If we want this to be an actual thing we had best try to put some meat on those bones (pun intended) - so let's talk system.
System wise the only thing currently certain is that a minion being present at an action makes it more likely that you will win that event. Pretty much anything else is up for grabs.......
A good question is 'what should it have?'
Well it should have monsters because what is an overlord without vile beasts? Those monsters need to have a bit of colour and texture about them -sending 5 orcs should not be the same as sending 1 dragon even if an Orc has a strength of 1 while a dragon has a strength of 5......
It should have magic - horrible surprises and vile tricks that can swing things. Having different flavours of magic would be good - one overlord might prevent harm coming to there minions while another might just bring back there killed minions as undead creatures.
It should have plans - an evil overlord should be working towards something rather then it just be a random of series of events. Some of them the overlord needs to achieve- some of them just need to be done.... So destroying the forest glade might make you feared but might also advance another overlords plans....
Well - plans are easy enough - overlords have goals to achieve - essentially secret victory point cards that are scored at the end.....
Monsters are something that lasts - a resource that lasts from turn to turn (although something that can be lost) - an investment of resources that returns a fixed reusable result. I don't think loosing them should be a complete lose - so how about the cost of getting a monster is two fold. The first part is building somewhere for them to live - the second is luring a monster into that room. If a monster dies you need to acquire a new one - but the room remains. Nice bit about this - your overlord has a base that they develop over the course of the game which feel very appropriate.
Spells are secret things that are used when needed - and what they do is not always clear - so cards sound the right sort of effect for that. In fact some sort of pyramidal effect might be good - so you can always receive some sort big bonus if you pump enough resources into it........ As overlords don't go in
Speaking of resources it's always a good idea to have more then 1 resource - so for now we will have the classic gold and mana. Mana being more connected to spells and one off effects - while gold is connected more to monsters.
We've also got the secondary resources of 'space to build a room' so getting an Orc room means less space for a dragon.
We could have a lot more resources - want a dragon - then you need a dragon egg. But I suspect it would be better to make acquiring new build options a secondary resource on its own. So want a dragon and the first step is to acquire the dragons den build card somehow.
So assuming we have an income of gold and mana - how fixed and how fungible is that? Can a player boost gold production at the cost of mana or vice versa? I think that should be a choice they can make.
So let's lift an idea from dungeon master and give each overlord a bunch of imps that they send to places each turn.
So want to make space for a room - send some imps to dig it out. Want gold - send some imps to the gold mine - want spells send them to the library....
Which immediately presents a question - can you increase the number of imps you've got? I suspect the answer to that is yes but you need to balance the cost very carefully otherwise why would you not get more imps? If it's a gold to get and imp and imp gets you a gold then of course you will. A good limitation on that might be the need to acquire 'more imp quarters' in play so there is an opportunity cost (what other thing are you passing up) to acquiring more imps.
That still leaves the actual resolution system to explore......
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