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Running around the board like in Talisman and Relic

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Mon, 10/21/2013 - 13:48
larienna
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I have an adventure game in design about dracula's castle. One of the option I have for the board is to have a 5x5 grid where the outer circle is the castle surroundings, the inner circle is the castle itself, and the center is the inner keep.

Now that model looks pretty similar to Talisman and Relic which are 2 games I have seen but never played yet.

So the question is what is the idea or goal in those games to run around the board and then enter the inner circle? From what I understand, it's just a matter of level upping. You level up in the outer circle and when you are strong enough you jump into the inner circle.

Are there other reasons to move in or even move out of the inner circle?

In my game, my original idea was for the players to find an entrance to the castle. But once inside, the outer section is not used anymore. The problem is that the outer part of the board is actually half of the board.

So either it takes a lot of time to get into the castle, or either there some reasons to move out. For example, some events forces the player to move in an outdoor location to solve a problem. Else I could make larger tiles to reduce the number of outside location and focus on the interior of the castle.

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Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:46
#1
Corsaire
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In Talisman, the outer path

In Talisman, the outer path is definitely an area for development. You're raising stats and getting items. The middle area has some increased encounters (get more cards on a space) with higher risk (bonuses to monsters there.) One reason to be in the middle area is to avoid encountering other players, but mainly it is to push forward and work into the inner area.

Because you get a new character if your character loses all its life, the outer area also allows redeveloping your next character. Sometimes a character doesn't have their base stats raised as much as having a lot of items or followers to enhance them. If a disaster happens and they lose those items, they may go back out to regear. And there are events that teleport you back out.

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Mon, 10/21/2013 - 23:18
#2
BENagy
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Two obvious options which you

Two obvious options which you might have already considered (and dismissed), are to have the board be bigger (maybe 6x6?), or to have the "inner area" be 4x5, so that you only have a 1x5 strip for your "outer area".

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Mon, 10/21/2013 - 23:54
#3
questccg
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Two board are better than one!

My suggestion isn't perfect - but works if players are playing a cooperative game.

Have the board be DUAL-SIDED. Originally the *team* plays "outside/Side 1" board and when players and then flip the board over when it comes time to play "inside/Side 2"...

Ya it will be COSTLY to produce a dual-sided board. But it's possible. I know this because not too long ago I got a quote from China for my game. And I sent them the game's requirements and they returned to me a "completed" version. What I mean is that they added things like paper thickness, dice sizes and print colours.

So when they say "playmat 4/0 60pt chipboard" means that the chipboard is 60pt thick and full colour on ONE SIDE (4) and NOTHING (0) on the back. So this must mean having a board to be dual-sided is POSSIBLE.

I know this solution is not perfect because EVERYONE must venture inside the Castle... But if it's cooperative it would work... The party needs to agree when to venture inside.

BTW I know it's not a PERFECT solution... My other solution was to have different PLAYMATS. All players must traverse ONE MAT (From one side to the other) to move on to the NEXT mat... That could also be cool - but again not perfect...

Just some ideas, I am sure you have probably thought about these already...

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Tue, 10/22/2013 - 09:02
#4
larienna
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Reducing the outer area is

Reducing the outer area is not much a problem. I could make bigger tiles that cover more physical space but that still count as 1 space. (ex: 4 corner section that surrounds the board).

On BGG, some people mentionned that any encounter stay on the board once encountered. That could be an interesting element I could also use, but slightly differently.

What I am considering is the possibility to move back outside for certain reason. Else, once the characters are inside the castle, there is no need for the outer board.

In talisman, the outer board is still justified because once you lose a character, you start again outside the castle to level up before getting in. Another situation is that some events kick you out of the inner ring.

Else, I was thinking that dracula could have plot cards that forces the players to move outside to prevent him from succeeding.

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Mon, 11/04/2013 - 17:16
#5
GuruForge
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Dead Panic

I would take a look at Dead Panic. It just came out and employs the idea of having to leave the center area (cabin) in order to retrieve items or preemptively strike enemies that are coming towards the center. Maybe your game could include attackers which start on the outer circle borders, move towards the center, and upon reaching the inner circle would do damage to all players... This would force players to return to the outer area periodically or risked losing their level up advantages. Then you could sweeten the deal by having defeated attackers drop loot/treasure! If you made the reward for venturing out sweet enough then it would also attract the players who are in the lead, thus balancing the occupation of the inner keep. Still, doing that would mean the killing attacker reward system cannot be directly linked to the level up aspect of the inner keep, but instead be a decent supplementary reward system. Good luck!

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Mon, 11/04/2013 - 23:35
#6
larienna
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One thing I thought is that

One thing I thought is that level uping could only be done in village areas outside the castle. Forcing players to get out to upgrade their characters. It's a bit like going to the pit to change tires in a racing game.

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Tue, 11/05/2013 - 05:02
#7
kos
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Useful things to do

Along the lines of the levelling up in the outer ring, there could be other places out there that player want/need to visit.
- Spend money at the shop to buy equipment.
- Give hieroglyphs (which are only found inside the castle) to the Scribe to earn a reward.
- Recover health / energy / sanity / ammo / etc.
- Visit a quest-giver to receive objective rewards and pick up new objective cards.

Regards,
kos

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Tue, 11/05/2013 - 07:53
#8
pelle
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Sounds like most suggestions

Sounds like most suggestions are essentially about reducing the outer area to that place in many (C)RPGs that you return to for buying things, training, rest etc that most of them have. Just an observation, not saying that it is a bad idea, but I do not think it has much in common with an outer-area like in Talisman (which, btw, I have no really good memories of; only everyone grinding for hours before someone dared move towards the center of the map).

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