After a lot of thought the rough idea of simply needing to fill your rowboat so that it is balanced weight-wise is taking an interesting direction.
First the premise: During the time of marauding pirates there was a secret archipelago where several pirate captains hid their spoils from the world. This archipelago was made up of a dormant volcano with four islands surrounding it. One day sulphur smelling smoke and rumbling sounds started coming from the volcano and it became apparent that it was waking up and threatening to claim the treasures of the four islands for itself. A group of captains decided to hesitantly work together to retrieve as much tresure as possible. Many of the captains who buried their treasures there were long gone so it seemed a waste to let the volcano claim them for itself After much searching the captains aquired quite a number of maps that revealed locations of these treasures and they all embarked for the Archipelago. One there the captains work to fill their rowboats with crew needed to retrieve individual treasure according to the specifications of the maps as well as balancing the rowboat so it doesn't tip over during it's travel. The first captain to assemble the right crew to man the rowboat will be able to retrieve and claim the treasure. However with each treasure taken from the islands the volcano gets closer to erupting. Who will have the most treasure at the end of the day?
Next is gameplay: At this point there is a main board which shows the islands and each players (captains) crew and player boards which show their rowboat. A map card is put on each island and shows a series of objects needed to retrieve that treasure as well as it's value and a special abiliy, if any, that the player can use if they retrieve that treasure. In front of each player is a stack of pirate tiles (their crew) and spaces where their crew members ard lined up. The pirate tiles show what size the pirate is (scrawny, beefy, burly, husky or 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively) and whether they are carrying any special objects (shovel, ax, lantern, rope, compass, spy glass, dynamite, or parrot). On their turn players can take a pirate from their lineup and put it on their rowboat, recruite a pirate from another player for a cost and put it on their rowboat, or rearrange the pirates currently on the rowboat. To claim a treasure a player must have a full rowboat with each object needed to retrieve the treasure (according to the map card) and the sum of each side of the rowboat must be equal. When a player retrives a treasure they can redeem it for it value from the bank or save it to use its special ability. Once its special ability is used then the player automatically redeems the card for its value and discards it. Treasures not redeemed by the end of the game are worth nothing. When a treasure is retrieved the marker on the volcano track is advanced by one once it gets to 13 the volcano erupts and the game is over (naturally the pirates escape with their bounty). The player with the most gold wins the game.
Design challenges: Right now I'm just trying to work out the basic mechanics as well as the distributions for the pirates and map cards. I've also got some ideas for advanced play but need to work out the basics first.
