by lorien4
I reduced Strahd to 0 HP, but, after I did this, the last coffin revealed said "Strahd Appears!". The victory conditions say that you have to defeat Strahd and destroy all the coffins. So, is this a victory or Strahd is resurrected once again?↧
Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Strahd Appears! coffin
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: Strahd Appears! coffin
by atraangelis
That is correct you did not win.Strahd is a vampire. As long as one coffin still exists, when you kill him thematically he goes to another coffin if available. IF no coffins exit he has no where to hide and become whole again. Thus you truly kill him and win!..other wise...
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: Strahd Appears! coffin
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: use of monster tokens
by topera
I use the tokens for campaign. As Rhys told, I use monster token instead of drawing many enconters. I don't use the "if don't explore draw an encounter" rule.↧
Co-op Dungeon Crawl/RPG Hybrid Part 3 - Enemy AI
If I'm making any type of RPG, you better believe there's going to be monster killing. After all, when I detailed my top 10 ideals for a co-op RPG hybrid, both challenging gameplay and tactical variety made the list. To do that, we need some enemies. And the enemies need to act reasonably intelligent while maintaining an intuitive simplicity. As usual, I like to look at what's out there for inspiration and modify as needed. I'll only be looking at pure co-op systems since overlords bring too much human thought to the table. So let's see the contenders!
Enemy AI Options
1) D&D Adventure System - The classic (by RPG hybrid standards) if/then system. Read from top to bottom and check if statements. If that statement is true then follow the action. Otherwise, go down to the next if statement. Repeat until statement is true.
This system works well and allows for a variety in tactical play. Depending on which enemies are on the board, the players may react very differently. In practice, the D&D adventure has rather boring AI that typically moves in and attacks the closest hero. It's not always logical and all enemy AI is static (i.e. not influenced by conditions, heroes, or enemies on the board). Enemies also move by tiles (which are 4x4 squares) when heroes move by squares which generally works OK but makes for a simpler decision tree.
Enemy movement occurs at the end of the turn in which a player drew the enemy (which is after exploring a tile). This means enemies always get 1 move/attack against a hero before they can respond. It's pretty random and lowers decision making. The fact that enemies go after each player is very easy to grasp. And because all the enemy order is clearly defined, the game gets some points back by giving players the data needed to assess threats properly.
Finally, D&D requires more reading than necessary which slows down the game. Overall, the core is really good here but needs to be modernized.
2) Super Dungeon Explore - The Co-op AI in this game is very smooth, but is also incredibly uninteresting. Enemies all move and attack with the same AI so player decisions are largely defined by which nearby monsters do the most damage and who they are near. Enemies decide who to attack based on an MMO like aggro system. As you kill enemies or heal players, you get more aggro. Whoever has the most aggro gets attacked. It adds a tiny amount of fiddliness, but gives monsters a reasonable enough target. It can be easy to game for the most part unless you get some bad luck with monster activation card draws.
Monsters act somewhat randomly. A card is drawn to issue attacks, moves, special abilities, etc. This affects all monsters within a certain distance from heroes. Again, this smooths the gameplay but inhibits interesting decision making.
I think the system is fine for a quick dungeon romp, but it ranks pretty low on the tactical variety and challenge scale. Other than potentially borrowing aggro in some manner, I won't go this route.
3. Descent: Forgotten Souls - This sort of mixes the D&D Adventure System with Super Dungeon Explore. I believe Gears of War: The Board Game uses a similar system. Enemies activate each turn with cards drawn to tell you what each of the four monster types do. This system essentially limits the number of unique units per scenario to 8 (minion and master types for 4 different minis).
You never quite know how the enemies will act which simulates an overlord/DM better than static AI. Enemies move every turn and you generally know what they're capable of doing. While I like the variety this adds, I think it's better for a smaller number of scenarios. Creating a full fledged campaign requires me to be a bit more nimble.
To enact this system, I'd probably need about 60 activation cards that would have to be sorted before each scenario and that also adds setup time. I don't think this is an ideal method to accomplish all of my goals.
Conclusion
I didn't include systems where the AI largely waits to get attacked such as in Eldritch Horror and Runebound (Second Edition). Am I missing anything? I know there are some variants on the three core ideas presented, but they aren't large enough to dictate a new couple paragraphs.
I think the D&D Adventure System (and similar systems such as in Galaxy Defenders) have the right idea. To improve on this, I would ideally increase clarity, diversify attacks, and create a shorthand system that dictates how the AI will act without necessarily creating 4-5 if/then statements. An example towards that end is creating a target preference such as 'closest hero','whoever most recently cast a spell',etc.
All in all, it's important that the system doesn't add setup time and makes for a tactical decisive game.
Enemy AI Options
1) D&D Adventure System - The classic (by RPG hybrid standards) if/then system. Read from top to bottom and check if statements. If that statement is true then follow the action. Otherwise, go down to the next if statement. Repeat until statement is true.
This system works well and allows for a variety in tactical play. Depending on which enemies are on the board, the players may react very differently. In practice, the D&D adventure has rather boring AI that typically moves in and attacks the closest hero. It's not always logical and all enemy AI is static (i.e. not influenced by conditions, heroes, or enemies on the board). Enemies also move by tiles (which are 4x4 squares) when heroes move by squares which generally works OK but makes for a simpler decision tree.
Enemy movement occurs at the end of the turn in which a player drew the enemy (which is after exploring a tile). This means enemies always get 1 move/attack against a hero before they can respond. It's pretty random and lowers decision making. The fact that enemies go after each player is very easy to grasp. And because all the enemy order is clearly defined, the game gets some points back by giving players the data needed to assess threats properly.
Finally, D&D requires more reading than necessary which slows down the game. Overall, the core is really good here but needs to be modernized.
2) Super Dungeon Explore - The Co-op AI in this game is very smooth, but is also incredibly uninteresting. Enemies all move and attack with the same AI so player decisions are largely defined by which nearby monsters do the most damage and who they are near. Enemies decide who to attack based on an MMO like aggro system. As you kill enemies or heal players, you get more aggro. Whoever has the most aggro gets attacked. It adds a tiny amount of fiddliness, but gives monsters a reasonable enough target. It can be easy to game for the most part unless you get some bad luck with monster activation card draws.
Monsters act somewhat randomly. A card is drawn to issue attacks, moves, special abilities, etc. This affects all monsters within a certain distance from heroes. Again, this smooths the gameplay but inhibits interesting decision making.
I think the system is fine for a quick dungeon romp, but it ranks pretty low on the tactical variety and challenge scale. Other than potentially borrowing aggro in some manner, I won't go this route.
3. Descent: Forgotten Souls - This sort of mixes the D&D Adventure System with Super Dungeon Explore. I believe Gears of War: The Board Game uses a similar system. Enemies activate each turn with cards drawn to tell you what each of the four monster types do. This system essentially limits the number of unique units per scenario to 8 (minion and master types for 4 different minis).
You never quite know how the enemies will act which simulates an overlord/DM better than static AI. Enemies move every turn and you generally know what they're capable of doing. While I like the variety this adds, I think it's better for a smaller number of scenarios. Creating a full fledged campaign requires me to be a bit more nimble.
To enact this system, I'd probably need about 60 activation cards that would have to be sorted before each scenario and that also adds setup time. I don't think this is an ideal method to accomplish all of my goals.
Conclusion
I didn't include systems where the AI largely waits to get attacked such as in Eldritch Horror and Runebound (Second Edition). Am I missing anything? I know there are some variants on the three core ideas presented, but they aren't large enough to dictate a new couple paragraphs.
I think the D&D Adventure System (and similar systems such as in Galaxy Defenders) have the right idea. To improve on this, I would ideally increase clarity, diversify attacks, and create a shorthand system that dictates how the AI will act without necessarily creating 4-5 if/then statements. An example towards that end is creating a target preference such as 'closest hero','whoever most recently cast a spell',etc.
All in all, it's important that the system doesn't add setup time and makes for a tactical decisive game.
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: New Heroes
by powerhouse
I'd love to give these heroes a try. Skald has been one of my favorite character classes ever since I played through Baldur's Gate 2 Shadows of Amn with one.Would you be able to get them uploaded to the files section?
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New Image for Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: Variant: Using D&D AS Board Games for (Solo) RPG play.
by Taeblewalker
When I have a chance I'm definitely going to check out these videos. Thanks for doing this!↧
Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: Concept: Epic Villian Battle
by Taeblewalker
It looks like you put a lot of work into this. The cards look great!↧
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: Variant: Using D&D AS Board Games for (Solo) RPG play.
by leomcneil
Excellent! i was just thinking of how this would work out.↧
Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: use of monster tokens
by Tel Prydain
We've tried a rule where all the villain tokens are in there, but drawing one means drawing a 4xp Dungeon Command monster from a separate deck. All the fun of being ambushed by a mini-boss, no getting annoyed by sudden red dragon attack.A bit sad not having random 4xp monsters in the 'main' deck, but it stops too much craziness happening when two or more 4xp monsters are dawn at once.
Sometimes we also assume that 0=4 for monster placement.
But then again, we want less encounters and more fighting, so that works for us.
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: use of monster tokens
Tel Prydain wrote:
But then again, we want less encounters and more fighting, so that works for us.
I like those changes. Sometimes some of the more theme-y encounters are cool, but some of them are just ways of taking hit points away that you just can't do anything about.
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: use of monster tokens
by Tel Prydain
EverywhereGames wrote:
Tel Prydain wrote:
But then again, we want less encounters and more fighting, so that works for us.
I like those changes. Sometimes some of the more theme-y encounters are cool, but some of them are just ways of taking hit points away that you just can't do anything about.
Yeah - it's the random attrition that we try to avoid. I've said previously that Ravelofts mean encounters are fine... because you're defying a god-like power in his own home. The other games feel cheap when that happens.
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: New Heroes
by 2e151
Lemme see what I can come up with, the actual hero and power card files are quite large. I print the power cards off via PrinterStudio, and the hero cards from Kinkos. (Print them, and then glue them onto extra hero cards I ordered via Ebay)↧
Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: CR Campaign Event Deck: Extended Edition -- Complete!
by Autoduelist
Work has begun anew on the Campaign Event decks. I recently game up with some proofreading guidelines for the WOA Extended Edition decks. Here's my application of those guidelines to the CR Extended Edition deck:General Note - did we want to update the Copyright notice to 2015?
I notice this card uses "attack roll" a lot instead of "to hit roll". Do we want to make it a standard phrase?
1/54 - Verify the link is active (http://geckoth.com/dnd/treasure)
"Gold" should be lowercase
"Monsters Cards" should be "Monsters' Cards" or "Monster Cards"
Someone please verify the Item Price list isn't missing any items. I assume WOA and LOD have these priced already?
2/54 - So heroes hold on to Treasure Tokens between adventures? Would you randomly discard 2 treasure tokens, or does the hero choose (reflecting their bargaining skill)? Or do you draw two treasue tokens to calculate the price? Since the potions's a fake, I'd imagine the gypsy would settle for whatever the hero has if they don't have enough gold to cover the token amount.
3/54 - "The miserable rain is relentless, and by the time you reach the castle, you are all drenched" (needs commas)
4/54 - BANE
5/54 - FATE is probably a good one for this card given the variable nature, but BOON could also work given it's future impact.
6/54 - QUEST
1-10: You find nothing this turn. (suggested text)
"Experience" should be "XP"
Maybe spell out "and" instead of &. Is the word "or" better to avoid some hybrid dual-class question (I'm a ranger/rogue so I get a +10!)?
7/54 - QUEST
"on your next Adventure"
"If you place the Skull in the Lonely Crypt's coffin by moving next to it," [Provides instructions of how this works]
There's the chance the heroes could fail the quest. Do you want to make this, "If you do, place the Lonely Crypt as the 8th tile down on each Adventure until you bury the skull." Another possibility, "If you fail to bury the skull on your next Adventure, Old Kolyan arises as a vampire to terrorize the town. Proceed to your next Adventure without drawing any Campaign Event Cards or buying from the Store."
9/54 - "adventure" should capitalized.
"This bonus Hit Point may exceed a Hero's maximum Hit Points, but once lost, it may not be recovered." (must match WOA text)
10/54 - "Once the adventure is over, Ireena departs if she survived. You may recruit her NPC in the future if you encounter her again."
[Resolves the problem of encountering her when she with the party. Also creates recurring character mechanic that is fun for players. If you wish, you could give her a bonus each time the party adventures with her to reflect her growing skills: "Ireena gains +1 Maximum Hit Points and +1 to hit each time she survives an Adventure with the party."]
11/54 - "Start Tile" should be "Start tile" to match WOA bears event.
12/54 - Should match WOA Flood Event
1-14: A villager is lost.
15-20 - You've managed to rescue the villagers around you.
If no Villagers are lost, gain 1 Treasure Item and a Healing Surge. This Healing SUrge may exceed the party's maximum Healing Surge limit. If only one Villager is lost, gain 1 Treasure Item.
13/54 - Curiously, this card is a little worse than the Ranger's herbs in WOA because of the "no monsters" requirement. The Ranger's herbs also removes conditions. Did we want these cards to be identical, or perhaps help out Ravenloft players by removing conditions and giving 1 HP?
15/54 - QUEST
"adventure" should be capitalized.
We could rephrase as "On your next Adventure, place the Crypt of Barov and Ravenovia tile...."
What if the heroes already have the Tome?
16/54 - "event cards" should be capitalized. Do we want to call them "Barovia Event Cards"?
Is "Store" capitalized?
19/54 - "If you have no Items, discard a one Treasure Token's worth of gold or all the party's gold, whichever is less." (suggested text)
22/54 - TSER WATERS is capitalized, but the Torch and Healing Herbs aren't. We should be consistent.
23/54 - "Campaign Event deck" should be "Barovia Campaign Event Deck"
Is it possible to see Madama Eva more than once, or do we want to say, "Ignore this card if the party has already met Madame Eva during the campaign."
25/54 - Usual problem of missing Item cards, and can the Healing Surge exceed the party limit....
Is Experience Pile capitalized?
26/54 - BANE
"on your next Adventure" instead of "in your next Adventure."
"The Curse is lifted in the unlikely event the Hero is knocked unconscious, and then revived." (suggested text to remove rule loophole.)
27/54 - You could just say "Take 1 damage" like similar cards.
28/54 - I'm responsible for the flavor text here, but reading it now, how about "Bright light illuminates the heavy fog in front of the gaping doorway of the Blood on the Vine Tavern."
"gp" should be "gold"
29/54 - "gp" should be "gold"
30/54 - SCRIBBLE MAP is capitalized, but the Torch and Healing Herbs aren't. We should be consistent.
Tile should be lowercase.
31/54 - Store is capitialized here. Intentional?
32/54 - UNKNOWN POTION is capitalized, but the Torch and Healing Herbs aren't. We should be consistent.
33/54 - QUEST or possibly BOON.
"If you ever encounter Ireena, you must immediately discard Ismark. Gain 5 XP." (suggested text)
34/54 - QUEST
"Place the Crypt of Sergei von Zarovich tile as the 9th tile in the Dungeon Tile stack on each Adventure." (suggested text)
Should "Sunsword Adventure Treasure Card" be "Sunsword Treasure Card"?
"Ignore this card if the heroes already possess the Sunsword." (suggested text)
35/54 - BANE
36/54 - QUEST
Keep this card is on it's own line, unless you were trying to avoid breaking up "Ireena Kolyana's Crypt"
37/54 - BOON
"HP" should be "Hit Points"
40/54 - BOON
"gp" should be "gold"
"Hit Point token" should be "HP Token"
don't need "to" in "or to give a +2 bonus to your AC"
Suggestion: "You may discard a token to give a +2 bonus before your next attack roll, or a +2 bonus to your AC before an attack roll is made against you. Discard this card when it's empty."
41/54 - BOON
last sentence is redundant.
42/54 - BOON
"gp" should be "gold"
"Hit Point tokens" should be "HP Tokens"
43/54 - "Hit Point token" should be "HP Token".
Wording could be similar to Lost Girl event from WOA, for example, the table is in reverse order on the CR card.
"Keep this card. You may roll the die each time a Hero enters a tile without a HP Token. Rangers add +5 to their roll."
1-8: The trail has gone cold. Remove the closest HP Token.
9-14: You find no traces of the missing adventurer
15-20: You've picked up the trail. Place 1 HP Token on the Tile.
Discard this card and draw an Ally card when there are HP Tokens on 3 consecutive Tiles
Discard this card after completing the quest.
44/54 - BANE
47/54 - "You drink and dance the night away." (end with period instead of comma)
"gp" should be "gold"
48/54 - Might as well match the WOA Tinkerer Event
"The party may tuck this card underneath a weapon Treasure Item to add a permanent +1 bonus to hit."
"If the party doesn't have any Treasure weapons, then you may discard this card at any time during the next Adventure for a one-time +3 bonus to hit."
49/54 - HOURGLASS is capitalized, but the Torch and Healing Herbs aren't. We should be consistent.
54/54 - Make sure this matches WOA rule card for any changes.
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Re: CR Room Events - Ultimate Edition
by Autoduelist
I noticed the card backs on these cards are a deeper blue: King's Crypt, Rotting Nook, Strahd's Crypt, Arcane Circle, Crypt Corner, Fetid Den.The following cards have the tan footer instead of the taupe.
1/128
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6/128
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38/128
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43/128
44/128
79/128
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Re: Lost my Adventure Book
by mXZPLK
A bit late into this but I`d like one as well.↧
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Re: Lost my Adventure Book
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Co-op Dungeon Crawl/RPG Hybrid Part 4 - Game Timer
Last week I discussed with you all enemy AI and what would best fit my unnamed Co-op RPG Hybrid. There were some good ideas that I'll be testing down the road. Perhaps we'll generate similar discussion this week.
The game timer is an important part of a pure cooperative game. If you give the players all of the time they want, the game can become too easy. I recently played a scenario of Galaxy Defenders where the timer (the event cards) stopped until we completely a certain objective. This gave us time to eliminate all current threats, get a rare item, and setup perfectly for the remainder of the mission. We breezed by as a result.
I have some ideas on how to proceed, and I'll cover those in the conclusion. I've written my previous posts with a fairly clear idea in mind of how to proceed, but the game timer is murkier waters.
Game Timers
1. Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game- I strongly dislike the game timer in this game. If a hero does not explore on their turn, an encounter is drawn (usually bad). However, there's a 50/50 chance when a hero explores that an encounter is drawn anyway. Thus, the player may feel punished even for rushing through a scenario. There is some strategy and risk/reward in whether or not it's better to explore or take care of current threats which is interesting. The main problems are that the encounters can be brutal so usually it's best to explore, encounters are too random to assess properly, and it doesn't feel thematic. The timer in this system feels like it punishes you for simply playing the game rather than taking too long.
2. Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion- I haven't played this yet so I may get some details wrong, but I'm pretty interested because the base game of Mage Knight Board Game is fantastic. In the Mage Knight expansion's cooperative scenario General Volkare puts pressure on the player by slowly recruiting an army to capture a city before you do. In addition, if the player gets too close they will fight Volkare. Usually it's best to race to the city rather than fight Volakre. I like this because players see the impending doom, feel real pressure, and can gauge how much longer they really have. I'm not sure how to port the mechanics to what I've planned thus far for my game though.
3. Eldritch Horror- There is a deck of mythos cards that when it empties, the players lose. In addition, a doom counter ticks down if the players don't react accordingly to certain events. The system works well for a game where the entire map is explored at the start. Players are given choices about whether to attack one timer (doom) or the other (mythos cards). The main takeaway here is that a two timer system could be interesting.
4. Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death- Every round the lead players rolls 2d6. If they roll too low, something bad might occur based on the number of previous fails. The number to hit continually increases as the players explore more. While this pressure feels thematic, it doesn't add much decision making. Players are generally going to progress at whatever speed they progress. Only grit (which allows rerolls) and once per adventure skills can speed up things consistently, but it's pretty obvious when to play them. It works for the simple system Brimstone aims for, but doesn't mesh with what I intend.
5. Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island- A straight round timer based on the scenario. Simple, but effective. Too simple for an exploration based dungeon crawler IMO, but could be put to use (i.e. after round 12 bad things start happening then in round 18 really bad things occur).
6. Gears of War: The Board Game- Another game I haven't played but have eyed. Please correct me if I'm wrong here. It seems like Gears of War goes for an anti-timer. Players heal every round but enemies also spawn/move/attack. Things don't really progress based on how long the scenario takes. This makes for tactical decision making with the pressure coming from individual enemy groupings rather than counting down to your doom. The cover system plays a part in this (i.e. fight now or spend turns getting into a better position). I think I personally like the long term timer but could be swayed.
Conclusion
There are several other systems out there, but this would go on forever if I detailed each. I wanted to call out the major archetypes here (drawing cards, rolling dice, flat round timer, anti-timer, etc.) I'm sure there's a really cool system I missed somewhere, so please feel free to chime in.
Currently I have two ideas that are a mix of D&D, Robinson Crusoe, and Gears of Wars.
In idea #1, players would have a ticking timer. Every round add 1 to the timer. If the players explore on a turn subtract 1 (or more if there's lots of exploration in a round) from the timer. The timer ranges from -5 to 5. If it gets to 5 something really bad happens like multiple enemy spawns (depending on scenario).
In idea #2, there's a deck of low/medium/high threat encounters. How many of each level are included depends on the scenario. If the deck is emptied, the high threats are reshuffled. The actual encounters depend on the scenario too so a card may say spawn 1 encounter enemy near a player. That encounter enemy would be in the scenario page.
I'm leaning towards #2, but that's a lot more balance work and it will slow the game down. Idea #1 is simple enough, but doesn't gradually increase tension like I think a good timer should do.
What are your thoughts and preferences? Have you played a game with a timer that's simple yet gradually puts more pressure on the players?
The game timer is an important part of a pure cooperative game. If you give the players all of the time they want, the game can become too easy. I recently played a scenario of Galaxy Defenders where the timer (the event cards) stopped until we completely a certain objective. This gave us time to eliminate all current threats, get a rare item, and setup perfectly for the remainder of the mission. We breezed by as a result.
I have some ideas on how to proceed, and I'll cover those in the conclusion. I've written my previous posts with a fairly clear idea in mind of how to proceed, but the game timer is murkier waters.
Game Timers
1. Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game- I strongly dislike the game timer in this game. If a hero does not explore on their turn, an encounter is drawn (usually bad). However, there's a 50/50 chance when a hero explores that an encounter is drawn anyway. Thus, the player may feel punished even for rushing through a scenario. There is some strategy and risk/reward in whether or not it's better to explore or take care of current threats which is interesting. The main problems are that the encounters can be brutal so usually it's best to explore, encounters are too random to assess properly, and it doesn't feel thematic. The timer in this system feels like it punishes you for simply playing the game rather than taking too long.
2. Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion- I haven't played this yet so I may get some details wrong, but I'm pretty interested because the base game of Mage Knight Board Game is fantastic. In the Mage Knight expansion's cooperative scenario General Volkare puts pressure on the player by slowly recruiting an army to capture a city before you do. In addition, if the player gets too close they will fight Volkare. Usually it's best to race to the city rather than fight Volakre. I like this because players see the impending doom, feel real pressure, and can gauge how much longer they really have. I'm not sure how to port the mechanics to what I've planned thus far for my game though.
3. Eldritch Horror- There is a deck of mythos cards that when it empties, the players lose. In addition, a doom counter ticks down if the players don't react accordingly to certain events. The system works well for a game where the entire map is explored at the start. Players are given choices about whether to attack one timer (doom) or the other (mythos cards). The main takeaway here is that a two timer system could be interesting.
4. Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death- Every round the lead players rolls 2d6. If they roll too low, something bad might occur based on the number of previous fails. The number to hit continually increases as the players explore more. While this pressure feels thematic, it doesn't add much decision making. Players are generally going to progress at whatever speed they progress. Only grit (which allows rerolls) and once per adventure skills can speed up things consistently, but it's pretty obvious when to play them. It works for the simple system Brimstone aims for, but doesn't mesh with what I intend.
5. Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island- A straight round timer based on the scenario. Simple, but effective. Too simple for an exploration based dungeon crawler IMO, but could be put to use (i.e. after round 12 bad things start happening then in round 18 really bad things occur).
6. Gears of War: The Board Game- Another game I haven't played but have eyed. Please correct me if I'm wrong here. It seems like Gears of War goes for an anti-timer. Players heal every round but enemies also spawn/move/attack. Things don't really progress based on how long the scenario takes. This makes for tactical decision making with the pressure coming from individual enemy groupings rather than counting down to your doom. The cover system plays a part in this (i.e. fight now or spend turns getting into a better position). I think I personally like the long term timer but could be swayed.
Conclusion
There are several other systems out there, but this would go on forever if I detailed each. I wanted to call out the major archetypes here (drawing cards, rolling dice, flat round timer, anti-timer, etc.) I'm sure there's a really cool system I missed somewhere, so please feel free to chime in.
Currently I have two ideas that are a mix of D&D, Robinson Crusoe, and Gears of Wars.
In idea #1, players would have a ticking timer. Every round add 1 to the timer. If the players explore on a turn subtract 1 (or more if there's lots of exploration in a round) from the timer. The timer ranges from -5 to 5. If it gets to 5 something really bad happens like multiple enemy spawns (depending on scenario).
In idea #2, there's a deck of low/medium/high threat encounters. How many of each level are included depends on the scenario. If the deck is emptied, the high threats are reshuffled. The actual encounters depend on the scenario too so a card may say spawn 1 encounter enemy near a player. That encounter enemy would be in the scenario page.
I'm leaning towards #2, but that's a lot more balance work and it will slow the game down. Idea #1 is simple enough, but doesn't gradually increase tension like I think a good timer should do.
What are your thoughts and preferences? Have you played a game with a timer that's simple yet gradually puts more pressure on the players?
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Reply: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Re: Treasure question
by sr20det_fung
Suggested houserule:During Hero phase, you can choose not to attack nor movement, i.e take a rest, then you can roll a die. If it is 11 or above, flip one Daily/Utility power card up. If 10or below, you waste your hero phase.
It may make the game easier but at the same time make the Daily/Utility power more meaningful.
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