I dunno if it's the season, but it seems I've just been thinking up game designs left and right.
Not too long ago, I acquired the game The Grizzled. I wanted to see what made it tick. For those that don't know, it's a 2-5 player co-op game that's supposed to simulate the struggles of war during WWI.
While playing it. I found it to have really solid game mechanics and overall it's a great game, but for some reason the mechanics of the game didn't really match with the theme.
But that's probably just me.
Anyways, it got me to thinking of the co-op game I put on the table a while back and I decided to take another crack at it. And in a short amount of time, I penciled out a prototype and I have already raw tested it with my students.
I think I got something.
It's going back to creating a Filipino-themed game I had talked about a while back. Here on the forum, I wanted to create a game that focused around Filipino folklore but what I didn't mention was that I originally (about a couple of years before) started creating a Filipino game to honor my grandfather's experience in the Bataan Death March in WWII. It looked like the Grizzled really captured the co-op experience of WWI, so I thought maybe I could do it with WWII.
However, co-op game about war is the only thing that that game has in common with my game.
March of Death
Premise: You and 4 of your squad members (up to 5 players) have been captured by the Japanese at the Battle of Corregidor. They plan to force-march you through 60+ miles of Filipino jungles. Your objective is for your whole team to survive this brutal event.
Players will have character cards that will be lined up as if you were in a marching line (think Guillotine). Since the Japanese (which we will call "the enemy") are very wary of your actions, you will be sneaking items up and down the line to prevent teammates from getting too sick and either dying or getting taken out by the enemy and shot. You lose the game if ANY one of you dies.
The march will cross 6 landmarks (indicating rounds). The farther along you are in the game, the enemy will be more wary and check you more often and will progressively search more (get more difficult) as you get closer to the end.
Your hand will consist of cards, which represent your life. In the beginning, you will have a fairly large hand, but the deck you draw from will not only quickly deplete, you will then have to rely on the cards (your life) you have in hand to survive the rest of the journey. If the enemy takes the last card from your hand, you are considered "too weak" and you are taken out and executed, the game ends.
Cards in your hand will either be an ailment or an item. Ailments consist of Dehydration, Dysentery, Heat Exhaustion, and Malaria. As long as the cards are in your hand, the enemy has no clue you have them. Any cards revealed by the enemy are placed face up in front of you, indicating that the enemy knows that you have that ailment. Each ailment card has a number...say, Heat Exhaustion 3. If 3 Heat Exhaustion cards are face up in front of you, you will succumb to that ailment and die, thus ending the game. Items are things that can affect the game, can possibly stave off ailments, or may just be bad news if the enemy finds out you have them. If the enemy draws your item, it is taken away and some effects may also occur.
A typical round goes like this:
1. Starting with the first player, each player can do any 2 of the following actions (they can also repeat actions):
-Look at the hand of the person in front or behind you
-Give a card from your hand to the person in front or behind you
-Take a random card from the hand of the person in front or behind you
-Play an item card
-Switch positions in line with the person in front or behind you.
2. Once everyone has played their actions, it's the enemy's turn. Tokens that represent each player are put into a bag (or placed facedown), the first player chooses one and the player to the left of the chosen player reveals a card from the chosen player's hand. The token is then placed back into the pile and the first player draws again (meaning a player may be searched more than once). The number of times the first player draws depends on where they are on the journey. For example, at the first location, the enemy only searches once, whereas at the last location (location 6), the enemy draws 6 times. Some effects may happen at the locations but not sure if i'll put them in.
3. After the enemy has revealed cards, it is considered night and everyone draws a card, starting with the first player indicating a replenishing of energy...or possibly an ailment.
4. If everyone on the team is still alive, the team moves forward to the next location on the map. Again, if the players make it to the final location (Camp O'Donnell) they will need to survive 6 enemy searches before they win the game (which represents the surviving of the death camp)
Characters have a weakness and a strength, which helps and hinders them in the game.
Some things that (I think) are interesting in the game:
-There's a "Malaria 1" card meaning that at any point in the game, if the enemy happens to reveal that card, it's an immediate game over (the good news is that there's only 1 of these cards in the game).
-There's a Villagers Clothes card. Two locations on the journey are considered "villages". A player, if they have this card and are in a village, can "escape" the march if they play this item as an action. (this is how my grandfather escaped the March). That player is not affected by enemy draws for the rest of the game and their hand is taken with them. They are "safe".
-A player may duck out with Malaria with the Villager clothes, but it makes it harder for the rest of the team to win since there will be less cards for the enemy to draw from and more chance for ailments to be revealed.
-Ailments have different numbers indicating the severity of the disease and the frequency. For example, soldiers had Dysentery in the war (which is 2), but a more immediate threat was Heat Exhaustion (which is 3). However, there's also items that stave (or even completely remove) ailments, so this is why players may need to switch places in the line, give/take cards, or look at their hands.
Oh yeah, players CANNOT talk about what they have in their hand, nor can they talk about strategies. The enemy is always watching, which adds to the theme.
There's a bunch of little things I need to iron out, but for the most part the game is solid.
Thoughts? Ideas? Post em!
Thanks, guys!
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Comments
I think it has promise. The
I think it has promise. The mechanics definitely fit the theme.
You'll need some gritty artwork for this one.
Thanks Gabe
I'm thinking 1940's propaganda art. If prototype stages go well, I'll be looking for probably an artist that's had a relative in the march...I dunno. We'll see.
The 40's propaganda art is a
The 40's propaganda art is a good way to go.
radioactivemouse wrote:The
Is this part necessary? Namely putting back and re-drawing?
You can simply have multiples of each player token in the bag and keep drawing. It is not exactly the same (i.e. the probability of repeated search drops) but it's quicker. It also evens-up the chances somewhat, making it less possible that the team will lose, simply because they kept drawing the same token.
You can also have "events" there. I.e. some player tokens are not "searched" tokens. For example you can have a token which indicates that someone stumbles and forcefully switches places with the person behind him.
Otherwise, why use tokens and the bag in the first place? Might as well roll a dice with each side representing a player.
Stacking the Token Bag
You wouldn't want to have repeats of the same player token, because later in the game there may be soldiers who won't be searched at all since all their tokens have been removed already. Returning the soldier tokens to the bag ensures that there's no player who will have a "free ride."
Multiples of soldier tokens to draw from at the start of the game may not be a workable idea, but I like the idea of having event tokens included. This may be a way to include the events you mention in item 2 above. You could also include a way to add more than one token of a soldier to the bag (though I would discourage multiple soldier tokens at the outset of the game), perhaps as the outcome of an event.
I would suggest a deck of cards instead in any case, unless you feel the tokens in the bag are more of a thematic link. Shuffle them before the draw to make it unknown, add more cards to the deck as the game goes on, sequester cards in a "dossier" folder to keep them out of play, etc. Lots of options to do with cards - and the same level of utility - that may be more appropriate to theme than tokens in a bag.
Sounds very exciting and tension-filled. Best of success to you on this! :D
PS: this reminds me of one of the opening exercises in the book "Challenges for Game Designers," which specifically mentions creating a WWII-theme game that does not use direct conflict. I came up with a similar idea using cards to tell the story of fleeing families trying to evade capture as they run for the eastern border.
let-off studios wrote:You
Not really, no. You know how many cards each player will have since the deck is limited and runs out quickly. You just need to make sure that there's the same (or larger) number of tokens as there are cards per player.
Returning the soldier tokens to the bag ensures that there's no player who will have a "free ride."
It's quite the opposite, actually. If you return tokens to the bag, there is a possibility of a player not being searched ever, while another player may be searched every time.
It also makes sense thematically. I imagine it's likely that a search will target someone who hasn't been searched before.
It also creates strategy of passing dangerous cards to players who have been searched more often as it allows to mitigate the luck factor.
P.S:
Bag of tokens is _considerably_ cheaper production-wise, than a second deck of cards. It is also quicker to resolve.
Thanks for the suggestions!
The idea of the bag was temporary. For now (and I think I'll stick with this), I've been using 1 copy of each character on a poker chip (of course will be a token later) placing them facedown beside the play area, then having the first player "shuffle" and choose a la Dominoes or Neuroshima Hex.
Yes, by placing the token back into the pile there's a chance that a player will be chosen multiple times. This is intended. But having multiple character tokens only adds to the components; more components = higher production value = higher retail value. It adds to the theme like someone said, keeps everyone on their toes, and gives the feeling that no one is safe. This also gives strength to why players want to switch positions and trade cards so they can mitigate the luck factor and spread out the ailments so one person isn't problem-heavy.
It's highly social...but not. That's the trick :)
I wanted to keep the game as streamlined as possible, so while event tokens are an incredible addition idea to the game, I may add that in as a possible expansion :)
However, I did add 1 "No Search" token in addition to the character tokens to be added in as a one-time reprise (does not get placed back into the bag once pulled) for first time or "easy" mode.
I did design the game to be "hard" but have the goal feel like it's attainable while at the same time creating the feeling that the game can end at any time. The challenge is trying to make it so that it's not too difficult and doesn't end quickly in early game. Overall, I wanted the game to play fairly short (think 15-30 min), so an immediate end doesn't discourage another play through.
For example, it is highly possible that the enemy may pull the Malaria 1 card at turn 1, but one of my characters has a starting "item" called "Distraction", which immediately discards a pulled card. In addition, since only one card is pulled at location 1 and increases by 1 at every subsequent location, it gives a chance for the players to plan some kind of "strategy" (with limited information, of course) in the early game before it gets hairy in the later rounds.
Of course this is a work-in-progress. I contacted one of my game design professional (yes, a real one) buddies from Mayday Games that I met at BGG Con and he suggested I enter the game into a contest to get some publicity.
I'll most likely enter it into Cardboard Edison.
Personally, I think I really need to test the game more.
Since my initial post, I've been writing up a rulebook. I've already changed little things here and there (like play for 2-4 players) but of course this needs to be tested for functionality.
More updates later.
radioactivemouse wrote:But
Punch-board with tokens (you won't need more than one) will be likely cheaper than poker chips. (But I need to double-check that.)
It adds to the theme like someone said, keeps everyone on their toes, and gives the feeling that no one is safe.
It's exactly the same with tokens. Except you know that if you've just been searched, the chance that it will be you again is 3% less.
Well...
Punch-board with tokens (you won't need more than one) will be likely cheaper than poker chips. (But I need to double-check that.)
Yes I know that. The poker chips are just what I have on hand. Definitely not in the final version.
It's exactly the same with tokens. Except you know that if you've just been searched, the chance that it will be you again is 3% less.
Again, more tokens, more components, higher price. I can ditch a 3% less probability if it will reduce my component count.
Thanks for the suggestion :)
I like it
Sounds like a good fun game.