Creating the cast of playable characters, trying to keep the balance.

I'm going to be blunt: this mindset is a complete waste of time.

Your previous thread "Using a deck of cards or dice roll with results lists?" was a good one, at least conceptually, because it was about you figuring out how players are going to engage with your game. Instead of spending time thinking about the backgrounds and ethnicities of your characters, you really have to think about what you want players to do FIRST. Games can be created top-down with theme being the inspiration behind mechanics, but your current framework is entirely too nebulous and theoretical.

I know I sound like a broken record, but you MUST figure out what the GOAL of your game is, even if it changes later (and trust me, ALL of your mechanics will change, morph, disappear, transform, and merge together as you refine your design). Don't be afraid of getting things wrong. You should be more worried about spending a great deal of time on things that may not pan out...which is potentially everything.

Case in point: for my first game design, I created about 100+ unique cards before playtesting it once, because I believed the more I added, the more interesting the game would be. I spent a lot of time designing flavorful characters, and then I even spent MORE time giving them cool names.

Once I sleeved two 50 card decks, I sat down to play it...and it was a freakin' disaster. I was crushed and felt like crap.

Through that process, I learned a valuable lesson: the faster you get your design to the table, the better. That means fighting the temptation to add more (let's face it, adding cool new things is alluring because of how much fun designing abilities, cards, etc., is).

Do you want players to compete or cooperate? Pick one, and think of a goal (be the first player to kill the evil king and take his throne; or kill the dragon before it destroys three villages).

How many players do you want your game to allow for? Pick a number and throw together four characters. Name them Assassin, Warrior, Mage, Druid.

You want a board? Throw together a board with some spaces on it with some scribbled names for locations.

You want players to fight? Decide how you want this to happen (maybe it's just roll Xd6's and use characters specific cards to influence your rolls.

You want location specific events? Decide how players can respond to those events (if they even can).

And if you're not sure what to decide on, this is key: follow your gut. You have an idea of what you want, so see it through. If it doesn't work, people will tell you, and then its time for you decide if you change it or scrap it.

And this is important too: everything is subject to change, so it's not worth your time trying to get it right the first time. You won't. You might get a few things right, and when you do, its time to focus on WHY those things are fun and how to build around those...even if that means scrapping ideas you really liked.

Trying to be polite: let the designer decide how he wants to design his game. People spend YEARS, like over 5+ to develop a Universe before even considering what kind, if any, games they design around it.

No harm in exploring the theme... I often work on theme early. To understand how it will affect the game, etc.

Personally, I usually design from the theme.
Yet I`m with Squinshee on this one.

Figuring out the characters usually comes late in the design process, when the basics of the game are more or less set.

How can you design your characters without knowing all the "moving parts" of your game?

Let me jump into the middle of this fray.

To the OP: What are YOU looking to get out of this process. If you want to design a game that you could sell, or that your friends will want to play, then Squinshee is right -- start playtesting early and often, with as little as you can get away with that is moderately playable. Flesh out nothing that you don't absolutely need for the playtest. Start with solo playtesting, where you just act as all the players one at a time, and you'll be amazed how much you change even with that process.

If, on the other hand, you're really just enjoying the process as a hobby, and you don't really expect to do much with it even when it is "done" then do the parts of it that are fun at the time. If you enjoy the process of fleshing out the characters, then go for it.

By the way, I've done both of these, quite intentionally. That is, I spent a long time fleshing out stuff when I knew I'd probably toss a lot of it after playtest, but I was having fun. And it was painful to toss it. I try very hard, now, not to listen to that siren's call, because I know that I am likely to hang on to something that isn't really working, only because I spent a lot of time on it already and there are parts of it that I really like.

To your original question, and your unasked question: If you're going for the cliches, then you really have to go over-the-top with it and make them pure tropes, but then give each of them a weird quirk. Otherwise it just seems stale. Make your super macho dwarf the classic dwarf, with a bad Scottish accent and all, but then make him phobic of birds or bunnies or some such.

IMHO nine (9) characters is a LOT. Perhaps if some of these characters were NPCs (Non-Player Characters - means AI controlled or in your case a PART of the story but not the main focus) then I could understand you including them at various points of the story.

And to be honest - I have never seen this in a Board/Card Game: NPCs.

The idea is to have a character (non-player) join the group for a certain amount of time. For example until a Quest is completed:

1. Save the Princess
2. Find a lost treasure
3. Recover wealth from some monster

I think this list can GROW... And once that Quest is completed, the NPC leaves the party (and on to his own pursuits). It's cool because you can have the NPC that helps your party in different ways...

Perhaps the NPC depends on the Quest itself... That could be one way!

Anyhow this is something to think about. Something I have not seen... in an adventure game (dungeon delving, etc.) I have seen it many times in RPGs, but not a Board/Card Game.

Best of luck with your game!

If you are basing your design on another game - you may want to stop and reconsider. Yes borrowing mechanics is a must - we didn't just invent them.

But when you look at the sheer "magnitude" of a game such as "A Touch of Evil"... You should stop and think: "Am I trying to make a copy of the game?" If the answer is NO, "Well I should be creating a different game."

And what that means is creating your own numbers.

Do you think designing a game with over 220+ cards is a good idea? Maybe you should aim a little lower and be more realistic.

To me it sounds like because "Game X" has eight (8) heroes, I can do nine (9)... Are you actually designing a game with over 200+ cards? Is that your goal??? If it is - expect the time & effort it will take to design such a game to be "voluminous"!

It's a good thing if you are in it - for the long run.

But to me it sounds a bit like "let's copy A Touch of Evil..." Perhaps I am wrong. Correct me if I am.

Update: You don't want to copy a game that is GOOD, you want to copy a game that is BAD - so yours can be BETTER. Going in the opposite direction is strongly discouraged... (From good to bad)

When I visit a website called "Board Game Design Forum," I don't really expect to be engaging in character/world creation in a vacuum.

If your question was...

My game is set in a futuristic alien world, has a randomized board that players move units on and battle each other. I have this one unit that does this vital yet mechanically strange thing, how would you theme it?

...I'd have something to work with. In your case, I have nothing to work with.

Games usually build - players start with a little, and as the game progresses, it becomes more complex, with more choices for you to make, which are usually made in relation to prior choices. If your heroes start the journey prepared, what's the gameplay progression? If players have everything from the start, what makes each session different? Won't playing as the wizard each time be somewhat of an identical experience?

Or, the game is varied enough in its layout that the fun is figuring out HOW to play the wizard faced with different challenges.