Monster Keep (Formerly Dragon Roost)

I'm still *working on it* in my brain... so this might be tough to explain. But here I go...

When you bid on a dragon, you claim to have enough cards to bring that dragon to life. If during that turn, all the other players have not secured a dragon's egg (incubation), on the next turn a player who has secured an egg can UP the ANTE... And go for an older dragon earning a BONUS influence point.

Maybe instead of 2x # of players, it should be # of players + 2 (dragons). So players compete for the same dragon...

With blind bidding come *bluffing*... So a player who does not have the proper cards can still "pretend" (by bluffing) that he does and could ultimately steal away a dragon from an opponent.

Instead of "heating crystals" and the like, I would tap into five (5) dragon traits:
1-Dragon's Teeth
2-Dragon's Claw
3-Dragon's Tail
4-Dragon's Scales
5-Dragon's Stomach

There could be five (5) classes of dragons, each with their own traits. A trait has a value (1 - 5 maybe). Players use the traits from their hands to try to match or surpass a trait. That is the bidding process. For example, a player will play three (3) cards from his hands saying: "I have enough to create Dragon X". Dragon X has three (3) traits: Teeth, Scales and Tail. So the assumption is that the player has played those 3 cards with high enough values.

Opponent's can challenge a player by challenging the bid (e.g. they also bid on the same dragon knowing they may lose - and not get a dragon this turn...) At the end of the turn, the player with the closest (or highest) match wins the dragon. The player who bluffs (and is successfully challenged) would of course get nothing.

Some traits are OPTIONAL and can age the dragon. In our example, Dragon X had three (3) traits: Teeth, Scales and Tail. But there are additional conditions like Scales = 3 (Middle) and Tail = 4 (Mature) which allow a player to age his dragon and collect BONUS points (+2 or +3 respectively).

Note: A player who is challenged may choose to withdraw his bid - and therefore would not lose the cards he bid with. On the opposite side, if a player loses a challenge before withdrawing his bid, that player loses the cards he made the bid with!

Basically the cards in your deck are like poker chips. They have value and can be used in combination with others. When you up the ante and play additional cards, that's like throwing more chips into the pot. The key difference is what happens when resolving the bids: cards involved in bids are computed and the highest bidder wins. Unfortunately the loser also loses the cards he had bid (sort of like losing your chips - because they were a part of the pot).

I have also been thinking that I could make the game instead about "Monsters" (so Monster Keep). This is because when I calculate the amount of cards required for a 4 player game (deck of dragons), that is 60 cards. Seems to be a waste if all 60 cards are dragons... This is just a personal observation.

The 60 cards is based on 4 players. Each player could have 10 or more monsters. So that means a minimum of 40 monsters. 60/4 = 15 each... Sounds like a reasonable amount.

Note: each player's deck would be 40 cards (used to bid). 40/3 = 13 monsters given that it takes 3 TRAIT cards to raise a monster. Obviously 3 is the minimum, but there could be 4 or 5 cards for ageing monsters. 40/5 = 8 monsters. So this could be approximately 10 monsters.

This also means that the game would have 4 x 40 = 160 trait cards + 60 monster cards = Whooping 220 cards in total. It's really 100 (40 + 60) original cards (the rest are doubles).

The cards can also be *Combo-ed* to earn additional melding points. Such as if you play 2 cards together, they give a bonus trait (upping the value of the ante).

OMG sixty (60) Monsters is a LOT of monsters... I forgot how tough it was to try to think of thirty (30) without trying to pull out my hair!

Where is Stormyknight1976 when I need him? The guy is a BEAST on finding new concepts for monsters... He once spent a month designing 16,000 monsters!!!

Maybe I'll hit him up for some ideas...

If you all have any ideas you want to share, feel free to comment.

Note: My distribution of Monsters (Monster Deck) goes something like this =

15 x 1 points = 15 (25%)
13 x 2 points = 28 (22%)
11 x 3 points = 39 (18%)
9 x 4 points = 48 (15%)
7 x 5 points = 55 (12%)
5 x 6 points = 60 (8%)

Total of 60 monsters, with distribution (in percent).

That kinda has me thinking that I should divide the Monsters into clans. Like for example an Orc Clan, an Ogre Clan, an Undead Clan, etc. I know I have 60 monster to "create". But if it is divided into clans with several members to a clan, that makes a more reasonable an amount units to think up!

@Stormy: Ya I understood from your example how you were fusing different creatures together to get a completely new creature... This to me is probably good for "Dymino Monster" - because it works with the game. In my "Monster Keep" I think I will try to design 5 clans, with different RANKS of Monsters. Obviously the Dragons will be at the TOP of each one of clans...

So something to that effect... We will see what I come up with. This seems to be *interesting* since the monsters are grouped into a CLAN. For now this is my direction.

This is the ORC clan: "Brawler", "Swordsman", "Bezerker", "Axe Thrower", "Stone Hurler", "Shaman", "Witch Doctor", "Manticore", "Bridge Troll", "Hill Giant", "Orc Chieftain" and "Green Dragon". This could be the ORC Clan (12 members in this GREEN clan).

This is the UNDEAD clan: "Zombie", "Skeleton", "Mummy", "Werewolf", "Vampire", "Harpie", "Necromancer", "Mystic Seer", "Crypt Fiend", "Flesh Giant", "Lich King" and "Black Dragon" (12 members of the BLACK clan).

This is the FIRE clan: "Fire Sprite", "Djinn", "Hell hound", "Efreeti", "Fire Elemental", "Basilisk", "Wyvern", "Demon", "Succubus", "Fire giant", "Prince of Darkness (Devil)" and "Red Dragon" (12 members of RED clan).

This is the STORM clan: "Will-O-Wisp", "Naiad", "Dragon Turtle", "Kraken", "Siren", "Sea Serpent", "Thunderbird", "Merman", "Mermaid", "Storm giant", "Leviathan", "Blue Dragon" (12 members of BLUE clan).

This is the FROST clan: "Bruiser" (Ogre - Fist), "Smasher" (Ogre - Club), "Crusher" (Ogre - Stone), "Butcher" (Ogre - Cleaver), "Wolf Raider", "Polar Bear", "Gargoyle", "Dark Elf (Male)", "Dark Elf (Female)", "Frost giant", "Cyclops", "White Dragon" (12 members of WHITE clan).

Note: this is a *tentative* list of monsters for the game. Not all are a perfect fit, but that doesn't matter...

The other night I was thinking about the "BETTING" mechanic. And the idea would be that a player can bid between one (1) to five (5) cards.

BUT players earn a BONUS token (+1/+2/+3) depending on the AGE of the Monster they breed. Those tokens serve as BONUSES to the amount of "Influence" earned by the total amount of Monsters in the keep.

And so I thought, "What if you could use those *Tokens* to UP THE ANTE EVEN MORE!"

So a player could bid three (3) cards and a +1 Token. The tokens act as WILDCARD and are AUTOMATIC POINTS towards the bidding/betting of the Monster. This also goes hand-in-hand with bluffing: a player may have bluffed with 1 card BUT he bets +2 Tokens (so +2 Points) towards a the BID. With this, players can mix bluffing and betting in the bidding process.

Each time a player BREEDS ("Buy" or successful bid), he receives a +1 Token. If he AGES the beast to being JUVENILE (+2 Token) or MATURE (+3 Token) he can earn more valuable tokens (which can be used in the bidding process).

Here is the KICKER: Tokens USED in bidding ARE LOST, if a player LOSES the bid. Winner get to KEEP their tokens. Tokens are ALSO use as INFLUENCE POINTS and ADDED to the End Score of each player. So you got to be smart in how you BID/BET/BLUFF...

Note: I am also thinking that "Tokens" should be LOST in the overall BIDDING process. This makes it even more RISKY to bid with tokens... My FEAR is that if WINNERS get the tokens back, that would lead to a player dominating the other players. If you AUTOMATICALLY LOSE any tokens used in bidding, that makes it that harder to think of the better *betting/bluffing* strategy.

Hmm... Maybe you are onto something... Instead of "kidnapping" it could be like LURING or ATTRACTING the Monster to your keep. So the HIGHER bid, is what attracts the Monster the MOST. Make me think about the other decks of cards. The ones each player has. I already have the 60 Monster Deck, now all I need to figure out is what each 40 cards player decks have as cards...

The thing is that there needs to be A LOT of COMBOS. What I mean by this is if you BID with 2 cards TOGETHER, they give a BONUS (Combo) points (for a successful bid). And that is to try to reduce TOO MUCH BLUFFING. I don't want the game to be ONLY about bluffing. I want some strategy to the game also.

Still need to think about this some more...

Ya cards in bids are REVEALED ONE CARD AT A TIME. So a player can FOLD before the hand is completely revealed.

I am thinking about Monster characteristics... Like for example:

-HUNGER: How much a Monster likes to EAT.
-GREED: How much a Monster likes TREASURE.
-BLOODLUST: How much a Monster likes BATTLE.

I am thinking like in your last post "Wily Maidens"... How much a Monster likes Slaves ... oops ... I mean COMPANIONS! Hehehe.

Update: I have since decided that there will be two (2) decks = A Monster deck with 60 monsters and each player has a Hero deck with 40 cards.

The Hero deck will become expansions to the game, right now I will be focused on creating a "Human" deck... Future decks could be with "Elves" or "Dwarfs".

The FOOD for the game will be the "Heroes" themselves! Hehehe. Each monster will have three (3) traits and each "Human Hero" will also have three (3) traits (to try to satisfy the Monster).

Bluffing has *changed* a little bit: You need to OUTBID your opponents. You do this by playing more cards or by using bonus tokens. So it's a little bit about SIZING up your opponent (in a competing bid).