Like many people, I've been frustrated by Magic Realm- I love the idea of a mostly free-form fantasy RPG-like adventure game. Despite RealmSpeak, most of the rules are still completely indecipherable. I think the problem is so intractable that it's better for me to just find a find a different game. Unfortunately, nothing really scratches the itch. RuneBound is nice, but basically lacking in exploration and too focused on combat (although I love the character-building aspects). I haven't played Prophecy but it seems too 'boardgamey' and not RPG-esque enough. Other games come close but have their flaws as well.
So I've been trying to replicate the experience of MR with rules that are simple but allow for deep gameplay, using modern game design technology. Here's a basic outline for some rules I think could be a solid foundation.
Components:
Encounters deck- Monsters, Traps, special map locations, NPCs, some things related to quests, etc. Each has a Danger Level, which is a number (1-10?). Noncombat encounters could be wandering minstrels, hermits, witches, merchants, etc or even discovery of small cities, monasteries, temples, castles etc which would actually place a token on the game map so players can visit them later.
Regions deck - Each Region card or tile has "clearings," "paths" connecting the clearings (to each other and to other Regions), and a Terrain Type (such as Swamp, Forest, Plains, Mountains, Badland, Ruins, Caves, perhaps 1-2 others, such as one for underground ruins aka Dungeon). Each clearing has a semi-random number which is used to determine what can be encountered there. Likely, there would also be a "Town" card/tile which starts in the middle of the table, where the players start, surrounded by adjacent regions.
Allies/Mercenaries- "Tavern" deck for hiring henchmen and cannon fodd- I mean, loyal companions
Possibly each player's personal gear deck- contains 20-30 items that are drawn into a player's hand randomly, and can only be played when specified, using a loot mechanic blatantly ripped off from, of all things, RuinsWorld: Each item has a numerical Treasure Class (probably 1 to 10) and possibly a Rarity (Basic, Magical, Artifact). Each monster in turn has a Loot Class such as "6M"; if a player defeats that monster, they can play an item from their hand with up to that Treasure Class and Rarity; for example, a magic sword of Treasure Class 4M but not one of 7M and certainly not that 10A longsword "Holy Judgement of the Gods of Justice" that kills practically anything in one hit. I really like this loot mechanic, which is random but gives enough control for the player to act with some kind of direction; even sitting in one place 'farming' until they find a monster that 'drops' the item they want. Deck construction could mean building a deck before hand (as in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game) or building it as the game goes along by drafting cards from a pool; I viscerally prefer the former, but the other way would be more free-form and on-the-fly deck construction is fun too. With pre-built decks a player would still not quite be able to build their perfect gear setup every time; even if they don't draw their favorite low-level weapon early, they might get one or two other ones that get the job done.
Possibly, an Items deck containing generic weapons, armor, rings, spells, etc, which can be purchased in town
A figure representing each player's location as they move around.
Possibly, a basic 'character sheet' for each player ala Heroquest.
Rules and mechanics outline:
On their turn, each player (this game might be best as a single-player affair, though; Players could possibly cooperate in combat if the game phases are sequential- everyone moves then everyone encounters, then everyone does upkeep) can move, encounter the space they land on, and change equipment (and possibly draw a new card from their personal deck; there will have to be a mechanic for cycling through the cards in the personal deck, anyway). As players move off explored regions, new ones are played off the top of the Regions deck.
Each Region card has multiple Clearings, connected by paths. Each Clearing has a Danger Level (i.e. 1-10 or more), which is the number in the clearing plus the number of clearings between it and Town. Each Region has a Terrain Type (see above). When a player encounters a clearing, cards are revealed from the top of the Encounter deck until the Danger Level of the revealed cards exceeds the Danger Level of the clearing; then, the last revealed card is discarded and the player encounters the remaining cards. Discard any revealed cards whose listed valid Terrain Types do not include the Terrain Type of the Region where the clearing is located (encounters whose terrain type doesn't match are discarded as they come up; they don't count toward the Danger Level). This will cause the player to encounter a semi-random assortment of things of a semi-random difficulty, or possibly nothing at all if the first thing revealed exceeds the clearing's Danger level + distance.
Combat- Each combatant has the stats # of Attacks, Damage, Armor, and Hit Points. The player chooses where each attack is directed. Attacks occur in sequence, but in any order (except that all Ranged attacks must be resolved before any melee). Spells in combat could simply replace a player's attacks.
For each attack, Damage - Armor = wounds. When wounds = HP, combatant is killed. There, now wasn't that easy?
Weapons have a Heft value, and the player character has to have at least that much Strength/Body to use it. Heavier weapons generally do more damage. For each point of Dexterity/Agility the PC has in excess of the weapon's Heft, they get +1 attacks (PC base stats should start in the 0-2 range and not hit the 5-6 range until the end of the game). That should keep high-damage but slow combat strategies balanced with low-damage but agile ones; the latter will generally average more damage per round but may hit roadblocks against enemies with lots of armor (since armor is subtracted from each attack).
Combatants can easily have keyworded combat abilities; for example, "Charge X" might give them +X damage on the first round; "Ambush X" might prevent the first X damage to each ally during the first round; "Etherial" might cause attacks to miss some percent of the time; "Bodyguard X" might force the first X attacks to be directed at that unit; so on and so forth.
Thanks for reading all that- I don't know if I'll ever actually flesh this out, since it would need a huge pile of content I don't know if I can make and art I know I can't draw. But hopefully you at least got some ideas.
