Bear with me, I wrote on this topic for my whole lunch hour, then lost it to Invalid Session. I'll try to recap what I wrote here. A lot of it was sort of stream of consciousness and is therefore probably lost forever.
It looks as if the voting has grinded to a halt, and I wanted to think about this project some more. What I'm writing here is just my thoughts on how this game could continue. If you have not yet voted, please do so, then come to this thread and put in your 2 cents!
Theme
It appears that the consensus is for a combination of Relic Rush and Spielunker, and in light of the more recent discussion I think I agree. The way I now see the theme developing is as follows... Players are charged with exploring and mapping out newly found caverns with two objectives in mind- Find (and use) an exit on the far side of the caverns, and find and document interesting and beautiful cave features en route.
Name
I just have to say that I think Spielunker is the best idea for a name for this game that there could ever possibly be in a million years. I move we use that as the name.
Obstacles
Navigating the caves is not necissarily easy! Players may run into obstacles which they may or may not be able to pass.
Equipment
Equipment increases a player's competence in overcoming obstacles.
Findings
Players find Cave features such as Underground Springs, Rock Bridges, or Phospherescent Moss. They photograph this (too Pokemon?) or otherwise document it to show off when they get back to town.
Possible Mechanics
Scoring
Players score points for finding Features. The first player to find an exit and leave the caverns scores a bonus and signals the end of the game. Other players getting out of the caverns befor the game ends score a (lesser) bonus. Players remaining in the cave score no bonus, but still score for their findings.
Cave Exploration
It has been decided that this will be a tile laying game, and that players will move pawns through a board created by the tiles. It has not been decided how exactly this will work. here are some ideas, please add others (and discussion of them) and maybe we can put this to a vote at some point.
Draw, Place, Move: players first draw and place a tile (Carcassone style), then move their pawn (according to movement rules to be determined)
Move, Draw, Place: Players move their pawn, and only draw and place a tile when moving onto 'uncharted territory.' This eases the pain of who's explored which tiles (it's done when the tile is placed), and is more with the exploratory theme.
Hand of Tiles: When a tile is to be played, rather than drawing a random tile, choose one from a hand of X tiles (however many we decide). This eliminates some down time as people can think about their move during other players turns to an extent. To keep the options to a reasonable number, a hand of just 1 might be what we need.
Pool of Tiles: When a tile is to be played, rather than drawing a random tile, choose one from a faceup pool of X tiles (however many we decide). The remainnig tiles could remain, or be discraded (turned back face down) and X new tiles could be revealed. These kinds of options give players varying degrees of control over the layout of the caverns.
Movement
Players move through passages, stopping at the next cavern or open end of passage, or on a new tile if there isn't one there already. Or, a movement allowance could be used where you move X tiles per turn- this would allow a piece of equipment to give a movement bonus.
Findings/Obstacles
Early in this project I outlined a way to use draw decks of various Risk/Reward levels to represent searching for treasure. You would draw a card from a particular deck depending on where you searched, and that card would be either a treasure, an item, a Null card (you find nothing), or an encounter (bats that scare you back a ways, or a Mummy that steals a treasure). I think this system coud still work, though there's have to be some theme overlay work done (I had the decks seperated out as searching the cavern floor, a pile of bones, or a sarcophagous or something like that).
Card Types
Findings: Things worth seeing, they will score you victory Points for having found them. You'd keep this card in front of you for scoring at the end of the game.
Equipment: Items that help you pass obstacles. For a good description of how I think this could work, see my discussion of Gadgets in Fastlearners Everest thread on the GDW
Obstacles: To make navigating the caverns fun and exciting, it has been suggested we have Obstacles which must be overcome. I think a good way to do this would be that players have a base competance for overcoming obstacles. Obstacles could come in several distinct types, and have a difficulty on them. The equipment would aid you for a particular type of Obstacle. Most Obstacles probably shouldn't be impassable. So somehow you check your competence plus bonuses (plus a die roll?) and see if you overcome the Obstacle. If not, you have to either keep trying (if there's a random element this might happen) or go around another way (without a random element this would be necessary- unless you say they're just delayed a turn if they fail).
Null: These cards mean you found nothing. Discard and move on with the game.
Encounters: These would be of varying severity, from a rat or bats that chase you into the corridor from which you came (costing you time), to a ghost which scares you so bad you run back to where you started the game (costing you a lot of time), or lose a Findings card (costing you victory points).
The Decks
Low Risk/reward: Very low value Findings, lots of Null cards, dinky Encounters if any, and dinky Obstacles if any. No equipment.
Medium Risk/reward: Normal Encoutners (Rats, Bats), moderate Findings, some Nulls, some Obstacles, and perhaps some Equipment cards
High Risk/Reward: Bigger, Badder Obstacles, more dangerous Encounters, no Nulls, valuable Findings
I'm sure I missed something, but that's most of it. Comment on this, agree? Disagree? Other ideas?
- Seth
First, I think Spielunker is a great name the project of a bunch of german influenced game designers. If we ever wanted to take the game outside of the ‘german games' market, however, it would probably be a good idea to change the name, because most people won't get the joke.
Second, I'm going to throw out my original ideas on the game, which I never had time to write up. Obviously a lot has happened since, but perhaps people will find some useful ideas here. Given that I didn't add anything to the early discussions, it's kind of amazing how similar the overall direction has been going. (Great minds think alike? ;^) )
The tiles would have obstacles, opportunities, or just passages. Each player would have a fixed set of equipment cards.
Everybody starts out at their base camp with access to all their equipment. A player chooses a subset of equipment to take into the cave. Equipment would be of two types: ones which let you pass obstacles (rope, climbing gear, shovel, raft etc.), and ones which let you score opportunities (camera, jars, mineral sampling, etc.) One obstacle might be a tight space that required to you carry less equipment.
Players then make ‘runs' into the cave, returning to base camp to change out equipment after each one. Obstacles could either be completely impassable, or the player can choose to end his turn there and start on the other side of the obstacle next turn; progress is always possible, it's just a lot slower without the right equipment. The same for opportunities: a player could choose to end his turn to score one without the right equipment. Returning to base camp always ends your turn.
Another option could be to take down equipment allowing the construction of permanent obstacle bypasses; (rope bridge, etc.) Of course these could then be used by any player. (Making them ‘toll bridges' could add some strategy, but might be harder to justify thematically - who's down there collecting tolls?)