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Feedback on my Dedicated Deck, Casual RPG

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Wed, 08/22/2012 - 13:12
raiderrobert
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Joined: 03/05/2012

Since Jan/Feb of this year, I've been working on dedicated-deck, casual RPG meant for between 3 and 6 players, although I have rule variants for greater or fewer players.

The game play is essentially this: you have a starter ship and some gear, and you go out into space to make your fortune. Basically, you earn victory points (trophies) for the level of dead alien carcass you bring back from your adventures and for the level of your ship. You earn these things by adventuring out into space and killing them. At this point, I'd have to dive into the weeds of explaining the game.

If you want to look over it, you can find the instructions here: http://bit.ly/wYABU8. And here are the actual cards are here: http://bit.ly/wpKSwp. And some reference cards are here: http://bit.ly/wDoh36. And if you really want to get down into the nitty-gritty, you can look at the change log I've been keeping here: http://bit.ly/QWKHQP.

So what I'd like to ask:

1) Is there anything in the setup that's unclear?

2) Is there anything in the description of how a turn works that's unclear?

3) Does the combat system seem interesting do you guys?

4) Would you like to play test this game?

[Edited to ask some direct questions and shorten it up a bit.]

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Wed, 09/19/2012 - 16:42
#1
Shpee
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Joined: 09/18/2012
Seems cool. I had 2 questions

Seems cool.

I had 2 questions come up while reading the rules.
The first was in the combat section, there's a bit about if you engage in combat while going to port, you don't make it and need to try next turn.

The rules say that at the beginning of your turn, you pick space or port. So in what situation would you be fighting and be in route to the port at the same time?

The other question was with the ship leveling description. If 5 items gets you next tier, or an alien of sufficient level get you next tier. How does a tier 3 alien and 5 items take you from tier 1 to tier 5?

Maybe I misread those two parts but if not, it's a little confusing.

For me, the munchkin-esque combat system isn't as exciting as some of the other dynamics (I really like the vault vs cargo mechanic).

I liked the sound of most everything except for how the game ends. Or rather, I really like the idea of some governing force cracking down and putting an end to the escapades, but I felt like just having the pile of event cards run out was a little underwhelming.

I think you have an opportunity to make the authorities a greater presence throughout the game. Maybe after certain conditions are met (certain number of aliens killed, or high value target killed) the authorities could "tighten up" on restrictions making it more difficult to enter or leave port, or put some sort of tax on shipping between cargo and vault. The authoritative power would get stricter and stricter until finally, they crack down and put an end to the game. And the players get to take their money and retire.

Ideally this would make the players "feel" like the end was approaching rather then just watching the deck dwindle, and also it would give players a fictitious entity to curse at as they play! :)

Just some thoughts.

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Wed, 09/19/2012 - 16:54
#2
Dralius
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Joined: 07/26/2008
Why do you consider this a

Why do you consider this a RPG?

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Tue, 09/25/2012 - 12:57
#3
raiderrobert
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Joined: 03/05/2012
Re: Why do you consider this a RPG?

I consider it an RPG in the loose sense. It's not the D&D style RPG, obviously. I needed to find a descriptive term, and this seemed to fit it best. Your ship acts as your avatar to a great to degree, so instead of leveling up and getting new powers, you buy bigger ships and collect more gear.

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Tue, 09/25/2012 - 15:09
#4
raiderrobert
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Joined: 03/05/2012
Re: Seems Cool

Shpee wrote:

In the combat section, there's a bit about if you engage in combat while going to port, you don't make it and need to try next turn.

The rules say that at the beginning of your turn, you pick space or port. So in what situation would you be fighting and be in route to the port at the same time?

Yeah, this is 'doh' moment of mine, as I meant to delete that bit. For those interested, I changed this system around to be in-line with the lore for how the drive system works. Basically, previously the system was that traveled from place to place, and you're running into things enroute before getting there. But that made for some weird situations in the gameplay and took a bit too much explaining.

So here's the lore: the FTL technology for getting around is a tunneling FTL drive. The ship comes to a full stop and begins creating a tunnel through subspace in any 3D direction once the desired distance is created; the ship's hull is sub spatially polarized to match the signature of the tunnel. The jump is essentially instantaneous.

This explanation functions to explain how the ships get around, and it also makes sense of the combat: you instantly appear some place in space. You can't tell what's there before arriving. You simply appear, and whatever happens, is happening to you right then. Why can't you get back in the tunnel and leave? The tunnel isn't two-way; it's a one-way, and you'd have to create another tunnel.

tl;dr: oops...I meant to change that part because I thought through it some more.

Shpee wrote:

The other question was with the ship leveling description. If 5 items gets you next tier, or an alien of sufficient level get you next tier. How does a tier 3 alien and 5 items take you from tier 1 to tier 5?

I re-read that section, and I can see why you'd be confused. So I'll explain this with math:

Tier 5 - Tier 1 = Tier 4 = Tier 3 + Tier 1 = 15 Items + 5 Items = Tier 3 + 5 items

Shpee wrote:

For me, the munchkin-esque combat system isn't as exciting as some of the other dynamics (I really like the vault vs cargo mechanic).

Yes, I realize the combat system is a little munchkin-esque. Admittedly, I like the simplicity of the system, but I think the rolling of dice adds in enough tension. I'm willing to entertain other idea, though. For instance, I've recently been toying with a strength and weakness effect by giving weapons types of damage; for instance, ionic weapons will do more damage against mechanical enemies, whereas with phenomenal enemies will be less effected than normal.

The vault and cargo mechanic was something I stumbled into as a way to make it so that players didn't have a ridiculous number of cards in their hands. What do you find the most interesting about it?

Shpee wrote:

I liked the sound of most everything except for how the game ends. Or rather, I really like the idea of some governing force cracking down and putting an end to the escapades, but I felt like just having the pile of event cards run out was a little underwhelming.

I think you have an opportunity to make the authorities a greater presence throughout the game. Maybe after certain conditions are met (certain number of aliens killed, or high value target killed) the authorities could "tighten up" on restrictions making it more difficult to enter or leave port, or put some sort of tax on shipping between cargo and vault. The authoritative power would get stricter and stricter until finally, they crack down and put an end to the game. And the players get to take their money and retire.

Ideally this would make the players "feel" like the end was approaching rather then just watching the deck dwindle, and also it would give players a fictitious entity to curse at as they play! :)

The end condition has given me fits, trying to figure out what to do. And I really, really like your idea. Perhaps, I could have threat dice of some kind being rolled so that every time someone kills something; as players roll a particular number or some other consideration, counters are added to a threat scale until a particular number is exceeded. For instance, each time an enemy is killed; a player must roll 2d6. If the result is greater than 7, a counter is added. Once there are 10 counters, the game ends, but perhaps after a certain threat level (like level 6), the government can close down the market and posted bounties. Thoughts on this?

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Sun, 12/16/2012 - 13:46
#5
dameonunleashed
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Joined: 09/07/2011
raiderrobert wrote:Shpee

Quote:

So I'll explain this with math:

Tier 5 - Tier 1 = Tier 4 = Tier 3 + Tier 1 = 15 Items + 5 Items = Tier 3 + 5 items

Or: Each Tier of enemy ships is worth the equivalent of 5 Items. A tier 2 ship is worth 10 the same as items, for example. A Tier 1 Player needs 5 items to level up to the next tier. A tier III ship is worth 15 items, and an additional 5 item cards gives 20 Items equivalent to the player, jetting them up 20/5= +4 levels, from Tier 1 to Tier 5.

This is a fine mechanic, and a fair linear progression. However it does not relate to me a sense of an RPG game. Generally in RPG-style games, the challenge progresses with the players. In addition, the linear progression allows a player with a tier 4 ship to destroy a tier 1 enemy and use it to gain tier 5 that way, which seems very unbalanced.

What if your player's ships needed increasing requirements to level up their ships to the next Tier? Tier 1 to tier 2 would cost 5 Items or a Tier 1 enemy ship, but going from tier 2 to tier 3 costs 10 items, etc. Going from Tier 4 to 5 would cost 20 items, a single Tier 4 ship (even fight at that level), 2 Tier 2 ships, or any combination within. What would happen much less often is a tier 1 player going all the way to tier 5 in one fight; that would cost 50 items, and going toe-to-toe with enough enemies to do that doesn't seem likely in your game.

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