Quick Update… Illness trumps design

Late Saturday night I started to feel uncomfortable and then a sharp stabbing pain in my lower back and side. I wasn’t sure what it was (still not absolutely sure as I have not seen a doctor due to lack of health care) but I am hoping it’s just another round with a kidney stone, even though this one feels a bit different than the last couple.

So I spent most of the night and early today in extreme pain and unable to sleep or eat or concentrate on anything.

So no work got done on the game today… I may not make it by my goal of monday afternoon and the 7-day badge. I am still in some pain and very tired, so who knows what will happen next.

I now have a name and a Game Board

Taking a break from writing the rule and trying to reorganize them I figured I would work on the game board graphics for a while. In the process of working on the board I came up with the name of the game. I was looking for sample graphics of French sailing vessels to use as a model and I found a list of classes of ships in the 1700′s French navy. One of them was called the Magnanime and that name just struck a chord with me. I liked the sound of it.

So the name of the game is: The Mutiny of the Magnanime

I also finished the game board, or at least the version of it that will be used with this early Game Chef version of the game. If I ever do more with this thing it will most likely change, but I think this version is good enough for the one week challenge version. What do you all think out there?

Putting the story into the game

So now that I have worked the mechanics and the cards and the boards and all those aspects of the game into something that seems usable and feasible, I am now ready to put them all together around the story elements of the game. This is supposed to be a hybrid between card/board game and scene framing/storytelling RPG after all.

The game is broken into round, which each have three turns in them (one for each player) and possibly a bonus turn for a trial. Each player’s turn also has a number of smaller parts, but should be relatively simple to understand.

When a round begins an Event Card is drawn and put into play. This is something that could effect the whole round and be part of all the character’s stories throughout the round. Then it’s time to determine who goes next. The player with the fewest cards in their hand, who hasn’t yet framed a scene yet this round, goes next. If there is a tie any one can give up a card to go next, discarding until there is a clear winner. If none of them want to give up a card, they have to decide among themselves who goes next.

A scene starts by the active player stating which of the three action types their scene will be (Rule/Law, Logic, or Underhanded) and then starting to tell the tale of what happens in the scene surrounding their character, but not limited to it. It should incorporate, at least peripherally, the current Event card in play. The story can be told in any way the player wants, first person, third person, or even as if it was a flashback about the scene. They just can’t tell specifically what the other player’s characters are doing without their approval, but they can tell about the actions of other crew.

The scene should center around some relatively small (in the greater scope of things) thing their character is doing to move suspicion off themselves, gain support for their leadership, and/or push things towards mutiny.

During a scene their may be several smaller actions their character or NPCs take that aren’t the crux of the scene. Most of these just happen as part of the narrative, but any opponent can interrupt them by playing a card of a type that could be used to interfere with or alter the action. They then have to explain what could happen (using that type) to counter that action. The active player can then play a card of a different type to counter the counter, explaining how it could avert it. No new cards are drawn for these used. There is no set limit to how many times this can happen during the scene.

The active player can also include any one of their special Item or Skill cards into their narrative (noting when they do by sliding the card forward on the table) to use and gain whatever action it causes when the time comes. This is not required and can use up the special ability, as described on the card.

Scenes should be relatively short, since there are going to be many of them during a game. Just remember they are only part of a whole story, so save some story for later on. When the story of the scene grows to the climax moment of it the scene should stop for the vote. The vote determines if the main action of the scene is a success or failure for the character at the center of it, but the active player gets to describe how the success or failure happened.

When the scene ends a number of things happen: Any special actions that happen at the end of a turn go off. Any Skill or Item cards used that take place at the end of the turn go off. All players draw two vote cards to replace the two they used for the vote (even if they didn’t have two to use). The ship counter is moved one space. The active player placed a token on their turn counter on the board. Then the next player in line then takes their turn.

If it’s the end of the round (all three players have had a turn to tell a scene) a few more things happen: Any actions that happen at the end of a round go off. All players draw 2 cards (up to 7). All turn counters are removed from the board. Check the Crew Unrest counter, if it is high enough the Mutiny happens (skipping the rest of these end of round actions and going right to the end game). If any character has 10 (or whatever I decide on) or more Suspicion a trial takes place, following those rules.

Then draw a new Event card and start the new round.

Quick note about Special cards

While I was working on the order of events during a narrated scene I thought about how another type of card can be thrown into the mix. They would be found in the vote deck and would come in two flavors, Items and Skills. These are drawn like normal vote cards, but when they are drawn during normal character card draws (not as random cards in a vote or as part of a trial) they are immediately placed next to your character sheet, as if they always had it, and a new card is drawn to replace it in your hand. They can never be held in your normal hand.

When you have these next to your character sheet they can be used to help out during a scene, activating whatever ability they happen to have. This will be explained in my next post, which will be about scenes. If they show up as the random draw during a vote only the voting symbol in the circle in the corner will count.

The cards will be made up of five basic parts, one of which I already mentioned (the voting symbol). There is also the card type (Item or Skill), the name of the card, the image (to be added later, so currently a blue square), and then the description of what the card does. Some of the cards (if they have the room for it) will also have a fun quote or something extra at the bottom.

Here is a quick mock up of what these cards will be like, using the examples of cards and powers I was thinking about here:

• Item – Book of Maritime Law (Rule/Law): Current vote includes 1 extra Rule/Law vote.
• Item – Military Cutlass (Rule/Law): Draw two extra cards this turn.
• Item – Charts of the Southern Seas (Logic): Move the ship one extra move in either direction.
• Item – Concealed Boot Dagger (Underhanded): Counter all attempts to interrupt the scene.
• Item – Forged Papers (Underhanded): Cause one Character sheet in play to flip sides.
• Skill – Royal Navy Training Regiment (Rule/Law): Counter any Support lost this turn.
• Skill – Charming Demeanor (Logic): Gain 2 extra Support, even if none is gained.
• Skill – Seabird Knowledge (Logic): Cancel movement of the ship this turn.
• Skill – Bald Face Lying (Underhanded): Counter any Suspicion gained this turn.

I don’t think these need to be that common, so they are special when they come up. They are also discarded when a character dies and can’t be stolen or given to another character.

Just some updated graphics

Not a whole lot to add… I needed to take a break from mechanics and hard thinking, so I played with the graphics and made them my own. I also colorized them.

The background color is what I am going to use for the background color of the cards, or at least close to it. Most likely also the background color of the character sheets “good” side.

Characters and NPCs

Since this is going to be part RPG, we need to have characters in the game. But unlike most RPGs I want them to be relatively simple pre-generated characters that players choose from. Also, since they can die during the game and be replaced with another, we need to have a decent number of them. Being a three player game, where characters can die and be replaced, there should be at least 9 characters to choose from. This would give enough choice and replacements for deaths.

These characters should have some basic information about who they are and a few special traits they can use to get bonuses on things. Things like: Always -1 suspicion or +1 support in votes, allowed extra cards in hand, always breaks ties in their favor, can attempt to pump up unrest once per round, can cause a redraw of an event card once per round, etc.

I can’t think of any other attributes or anything that the characters really need mechanically. I mean, what good is a Strength, Agility, or Charm when the mechanics aren’t going to support such things for conflict resolution. So that means that the character sheets are going to be relatively short, just a few special abilities and a description of what the character is basically like.

I did a simple mock up of what this might like look like.

I also thought it could include spaces at the bottom for putting some kind of counters to keep track of their current levels of Support and Suspicion. Always helpful to have these kinds of pools to clearly visually see numbers of things.

Player character sheets would be easy to do on card stock like a little game board. They may even be made to be two sided, reflecting their powers and status before and after they have had an accusation that didn’t kill them. Perhaps only when they are found guilty but allowed to live. Once flipped, they will have a harder time losing suspicion, but an easier time gaining support, and may have different powers to reflect this.

Again I did a simple mock up of how you might visually represent this. I replaced the Fleur-De-Lis with some daggers to show that they are now no longer clearly one of the “good” members of the crew. Might also use a different color background when it gets to that part of the design phase.

There might even be a reason to get oneself accused so that they can flip these cards over. Adds another element to the game. Who knows.

Perhaps the Captain can have an NPC character sheet as well, with his own special abilities that counter some of the player’s actions (perhaps even depending on his anger status). It too may be two sided, changing when unrest on the ship grows to a certain point. I like this idea. Plus that would make an even ten sheets, which would fit on the large board option over at The Game Crafters site (you could put them all on one and have it cut apart by the players into each individual sheet when they buy it, to save on cost).

Just some more ideas.

The Card Stock GM and Trials of the Accused

As I talked about in my post about the board, the voyage and mutiny are times according to markers on the board. This is something that the GM usually takes care of in most RPGs, but since this is going to be a board/RPG hybrid that doesn’t have a GM I made some of their actions automatic or under the control of the players. My thinking along these lines also goes as far as to having a special deck of cards that set up what is going on in the background in each round. What I am going to call the Event deck.

Cards in the event deck are drawn once at the start of a new round of play (before any players start calling for scenes) and affect all three scenes within that round and all action that takes place within them. None of them are absolutes that dictate actions, but should have the ability to affect what happens in the bigger picture of the story and on the board. Some ideas for things in this deck are as follows:

• Open Seas: Nothing special happens (one of the only duplicated cards).
• Dead Calm: Ship does not move and unrest increases by 1.
• Fog Bank: Ship only moves once for whole round. -1 suspicion caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Headwind: Ship moves an extra square this round.
• Inspection: Captain called for a full inspection of the crew and quarters. +1 suspicion & +1 support caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Traitor Exposed: An NPC is exposed as a traitor. Double suspicion earned. +1 unrest caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Rationing: Supplies are being rationed (although not necessarily low) by the captain. +1 support & +1 unrest caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Shore Leave: Ship doesn’t move this round. -3 unrest. +1 suspicion caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Illness: Sickness found on board. +1 unrest & +1 suspicion removed caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Bad Omen: Something is seen as a bad omen. Unrest increases by 1. +1 suspicion & +1 support caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Pirates!: Pirates are seen and possibly attack. Double support earned and suspicion removed caused by voting outcomes this round.
• Tribunal: Even if no character has enough suspicion, the highest one is called to trial this round.

Whichever of these are active in a given round should affect the scenes that are framed by the players. They don’t have to focus solely on these events, but they are happening during the scenes (even if in the background) so they have to be acknowledged at least. They also affect other aspect of scenes, especially the way voting outcomes can happen.

Then there is Suspicion

When suspicion reaches a certain level on a character (say 10, although that is likely to change once I start balancing the math) they are brought to trial at the end of the round (only the character with the highest level is brought forth in a round, even if more than one is above the needed level). They may plead innocence or admit to lesser crimes in hopes of getting off easy. They choose one player to be their advocate and one player to be the accuser, but they may not do either themselves. Both of these players place their own hands aside and draw seven vote cards.

The Accuser may play up to two Logic cards from their new hand as evidence, clearly stating their case as to what evidence they are bringing forth for each. This might possibly done one card at a time instead of both at once even… not sure yet.

The Advocate may then play up to three Logic cards as evidence against these, but the total support on these cards must match or exceed that on the suspicion on the opponent’s cards played. They must also clearly state how the evidence proves the accuser’s evidence false. Again, these may be done back and forth with the accuser cards if I go that way.

After all the evidence is shown and cases are made the vote happens. Both players place two vote cards down (face down) and draw 1 random card to join them, just like a normal vote except the accused gets no vote. If there are more Rule/Law cards the accused is let off as innocent. If there are more Underhanded cards, the accused is convicted. Logic cards are ignored in voting. If there is a tie, the winner of the evidence wins.

If the accused won, they get to reduce their suspicion by the total number of suspicion in the vote, plus on their evidence cards (not the accuser’s).

If they lost, the accused suffers according to a chart based on (their total suspicion/2) + all suspicion exposed in the vote + from any accuser’s evidence not countered. Chart will include things like humiliation up through death by keelhauling.

When a character dies, they are put out of the game, but the player gets to choose a new character from the unused crew to play. They start with 2 suspicion and (no support or half their other character’s support, not sure which yet).

Ideas for the Board and Cards

When it comes to working with ideas that involve some kind of item or graphic, I tend to have to do some simple layout ideas to see if I can make it work. This means mock-ups. Nothing fancy and no real style to them, but something I can play with visually. So I used some clip art, some google found images, and some simple layout in FreeHand to put together the items I think I will be using. None of this is expected to be final graphics, but it helps me work.

Here we have a few of the cards as I was thinking of using them. The top of each card represents the category of the vote (as stated in the previous post and using the symbols only, no text). Below that is the line for how much suspicion the card can potentially cause (ranking from 0 to 2), shown as a number of pointing fingers. Finally are the stars, which are potential support the cards can give (with dark ones being negative stars).

How these cards are potentially going to be used was outlined in a previous post. I have to refine those concepts, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Luckily the weekend is upon me and I have four free days to work on this now.

Now for the board…

The board will have several trackers on it, used to keep track of the progress of the game elements outside of the control of the players. I also thought that it would give me a place to have out card decks sitting nicely and some cool graphic across the top or something.

At the top of the working part of the board will be the Voyage tracker, that some kind of marker (or ship) should move along. This is a simple timer that ticks down each turn, although some events and things should be able to delay it a little. The goal should be to cause the mutiny before this reaches the end, and be the one with the most support. If it reaches port the mutiny never happens and the story ends without a climax.

Below this is a line of pips you full up with markers of some kind. This measures the crew unrest and when it fills up it means mutiny. Filling this up before the voyage ends without causing so much suspicion on yourself that you are tried and punished is part of that goal I mentioned.

I also thought about having a place where each player places a token when they take their scene in the round, so they don’t have to be in the same order all the time, but they do each have to take one. This would help keep track of who has gone in this round and who hasn’t… not a huge deal, but why not do it if there is room on the board.

That’s enough for now… but I am still working on it, so who knows if that is all for today.

Kind of a slow day for games…

Today was a crazy day at work and I had to do some chores at my mom’s house while they are out of town, so I didn’t really get much done in the way of work on the game… Luckily I have Friday off (as well as Monday) so I can catch up on those days. Today I mostly just refined a bit about the scene types and voting, but also had an idea about why people might be inclined to help others succeed in their scenes.

I was thinking that perhaps there should be a reason to help a person in their vote and scene. Showing support can gain you support as well. Throwing in with the person having the scene can gain you a little something, but requires you play a card of support in front of you. Play it face down and only expose it if they win the vote for the scene.

If they lose the vote, you discard the card along with the rest of the normal vote cards (without exposing it). Simply slide it into the stack with the others, face down, and then place them all in the discard pile together. That way it never gets exposed for what it was and your secret is safe.

If they win the vote, you expose the card to show if you truly supported them or not. A matching vote symbol gains you 1 token of Support. Expose the card to show a non-matching vote symbol and they gain 2 Suspicion tokens. This way you can use it to help yourself by helping them, or using their action to expose them as a possible traitor. It can work out well both in slowly gaining you support and pushing suspicion onto others, but risks angering them when you do (since they can see your action).

This can also work against the third player too, as it could look like you were trying to help and support the main character of the scene and they weren’t. Even if your actual votes were against them, it could look like it was the third player voting against them when they fail.

Still all just thoughts at this point… so not sure how clear any of this is yet.

Also considering having another deck of cards for spicing up scenes with some kind of “event” or “problem” taking place that round. Could be things like Storm, Captain’s suspicions, Pirate sighting, or other things that might have effects of their own but also just be seeds to have going on in the background (at least) of the scenes that round. Not sure about this part yet.

Playing with Cards and Symbols

First off, let me say that I am now leaning most heavily to the concept of a mutiny brewing on a ship. Each player is a mutineer trying to quietly gain support of the crew so that when it happens they will be put in charge, but being careful not to expose themselves too soon and being brought up on charges (which usually means instant death on the high seas). This should be done through scenes where they do something on the ship while working their social mojo.

In thinking about how scenes and votes are going to be handled during the game I had to further think of how they are going to be linked. There will be three kinds of focuses for scenes, which they should announce when they start their scene: Rule/Law, Logic, and Underhanded. These focuses tell what the character is trying to accomplish through their actions in the scene.

Characters will have two main pools of points that can grow and shrink: Suspicion and Support. Support is what they need to have higher than all the others when the Mutiny happens to win. Suspicion is something they want to have low, so they don’t get in trouble before the mutiny actually happens. Smaller levels could lead to violent punishments. Too much and they could even find themselves killed or abandoned at sea.

Using Rule/Law they are trying to avoid suspicion they may have garnered by going by the book and supporting the current powers that be. They act in accordance with the laws of the King and the rules of the Captain. This is not likely to gain them any support with the mutineers and may even lose them some.

Using Logic they are going to speak carefully and openly about things being done, and how they should be done to improve things. This is not a place to openly speak out against the status quo or the Captain, but to be constructive and act helpful while showing that you are intelligent. This could gain you some support, but if you aren’t careful it could also gain you some level of suspicion from those in power.

Using Underhanded is the best way to gain support with the mutineers, by secretly speaking of what you want to see happen and how it should be done. This will stir up discontent with the crew, move things closer to mutiny, and gain you much support. The down side is that it is also the most dangerous one for raising the level of suspicion against you.

I am thinking that each Vote card will have three parts. One being the Vote itself, which will be in accordance with the three scene focuses. Symbols here will be something like a Fleur-de-lis for Rule/Law, a Map and Dividers for Logic, and a Dagger for Underhanded. To vote for one you play that card in the vote (or either one of the others to vote against it).

The card will also have two lines of symbols at the bottom, one for Suspicion and one for Support. These will be lines of symbols for each, like Stars for Support and a Pointing Finger or possibly just an X for Suspicion. There will be 0, 1, or 2 Suspicion and 1, 2, or -1 Support on each card. These are used to determine what the outcome of the vote causes for the player.

Right now there is no absolutes here, so this is just brainstorming on how this voting process could work out in each case. Each scene type would have a different outcome if they fail or succeed, based on the risks of the actions they are taking. I also think that doing underhanded scenes should push mutiny closer, as could punishment scenes. Okay, so lets talk about scene outcomes caused by votes.

Rule/Law: On a success remove a number of Suspicion tokens equal to no-Suspicion marks on all vote cards (both for and against) in the vote. On a failure lose Support tokens equal to negative Support markers on winning vote cards only.

Logic: On a success add Support tokens equal to total Support on all cards other than the ones matching the scene focus and add Suspicion tokens from winning vote cards. On a failure lose Support equal to negative Support markers on losing vote cards and add Suspicion tokens from losing vote cards.

Underhanded: On a success gain Support tokens equal to all support markers in the vote and add Suspicion tokens from losing vote cards only. On a Failure lose Support equal to all negative support markers on vote cards that match focus of the scene and add Suspicion tokens from all cards in the vote. Can also cause a hearing if Suspicion is high enough

When a character’s level of suspicion reaches certain levels they should be forced to hold a hearing. At these hearing cards will be used to determine if they are found guilty or not and punished. Outcomes of these punishments could cause them trouble, lose them support, and possibly kill them.

Some sort of counter will build during the game showing the unrest of the crew. When this counter fills up the mutiny happens and final bids for support take place. Not sure how this will all work out, but in the end one of the players will end up in charge of the mutineers and the rest simply must follow them. That is the goal of the game.

Still a lot to figure out and need to add more depth to the characters you will play and other aspects of them, as well as other powers, abilities, and skills they may possess. I do want this to still be a role-playing game, only with a strong board/card game aspect to it.

Comments, Ideas, anything?