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tornado storm chasing game follow up

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NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011

After playtesting the "Storm Chaser" idea (http://www.bgdf.com/node/7030), I decided it was too fiddly with the dice and moving car pieces around a map to follow tornado movement. Driving cars on roads and highways wasn't constrained enough so I'm pondering whether the scale of the things needs to be zoomed on more of a neighborhood or small town scale.

Players are storm chasers trying to attain footage of tornadoes so they can sell footage for points. Higher points can be earned for getting to the tornado first and getting close to the tornado.

Could movement to follow and get close to a tornado become more of a push-your-luck card mechanic? What if players flipped over cards for movement and tried to get as close to the tornado as the could without sustaining damage/injury? If they flipped over a card that moved them into the tornado, they would die or perhaps get negative points for becoming injured. Players would be able to decide how close they get before stopping to “film” the tornado for points.

Maybe the roads could be "tracks" (say, 5 tracks, 15 spaces per track, movement cards would have values of 1-4) that players move along and the tracks converge in the middle of the board at an intersection. Players could move their car pieces up and down these tracks as tornadoes move across the board.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Orangebeard
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Joined: 10/13/2011
scaled down

Maybe this could be scaled down further to people on foot in a small town trying to film without getting sucked up or clobbered by debris. Your map could be the town and the tornado could move on a semi-predictable path through the town. I am picturing a square, grid style map. The top quarter is open field the middle half is town and the bottom quarter is more open field. If the tornado always moves from top to bottom, the players would have time to shoot footage on the approach, catch bonus points for filming destruction in the town and would then have one last chance to score points as it leaves the town.

Your track/space/move cards could easily become street/space/move and your deck of movement cards could include special events or situations. For example, a good card might be "Action Shot! Move 2 spaces, if you end your turn with line of sight to the Tornado, gain 3 points"; a bad card might be "If you have line of sight to the Tornado, you are pelted with rocks! gain 0 points and miss your next turn"

I imagine the players never stop filming, but each turn they may have usable footage that can be sold or have unusable footage that is of little value.

If for some reason the Tornado passes through the square with the player, perhaps the player is thrown, loses turns, loses their camera, etc.?

NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011
The special events cards

The special events cards sounds interesting. Maybe they can be laid out above the board so everyone has a shot to get them.

I think negative points for being on the same space as a tornado will be fine. One space away=5 points, two=3 points, three= 1 point.

The challenge will be coming up with a press-your-luck movement mechanic that gives players some control over where they can drive. Flipping over cards that have movement points on them may work but doesn’t seem that elegant. Only other thing I can think of is dice movement I’m usually not a fan of the roll and move style.

Orangebeard
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Joined: 10/13/2011
Escape mechanic?

What about a mechanic that limits your ability to drive as you get closer to the Tornado? Instead of a "press your luck" on the approach to the Tornado, your ability to escape the Tornado becomes limited as you get closer?

As opposed to a "press your luck" this is more like "ride the wave". Each player attempts to find that "sweet spot" where they are scoring points by being close to the Tornado, but they still have enough vehicle control to escape if the Tornado turns on them.

Could you use a fixed movement value with reductions for proximity to the Tornado?

NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011
Sounds interesting but I'm

Sounds interesting but I'm not sure how it would be implemented.

What if car movement was by dice rolling with players racing towards the storms? The rolling would be like Formula De or Powerboats in they can roll up to, say, three or four dice and may switch gears +1 or -1 once per turn. Going too fast into a storm and not slowing down in time would result in a penalty. You can pass on four lane highways but not on two lane. There could be one-way streets where turning around isn't allowed, etc. There could be a stack of cards with N-NE-W direction arrows showing what direction and how far the storm moved.

Orangebeard
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Joined: 10/13/2011
Formula De

I think the Formula De approach would be worth a playtest.

Does wind direction speed up / slow down the players' cars?

NewbieDesigner
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Joined: 01/20/2011
I wasn't planning on having

I wasn't planning on having the wind affect anything other than if you get too close to the storm, you will be penalized. I like the idea of debris being left on the road as obstacles but I don't want players to lose turns so I'm trying to come up with other alternatives that hamper travel but not too much.

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