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I need a central game mechanic.

10 replies [Last post]
Fri, 07/23/2004 - 22:06
Anonymous

You know how most games have a central game mechanic. Puerto Rico is about producing goods. Settlers is all about gaining resources and building stuff. A lot of war games are about conquering territory.

I just came up with alot of good ideas for a pirate game. I have great rules for battles, movement and other such things. All I need is a central game mechanic. Alot of pirate games are all about gaining VPs in the form Fame. I wanted to stray away from this, but I think "fame" is important in a pirate game.

The game is simple to mid level difficulty.

Any Ideas?

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Fri, 07/23/2004 - 23:08
#1
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

Treasure seems like a good goal. If you keep it on your ships, it's safe, but you can only hold so much. You can spend it, but then you lose your winning value. You can bury it, but then someone might find it.

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Fri, 07/23/2004 - 23:19
#2
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

Hmm, good point. Its basicly money with a few exceptions. You can only hold so much in your ship. Once you bury it you cant spend it. The most at the end of the game is the winner.

first pirate to bury 100 treasure is the winner?

Sounds good, but it also sounds like it could be better.

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Fri, 07/23/2004 - 23:24
#3
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

I think y main concern is that I dont want to have seperate rules for the money and the "Treasure" I want the money to function just like regular money.

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Sat, 07/24/2004 - 01:11
#4
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

Call the treasure gold. You can spend it to upgrade your ship, etc., but then that's less gold that counts at the end of the game. You have to balance what the upgrades will do for you.

Of course, this is starting to sound like Pirate's Cove: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2987

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Sat, 07/24/2004 - 02:07
#5
RookieDesign
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Joined: 12/31/1969
I need a central game mechanic.

Check out Blackbeard from defunct Avalon Hill. (Ok not defunct really, but I consider being own by Hasbro is about the same.)

It use Tresure as the winning goal. You can put your loot in a safehaven but somebody could come and burn the city hiding your hard earn cash.

If you never played it I strongly suggest that you have a look. It's a bit too difficult from my taste, but has great concept ideas.

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Sat, 07/24/2004 - 11:20
#6
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

I own blackbeard, I am trying to think of something totaly new. I am also trying to think of an overall mechanic, not just a way to win. I need something that allows players to interact with each other.

How about this. There are 4 "booty" Cards.

-Rum
-Fruit
-Tobacco
-Sugar

When ever you land in a port you may turn in a set and gain 1 victory point. You can only turn in one set a turn. This is a light theme that I think might be good. When you defeat a merchant ship you can draw some "booty" cards. When you defeat another player you can take a few of their "Booty cards at random.

How does this sound?

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Sun, 07/25/2004 - 00:02
#7
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

Thought of another Idea. I will use Puerto rico's Role system in my game I think. Here are the roles.

-Movement
You may move as many squares as your ship allows

-Trade
You may trade "booty" between players or to the ports to gain VP

-Adventure
You may draw one adventure card

-Attack
You may battle anything in the smae square as you.

I am trying to think of a few more roles though.

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Sun, 07/25/2004 - 15:06
#8
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

galeninjapan wrote:
I just came up with alot of good ideas for a pirate game. I have great rules for battles, movement and other such things. All I need is a central game mechanic.

All the little bits are a means to an end, what do you want that end to be? What do you want players to be fighting for or working towards? Fmae is always good for pirates, along with loot. Try thinking about multiple VP conditions (since piracy is never about just one goal). Maybe varying goals that reward varying amounts of VP.

Best of luck!!

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Sun, 07/25/2004 - 19:54
#9
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

SiskNY wrote:
galeninjapan wrote:
I just came up with alot of good ideas for a pirate game. I have great rules for battles, movement and other such things. All I need is a central game mechanic.

All the little bits are a means to an end, what do you want that end to be? What do you want players to be fighting for or working towards? Fmae is always good for pirates, along with loot. Try thinking about multiple VP conditions (since piracy is never about just one goal). Maybe varying goals that reward varying amounts of VP.

Best of luck!!

I want to gave mulsiple ways of accumilating VP for sure. Here are some ways of doing it.

-Turning in a set (1 Rum, 1 Fruit, 1 Cloth, and 1 Tabacco) This gives you 1 VP

-Fighting a defeating Ships from the royal navy. The game starts off with a "Level 1" Rpyal navy ship. Its worth 1 point to defeat. When defeated you keep it and it is replaced by a level 2 ship. This goes up to level 4.

-Adventure cards may have VPs, similar to development cards in Settlers.

-The most Notority/Fame will be worth VP

-Biggest ship will be worth VP

Any other ideas to gain VP?

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Sun, 07/25/2004 - 22:24
#10
Anonymous
I need a central game mechanic.

Now I need to figure out how to gain fame.

Attacking mechant ships, Commisioned navy ships and attacking ports.

What would yall think about playing a pirate game in which you can build ports.

What about building more ships?

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