This is the framework of what I have in mind for the Game. Obviously it's nowhere near done, but I hope that getting it out there will help it start in the right direction. Do you think this concept is good enough to become a decent game someday?
That brings me to archaeology (in the Tomb Raider sense). The premise I came up with is that you play as a group of archaeologists, all of whom are infected with lycanthropy. Your goal is to investigate a lost civilization in search of a possible cure, a ceremonial knife that legend claims can turn someone into a werewolf or reverse the process (these ancients were wolf crazy, emphasis on the crazy). Naturally, the knife has also attracted your local armed thugs who (surprise!) want to steal it for their own diabolical purposes. In a disastrous lack of planning, they decided to go after this knife on the night of the full moon.
Yeah, they really didn't think this through.
Basically, the game would run like this: Every turn, the players individually roll a handful of six sided dice, which they would then use to move (by discarding one), take actions (by assigning several), or use cards. The actions you can take differ from room to room, so you'll want to always find new rooms and backtrack to previous areas depending on your needs. Each tile would have icons in the corner that represent the different actions you can take there and which kind of dice you need to use them (a 4+ for example). I currently have nine attributes in mind:
The attributes embody mechanics that combine with tile's illustrations to generate a specific theme. Are you using that block to weigh down a switch or to reach a higher ledge? Is that a pool of water or some primordial ooze? Is that trap a spike pit, an ancient flamethrower, or a boulder? It all depends on what you see on the tile.
In addition to the tiles, you also have two decks of cards to work with: Equipment Cards and Werewolf Cards. Equipment Cards are the basic single-use resources of the game and are themed after archaeological tools, such as maps, bandages, and rope. Werewolf Cards are stat boosts and can also give you special abilities, like unique combat moves or the ability to heal yourself without the Healing attribute.
Right now, figuring out how the enemies should work is a huge stumper. In addition to that, I have the vague idea that finding the knife should involve fulfilling an objective first, but I have no idea what that should be. Killing enemies? Randomly finding it while searching? Exploring a certain number of rooms? Make it random? Beats me.
Aside from those vague areas, what do you guys think of the idea? Does it sound thematic? Do the mechanics sound interesting? Is the tile-exploration genre overdone? Whatever the feedback, thanks for reading!
That's the idea. I thought that Betrayal had some great ideas, but the exploration itself was not a strong point. Once I found the bedroom and drew its card, there was no reason for me to return. My group also had one or two incidents where a bizarre mechanic in the haunt won or lost the game (if the traitor just killed the owner of the last voodoo doll, why do the survivors win?), at which point I wished that the experience was a little more polished in general.