I'm currently brainstorming on a civilization game and had a new idea for the terrain/map. The game includes 10-15 tiles(similar to the ones found in Tempus: http://boardgamegeek.com/image/316120), each tile has seven territories marked with different terrain types that effect gameplay. On the back of the tile are small boxes of text that effect different regions. This is when the fun begins, during play land tiles can be flipped(using action cards) bringing special conditions into play. This means if you built a town on a territory that has a brigand event, you will experience this event as long as that tile is flipped by other players.
I've run into a few problems with this idea, and here they are. Potentially, a player could flip a tile to see what the events/conditions are before he settles on that territory. This seems like a design flaw, so maybe you can only flip a tile if it has occupation(populace, towns) equal to the unique number on the action card. This means there are three different strengths of flip action cards. The lower the number, the better.
Here's another problem, every time you flip a tile you must remove every game piece occupying that tile and remember their places. On a cramped playing surface this could be a major problem with the game, but I guess that's the players fault.
I hope I can get your imput on this unique idea. Replies, ideas, opinions, and suggestions greatly appreciated!
Lucas
Thank you for all of your great ideas, I'm afraid I can't use all of them though... Kodarr, I like your idea for having random tokens being flipped as the game progresses. The reason I liked the idea of having the events on the tiles is this: one, the game would be cheaper to manufacture, second, I would eliminate any sort of "event" deck I was planning to use. Well, when my swordfighting card game is published(more on that later) I can start thinking about this game in depth. Thanks for the replies, if any of you can think of better/more ideas please let me know!
Lucas