I've been trying to nut out a game about a heist/theft of some kind of museum. I want it to be cartoonish.
The idea is a game where you need to work together to steal as much loot from the Location, but the winner is the person with the most loot. This will force the players to work together until they are near their end game then back stab each other (or build alliances) in order to win.
So far I have a game that plays quite similar to Flashpoint: Fire Rescue.
Action based play with obstacles such as locks and alarms. There will be guards (2?) that move after each players turn towards the last noisy event.
Each player has a character card that has 1 perk on the actions available and 1 unique action.
My issue is finding balance with the characters. If the actions are:
AP - Action
1 - Move one square (move 2 squares with noise)
1 - Open door/window
1 - Search
1 - Attack
2 - Pick lock / hack code pad
I need a bonus for each character and a unique skill that suits the action.
Characters (Bonus = B, Unique = U):
- The Boss.
B: ???
U: Action other character (if they want it or not)
- The Hand.
B: Draw two cards on search. Choose and put the other on the bottom of the pile.
U: Pickpocket adjacent character
- The Muscle:
B: Attack is silent.
U: Can break door and window locks (1 AP)
- The Brain:
B: 1AP to pick lock / hack codepad
U: Can call guards back to their station.
- The Old Timer
B: Can move 2 squares with no noise.
U: Can distract guards (creates noise at chosen location)
The guards patrol in opposite directions until they are alerted from a noise or in sight of someone. Each alert action puts them up a level, they move faster in a direct line towards that action until another action captures their attention. When they get to alert 10(?) they call the cops and there is one more round till game over.
The game ends when the guards are at max alert and notify the cops or everyone has left the board or been caught.
So my issue arises when the players need to go against each other. Each character needs a mechanism to get loot of the others. Any help?
I started to overhaul the game and realized what I was creating was a robbery, not a heist. So ctrl-A, DEL. Started again.
I looked at the movie Oceans 11 to see what steps are shown for a Hollywood Heist.
This time I have a two phase game where in the first phase you have to plan the heist and gather the crew and resources.
The second phase is the actual heist.
Players now compete against each other from the outset, although co-operation can benefit and there will be ways to screw each other over.