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Rock Band-esque Board Game

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ChromeWarriorXIII
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Joined: 02/11/2014

While I was at work the other day I thought of the idea of a Rock Band style game. I figured out the main part of the game, which would be the concerts, where each band member (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, and Drums) has to play their own mini games. The twist is that despite doing different tasks, they have to do them with the same rhythm (to replicate a band playing playing together). Nobody can do anything unless everybody is doing something. To make the stakes higher, your band only has 30 seconds to complete their games.

Now this part I was able to flesh out pretty well, the problem I was having was what else should be in the game? I thought of adding money and fame so that at the end of each concert you earn money and fame equivalent to how well you did at the games. I was thinking money could be spent to buy new instruments (more expensive instruments would add a boost to the amount of fame you would get each concert), hire techs to help prevent against random events such as your instruments breaking, and (maybe) record albums for extra cash.

Fame, on the other hand, would allow for you to play bigger shows which would earn you more money and fame. I was also considering adding things like contracts/sponsors, who might provide you with nice custom gear and an up-front amount of cash, but take a portion of your money after every show.

Random events could happen in between shows that could be positive (running into an established rock star and receiving a fame boost) or negative (instruments breaking, causing that member to be unable to play the show and hurting your fame and money gain).

The problem with all of this is that I thought it might seem a little "grindy". I feel like it would get boring and that you would end up doing concert after concert just to try to get enough money/fame to do something else, rinse and repeat. The other problem would be ending the game. When does it end? Do I have you build up to doing a certain show that requires a lot of fame to do? If so, isn't that just encouraging players to grind for that fame amount?

I plan on making some basic cards and such for it so that I can test it with friends and see if it is actually is boring, but in the meantime, what do you think? Opinions? Ideas?

donut2099
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Joined: 01/09/2014
Unless I misunderstand, the

Unless I misunderstand, the main gameplay is the first part, the rhythmic mini gamed. I'm curious how you would implement this, would players be scoring somehow? If this part of the game worked well and was fun, I don't think you would have to worry about designing much more game. If the players just took turns at each task and then totalled their score, could be enough. If the object of the game is to be a cooperative rise to stardom simulator, I still would love to see the first part
:)

ChromeWarriorXIII
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Joined: 02/11/2014
The scoring would be done

The scoring would be done after the 30 second "concert" is done and would be based on how many cards in your deck you got through (each mini game is card based). Because you all have to play at the same time, you probably won't score too well at first as you struggle to get your timing down but, like a real band, you would get better as time goes on and would hopefully be able to eventually fly through the games before the 30 seconds is up. Of course, you could also trade roles with people every once in a while, to keep things fresh.

These were my current ideas for mini-games:

Vocals (the most thematic one in my opinion): The singer's deck contains cards with sounds printed on them, such as "Woo", "Dah", "Lah", etc. and must make the sound before moving onto the next one. The other idea is to make them random words, which might be more amusing.
Drums: The drummer's deck contains cards with a symbol and a color (or pattern) on them, such as "triangle" and "green" or "square" and "blue". They must sort the cards into piles where each card must have a matching characteristic with the previous card (a green triangle can't go on a blue square, but could go on a green circle or red triangle). However, the drummer can only create a maximum of four piles.

The guitar and bass were the two that I was having the most difficulty designing a game for and they could definitely use some work. Here's what I came up with.

Guitar: The guitarist's deck of cards all have numbers (1 through 6) on them. The guitarist separates their deck into six piles (they don't have to have the same number of cards in them) face up. They roll a D6 and try to match the number to one of the piles of cards. If they have a match, they can remove that card. If they roll three 6s in a row they get a "guitar solo" and get to remove 5 cards from any combination of piles.
Bass: The bassist's is basically the same except with only 4 piles and a D4. If they roll two 1s in a row they get to remove 3 cards from any combination of piles.

I want the guitar and bass games to be similar but I don't want either of them to be easier than the other and I would like to eliminate the use of dice completely.

These mini-games aren't hard, but the point is that they're going to be a little more difficult when you are all trying to do them in unison and get a rhythm going.

gabrielcohn
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Joined: 11/25/2010
Mind Reader

You must be a mind reader. I spent a week backpacking in November and all I could think about was my idea for "Rock Band: The Board Game." Of course, after finishing the trip, I wrote down my initial ideas and then haven't had a chance to follow up on them yet. My game was more of a straight-up "euro" game with the theme being a struggling rock band trying to make it on the road. There was little about it that had anything to do with actual music, but I do think it's interesting that we both had the same core concept at about the same time...

ChromeWarriorXIII
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Joined: 02/11/2014
That is pretty funny that we

That is pretty funny that we were both thinking about it. I do really like your idea of capturing the feeling of being a new group trying to make a name for yourself and the struggle that comes with that.

I think the only "serious" tones in my game was when I was thinking about how the band would share a pool of money, which could (hopefully) lead to people arguing about what the group should spend their money on. Just like a real band!

questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
I have an IDEA

ChromeWarriorXIII wrote:
The problem with all of this is that I thought it might seem a little "grindy". I feel like it would get boring and that you would end up doing concert after concert just to try to get enough money/fame to do something else, rinse and repeat. The other problem would be ending the game. When does it end? Do I have you build up to doing a certain show that requires a lot of fame to do? If so, isn't that just encouraging players to grind for that fame amount?

Maybe your objective should be: The band must earn enough money to BUY A JET PLANE! :P

SERIOUSLY... It reminds me of Dire Straits and the song "Money For Nothing"!

"...That little faggot got his own jet airplane, That little faggot he's a millionaire"

Okay so that song may be a little CRASS... But definitely an ORIGINAL ending to the game... You could have all kinds over events like "First Album", "First Platinum Album", "First USA Tour" (BUS - Players get a tour bus...) and the ULTIMATE success event "First WORLD TOUR" (JET PLANE - To win the game!)...

Just some ideas - I've been getting plenty of my own, so I'm just sharing! :)

Note: I personally prefer "Walk of Life"! ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qTHn_sxrN0

Also you could have the "First Bachelor Pad - $1M" (another sub-goal while on the progress).

BTW that Dire Straits is the original one... And it does RULE! :P

ChromeWarriorXIII
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Joined: 02/11/2014
I was actually planning on

I was actually planning on having three different tiers of concerts. The first would be "Local" concerts, which would net you less money and fame, but you can play them no matter how much fame or money you have. The second is "Country" which earns you more money and fame, but you have to have a larger amount of money and fame in order to do them. The last would be "World". These would earn you the most money and fame, but they require you to have massive money and fame.

You did give me an idea to have a ridiculous, over-the-top, ending. The last concert could be in space! It would require insane amounts of money and fame, but if you can do it, you win.

questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Have you seen?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/829/battle-of-the-bands

Battle of the Bands.

I found it while doing a search on the title of the game...

Since there is already a game with THAT name, I need to see if I can find another name. It's for a music game also - not at all the same though.

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