So I love board games because they give you the opportunity to sit around with friends and have real human interaction; whereas, video games are equivalence to texting. There is absolutely no human interaction, you can say and do what every you want with very little consequence or social awkwardness.
So looking for a board game with real depth I have ruefully found that most big and epic board games are full of filth. (Filth is defined as women fighting through dungeons wearing nigh to nothing. The question always comes up in ones mind, if I was fighting in a dungeon how comfortable would that be, and who are these artists who seem obsessed with drawing such riske drawings that are potentially going to be viewed by children.) So I decided I want to make a dungeon crawl that First I would like to play and second is not full of skimpy dressed weapon yielding swords, so my solution is Downfall.
Downfall is still in the early stages but I have made great progress with the mechanics and meat of the game. Within a week I am hoping to test it to see what works and what doesn't so I can start to refine my ideas and the game play itself.
Story (very basic will develop more fully later): An evil tyrant trapped their soul in a crystal to grant themselves immortality. High atop their tower monsters and villains are gathering in hopes of reclaiming a long lost empire ruled under such a powerful being. Seeing the danger growing a group of heroes has gathered to journey to the top of the tower and shatter the soul; thus ridding the world of its evil forever.
Basic Game Play: 1 human plays as the evil crystal. They are the dungeon master, the game keeper, the whatever you want to call it. It is their purpose to kill the heroes and defend their tower. They have a set number of points they can spend each turn on laying monsters, traps, or other miscellaneous goodies and are allowed, like the heroes, to actually go up levels in order to spend more points per turn, get access to more powerful monsters and special abilities. They also get bonus points for giving the players beneficial items. So if the Bad Player gives a room with a pile of gold to the heroes, the villain will actually be benefited with points as well.
The heroes progress through the tower and try and reach the top. If even one player dies, then it is game over for them and the bad player wins. However, if the heroes manage to reach the top of the tower and destroy the crystal then the heroes win and the bad player loses.
Unique concepts to the game:
*The dungeon master actually builds and gains skills through their actions. *There is no set quests spelled out from a rule book, rather the board is designed by a real human, making for a unique game every time. *Skills have levels that can be increased. *Items and Weapons also have levels that they can be made into better weapons. For example a level 1 dagger does nothing, but a level 2 dagger may have poison on it. *The game progresses by having a dice rolled. If it is a certain number is rolled then stairs going up must be placed in that room. The game can be played for 30 minutes - 4 hours according to how hard it is to roll that number. So for example if you want a long game you make it that you have to roll a 1 on a 20 sided dice in order to find stairs. Whereas if you want a short game you say you have to roll a 1-5 on a 20 sided dice in order to find stairs. So the game appeals to casual and hard core gamers alike. *Different races and different classes make more combination of playable characters. *Original monsters. Some very unique monsters never seen before. *Focus on glorifying not only killing monsters but also avoiding monsters.
So again the game is still in its early stages, but I have a lot of skills and spells laid out and will be testing the game shortly. I have also done just some brief concept art to help me get a feel of how I want this game to look like, play like, and feel like. Here is a Grevlin Vulture. It is kind of a mix between a wyvern and a basilisk; but much smaller.
