Guard Dogs- Draft Two

The second draft of my game, Guard Dogs, as well as concept art for one of the Defending characters whose stats can be found here http://www.bgdf.com/node/5313 . Players now use actions instead of points as currency to move and attack. At the moment my main focus is establishing the rest of the cast; I have seven Defenders out of nine somewhat worked out but no Attackers for them to fight against..not to say I don't have any ideas. I'd love to know what you guys think of this so far.

The Intro.

Picture this. You work, room, eat, and sleep in some remote base miles away from the general public. Why you might ask? Lets just say the company you work for really, really treasure their privacy. So much so that you might have guessed you working for some lame James Bond villain, who just so happened to have your base built deep within the broad side of some mountain. But hey, it can't be all bad right? All you usually have to worry about is working heavy machinery. Or getting too much oil on your jumps. Got all that? Good! Just one more thing.

Now imagine one morning (you're probably in the lounge scourging for breakfast or something.) the security alarm suddenly goes off. As it turns out you really are some lame villains handyman-and some government agency's infiltrating your base. Not only do they want you dead, but they want all the neat gadgets you and your friends have built. After all that hard work too! How pissed off would you be? Enough to use those nifty gadgets you built on those pesky government agents no doubt....

Guard Dogs brings a slightly different twist to tower defense where two players take control of two different factions in the game, simply dubbed the Attackers and Defenders.

Sophisticated cloning technology allow the Attacking agents to swam in and overwhelm their targets without having to worry about operative casualties. After all they can make a new you in a matter of minutes. Numbers are the Attacking players greatest strength. Defenders put their own tech to work too! Making up for what they lack in mass with security bots and laser beams. They work overtime to built as many bullet spitting barriers between them and the Attackers as possible. As an unstoppable force and an immobile object violently collide, something's got to give eventually! The question is who will go first?

Defenders win the game by outlasting a turn limit set before the start of the game by both players(Default: Twenty turns). Alternatively the Defending player wins the game when the Attacking player controls no characters on the board at the end of the Defending players turn. One in-game turn is when both Attackers and Defenders have taken a turn. Attackers win the game when one of their characters moves into a ''victory space'' on the board. If penetrating defenses doesn't fit the Attackers whims, they also win when no Defending characters are on the game board, typically via elimination.

Setup.

The Defending player, who always starts their turn first, chooses between the available spaces designated on the board ( labeled A-D) to act as the ''victory space'' for the game. They then choose five out of the nine available Defending characters, whose movement markers are placed within five spaces of the chosen victory space. The remaining three lettered spaces become ''Spawn Spaces''for the Attacking player.

As a reminder, one in-game turn resolves only after both players have taken their turns.

Game Board.

Characters are moved along a gridded map, the gaming board, with each square representing one space of movement. The player may move anything they control with a Move stat during their turn, but cannot move them into a space occupied by another character or counter. A few marked spaces on the board have their own uses. These include:

The Victory Space. One of four spots on the game board (labeled A,B,C,and D) chosen by the Defending player. If an Attacking character moves into this space the Attacking player wins the game.

The Spawn Space. Spaces on the board where the Attacking player spawns their characters. After a Victory Space is chosen the remaining three turn into Spawn Spaces.

The Equipment Shed. Spaces on the board marked with the letter E. When a Defending character moves into this space they regain all of their spent Actions.

The game board, aside from showing the spaces on the board, graphically details the setting of the game. Walls, tables, chairs, and other objects can be seen scattered throughout the overhead setting, and act as barriers players cannot move their characters through

Actions.

Actions are a type of currency that is used differently by both the Defending and Attacking players. For Defenders, Actions are used to regulate how often they use their characters. Every Defending character has their own number of actions they can perform each turn. When those actions are expunged, the player cannot control that character until the start of their next turn. Attackers use Actions the same way when it comes to controlling their characters alone. For Spawning purposes the Attacking player is given twenty Spawning Actions, and gains another ten every five turns. Again, these Actions can only be used to spawn characters. In either faction, moving a character and attacking both cost one action.

Spawning.

Thanks to cloning technology at the attacking mercenaries disposal, a small dozen operatives can easily formulate an army in a matter of minutes! Spawning is when the Attacking player spends their Spawning Actions equal to their Action Cost to ''summon'' one of their characters, within five spaces of any spawn space on the board.

The player can spawn as many characters as they can as long as they have enough Actions to spend. However, Spawn Limits on characters regulate how many clones of the same character can be on the board at any given time.

Characters Mechanics.

The abilities of every character, asset, and counter in the game is fleshed out through the statistics listed below.

Stamina-A character or counters health value that lowers every time they take damage from an attack. When a character loses all of their HP they are killed and removed from the game.

Attack- Attack damage done to another character. Counters and characters can only attack things one space adjacent to them, unless they have Range.

Move- The number of spaces something may be moved per action spent.

Action- How many actions the player or character may take during their turn, measured in Actions. Moving, Attacking both cost one action. Spawning and using Assets have their own separate rules regarding Action costs.

Action Cost- How many Actions the player must spend to Spawn a certain character onto the board or use an Asset.

Spawn Limit- How many copies of the same character the player may have on the board at once. Attacker only.

Range-Attack range measured in multiple spaces going in a straight line of sight (vertical, horizontal, diagonal). Characters and counters can only attack things more than one space away from them if they have enough Range.

Splash Range- Attack range measured in multiple panels going in any direction (Ex. ''Any character within five panels of the attacking character...'').

Assets.

From rocket launchers to sentry bots. There are a variety of different assets in Guard Dogs unique to each character. Some are attacks the player may use for added damage or range, while others are used by placing counters on the board. In game, Assets that work with counters take the form of machines and gadgets utilized specifically by the players character.

Combat.

Gun fights will inevitably break out when there are pistols and strong feelings involved. Simply put, anything with an Attack stat can attack anything else that has Stamina. Anything that loses all of it's Stamina is either killed, or destroyed. Either way they're out of the game for good. How far an attack can can travel (measured in spaces) depends on the attacks Range and Splash Range. As mentioned above the Range stat shows players up to how many spaces an attack can travel (in any straight line of sight) to hit it's mark. In contrast attacks with Splash Range don't need a straight line of sight to hit anything, enabling these attacks to land targets hiding around corners. Without either of these stats combat is strictly limited to any target within one space of the attacker.