Dungeon Draw

Customizing the Deck for Replay Value

So I am working on a mini-expansion called "Elite Monsters". This will introduce 8 new monsters that all have powers.

So, how does this affect the deck and replay value?

First, let me start by saying that I have designed this game so that the core 16 cards (the 8 sets of 2 items) always remain in the deck. And, the base game purposely has 8 monsters with no special powers.

Length
Theoretically, with the base game of 24 cards you could draw 16 cards without busting (one of each item and all 8 monsters) so the dungeon's "length" is 16.

If you wanted to make the dungeon easier and increase its length to say 20, you simply could add 4 new monsters from the expansion to your deck for a total of 28 cards. This effectively "dilutes" the deck and increases the average number of draws before busting, so you can potentially delve deeper each turn.

Difficulty
In the base game, the dungeon difficulty is medium. None of the monsters have powers which is neither good nor bad. Some of the new powers help you score more points but some of the new powers can make it more difficult to score points. So adding or exchanging specific monsters to the deck affects the dungeon's difficulty.

Example: I could remove the Ooze from the game and replace it with the Demon. The Demon is worth only 1 point just like the Ooze but its power states, "The Shrine's power is disabled." As you see, this power could potentially prevent you from scoring points (after busting) that you normally would earn from the Shrine without the Demon in the dungeon.

With this one minor change, the dungeon's length remains the same at 16 but the difficulty got just a tad harder.

You could change both the length and difficulty level at once by adding instead of replacing two new monsters with negative powers to the deck for 26 total cards. While this does dilute the deck and extend the dungeon's length to 18, those monster powers also potentially make it more difficult to score points.

Ultimately, you will be able to create any combination of length and/or difficulty you want by adding, removing, and/or exchanging the monsters from or to the deck!

I would suggest if you make the dungeon easier to bump the winning point threshold up as you see fit. Also, I will eventually have some "suggested" dungeon configurations as a reference guide.

Bottomline, there is potential here for a lot of replayability and customizing. I will probably release even more monsters, over a period of time, depending on reception and interest.

Thanks for reading!

Thank you for the feedback. The mechanics are pretty solid but the wording of the rules needs work, so this is exactly what I was hoping for.

The rules should convey that you can bust on the first card drawn after continuing an existing dungeon so I am clarifying that.

Update: made some changes to the rules. Let me know what sections are still confusing. Thanks!

when you have the rules up in the browser, try pressing ctrl+f5 to do a hard refresh

Thanks, I will look over your proposed changes and rework the rules.

Minor update:

With the new potion system in place I have altered the Chest power from a focus on points to a focus on potions. It works with the concept of opening a chest hoping for awesome loot, and it also makes for a nice break from the other cards in that it isn't just another way to gain points.

Old Chest:
When scoring this Chest, it is worth an extra point for each card between it and the Key.

New Chest:
During scoring, draw a card from the deck for each card between this Chest and the Key. Keep all drawn potions. Put the other drawn cards back in the deck.

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Yeah, these are pretty plain prototypes with simple art and generic backgrounds. Chalk it up to my limited artistic skills.

Anyway, the rules and cards have undergone a complete overhaul and are now updated with the latest versions.

Here are a few examples of creatures that I had been working on over 2 weeks ago that had caused that long delay between version releases.

I came up with about 10 different creature powers at that time but ultimately scrapped the idea of EVERY creature having a power because I thought it was too much tracking of when this creature is worth this much, when this creature negates this card,when this creature triggers that effect, etc.

Anyway, some local playtesters are still asking about these so I wanted to show them to you for your opinions. Would it be information overload if all 36 cards had a power?

Click to enlarge

This Ooze power was a little more menacing than the current version Ooze:

Thoughts or suggestions for any of the powers listed so far?