It's time to bare the soul of one of my projects to BGDF for the first time!
I've been working on the rules for a new game for the past months or so, and I finally have what I feel is a solid description of the core mechanics and rules.
The game thematically places each player in the role of one of Caesar's generals, leaders of each of the four Legions he had at his disposal in Gaul at the time that he commited to civil war, to retake Rome. The game focuses on preparing to cross the Rubicon - that act that moved the fight beyond the point of no return - and continuing the march on Rome.
It is a dice management and card management board game that I expect to take 30-40 minutes, for 2-4 players.
Please take a look at the design document at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y5v9QdKcK7lfs1pPLYtSyNYRju4GH8OFC9JK...
I'd love to hear your comments, input, suggestions, and critical opinions.
Thanks!
Eric
JAC, thank you for your comments, and taking the time to look over my game concept!
I like the idea of replacing the VP track with tokens - Roman coin-themed tokens in fact.
I am concerned about moving from the die markers to actual dice though - as then the game would need to ship with 4x the number of dice. At 17 dice already, that's a hefty commitment. The chit markers were my idea of for tracking which dice you needed to roll, without having to significantly raise the production costs and logistics. But I do agree, people won't want to give up their dice. And having dice all of your own color has a definite appeal.
Coincidentally, I watched a video walkthrough of Castles of Burgandy yesterday - a game I only knew in name before, and never saw in action. There are a lot of interesting ideas in that regarding dice and "card" management, that give me some ideas on how to tweak my own setup, and inform players the function of cards through simple iconography instead of elaborate text. I wonder if it's possible for me to replace the cards in my game with large chits. It would certainly lend towards a boardless state, and a less cluttered playfield with four players.
And I do think you're right about the game length estimate being short.
Thanks for the feedback!