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Tile-Event Driven mechanic

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Sat, 01/05/2013 - 22:48
questccg
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Hi all,

Okay so I have been working with a NEW mechanic: Tile-Event driven interaction.

I am using this to create a story-mode in my latest Dungeon Crawl board game. As of the writing of this message, I have only thought hard about the mechanic not how players will interact with it.

What I would like is that Events occur and players need to respond to the events.

My goal is to be able to simulate what happens in a normal adventure game (Events - responses - rewards and punishments).

I was wondering if anyone could add to this... How the mechanic works is like this:

A-A player moves to a tile.
B-The tile is turned over to reveal the *Tile Number*.
C-The players read *Tile Number* for level X.
D- ... TBD

Not sure what kind of interaction I can get...

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Sat, 01/05/2013 - 23:04
#1
questccg
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An example

For example: It would be dumb to say that "Search the area" would be something players could do automatically. But it seems a little redundant in one way and necessary in the other. Let me clarify:

1-If searching would be automatic, it would mean players would cause the negative effects to happen such as trigger a trap.
2-If searching was manual, players would not trigger the trap.

But then it kinda is *dumb* that players would not search a particular location (tile)... That is kinda the purpose: you are searching for clues and rewards (such as a treasure) or other items (needed to complete a quest).

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Sat, 01/05/2013 - 23:11
#2
JustActCasual
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RNG or Betrayal?

Are you trying to use it as just a random event generator, a separate game system, or somewhere between the two (Betrayal at House on the Hill)?

You could make a cool game of it where every GM turn you flipped up a tile and placed it, then each player got a turn to place their tiles to block off certain freedoms of the tile (ie. you need 2 magic attack tiles and 1 melee attack tile to defeat this monster). If they didn't defeat a challenge more challenges would spawn off it, and if they did they get Treasure in the form of more tiles to their tile deck. You could do basic roles for each player by allowing them to tile deckbuild: the wizard would have more magic attack tiles, the fighter more Melee tiles, etc.

It just seems a shame to use the tile mechanic as a random map generator without exploring its unique possibilities...

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Sat, 01/05/2013 - 23:21
#3
JustActCasual
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Maybe for the trap, when they

Maybe for the trap, when they come across the trap tile you flip it up in the air and it only triggers if it comes up trap? You could also give them a 'disarm' or 'dodge' response to the trap so you deal with them reactively rather than proactively. You could also implement some kind of chase mechanic (inexorable monster/ flooding) as a stick to drive them forward towards your treasure carrot.

...but never call it your 'treasure carrot' in front of your group.

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Sat, 01/05/2013 - 23:26
#4
questccg
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Room for improvement

JustActCasual wrote:
Are you trying to use it as just a random event generator, a separate game system, or somewhere between the two (Betrayal at House on the Hill)?

Well the there are 2 options for the tiles:
1-Place all the tiles, one tile at a time (and obviously 1 player at a time).
2-Place 1 tile in the direction you would like to move.

I am already using Action Points instead of random rolled dice (for movement). So a Fighter can move up to 6 spaces (as an example)...

I think the answer is somewhere in between the two... But I have concluded that in order to blend having quests and searching for items (for the quests) to be DYNAMIC, I need to have a booklet that players can read to determine what can be done at said location... However I need to have like (for tile 2):
2.1: Players find a small crevice in the wall. Stick you hand in it - Goto 2.2.

And that could for example Open a door or Trigger a trap or even better unlock a treasure...

JustActCasual wrote:
You could make a cool game of it where every GM turn you flipped up a tile and placed it, then each player got a turn to place their tiles to block off certain freedoms of the tile (ie. you need 2 magic attack tiles and 1 melee attack tile to defeat this monster). If they didn't defeat a challenge more challenges would spawn off it, and if they did they get Treasure in the form of more tiles to their tile deck. You could do basic roles for each player by allowing them to tile deckbuild: the wizard would have more magic attack tiles, the fighter more Melee tiles, etc.

Not sure I understand this part... You would have to explain (please).

JustActCasual wrote:
It just seems a shame to use the tile mechanic as a random map generator without exploring its unique possibilities...

This is a WIP (Work-in-progress). I have had revisions to cards styles and I have come a long way from the original concept (by tweaking). The tiles are not 100% completed, there is still room for other ideas/concepts.

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 00:38
#5
questccg
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First level done...

questccg wrote:
This is a WIP (Work-in-progress). I have had revisions to cards styles and I have come a long way from the original concept (by tweaking). The tiles are not 100% completed, there is still room for other ideas/concepts.

I have just completed the First Level (Level 1) in the Story-mode... Well I must say it is rather interesting and this Tile-Event driven mechanic has allowed me to better develop the story and the side quests players undertake.

It has also allowed my to drop the count of tiles from 44 to 25. This is a pretty decent savings in terms of printing costs... I do however need to print the Dungeon book which has only 7 pages for the First Level (Book size 6" x 4"). There are 10 Levels in all, so figure around 100 pages. Not to massive...

I believe this Story-mode combined with a Random-mode will add a lot of replay value to the game. Plus it allows other people such as Dungeon Masters to create their own stories using the same method as the Story-mode and Random-mode use...

The first time you play, you will normally try to beat the Story-mode of the game and then players can decide to play a random game after completing successfully the Story-mode. We will be very happy if other Dungeon Masters decide to write other stories using the game elements of this first Dungeon Set.

We are hoping to add a "Writer" who will be responsible to write adventures using the First Dungeon Set. If we can get something like 4 Dungeon books for the First Dungeon Set, that would be AWESOME...

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 10:37
#6
Shoe
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Are the tiles laid in a

Are the tiles laid in a specific order to tell a story? Or are they shuffled to create random dungeons?

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 13:10
#7
questccg
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Both

Shoe wrote:
Are the tiles laid in a specific order to tell a story? Or are they shuffled to create random dungeons?

The tiles are shuffled randomly to create a random dungeon level but they also tell a story which is cohesive and consistant. We have another *Dungeon Book* planned which will create a completely random dungeon and will say things like "Random Trap" or "Random Encounter", etc. In the Story-mode Dungeon Book, it actually states what the trap you trigger is or what creature you encounter for battle.

So the answer is we have both: a Story-mode and a Random-mode.

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 13:46
#8
abdantas
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tile based

I have one tile based game im working on that whenever someone searches a new tile, he draws an encounter card, which tells him whether he finds supplies, weapons, or monsters. all the tiles are one of 3 colours, except for the neutral ones. I thought that was a pretty interesting idea m'self.

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 19:57
#9
questccg
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Wanted a more cohesive mechanic

abdantas wrote:
I have one tile based game im working on that whenever someone searches a new tile, he draws an encounter card, which tells him whether he finds supplies, weapons, or monsters. all the tiles are one of 3 colours, except for the neutral ones. I thought that was a pretty interesting idea m'self.

I wanted to be able to tell a more *immersive* story with the game. Having cards with pieces of quests or side-quests was not satisfactory. I wanted to have a mechanic in which I could include actions and events tied together such that a story is told (think NPCs, searching for specific quest items, narration, etc.)

The game already has a *story* but that unfolds as the players will play the various *Dungeon Sets*. As this is the first Dungeon Set, players still do not know what the story is - yet. After playing the first 3 Dungeon Sets, players have a better idea about the story that is unfolding.

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