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Magic Realm-Lite rules skeleton

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RanDomino
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Joined: 04/20/2009

Like many people, I've been frustrated by Magic Realm- I love the idea of a mostly free-form fantasy RPG-like adventure game. Despite RealmSpeak, most of the rules are still completely indecipherable. I think the problem is so intractable that it's better for me to just find a find a different game. Unfortunately, nothing really scratches the itch. RuneBound is nice, but basically lacking in exploration and too focused on combat (although I love the character-building aspects). I haven't played Prophecy but it seems too 'boardgamey' and not RPG-esque enough. Other games come close but have their flaws as well.

So I've been trying to replicate the experience of MR with rules that are simple but allow for deep gameplay, using modern game design technology. Here's a basic outline for some rules I think could be a solid foundation.

Components:
Encounters deck- Monsters, Traps, special map locations, NPCs, some things related to quests, etc. Each has a Danger Level, which is a number (1-10?). Noncombat encounters could be wandering minstrels, hermits, witches, merchants, etc or even discovery of small cities, monasteries, temples, castles etc which would actually place a token on the game map so players can visit them later.

Regions deck - Each Region card or tile has "clearings," "paths" connecting the clearings (to each other and to other Regions), and a Terrain Type (such as Swamp, Forest, Plains, Mountains, Badland, Ruins, Caves, perhaps 1-2 others, such as one for underground ruins aka Dungeon). Each clearing has a semi-random number which is used to determine what can be encountered there. Likely, there would also be a "Town" card/tile which starts in the middle of the table, where the players start, surrounded by adjacent regions.

Allies/Mercenaries- "Tavern" deck for hiring henchmen and cannon fodd- I mean, loyal companions

Possibly each player's personal gear deck- contains 20-30 items that are drawn into a player's hand randomly, and can only be played when specified, using a loot mechanic blatantly ripped off from, of all things, RuinsWorld: Each item has a numerical Treasure Class (probably 1 to 10) and possibly a Rarity (Basic, Magical, Artifact). Each monster in turn has a Loot Class such as "6M"; if a player defeats that monster, they can play an item from their hand with up to that Treasure Class and Rarity; for example, a magic sword of Treasure Class 4M but not one of 7M and certainly not that 10A longsword "Holy Judgement of the Gods of Justice" that kills practically anything in one hit. I really like this loot mechanic, which is random but gives enough control for the player to act with some kind of direction; even sitting in one place 'farming' until they find a monster that 'drops' the item they want. Deck construction could mean building a deck before hand (as in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game) or building it as the game goes along by drafting cards from a pool; I viscerally prefer the former, but the other way would be more free-form and on-the-fly deck construction is fun too. With pre-built decks a player would still not quite be able to build their perfect gear setup every time; even if they don't draw their favorite low-level weapon early, they might get one or two other ones that get the job done.

Possibly, an Items deck containing generic weapons, armor, rings, spells, etc, which can be purchased in town

A figure representing each player's location as they move around.

Possibly, a basic 'character sheet' for each player ala Heroquest.

Rules and mechanics outline:
On their turn, each player (this game might be best as a single-player affair, though; Players could possibly cooperate in combat if the game phases are sequential- everyone moves then everyone encounters, then everyone does upkeep) can move, encounter the space they land on, and change equipment (and possibly draw a new card from their personal deck; there will have to be a mechanic for cycling through the cards in the personal deck, anyway). As players move off explored regions, new ones are played off the top of the Regions deck.

Each Region card has multiple Clearings, connected by paths. Each Clearing has a Danger Level (i.e. 1-10 or more), which is the number in the clearing plus the number of clearings between it and Town. Each Region has a Terrain Type (see above). When a player encounters a clearing, cards are revealed from the top of the Encounter deck until the Danger Level of the revealed cards exceeds the Danger Level of the clearing; then, the last revealed card is discarded and the player encounters the remaining cards. Discard any revealed cards whose listed valid Terrain Types do not include the Terrain Type of the Region where the clearing is located (encounters whose terrain type doesn't match are discarded as they come up; they don't count toward the Danger Level). This will cause the player to encounter a semi-random assortment of things of a semi-random difficulty, or possibly nothing at all if the first thing revealed exceeds the clearing's Danger level + distance.

Combat- Each combatant has the stats # of Attacks, Damage, Armor, and Hit Points. The player chooses where each attack is directed. Attacks occur in sequence, but in any order (except that all Ranged attacks must be resolved before any melee). Spells in combat could simply replace a player's attacks.
For each attack, Damage - Armor = wounds. When wounds = HP, combatant is killed. There, now wasn't that easy?

Weapons have a Heft value, and the player character has to have at least that much Strength/Body to use it. Heavier weapons generally do more damage. For each point of Dexterity/Agility the PC has in excess of the weapon's Heft, they get +1 attacks (PC base stats should start in the 0-2 range and not hit the 5-6 range until the end of the game). That should keep high-damage but slow combat strategies balanced with low-damage but agile ones; the latter will generally average more damage per round but may hit roadblocks against enemies with lots of armor (since armor is subtracted from each attack).

Combatants can easily have keyworded combat abilities; for example, "Charge X" might give them +X damage on the first round; "Ambush X" might prevent the first X damage to each ally during the first round; "Etherial" might cause attacks to miss some percent of the time; "Bodyguard X" might force the first X attacks to be directed at that unit; so on and so forth.

Thanks for reading all that- I don't know if I'll ever actually flesh this out, since it would need a huge pile of content I don't know if I can make and art I know I can't draw. But hopefully you at least got some ideas.

Willi B
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Huge project

I just got Magic Realm this year and am trying to explore it on Realmspeak a bit when I have time. I am really looking for a seasoned veteran to show me the nuances on this one.

I think making a modern Magic Realm is a good thing to try one day, but it would be huge. I really feel you would have to cut down both the setup time and the play time to make it have a chance at being successful.

There is just so much that makes the game good... that you will probably have to cannibalize something that some die hard fan will cry foul about when you get it to a reasonable length of play.

BTW - I've already "adapted" one of my favorite parts of the game into one of my designs - those wonderful tiles!

rcjames14
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Joined: 09/17/2010
The Pre-PC Age

Since the design involves simultaneously tracking a lot of triggered events between a large range of monsters which require arcane calculations, it is actually very well suited for what computers do best. Unfortunately, when it was originally published, personal computing was not in a position to tackle these things. So it's designers, like many at the time, loaded the box full of counters, rules sheets, cards and tiles.

However, many of the aspects of Magic Realm have been adopted one way or another by computer gaming over the past couple of decades. The Diablo series comes to mind. So, I'm not sure there is really any need to redo MR. Gaming has moved on to other types of market challenges and consumer circumstances than the designers faced in 1977/8. Digital gaming allows you to make games (albeit $50m projects) which far surpass it in complexity and multiplayer play, while hobby gaming has explored tighter, shorter more family friendly designs.

But, I must admit, like Willi B, I still find MR to be an inspiration. Especially the tile dynamic. So, I think there are things that can be gained from the game still. But, I'm pretty sure that if you want to create an abridged version of the game, you're going to have to scrap the fundamental mechanic of adventuring, or at least abstract it highly. I can see in my mind a way of making a lite-MR through card play alone. But, then, you would be competing with Munchkin, Magic and a variety of other dungeon/adventuring games out there.

So, I think the 'magic' will come from seeing how you can capture the spirit of the game in a medium not yet exploited. Already Thunderstones and Heroes of Graxia have taken away the deck building mechanic. But, fortunately... there are a lot of other mechanics available. How could you do MR as an auction mechanic? Or as a piece placement (no movement) game?

Just some thoughts.

Willi B
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Joined: 07/28/2008
If you really do tackle the project....

Remember:

Simplify, simplify, simplify. Should be every designers credo.

Fantasy is still one of the best genres to design in because the American fan base can never seem to get enough of it. Look at the Geek. Ravenloft, Defenders of the Realm, Graxia, Thunderstone... there's plenty of highly sought after games out there. However, you really have to come up with something new because there is such a glut of it.

I say, "Never say never."

Perhaps the best thing to do with MR is to start with much of the meat and add the other parts that you want to add with expansion rules.

Me, I'll just take the inspirations and concepts until someone bones up the rights and cash and asks me to redo it. Haha.

SiddGames
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Joined: 08/02/2008
Ditto

I've had Magic Realm redesign ideas simmering on a back burner for a long time. I agree that a modern take on it would have to increase the level of abstraction -- I think the key would be choosing which elements of the game (flavors, if you will) you like the most and trying to preserve/translate those into the new game.

I've never actually played MR, but based on what I know of the rules and from reading session reports, the elements that I'm most interested in preserving are:

* exploration
* different characters require different play styles
* freely support cooperation and competition between players
* freely support diplomacy, hiring, slaughtering of the NPC factions

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