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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 07:44
sedjtroll
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A few weeks ago there was a lot of chatter in a couple threads regarding Vikings and Norse mythology as a theme. Several people expressed interest in working on such a game, and many ideas were thrown out there...

I'm wondering who's taking a closer look at this, and in what capacity. Did you whip up a game? Is it ready for initial testing, or just a 'pretty good idea, but not all there yet'? Does it focus on viking raiding parties, or Mythological gods and events? How have you bridged that gap (or have you kept them seperate)?

I'd be interested to hear what ideas people have had for mechanics to represent trading (with the game system and/or with other players), raiding, incorporating Mythology, and the game end.

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 09:41
#1
Hedge-o-Matic
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Mine's done, but not playtested. It's a card game (self-contained, not CCG) about competeing bards recording the events of mighty heros into lengthy epics of dubious validity. Light-hearted and quick, I wanted to use the Viking theme as mere stage-dressing, and so pull out every shameless Vikng cliche I could think of.

Working title: The Songs of Valhallah
Taglines: "When true glory is just out of reach."
"Some Epics are not wirth remembering."

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 10:08
#2
doho123
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Quote:
It's a card game (self-contained, not CCG) about competeing bards recording the events of mighty heros into lengthy epics of dubious validity. Light-hearted and quick, I wanted to use the Viking theme as mere stage-dressing, and so pull out every shameless Vikng cliche I could think of.

Oh, having a game where players are competing to tell the more glorious stories of heroes sounds like it could be a blast.

player 1:"And so, my Hero, Geoffrey the Great, using his mighty shield and and hammer approaches silently and skillfully defeats his prey, the...."

player 2 throws down a "Mouse of Meekdom" card before player 1 can continue," the cute, but harmless grey mouse."

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 11:42
#3
Julius
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Hedge-o-Matic wrote:
It's a card game (self-contained, not CCG) about competeing bards recording the events of mighty heros into lengthy epics of dubious validity.

Hahaha! Is each card a line of a ballad? I can just see players dropping lines of a song down in front of them. Each line would have a score on it for how bold it is (Putting a sea monster in a headlock vs. kicking a chicken 50 yards). Players could score bonus points if it rhymes.

I love it!

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 12:22
#4
CodeFalcoN
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Sounds intruiging, Hedge =) I know I'd check it out... Tills Dagen Gryr!

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 13:26
#5
NetWolf
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

I have been caught up in work, so I havn't had a chance to do any development on my game.

I think I'm going to go with Johan's suggestion and make the Viking Raider style game more light hearted than historically accurate. Something less 'true to life' but still not cartoony.

That said, I came up with an interesting idea for an FPS-style combat mechanic! =D

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 13:37
#6
Johan
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

CodeFalcoN wrote:
Sounds intruiging, Hedge =) I know I'd check it out... Tills Dagen Gryr!

And for all of you that don’t know Swedish. That mean: to the first daylight. The phrase is often used in poetry and love songs.

// Johan

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 16:43
#7
CodeFalcoN
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Didn't know that Johan, Tack! I just like the line! hehe ;) A now-defunct viking metal group called Mithotyn from up your way sung it in what sounded like a traditional scand melody). It's now my 'viking sound', like "arrrrgh!" for pirates. It's actually the only part of the song I can make out and recite =) Even with the swedish lyrics in front of me I can't follow it! Heh

See, I'm not crazy: http://www.unrulygames.com/mp3/tills_dagen_gryr.mp3

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 17:27
#8
sedjtroll
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

NetWolf wrote:
That said, I came up with an interesting idea for an FPS-style combat mechanic! =D

This might not have much to do with Vikings, but I'd be interested to hear about this First Person Shooter mechanic!

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 02:00
#9
Johan
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

CodeFalcoN wrote:
Didn't know that Johan, Tack! I just like the line! hehe ;) A now-defunct viking metal group called Mithotyn from up your way sung it in what sounded like a traditional scand melody). It's now my 'viking sound', like "arrrrgh!" for pirates. It's actually the only part of the song I can make out and recite =) Even with the swedish lyrics in front of me I can't follow it! Heh

See, I'm not crazy: http://www.unrulygames.com/mp3/tills_dagen_gryr.mp3

I can understand that you have problem with this song... Its more a moode then a text.
The melody is from another song called "Vårvinda friska" (The clear wind of spring).
I will try to do a quick translation (with quick as the key word).

To the first daylight
Around our cottage, small devils "appears"
Sneaking around with cloven hoof and tail.
Werewolf's howl, its freezing cold
Laying a mist over the dance of the devils.
O brother listen and hear
to the howl of the dying ghost
Death he laugh, take the bottle
and will swing it until the first daylight (actually in a translating it would be drinking from it, but swing a bottle is an expression that means for drinking from the bottle while you are happy and like to sing (normally with frends)).

Evil spirits and ghost can vaguely be seen
Dead people drags rotten corps
You can hear the sounds of skeletons, and the see the hands of ghosts trying to catch
your throat, that are caught in a scream.
All the horrors of the hell is loose
And the devil himself is riding around with all of his company
Death he laugh, take the bottle
and will swing it until the first daylight

// Johan

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 09:40
#10
Hedge-o-Matic
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Julius wrote:

Hahaha! Is each card a line of a ballad?

Actually, the monster and quest cards each have a couplet that is added to the ever-expanding epic poem, should the hero succeed in their efforts.

Problems come up, though, because each player controls one hero, and one scald, and the poets follow the heros around, recording their great deeds. But the player's own scald cannot follow the player's hero, and thus everyone is trying to limit the effectiveness of their subject's epic. They do this by selectively forgetting certain elements of the tale, or wildly embellishing it, or stuffing it with fluff verses and elaborating on every failure. Thus the cards of the hero's epic string together, and the best epic at the end of the game wins.

This is not a serious game, folks. Hey Johan, I might need some help with a more traditional sound to my verses after I get the balance of things right.

Oh, and has "Tills Dagen Gryr" been used as a game name yet? That sound pretty cool, although perhaps a bit too cool for this game, given it's a cartoon.

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 10:01
#11
Johan
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Hedge-o-Matic wrote:

This is not a serious game, folks. Hey Johan, I might need some help with a more traditional sound to my verses after I get the balance of things right.

Just send me a mail (but not this month ;) ) and I see what I can do.

Quote:
Oh, and has "Tills Dagen Gryr" been used as a game name yet?

Not what I know about.

// Johan

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 10:35
#12
adagio_burner
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

Hedge-o-Matic wrote:
Problems come up, though, because each player controls one hero, and one scald, and the poets follow the heros around, recording their great deeds. But the player's own scald cannot follow the player's hero,...

This is not a serious game, folks.

Here's another idea: the heros would lie about their heroic deeds, exaggerate them etc. for the ballad to come out better. The other players, however, can try to catch them, and if the lie is revealed part of the saga will need to be rewritten :)

This would kind of fit the "not serious game" mood, does it not?

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 11:31
#13
CodeFalcoN
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

That's a slick idea ;) Games w/ an element of bluff and deception and always welcome in my library

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Wed, 05/17/2006 - 12:57
#14
Hedge-o-Matic
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The Viking Games - how are they coming?

This is true. However, in my game, the difficulty is that the hero really is performing heroic deeds, but the skald is twisting them as much as possible to make the hero seem subtly not so heroic at the expense of making their epic longer. This is offset when the player seeks out tougher challenges, but ultimately each hero's epic is likely to be littered with distortions, bulked up with unimpressive minutia, and generally subject to unfavorable spin. For the skald, it's all about quantity, while the hero is working for quality. The players is always playing either their hero (during their turn) or their skald (during other people's turn), and this is enough interaction without introducing the complication of lies or bluffs.

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