My current project description :)

For the time being I am done with copyright and trademark talks. Until those are finalized I won't be able to talk about the "theme" or artwork. However, everything else is fair game :) Talks have gone pretty well so far.

To start with there are two alternative ways to play the game. One way is basically a race to finish. The main way to play the game involves factions.

Lets start with the factions. In this game play everyone starts the game by choosing their character and a starting monster to fight on their team. Players actually have to go to one of the main bases "per se" of the factions to join them. Once they join a faction they cannot leave it and there can only be one player per faction. Each faction has its own set of missions and victory conditions. Once a player meets all these criteria, the other players get a last chance to delay the end of the game (different for each faction).

There is one other choice the player has as well. They could choose to not join any faction. Everyone starts as being "factionless". It has its own set of missions and victory conditions as well. There can be multiple players in the factionless.

The missions themselves are themed around the faction you join and are drawn at random. The missions have you deliver things to a place on the board, seek out the other players, mine resources, attempt to find and learn to summon creatures and so on. Every time you complete a mission your reputation in that faction grows and you receive a reward (money, experience, or items). After your reputation gets high enough each faction has couple of main missions that are completed to win the game (they are listed on the faction card you get when you start so you can prepare for them).

The board itself is setup similar to the newest Runebound board, map with a grid over it, with named locations scattered about. There are cities, landmarks, parts of the board that are not accessible until you have certain items, and 5 different regions. The 5 regions on the board change your random encounters. Each region has its own set of creatures, items and events.

Movement over the board is not done by die roll. Each character determines their movement based on their character's stats, followers and items. If your character can move 4 after these are added up, you can move up to 4 spaces. Some places on the board can add or subtract from movement though. The road adds to movement, but certain parts of the mountains slow you down. Depending on where you are on the board also determines your chances of a random encounter. If you are off the road, you have much higher chances of an encounter. The encounter is determined by a die roll. If you fall within the criteria for an encounter you draw a card from the region you are in.

Characters each start with a set amount of items, money, and a skill of some sort. Each character sheet has a different "tech tree". Upon leveling up you can choose a skill to learn from the beginning of one of the three trees. The next time you level up you can either move down the same tree to a more advanced skill or learn the starting skill from one of the other trees. A player levels up by spending experience points gained from battles and missions. You have to be careful though, experience points can be also spent to level up the monsters that battle for you.

This brings us to the battles. Battles are done between monsters under the control of the player against monsters of other players or against random encountered monsters. When another monster is defeated you gain a set amount of experience designated on the monster card. If you are in a random encounter, you may try to learn to "summon" this particular monster. To do so you have to get the monster down to at least half health, then you use a gem to try to learn it. Depending on the strength of the monster and gem determines how easy doing this is. In the end it comes down to a die roll. If you miss and your monster is still alive you can try to learn it again. Each player can have up to 4 monsters on their team. These monsters can be switched out in battles (as long as the battle type allows). In some occasions, more than one monster can be used at a time in a battle.

The battles themselves take place on a separate battle board. Each monster has a set of attacks it can do, movement, speed and so on. Turn order is determined by speed. After each monster moves and does its attacks, the owners of the monsters can choose to change out their monster, use an item, or if their in a random encounter, attempt to learn to summon that monster.

Thats pretty much the gist of the game. The race to the finish involves trying to get to a powerful monster in a locked part of the mountains and capturing it. Once somebody does, theres a battle between the players to determine the winner of the game. The player who captured the powerful monster gets to use it on their team if they want to.