Hello all, just asking for some brainstorming.
I'm thinking about a game taking place in the artic (kind of Terror (book and tv show). Ships are stuck in the ice and sailors must survive.
I was thinking about the following stats: cold, hunger, fatigue. Illness and morale could also enter the game, but I think that 3 of them might be enough (I aim a very streamline game).
I had the idea to use dice as pawns for the men: every face has a different "freezing level" and each turn you points if temperature is colder than what you can handle. After a while out there, you must rest close to the fire or inside the ship etc.
I think that this is an interesting idea, but only handles 1 stat. How can I keep track of the other 2?
There are 2 ships and each ship will have 12 sailors. So there are up to 24 units.
I've also considered that the other stats are kept "global" and apply to the whole crew: if one of the stats drops too low, you loose the less valuable unit still in game.
I might also consider 3 markers per ship (captain, officers, others).
Do you have any suggestion?
Thank you all, The idea of the slots for the dice for each sailor is really a nice one: I don't think it suits my current design (sailor don't have much space, they should be able to share the small space allocated for the ship), but I'll take it into account :D
Global stats are most probably the way to go. I'd like the sailors out in the ice to be more in danger than those in the ships so I must find a way to tell them apart.
Here an idea about how to merge the two suggestions:
Sailors cannot simply "wander around": they are either on a ship, in a camp, or on an expedition.
I could use the "dice slots" whenever there is a group of sailors: one in each of the ships, one when the players create a camp, one when some men go on an expedition.
So each "block" has its own stats (3/5 at most) that can be updated each round.
Even thought there are up to 24 men in the beginning, not all of them move at each turn: captains and officers can "give orders" to up to n men: if I decide to use the "give orders" ability of the captain, I can "move" up to 3 men. The "give orders" of an officer can "move" up to 2 men.
But captain and officers also have their own special abilities (one is a doctor, one is a good fighter etc) so if I need the officer to use his own ability, I cannot use it to move other sailors.
In addition, there can be a limit to the total men that can "do something" (for example because the "fatigue" level only allows for as much).
I expect every player to move 7 sailors on average each turn (think of it as a worker placement kind of game).
As the time goes, the crew members die and there are less pawns to move.