A deck building game of the Three Kingdoms now on Kickstarter with less than 57 hours to go, but not yet funded ...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatewu/glory-of-the-three-kingdoms-g...
-- Faction --
When designing GOTK, we wanted our players to experience the epic story of the Three Kingdoms. In each major battle of GOTK series, factions were carefully designed to reflect their characteristic and strength in that specific period of time so players can learn and experience the history when playing the organized and uniquely designed factions.
During the history of Guandu, the first major battle in the Three Kingdoms, there were four main factions: Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Liu Bei. Yuan Shao faction was wealthy and strong in military power. Cao Cao faction had less military units but Cao Cao himself was a cleaver tactician with overpowering charisma. He also had a group of elite and loyal general and strategist.
Lu Bu was one of the most powerful warriors in the Three Kingdoms. He was also a great military tactician. However, due to his naïve and shortsighted personality, his faction was due to eliminated by his foolishness.
Liu Bei didn’t really have a faction until the very end of Guandu. It was pretty depressing. He and his Taoyuan brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were fearsome warriors of the Three Kingdoms but by fate of life, they were drifted between factions. Near the end of Guandu, they were finally reunited and determined to form a faction lead by the big brother Liu Bei.
In game GOTK: Guandu Core Set, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were introduced because they were the primary factions at the time. Lu Bu and Liu Bei will be later introduced in the Faction Expansion Set.
In the Guandu Core Set, Yuan Shao’s starting units has higher strength than Cao Cao’s starting units and most of Yuan Shao faction’s abilities have to do with gold. Overall, it is an easier faction to play because it is pretty straight forward and suitable to first time player.
Cao Cao faction is a little bit more difficult to play because the winning depends more on the strategy such as unit combination, time of defend and attack, etc. Player has to be in the mind of Cao Cao to win the Glory.
Lu Bu faction is all about battle because Lu Bu himself was a war hunger and blood thirst warrior. The faction also has a special Barrack rule which can be quite powerful. Would Lu Bu faction always win the Glory? In the Three Kingdoms, everyone fears Lu Bu and shouldn’t you feel the same in GOTK?
Liu Bei faction is weaker than three other Guandu factions because in history, it was new and significantly feeble. To win with Liu Bei faction, player has to take defense position first but don’t let the weakness fool you. Liu Bei is the hero of people and he will win if he has the Will (Will is a key word in GOTK).
In addition to the starting set, faction expansion pack for each faction will later be introduced. Faction expansion pack is added into Camp during the game and Camp a new rule when faction expansion pack becomes available.
-- Province --
Province is normally called central or common area in DBG where players acquire additional cards to build their player decks. So what is GOTK’s Province different from other DBG?
In the game GOTK, all Province cards are randomly shuffled then equally divided into number of Province Decks during setup. Four decks are used for a two player game, five decks for a three player game and six decks for a four player game. When playing an event driven game (playing with Event Expansion), six decks will be used for a two, three or four player game.
Note, number of Province Decks affects the end game condition. For example, in a two player game, game ends when two decks are depleted. In a three or four player game, game ends when three decks are depleted. In an event driven game, game ends when all events are played.
Shuffling all Province cards together will decrease game setup time tremendously. However, it will also increase the randomness of the game. To compensate the randomness, a sorting system is created which sorts out specific type of cards when they are revealed during Province Phase. In Guandu Core Set, four Province Piles are used and they are footman, pikeman, cavalry and tiger tally piles. Two additional Province Piles will be introduced later.
How does the sorting system work? In the beginning of a player’s turn or Province Phase, face down top card of Province Decks is revealed and all top cards that have a sorting symbol are moved to Province Piles. During Action Phase, player may purchase any face up card in the Province that includes both Province Decks and Province Piles. In other words, sorting system opens up additional and specific type of cards for players to acquire and build their player decks.
Finally, with enough Province cards, player may create their own Province. Similar to TCG/CCG which player creates a set of player deck before the game play, the game GOTK allows players to create a custom Province of their favorite cards. What would that be like … a province of your custom design … only available in Glory of the Three Kingdoms.
-- Battle --
When designing battles in GOTK, we wanted a real battle where players can deploy hero and units. Most importantly, we wanted a battle that captures the essence of ancient Chinese warfare, the art of war.
A fight is never equal and a battle never ends until the final page is turned. Don’t be surprised when a small unit defeats a force that is so many times stronger. Every step, every moment, every person can be the turning point of the war. It is never about a face to face confrontation and it is never random. It is all about the strategy, battle formation, leadership and courage.
GOTK will take you to the battle ground where the essence of ancient Chinese art of war takes place. It merely begins when attacker declares the battle.
First, who would honestly attack if there are no odds of winning? It makes absolutely no sense. Defender should be caught on surprise most of time and take on battle with lack of preparation. That is why the Battle Action is an optional action so defender would never know if opponent would attack or not.
But would attacker always win because player has three bonus hand cards to take the attack? No, the fate is yet decided. Should defender fight or flee? That is a strategic decision defender must make. A flee can end attacker’s turn immediately without risking a unit card and a fight would require additional calculation. What is the faction of attacker and what are their specialties? What unit, tactic and item cards have attacker acquired? What cards are in the discard pile?
On the other hand, can attacker bluff? Absolutely! Scared the cowardly defender and take away a Glory without playing addition cards.
So is the attacker bluffing?
The bigger picture is can defender wins by taking more Tiger Tally or other source of victory point? And the final questions is, is the defender brave enough to take on the battle? If the answer is yes, then real battle of Guandu begins.
GOTK battle is balance by wit, strategy and evaluation and management of resource. It is honestly a little difficult to learn at first but after few rounds of battle, it will be just you and the art of war.
-- Event --
Event is the final expansion of Guandu and it incorporates the entire series and creates the most valuable gaming experience in Guandu. Event takes you to the world of Three Kingdoms, a time just before Guandu, through chains of diplomacy and battles then the finale of the first great battle of Three Kingdoms.
Addition to Province and faction expansion cards, Event expansion set comes with thirteen event cards. 6, 9 or 12 event cards are used in the game according to the scenario or number of player. Each event represents an important time of Guandu and they are played in a timeline sequence.
In the game, each event is triggered by number of Tiger Tally cards revealed from the Province Decks and each event has a historical influence on the factions, such as short or long term restriction, reinforcement, join battle, diplomacy and etc.
A battle through history of Guandu generally takes 60 to 90 minutes, unless one of the factions achieves a total victory. If you love Three Kingdoms, then take part of a great faction and live in the moment of the Glory of the Three Kingdoms.
Thank you for taking the time reading Design of the Glory of the Three Kingdoms and thank you for being part of GOTK Kickstarter campaign.
-- Overview Video 1 --
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatewu/glory-of-the-three-kingdoms-g...
-- Overview Video 2 --
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatewu/glory-of-the-three-kingdoms-g...
