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[GDS] November 2012 "Crossover Appeal"

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Fri, 11/02/2012 - 20:56
sedjtroll
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November 2012 Game Design Showdown - "Crossover Appeal"

Please Read: Details on entering the Game Design Showdown.

Sorry about the delay - despite being under the weather, I had a great time at BGG.con last week! Now that I'm back, I offer the dramatic conclusion of this month's Game Design Showdown...

The votes are in!

1st place, with 9 votes: The Risk-Takers of Catan, by Qwibbian
2nd place, with 8 votes: The videogame boardgame, by bike
Tied for 3rd place, with 5 votes each: Agents, military camps and gold, by regzr and Conglomerate, by AnEvenWeirderMove
5th place, with 3 votes: Mickey's Assault on Catan's Real Estate, by williamj35

Congrats! Thanks for entering, and I apologize again for the delay in posting the winner. The Critiques Thread is open for business!

Crossover: The recent acquisition of LucasArts by Disney has taken a lot of people by surprise. FaceBook is awash with images of the Death Star made to look like Micky Mouse, and jokes about Leia being one of the Disney princesses. But crossovers are nothing new - TV and comics have been crossing storylines for ages.

November's showdown challenges you to create a new Game Experience by combining aspects of existing, established games. Choose main mechanisms from 2 or 3 of the games below, and put them together to make a new and different Game Experience. 2 bonus votes for using the theme of Disney acquiring LucasArts :)

Have fun!

Games to choose from:
- Puerto Rico
- Risk
- Power Grid
- Monopoly
- Settlers of Catan
- Age of Steam / Railroad Tycoon

Word Limit: Let's go with an even 500 word limit this time.

Voting: Award a Gold, Silver, and Bronze (worth 3,2, and 1 points respectively) Medals to your three favorite entries. Any entrant that does not award all three Medals will receive a Pyrite Meal (that's "Fool's Gold") worth -3 votes!

When submitting your entry: Please PM submissions to sedjtroll with the following subject line. PLEASE use the correct subject - it makes my job much easier!

Subject: GDS - NOV - [your username]

  • Submissions: Friday the 2nd through to Friday the 9th.
  • Voting: Through to the the 16th. PM your votes to sedjtroll.
  • Voting Format: Each person has 3 Medals (Gold, Silver, and Bronze - with values 3, 2, and 1 vote respectively) to distribute any way they choose among the GDS entries with the following restrictions:
    • Entrants may not assign any Medals to their own entry!
    • Entrants must assign all 3 Medals.
    • An entrant who does not assign all 3 Medals will receive a Pyrite Medal (-3 votes) as a penalty.

  • Comments or Questions: Comments and questions about this Challenge were handled on the Comments Thread.

  • CRITIQUES: After voting has closed the entries will be posted for comments and critiques. Post constructive critiques and commentary about the entries to this Challenge in the Critiques Thread.
  • GDS Details: For more details on how these Game Design Showdown Challenges work, especially the details around the word count and graphics limits, visit the GDS Wiki Page.

Enjoy, and good luck!
-Seth

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Sat, 11/10/2012 - 23:34
#1
sedjtroll
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Entry #1 - Mickey's Assault on Catan's Real Estate

Mickey's Assault on Catan's Real Estate

Players 1-4

Requires:

  • one set settlers of catan
  • one set Star Wars Monopoly
  • A punch bowl full of Lightsaber Mikey Meeples (LMMs) in 4 colors
  • A Darth Vader Goofy Minifigure

Set up:

  • Set up a standard Settler's of Catan game.
  • Shuffle the deck of property cards and place one random property on each Settler's hex
  • Players each roll 2 six-sided dice and place their starting set of 10 LMMs in the corresponding hexes. (No players' LMMs may share a hex)
  • Give each player 1500 dollars.
  • Place the Darth Vader Goofy Mini in the center hex

Decide start player

Turn Phases:
1. Resource Phase.
- Main player rolls 2 six-sided dice. Players collect resources (as in Settlers) - Players who own property in corresponding hexes may collect rent from players with adjacent settlements
2. Trading Phase.
- Players may now all trade goods, money, and property with the main player. - Players may also make non-binding promises about what they will do with their LMMs. - Example: "I'll move out of the 8 hex and attack green if you give me 2 wool and 500 bucks"
3. Building Phase.
- Main player may build (as in Settlers) - Main player may build houses or hotels on properties he or she controls - Main player may also build LMMs for one wood and one sheep each or 100 dollars each. These are added to troops mustered in the next phase.
4. Muster troops.
- Main player gains one new LMM for each territory controlled, 1 for each settlement and road, and 5 for each monopoly owned. He or she may place these in any hex already controlled by his or her LMMs.
5. War phase. Main player may now move groups of LMMs into adjacent territory.
- If the adjacent territory contains enemy LMMs, resolve a battle (as in Risk) - If the adjacent territory contains a property owned by another player, pay that player rent, and then take control of the property.

If at anytime any player rolls a 7 (during Resource Phase or War Phase): the player who rolled the 7 may move the Darth Vader Goofy mini figure into any adjacent territory, collect one random resource from the hand of each player with an adjacent settlement, eliminate any enemy LMMs in the hex, and take control of the property in that hex.

Game ends when either:
A) A player gains 10 Settler's points
B) Only 1 player has LMMs on the board
C) 1 player controls all property on the board

After game ends:
Players sell all resources for 25 dollars each.
Players gain 50 dollars for each road and 100 for each settlement
Players gain 25 dollars for each hex controlled by their LMMs
Players sell their property to the bank.

Winner:
Player with the most money wins.

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Sat, 11/10/2012 - 23:36
#2
sedjtroll
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Entry #2 - The videogame boardgame

The Videogame Boardgame

6 Companies in market of videogames create new products for which they search buyers. By selling they make money and get bigger.
Buyers are geographically spread and have different interests. Players take shares in companies, earning money by helping the companies.

Concepts:

  • Shares are represented by 4 cards per company: 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. The 24 cards are shuffled, 8 are opened and sorted. The 4 lowest ones are available as in Powergrid.
  • There are 6 different interests, every person has one interest. They are represented by coloured blocks. Each company serves 2 - 3 of those interests.
  • Board setup like Catan, where each hexagram represents an interest. Each intersection is a city. (Cities can have a maximum of three interests) When a hexagram value is thrown all six cities on corners receive an extra person of that colour. With 3 people a city is full.
  • Players have starting money.

Gameplay:

  1. New potiential buyers: Each player throws the two dice and adds people around the hexagram number thrown.
  2. Acquire shares: Players make bids for available shares. Each player takes one (or zero) share per turn. The first player to take a share in a company places this company's headquarter in a city on the board. A new sharecard is added after each buy, and sharecards are sorted (as in Powergrid)
  3. Production: Each company produces new products related to its size (starts with 3).
  4. Selling: Products must be connected to people with interest. Starting with the weakest player, every player may sell one product of a company he has shares in. He takes the product to a city with an interested person in it. He pays one gold per city he passes (closer is cheaper – free if iinterest in headquarter city). (Railroad Tycoon without building the tracks and different pay method) Player earns 5 gold for selling, and each shareholder received 1 gold per 10% shares. Continue until all players pass, or all products are sold. Discard unsold products.
  5. Growing companies - Companies start with size 3. When there are 4 products sold the company grows to size 4. When there are 5 more products sold (total 9) it grows to size 5. Etc. Players may pay a 5 gold investment per product missing to force growth without selling. Shareholders may do this together.
  6. Market: Players can trade shares and money.

Play finishes two rounds after the last new share is bought (last two rounds skip phase 2)

Scoring: Each company is worth its size x 10. Pay shareholders. Most money wins.

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Sat, 11/10/2012 - 23:44
#3
sedjtroll
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Entry #3 - Agents, military camps and gold

Agents, military camps and gold

Light strategy game, 3 - 5 players.

PRELIMINARIES

Parts

Risk style board Continent cards Country cards Capitol cards Envelopes Military units Agents (numbered) Gold 5 Capitols Pen and paper 5 Dice

Prices in gold

Military unit --- 2
Camp rent --- 5
Building:
camp --- 2
recruiting office --- 3
agent institute --- 5
gold mine --- 7

In the beginning

Players come to a conclusion how many rounds the game lasts. Deal one continent card and one capitol card to each of the players and reject rest. Deal all country cards. Do not look nor show who got what. Let players draw five agents. Agent numbers are kept hidden from other players. All the agents look the same. Distribute two times so many gold as player has country cards. Each player lays a country card face down on the table and drops a capitol card on top of it.

The secret envelope mess

Players put an agent and a country card in an envelope. Envelopes are shuffled and opened one by one. Agents are placed on the board where the card in the envelope indicates. Envelope mess is repeated until all agents are on the field.

Military occupation

On their turn, players drop one military unit in the country which is not yet occupied. Not in those countries that have an agent. Dropping continues till all occupied. Then seven extra units will be placed in the same manner. Now a country can house more than one unit. Each player's units are different color. At this point players military unit reserve is empty.

PLAY

On her turn, a player can buy military units or agents. And move his reserve units to the board. Next, fight with neighbours. Then player rearranges units. Puts agents on field. Building. Last, collects gold (in line with country possession) and pays camp rent.

Agent operations

In one country can operate only one agent. Where you have an agent, there you are allowed to build profitable things. Things can be built in this order: camp, recruiting office, agent institute and gold mine. Things that will be earned: rent (gold), military units, agents and gold.

If a foreign military unit enters a country where a camp is situated, the owner of that unit pays rent to the agent (in the end of the turn). Agents can't be deleted, but in case of an invasion, military can fight against the agent and force the agent to flee to home (reserve). If a camp is one's own, one does not pay rent.

Fighting

Risk style dice roll. No country is left empty. An agent or a military unit must be left on sight.

Secrets

Agent's owner is revealed when country is under attack, or owner starts to build there. Capitol is revealed at least when it is under threat.

How to win

If your capitol is captured, you are lost and your troops, agents and buildings are switched. The conqueror owns them now. The player first to occupy the continent that's on his continent card, wins. If nobody, the player owning the most gold in the end of the game, is the winner.

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Sat, 11/10/2012 - 23:46
#4
sedjtroll
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Entry #4 - The Risk-Takers of Catan

The Risk-Takers of Catan

The settlers of Catan are at war! Will you be able to defend your territories while developing your settlements? Victory awaits the bold!

Game components:

  • Settlers of Catan (basic game)
  • Armies from Risk (match colours with your Catan playing pieces)

Objective: There are now two ways to win the game:

  • accumulate 10 or more victory points (basic Catan rules)
  • control every terrain hex on the board (except mountains and the desert).

Setup:

  • Follow all of the setup rules for Settlers of Catan.
  • Each player then takes armies of their colour as follows:
    2 players: 15 armies each
    3 players: 12 armies each
    4 players: 10 armies each
  • Roll to determine who starts army placement. Place army pieces one at a time on terrain hexes as per the rules for Risk. No armies may be placed on mountain terrain or the desert, and throughout the game, mountains and the desert may never have armies on them. There are no other restrictions on the placement of armies (i.e., players may place armies next to opponents’ settlements, roads, etc., and even in terrain hexes that have no adjacent settlements).
  • Once the last army has been placed, role dice to determine who will start the game.

Game play:

  • Follow all of the rules for Settlers of Catan, with the additional rules below.
  • At the beginning of your turn, you receive one army for every three terrain hexes you control (ignore fractions). You receive a minimum of 2 armies per turn. You also receive a bonus army for each terrain type in which you control all tiles of that type (e.g., all three hills, all four forests). Place these armies on any terrain hexes you control (as per the rules of Risk).
  • During your turn, you may attack an adjacent terrain hex following the rules from Risk. Hexes connected via roads you control are considered adjacent. Note that a road can allow your armies to pass “through” (around) a mountain hex to reach hexes on the other side.
  • As per the rules of Risk, you may attack as often as you wish during a turn, or not at all. You may also start an attack from one hex, and then continue from another. Remember the restrictions on # of dice you may role and minimum # of armies you must move into a captured terrain.
  • Each time you capture a terrain hex, you immediately receive a resource card from the stockpile of the type of resource that terrain can produce.
  • At the end of your turn, you may make one “free move”, as per the rules of Risk. As when attacking, adjacent hexes include those connected via a road you control.
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Sat, 11/10/2012 - 23:49
#5
sedjtroll
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Entry #5 - Conglomerate

Conglomerate

(Merging PR, Catan, and Monopoly)

In "Conglomerate", players take on the roles of media corporations, buying and selling smaller companies as they generate pieces of IP of varying types. Each round, a number of companies are founded based on the number of open spots on the indie market. Then, established companies will create pieces of IP in varying themes based on a 2d6 roll. For example, "Nebulon Horizons" creates 1 "Sci-Fi" IP on a roll of 6, 7, or 8. This deck also contains event cards, signalling special actions available for the remainder of the game. The deck is organized into stages, with more powerful cards/companies appearing in later stages.

In turn order, Players will select a role for their company to complete this round. Selecting the role gives the player some advantage, but other players can also complete the action. Each role may only be selected once per round. At the end of a round, the first player marker moves to the left.

Players can:

  • "Invest" in companies (paying money to put control tokens on companies),
  • "License" pieces of IP (selling pieces of IP to collect cash),
  • "Rebrand" an IP (take an IP from a company they have a control marker on, paying competitors for the right)
  • "Develop" IP (taking any single piece of IP of their choosing),
  • "Acquire" companies (paying competitors money to take total control of it) or "Produce" content, (trading in sets of IP for victory points.) Perform an event action, placing a control marker on the event card. (Event cards' effects depend on the total number of control markers on them)

Players invest in companies, placing control markers on them. Players can then take these companies' IP, but should be wary; Another player might buy the company outright! Of course, the former controlling players will recieve some money (exponentially more for having more control markers on the company) but won't be able to collect any more IP from that company. Don't worry, there are always new indie developers ripe for the purchasing!

IP can be used in multiple ways: First, it can be Licensed. When a player Licenses IP they can place it on one of those tiles, collecting money. No IP of the same type may be Licensed to that same market until the tile is full, and the player is rewarded with more money based on the number of already-filled spaces.

IP can also be used to produce content, which can be traded in specific combinations for victory points. These combinations are represented by Media tiles. (For example, the Steampunk Movie requires 3 Period Piece and 2 Sci-Fi IP) However, once a specific combination has been traded in, its tile is flipped over and that same combination cannot be used again until all other combinations have been used.

Once the Media tiles have been exhausted for the third time, or once the deck has been exhausted, the game ends and the player with the most VP is the winner!

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