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Collectible board game - Homies

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sedjtroll
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Ever since I started looking into bits to use as game pieces recently I've been wanting to use Homies as player pawns. Well, tonight I thought of something that's probably a really great idea, check it out. Yes, obviously if this were to be produced there would be some permission/licensing involved, let's look beyond that comment if we could please:

We all know how Collectible Card Games work, and Collectible Miniature games are nothing new either. Since Homies are a collectible product already, I thought maybe it's a good fit for a collectible card/miniature game. I'd hate to design a CCG though because of all the work it is to continue to pump out expansions let alone make sure they are balanced. All the collectible miniature games I can think of are pretty much large scale war games, with possible exceptions being Heroclix and that new pirate game where you build the boats (which actually looks really cool btw).

What I'd like to do with Homies is to sort of meet the two genre's halfway. I don't want to make a card game, nor a war game, but a board game using Homies as the pieces. What I'd like to do is create trading cards with the homies on them, listing some game related stats, then the game would have a board (there could be multiple boards - maybe in expansions) and the Homies would move around the board interacting with it and each other in order to 'increase their Cool'.

I'm thinking a few stock Homies, their stock ID cards, and all the bits you'd need to play the game would comes in the box. Then people could buy booster packs of ID cards and could also get various Homie figures, and trade the cards and figures for the ones they want. The stock ones might not be as 'good' as the versions you could find in the boosters.

The boxed board could depict "Quien Sabe," the Mexican American barrio which is home to this group of tightly knit chicano buddies (see website). Possible expansions could be based on sets of Homies like "Homie Clowns" with a board depicting a Circus, "Mijos" with a board depicting MiJOPARK, and maybe one for the lady Homies with a board depicting a shopping mall.

You might say I promoted a tereotype right there, but for god's sake look at the website- the whole thing is one big stereotype!

So what I need now is simply a game to play on these boards and with these pieces. The cards would have a pic of the Homie, their little character description (probably right off that website), and various game-related stats. I imagine one might be related to movement- either how many spaces that Homie can move in a turn, or how many and what type of dice to roll, or whatever. It would also have other stats like maybe some indication of how 'cool' that character is (like a strength stat), how 'smart' he is (INT), etc. And of course they'd probably have abilities, like Smiley is a mechanic for example... he might be able to fix stuff (whatever that might mean).

So that's where I'm at. What kind of game could be made about these guys? I don't think it would involve fighting at all (maybe 1 expansion could be a street fight, with special rules for fighting based on stats they've already got). I think they'd have to move around a board, and the board could have various locations (referenced on the site, like a Gym that's in one dude's backyard, or the mechanic shop where Smiley works) which might mean something. Maybe there are little missions they have to accomplish (errand type things) or maybe they are looking to collect Cool tokens somehow. I don't know.

What do you think? Anyone have any ideas?

- Seth

P.S. homies figure gallery

Trickydicky
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Collectible board game - Homies

I've never even heard of homies, but I quickly looked at the link. I think the goal of a game like this would have to be to increase your cool. The first person to increase their cool to a certain level wins. Why get in a street fight? To increase your cool and decrease other's. Why go to the shopping mall? To get something to increase your cool. Why does Smiley run his shop? So he can continue to "pimp out" his ride, which increases his cool.

I think you should try to keep a lot of locations in the game, i.e. the street, the mall, the shop. This would allow you to let each individual player decide what method they want to use to increase their cool. That is how each player then when design their deck, with cards that allow them to increase their cool the way they want to. Smiley's deck would probably include a lot of car parts, odd jobs to earn cash and finished product cars that give him a certain bonus to his cool stat.

Money would probably have to be worked in somehow, for most of the characters. How they earn it? What they can buy with it? and how these things influence their cool.

Don't know if that is the direction you were wanting to go, but just an idea.

Zzzzz
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Collectible board game - Homies

To go along with some of TrickyDicky's ideas, if you created a board that contains various places, car shop, mall (sneaker store), recording studio (lay down a hit track), etc....

You might consider creating an "Item deck" for each location. And at different times in the game, the locations will introduce something new that "everyone has to have" to be cool, or the coolest.

For instance, the sneaker store might have cards that introduce the newest and coolest kicks or the hottest new NFL player jersey.... I would have the card also contain a quantity so you can get players to move around the board so they dont miss out on the new cool item (but the also allow a way to keep all players from getting all of the same items).

Just a few additional ideas... but you could be onto something.

sedjtroll
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Collectible board game - Homies

I forgot to mention one part which is sort of minor. I was thinking that each player would have to bring the following to the table in addition to the base game:

Any Homie figures/cards they intend to use (outside the stock ones that come with the board),

20 Quarters (if you want you could use something that's not money and not worry about keeping it or not). These Quarters would represent your 'cool' and the object would be to take other people's Quarters. So when the game is over you've either earned some cash by increasing your cool, or you've lost some. Then you can uwse your new quarters to buy more figures (they sell them at places like Wal Mart in those little gumball machines).

As for cards, I hadn't really thought of this as a deckbuilding type of ccg- too many cards to design. I was thinking the trading cards would just be the Homies' ID's and stats, the rest of the game would be played with the stock game components out of the box. That doesn't mean there can't be some kind of action cards, justt hat the deck wouldn't be constructed...

As for an Item deck, could be allright, I guess it depends on how the rest of the game goes. I think it might get unwieldy if there were items inspired by each Homie (Wrench (Smiley), Cell Phone (Holleywood), etc). Also if the point is everyone go get a Cell Phone!" and then everyone does- that's kinda boring.

Here's an idea, each Homie could have 1 item on their ID card, which could be tied into their special ability... I don't know how that would help necessarily.

Anonymous
Collectible board game - Homies

What is this, it has 32 teeth and IQ of 248? Answer: "First six rows of wrestling match spectators", or "First 6 rows of rock concert spectators", or "40 homies fans" or something like that ... There were games about wrestling, about rock stars and they all failed (as far as I know). So, first choose a target audience, and then choose the theme that might interest them, and then think of gaming mechanism that will appeal to them and then make a game around it. Or decide to do a parody game, but check the audience too. Goal to outcool someone seems OK though … Check the Bratz CCG rules, they're inovative ...

sedjtroll
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Collectible board game - Homies

ddt wrote:
Check the Bratz CCG rules, they're inovative ...

Whoa, there's a Bratz ccg? I was thinking of including Bratz in this game (as an expansion- the shopping mall one) at first, but then I realized they're not really the same thing so abandoned the idea.

Anonymous
Re: I'm a freaking genious! Help please...

A bit off topic but...

sedjtroll wrote:
...and that new pirate game where you build the boats (which actually looks really cool btw).

What game is that? I've been looking for a good pirating game for a while now.

prophx
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Collectible board game - Homies

The game is called, "Pirates of the Spanish Main". It is very hot at our local game store and they have competitions weekly. They can't keep it on the shelves. Pretty cheap to build your fleets from what I understand.

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/pirates/

Rob

phpbbadmin
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Collectible board game - Homies

Prophx wrote:
The game is called, "Pirates of the Spanish Main". It is very hot at our local game store and they have competitions weekly. They can't keep it on the shelves. Pretty cheap to build your fleets from what I understand.

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/pirates/

Rob

Awful, awful game though, unfortunately. Hopefully they will release some revised rules that will make it actually worth playing...

Anyone want to buy my 3 packs?

-Darke

sedjtroll
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Collectible board game - Homies

Darkehorse wrote:
[Regarding Pirates of the Spanish Main]
Awful, awful game though, unfortunately. Hopefully they will release some revised rules that will make it actually worth playing...

Hmm... the one time I really saw it and looked at how to play it actually looked pretty good. What did you not like about it? (If you choose to answer this, please start a new thread in the Game Review section).

To get back on track...
Forget for the moment the collectibility aspect of this Homies idea, let's start with the basics.

The board depicts the 'hood', Quien Sabe, where these buddies hang out. Specific locations occur on the board, seperated by generic location (road spaces, etc). The board could be a little larger scale, with the barrio as one section, Mijo Park as another, etc. There are some characters (which I imagine the players will control), and these characters have an ability and some stats. The goal of the game is to collect or increase a quantity known as your 'cool'.

So aside from calling each other Ese and Vato, what is it the players can DO in this scenario?

s2alexan
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Collectible board game - Homies

Darkehorse wrote:

Awful, awful game though, unfortunately. Hopefully they will release some revised rules that will make it actually worth playing...

Anyone want to buy my 3 packs?

-Darke

I think it's interesting - the whole "metagame" around miniatures and CCGs - painting, collecting, trading, assembling, etc. make them incredibly popular - a game AND a hobby.

Wizkids has realized that people will buy a great metagame, even if the "actual" game isn't working. Here we are, trying to design actual games - I think we've missed the boat (Pirate boardgame pun not intended).

Be honest - how many people have bought games but never played them (sure, you "intended" to play them). Or painted all their miniatures but never played the game?

Maybe we should be focusing on that instead. You know how much fun it is to research a game, then buy it, open it, read the rules, check out the bits, etc.? What if we just sold boxes with random surplus components in them, with cool names and great artwork. We can call every box a "collector's edition", and make the game seem REALLY fun but quite daunting to learn. I bet 95% of people won't ever play this game, they'll just "enjoy" it on their shelf. For those that complain, we'll cheerfully refund their money.

Can it be depressing that a boardgame company is selling out of their latest game? I guess so...

[edit] I left out the part where it relates to this post :)

Basically, I think just "collecting" the figures wouldn't be enough - you need to come up with more of a "metagame" around it. What can you do with them when you're NOT playing? And it doesn't have to be collecting or painting or trading - how about something else, that relates to the game, but is fun on its own? I don't have any ideas right now... but I think this is the key.

DarkDream
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Collectible board game - Homies

Boy, those homie girl pinups are great!

How about a game of seducing women? :)

--DarkDream

sedjtroll
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Collectible board game - Homies

I have gathered some thoughts on this Homies game idea and put them in a journal entry. Check it out and tell me what you think. I thought of a possibly interesting way to work in the Event cards you guys mentioned.

Anonymous
Collectible board game - Homies

Seth,
I think this is a great idea. It would be easy to slip into stereotypes with this, but somehow I don't think that would be a problem. I guess some stereotypes are more negative than others. Should you introduce violence, drugs and alcohol into the game? You don't have to, but would the game hold it's authenticity and still be appealing to it's target market?

I agree with the Cool Points as Victory Points idea and that this should be the games goal.

After reading the origins of the Homies it seems to me an important aspect of the game should be hooking up a low rider and perhaps even have a Car Show at the end to determine the final amount of Cool points.
The actual game could be a balance of collecting resources or even actual parts and accessories for your ride, and other various activities that would add to your cool, hooking up with the opposite sex, clothing for style, language or words (new slang) etc.
Another crucial part could be graffiti. Tagging up in various areas on the board which would add to your rep.

Elder

comport9
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Collectible board game - Homies

You spelt "genius" wrong.

Anonymous
Collectible board game - Homies

s2alexan wrote:

Be honest - how many people have bought games but never played them (sure, you "intended" to play them). Or painted all their miniatures but never played the game?

I don't think this is that applicable to those people that buy CMG's (collectible miniature games) or CCG's (collectible card games). While some people DO buy the figures as they're cool or do buy the cards to collect, I'd suggest this is less than 10% of your sales -- and probably FAR less than that.

True, though, many board games and RPG's fall into the same trap as some regular books do -- people buy them, look at them for a while, and put them off to the side never to look at them again. This group is larger than the CMG / CCG crowd but still not the majority.

Can you imagine the thousands of copies of Amun Re, Puerto Rico, or Princes of Florence that have been purchased that would be sitting in their respective boxes left unplayed. Sacrilege!

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