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Help with theme

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Sat, 04/16/2016 - 22:46
chris_mancini
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I've returned to a filler card game I'd posted here on BGDF a while ago. It's called "Hordes of Orcs" and follows a fairly typical fantasy trope of orc armies traveling across a land to storm the city and finally pillage the castle. Super light in mechanics and theme, fast play and simple scoring.

Here's my sticking point...we all know "generic" fantasy has been done to death. The game mechanics are open to interpretation within the following constraints:

You are controlling an "army" of characters.

These characters come in 10 increasingly powerful ranks. The higher the rank, the more powerful the character.

The game takes you across a series of locations, each one more valuable than the next. Players battle to win these locations round after round.

That's about it...the game involves players playing a chosen rank from their army to battle against your opponents to win the locations one by one.

This game all started with the name, "Hordes of Orcs." It was fun to say, and I love fantasy lore, so I went with it. That said, I feel like it isn't unique enough. I could go with a super cartoony "casual" art style and aim for that to give the game its uniqueness, but I'd love to get some ideas on theme based on the premise above.

I thought "Hordes of Dorks" could be fun, about pitting mighty armies of fellow enthusiasts of all things nerdy against one another in raids throughout the halls of Comic-Con hunting for the best loot.

Regardless of the name and how it sounds, I'd love to know what you all think an intriguing theme could be!

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 01:19
#1
Opinioso
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I have two ideas. First is

I have two ideas. First is about insects. You can have each army of one kind of insect, with military ranks (and, in some kinds, they already exist, like the army ants, and the bombardier beetles) and the value of the locations can be related to the natural resources in each place (water, food, shelter). Maybe "Garden Wars"?

The second is cults. They have ranks, they can be mobile and the locations can be related to amount of people that they can lure. In this case, I don't have a name =(

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 03:40
#2
chris_mancini
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Army ants are a natural

Army ants are a natural interpretation of the theme...storming the picnic, perhaps? Or marching inside the house to raid the fridge? The lighter tone matches the light gameplay very well. I'll think about this one...

Thanks Opinioso!

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 09:15
#3
wombat929
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Spam

Could you be an army of semi-sentient spam bots trying to overwhelm a network of servers?

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 09:42
#4
Corsaire
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My first tabletop game I

My first tabletop game I designed about thirty years ago, I called Orc Wars. Not at all similar, it was a rummy like card game with a battle element.

Personally, I don't find enough fantasy themed board games. I don't own any good ones besides MtG.

The convention concept could work, but dork may be a bit too pejorative. It brings to mind an episode of Phineas and Ferb, Nerds of a Feather. It pits scifi vs. fantasy. They could be competing to take over venues at the con.

Do the conflicts involve piece elmination or just strength comparison? That aspect would weight heavily on potential themes.

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 14:15
#5
chris_mancini
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I'd thought about that, the

I'd thought about that, the term "dork..." my friends and I call each other that all the time, but just because we find it amusing doesn't mean all people will. "Nerd" has become the appropriate term I suppose, so "Herds of Nerds" could be another way to name the same theme.

The "battles" are basically just a strength comparison; my card has a higher rank/value than yours, so I win. There's more to it to make it interesting and strategic, but that's the gist. Each player controls an army as they journey across some "land" and compete to win each location.

Some other "armies" that could become the theme:
Kaiju monsters, pirates, Old West outlaws, aliens, mobsters, rats and vermin, farm animals (like Orwell's "Animal Farm")...

Whatever the case, I think cartoony, light and funny/silly would fit the gameplay the best. Too serious and I feel like the theme may conflict with the light mechanics.

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 15:08
#6
Corsaire
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Clique Clash You can use

Clique Clash

You can use nerds and other stereotypes. The new locations represent businesses/social venues and they are competing to make them their own IN place.

Old west could certainly go the way with bigger boom towns.

Aliens and planets.

Networks and demographics; a little trickier morphing, but could get funny.

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 17:55
#7
Tedthebug
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Could it be sports themed?

One team plays another, each attack is gaining yards (I believe that's the right term for gridiron) & after a certain net gain someone scores a touchdown & wins?

Or maybe it's news organisations competing with their star news anchors to win each market?

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Sun, 04/17/2016 - 20:10
#8
chris_mancini
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Never thought about it as a

Never thought about it as a sports game...it's interesting! The news orgs are an unusual twist, definitely fresh and original.

I'd really like for this game to be a foundation from which other themed versions can be spun off...but focusing on the first game and theme is all that matters at the moment.

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Mon, 04/18/2016 - 13:52
#9
let-off studios
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Marketing Companies

Just a couple ideas...

The game could be about marketing companies trying to gain more market share for their competing products. Definitely can stay light and humorous to complement the mechanics involved. The player is a marketing guru, and their units/armies are marketing/advert campaigns.

Same thing with political campaigns. Elections (at least here in the US) have been lampooned since the birth of the country, and there's precedent for this type of game, "serious" takes and otherwise. Players would be campaign managers. Armies are politician's debate performances, targeted stump speeches, and other public appearances - including the ever-popular "kissing the baby" photo opportunity.

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Tue, 04/19/2016 - 04:45
#10
gilamonster
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What about gangs of preschool

What about gangs of preschool children rampaging in a sweet shop or toy shop?

or for a slight twist on standard fantasy, "Mining parties" of nasty-looking dwarves digging into the underground cities of peace-loving, flower-planting (well - mushroom-planting I suppose) goblins, dragons and balrogs to steal their wealth.

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Tue, 04/19/2016 - 06:19
#11
adlard.matthew
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Thoughts,

What you have is potential to create a bunch of similar games to target different interests, so you could make a smaller version with insects like ants and make it a quick play easy style to target the younger audience (parents and getting kids into gaming, schools, etc) and then work up with a more complex one that is the Hordes of Dorks (Yes many gamers are and proud of it! SO what if that annoys)

It would allow you to develop a couple of lines and test various avenues with your game.

The Dorks one has massive potential with all sorts of counter plays and dirty tricks. As a lot of Conventions are over a couple of days it allows for games with timed play, and expansion options.

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Tue, 04/19/2016 - 14:51
#12
chris_mancini
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The dwarves idea is

The dwarves idea is interesting, as it fulfills the goal of the theme in several ways:

1. Dwarves lend themselves to the militaristic manner in which the cards are valued;

2. Their goal is simple...gems! This is good as their motivation remains constant and obvious throughout the journey;

3. There is a logical progressive journey as the groups dig deeper and deeper into a subterranean world.

Thanks for the suggestion!

BTW I also like the idea of out-of-control kindergarteners; breaking loose from the day care and wreaking havoc in distinctly "kiddie" locations! Their motivation in relation to the locations (that's a lot of a-shuns) is less constant, unless all locations carry candy.

A potential issue I've run into with some of these themes is that it really helps for players not to think about WHY they're raiding these individual places. "I'm doing all of this for gold" is a simple thing to get, whereas the toddler idea may branch out like "I'm raiding a toy store, so I must be getting toys.." then, "now I'm raiding an ice cream parlor, so I must be getting ice cream."

The alternative here is for all locations to be raided for (candy), which then puts the pressure on these locations to all make sense for the "loot" they contain. Maybe I'm over-thinking it...but it occurred to me.

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Tue, 04/19/2016 - 15:01
#13
chris_mancini
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I'd love that; for the game

I'd love that; for the game to have the potential to work with Star Wars, Marvel, whatever premise works based on storming locations with ranking "officers."

The thing I like most about "Hordes of Dorks" or whatever the name, is that it gets meta pretty quickly! I've been writing out some options for this theme, and it feels pretty fun. This is where I first encountered the "motivation" issue; Orcs raiding locations for gold is constant, but nerds raiding a con for loot requires that each location have something more distinct that they award the players.

In other words, if the progression takes players from their gaming cave, through the town and into the convention, there isn't a singular "thing" that works throughout...at least not that I can think of.

This led me to think about each location's "loot" having an effect in the game; win the location and use the power granted by the piece of loot. For instance, the "Basement of Solitude" holds the "velcro wallet," which lets you draw an additional 2 cards...and so on.

Having more significant powers on the lesser-valued locations creates an interesting challenge for players; do you go for the power and take less points? Really needs to be defined and tested, but it's interesting...

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