Hey guys,
I've gotten a couple of playtests in under my belt for my superhero game, and it has been met with quite positive feedback. I've tried to incorporate some of the points made into the latest iterration, but the big point is what I thought I'd ask you guys about here.
So the main feedback was that the final villain fight was rather anticlimactic, and the overall villain narrative was quite weak (I'm pretty aware of this as the villain bit is the area I've spent the least amount of time on)
I was thinking at the start of the game you'd choose a comic, which came with the game, certain crime cards which, instead of being the standard card with a test, outcome and pass/fail, would direct you a page of the comic you chose showing a confrontation with the villain himself, with outcomes for if just let the crime occur, if you stopped the crime and if you failed to stop the crime.
Now in my minds eye, you'd essentially be playing a comic book to its conclusion, and to allow replayability there would be various events in the comic and only a few would come up each time. My friend who is a creative sort but not a gamer immediately shot the idea down due to:
a. people wanting to create their own story not be on the rails.
b. lack of replay
c. the mechanics of reading a comic is quite clunky in a co-op
I'm curious what gamers/designers think and if there would be a way I could tweak it!
Well thanks largely to this thread I've had a bit of a rethink on the crime mechanics.
Now I envisage a normal crime coming out a turn and at the same time an evil villain scheme ticking away on its own.
Normal crimes will cause bad things to happen on the board, or will add to the anarchy of the city, so if you ignore them the incognito actions will weaken and when 10 anarchy is reached the villain is revealed and any unresolved villain crimes are automatically deemed to be a success.
The villain crimes will come out one at a time, and will be in the form of bigger cards (I'm thinking tarot/dixit size) which essentially captures a small scene from a comic. The one i've come up with currently consists of the supervillain "The Chemist" using new hallucinogenic drugs downtown. If you stop the crime you won't have to face his perfected hallucinogen grenades when you have the final showdown. If you let it pop or fail to prevent it, then he'll be using them against you in the final battle which will mean once per turn in the final fight someone will use a power against their friends as they are tripping out :)
I think that'll be a better dynamic, you still will get the comic book "feel" but without the clunkiness of a whole comic.