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How to simulate waking the dragon?

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EdWedig
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Joined: 09/15/2009

Hello!

I am working on a game tentatively called Sleeping Dragon. It's a pretty simple game where 2 players play mages constructing a magical cage around a sleeping dragon. The game components are pretty much just a game board (dry erase), and a couple of markers or crayons. The goal being to construct more of the cage than the other player.

Right now, the game may be too simple. I am thinking of adding a mechanic where there is a potential for the dragon to wake up, in which case everyone loses. But, I am not sure how to simulate it. Right now, a game could take up to 45 turns, and I'd really only want there to be a slim chance of the dragon waking up.

I considered adding a pair of dice, and having each player roll after each move. If the dice come up snake-eyes, the dragon wakes. But, statistically, that is likely to happen 1 in 36 rolls, which means that the dragon would wake every game. Plus, the dice seems in-elegant to me, compared to the rest of the game. So, I am looking of other options on how to simulate the dragon waking.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

-Ed Wedig
edwedig.com
Graphic Design and Web Design Services

irdesigns510
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Joined: 06/24/2009
Arkham horror

Arkham horror uses an impending doom card for each boss monster, and has various ways to trigger increases and decreases in doom. When the number gets down to zero, the monster appears.

This could Easily be re-themed into wakefulness or whatever word you use to describe it, with ways in which his sleep can be disturbed by building the cage.

This direction might add another strategical dimension.

Relexx
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Joined: 05/31/2010
What is the Time Mr Wolf

I think what you want is a timer mechanic. My suggestion would be to have a stepped scale indicating how close the dragon is to being woken up.

If a player can destroy an one or more opponents cage section then perhaps roll 2d6, if the result is less than or equal to the number of sections destroyed then move a token closer to "awake". The failure in this solution is perhaps that if there is a runaway winner the losing player opts for death of both parties, opposed to gracefully losing.

ReneWiersma
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I think it could be more fun

I think it could be more fun if the player who wakes the dragon loses the game. That could introduce some interesting decisions. For example, if one mage adds a particular big piece of the cage, it could make a lot of noise, possibly waking up the dragon. This way players have to balance risk (waking up the dragon, losing the game) vs reward (building the cage, winning the game).

hulken
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Joined: 04/18/2009
I think you could add a

I think you could add a "nois" level to the difrent things the players do. That way the dragon would wake up if the players makes to much nois. Nois would be generated by sertan types of construction. But also by speed. If a player trys to hurry he will generate more nois. Also you could ad a simultanious action selection. That way the players would have to try and guess what the other player is planing to do and act acordingly. But this might be a litle to far out there, and I do not realy know how well this would tie in to the other mecanics of the game.

Void Schism
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Joined: 09/08/2010
Easy there Smaug

How about an alertness score?
Arkham Horrors mechanic for the doom and terror tracks were mentioned, so how about having a track that measures how deep the dragon is sleeping.
Make a noise, remove a counter.
Each quiet turn add a counter as the dragon drifts deeper asleep.
This would create a dillema for the player; "do I act and risk waking the dragon, or keep quiet and risk the other player getting ahead"
You could combine this with a dice roll mechanic to make it more likely for the dragon to wake if there are more/less counters, for example. EG:
There are 3 counters, so to wake would require 3 1's to be rolled.
You then make a noise and remove a counter. At the end of the turn you now only need to roll 2 1's, making it more likely that it will wake.

EdWedig
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Joined: 09/15/2009
A bit of clarification: as

A bit of clarification: as the game stands right now, each turn the players can move from one side of the cage to another, and add one bar to the cage (draw one line). Each side of the cage has an odd number of bars, and when all of the bars are placed, that side is done and neither player can cross that side again. Also, the player who placed more bars on that side "wins" the side; the player who wins more sides of the cage will win the game when all sides are complete.

I am considering one of two things right now: allowing the players, when they move to a new side, the option of either placing a bar (and having to roll to see if they wake the dragon), or opting to not place a bar, and then they don't have to roll. This allows players to "push their luck" by placing more bars of the cage, but may end up in a standoff where neither player wants to place bars. Or, there is a chance that the first player to place a bar will wake the dragon.

The other thing I am considering is to have each player roll both dice for each bar that they place. If either die is higher than the number of bars on that side, then they can add another bar. But, if both dice come up 1's (snake eyes), then they immediately lose. I like this idea, because it integrates the dice mechanic into the game better, and does not feel tacked on. But, it could extend the game quite a bit.

The good news is that there are lots of game enthusiasts in my family, so I will see if I can talk some people into trying out some variants tomorrow when we hang out.

-Ed Wedig
edwedig.com
Graphic Design and Web Design Services

Markus Hagenauer
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Joined: 12/04/2009
I´d say an alertness score is

I´d say an alertness score is a good idea to make it less random.
Yut you can use something to counter the awakening instead. Give every-player a sleep-scroll or something like this he can use once per game not to wake tha dragon on snake eyes.

Maybe it´s better not to use snake eyes, but something that is more likely later in the game.
Maybe roll 3 dice, and if the total is lower than the number of bars on your side, you wake the dragon.

EdWedig
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Joined: 09/15/2009
Well, I tried 2 tests today,

Well, I tried 2 tests today, and both kinda failed. The first game, we rolled both dice for each bar that was placed, but waking the dragon felt TOO random, and the players felt they had no control over that. No one chose not to place a bar, since there really was nothing to be gained by not placing a bar.

The second game, we tried just rolling only when a side was completed. The dragon never woke, but I was able to (inadvertently) pin the other player, and won the game. But still, rolling for the dragon was too random.

i think the next thing I need to try is to introduce a "waking track" for the dragon. Maybe each time a side is completed, the track goes up by one, with an increasing chance of the dragon waking?

Another thought might be to tie the chance of waking to the difference in score between the 2 players? This may prevent a "runaway leader" scenario, because the further the first player gets from the second player, the better chance of the dragon waking. I am not sure if it's logical, though.

-Ed

tridagam
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Joined: 03/23/2009
Binary Dice ....

Binary Dice ....

This is a system we have for a Fantasy strategy game that we will never publish, because of its proprietary nature and dependency on electronic media.

They are tokens that represent elements of a given gaming environment. Each having a positive aligned side and a negative aligned side. The dice are thrown and any one event or all events for anyone turn or round of play may be applied to the role, depending on the rules that govern the reading.

This sounds difficult...but it is not, As in a game like yours you may have:
1) One alignment token
2) Two player tokens
3) One dragon Tokens
4) Two cage tokens
giving you six random +/- then the role is ruled. with "If Then" statements.
like:
"If" the alignment token is Black (-) "then" only Black tokens are read.
"If" a players token is on top of 1 or more other tokens "then all tokens are read as that players points.

It is a 3 part system to control random events with a unique Mechanic. were the 1) elements represented 2) random events are ruled. 3) the reading rules, all are able to be manipulated by the designer.

tridagam
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Joined: 03/23/2009
Also

Your game sounds right for the lego company...Fantacy/ build/ fast/ cheep to produce...fun in 3d x out the white board.

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