Any of you that have read my Smugglers of the New World forum post (which appears to have been largely untouched, but that's OK) will note that I include a simple "control" mechanism that depends on the placement of yours and your opponent's control markers on a four-space board. The only way to collect resources was to control a spot at the beginning of a given turn, or push things off of a spot, shuffling the available control markers and then taking half as many resources.
I want to apply this idea to a game with multiple players, where each gap between players has a similar style of board, and you collect income based on what you control at the end of your turn on the game mats on either side of you (i.e. between your two neighbors). Thing is: I'm struggling to get a thematic direction from which to drive my design (something I typically need to help me conceptualize). Herein, I request help with developing the theme.
Some themes I thought of:
-A circle of competing wizards/runemasters (the game mats between players would have rune symbols, and acquiring "runes" could be used to make purchases) - likely a lighter, but less thematic direction
-A group of co-operating spirits attempting to drive off invaders to their precious land (and the mana that you need of a given type can't be being used by a neighbor, so you need to co-ordinate)
Any help you provide would be appreciated! :)
@dmddmdb: precisely, there's a four-resource competitive control system (which can of course be changed) at play between the given player and their two neighbors, so your comments were indeed helpful.
Civilization trading posts strikes me as a little too similar to "Between Two Cities", but the idea of using the resources you acquire to build (or summon buildings with runic magic or something) toward either a personal tableau or a central board has a certain appeal.
Again, thanks for your comments. I appreciate your insights.