‘countdown and remove from the board’ mechanic, as it allows for further chaining of cards (the main point of the game is activating cards by linking 3, and then while they’re active you can link more to them), but I think rather than the current 1 to 5 turn countdowns I might knock it down to straight removal when linked to 3 as my max (0 to 3).

    This is mostly to cut down the number of counters the players will have to handle, but overall speeding up the game is a good plan, I think.

    I want to provide the players with red, yellow and white numbered counters that you can stack and flick off each turn to give it that visual kick.

    I’ll see what I can get my hand on at the weekend to make cards; I’m on a work course away from home.

    Thanks to those that PM’d me their thoughts.

  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    I just had a design diary featured on BGG.

    https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/86822/designer-diary-filler-or-bakers-you-have-20-minute

    Anyone else write these? And if so, is it during the design process or as a retrospective?

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  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    JonBob wrote: »
    I just had a design diary featured on BGG.

    https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/86822/designer-diary-filler-or-bakers-you-have-20-minute

    Anyone else write these? And if so, is it during the design process or as a retrospective?

    Great read. I liked the ordering, as it felt like you took us through the whole design process from inspiration to play testing and production. Super cool.

    As for design diaries, I think I'm similar to you in that I have a couple of docs I keep where when a thought strikes, I go to a specific document and write it down. So if I get inspired by a mechanic in a game I'm playing, I go and write about why I liked it or where I think it might fit into my game. I was just thinking about starting an official design diary doc where I could kind of track my thought process during prototyping, and maybe that'd be useful to somebody some where?

    Anywho, thanks for sharing. I really love getting the kind of perspective you showed here.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    @JonBob

    Would you consider writing a design diary as you work to be beneficial to the process?

  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    Well, I don't currently do that. I know lots of designers do. I do use Git to version my prototype files as I iterate, so that I'm able to revisit the process afterward (and roll back to earlier experiments if I need to). Writing a diary afterward for me is an exercise more in reflection and constructing a narrative.

    I think journalling progress along the way could be helpful, especially for designs with lots of moving parts and playtesting logs to organize. My games tend to be smaller affairs, so that hasn't seemed necessary. This is still a discipline that is more art than science, so there are lots of different approaches out there.

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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Thank you for the reply.

    Come on down folks! Whatcha been making?

    I confess I’ve not much to show this week... but soon I’ll have more Sector Control! Newer, simpler, sleek! Basically a different sort of game! I’ve decided to remove the collectible-like aspect to it and have it as much smaller overall set of cards to make your deck with, limiting the combinations but giving greater tactical foresight as you’ve more of an idea what might come into play. A fair trade.

    Besides that I can’t help but tinker with four roleplaying games at once. It’s just a fun thing to do.

  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    I re-made my board, I'm currently re-designing the monster AI, and working on getting those to a workable state.

    I've now shown the prototype to 4 different people, and all agree that the basic action selection is dope, the card stacking is cool, and that the ideas I have for expanding it seem like it might become something really unique and different and fun.

    Now just comes the hard part of *doing* all those ideas.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
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