I have recently just finished writing up the rough draft of the rules for a game about Wizards in college.
Here is how the game works:
Players will be going through Wizarding University trying to secure their future job. At the start of the game, a number of potential kings is chosen from a deck and made available. The goal at the end is to get hired by one of the kings and earn the highest wage possible.
The game is split into four years and four seasons per year. During each season a player may take one of the following actions: Study, Community Service, or Extra Curricular.
When a player Studies they choose one of six schools of magic, they can then purchase spells from their spell decks that match that school (and a year requirement). Spells all have two functions, one that helps during a Study action and one that helps during a CS or EC action. Students must buy these spells using Learner tokens and School tokens. Whenever a student learns a spell, they get the spell and a School token of the school the spell belongs too. So later when higher level spells cost more, early specialization can help pay for their cost. You may also use spells to help you, such as drinking a mana potion to gain more learner tokens. Whenever a spell is used, it is discarded until the next year.
Each king is looking for various things: Military prowess, Advisory positions, Service positions, and Reputation. Whenever students gain one of the first three (Reputation is earned differently), they get a token of that type. Kings will score based on a multiplier of that number of tokens. So the Warlord king will pay more for a more Military skilled wizard while a Pious king might pay more for a Service able wizard.
Gaining these tokens happens through CS or EC actions. EC actions involve the Book Club, Duelers Club, Kingdom Honor Society, and Young Adventurers. Each of these actions will grant a static bonus such as the Book Club giving learner tokens and advisory tokens based on the year.
Community Service questions are the main wait to earn Military, Advisory, and Service tokens as well as Reputation. When a wizard takes a CS action they choose one of a list of possibly CS choices laid out at the start that get more difficult each year. Students need to complete the quest using their spells, which could range from having a water spell to end a drought or just killing a local monster. When a CS quest is finished the player earns a certain number of Military, Advisory, and/or Service tokens based on whatever the quest gives. Each quest is also worth a certain number of reputation points that is listed on the card. Some CS quests also have alignment affects based on how they were resolved.
At the end of the game, each player gives their resume to the available kings. They must meet the King's requirements (could be having certain number of spells, certain subtype of spells, alignment requirement, etc.) in order to be interviewed. During the interview, the player takes their Military, Advisory, and Service tokens, plus their reputation score, and multiplies them by whatever multiplier the king is offering. They add these all up and that is the wage the king offers them.
Kings will higher only one wizard and will higher the one that has scored the highest for them. If the person that scored the highest with that king declines, then the option to be hired by that king moves to the next player in order of highest worth. Players choose the king they want to be their patron and score the wage they are offered. Whoever has the highest wage at the end, wins the game.
Thoughts?
Comparisons?
The hidden kings idea is a good one, but I always like knowing ahead of time what should be looking for. If I'm surprised at the end, it'll just put me off.
I will playtest it though and keep it on my list of ideas, because it is a good one! I like it as a possible variant?
Rules skeleton to come very soon.