Brainstorming help for multiple-universe wargame

This sounds like a complicated game - trying to keep track of two sets of characters on 2 different boards, but I have a couple of ideas.

To me it seems this game is about actions and consequences - what happens on one plane affects the other is some way, so perhaps that should be a really big part of the game.

1) Abilities and Magic: Have you considered active and passive versions. Whenever you use an ability or Magic that is always the active part. The passive effect will affect the character on the other plane. Passive effects could be negative as well. For instance, a haste type spell which allows your character to move faster, reduces the speed of the other linked character.

the more I think on this, the more I think that passive effects should always be negative. There must be a consequence somewhere for the action.

2) hit points: Why not have a set hit point value that is shared by both linked characters, so when one takes damage in one world, the other is weakened as well.

3)Proximity based Abilities: Why not? 'Closeness' would be subjective across planes. You could have a once per game ability that allows you to utilise the abilities of the other linked character. An even better way for this is that the Spirit world has unique abilites that are not found on the Material plane and vise versa and makes this even more useful.

This is an interesting concept.

The linked units really should be simmilar/the same ,

maybe a somehow different approach but it would certainly create a link:
Split the army into 2 different kinds of units: 1 part only exists on one world and has no linked partner (like some sort of king which has to be killed etc) and the battlefield shouldn't look the same on each side (maybe add some obstacles on one side which are not on the other) : now you could make units move simultaneously:

so if you move an archer on the real world one step forward, the other one does so too, if you give an archer on one of the worlds the attack command, the other one gets the attack command too

and here comes the tricky part: if a real unit moves forward and the spirit one should move forward too, but there is an obstacle in the spirit world, only the real one will move forward while the spirit one will stay where it is :
if a unit is on a side of the board and the other one moves in that direction, that unit will stay where it is while the other one will move that step
in this way you can rearrange your units etc.

you could make units which move simultaneously but still get one action for every side of the field: so you say i move the real unit -> the spirit one moves too and i move the spirit unit-> the real one moves too
the tricky part here is: a unit may not get an attack command/spell command if no target is in range: so when you attack with the real warrior to hit another real unit the spirit warrior of course gets an attack , if he has no unit to attack he just use that command he got from the real warrior
but when the spirit warrior wants to attack so the real warrior gets a command to attack the other real unit, he cannot: because the spirit has no target

maybe you should make the victory condition something like: if you loose on one board you loose completely

What types of actions do you have?
My ideas for you:
Move: Either force or allow both units to move at the same time. You could divide moves into 2 or 3 types: forward (aggressive), backward (defencive) and sideways (neutral). An aggressive move in one word should be followed by the same in the other world.
I do not know if the setup is the same in both worlds? That way you maybe should add some obstacles as suggested here before. What about making the moves on squares in the real world and hexes in the spirit world?

Attack: Both units may attack if they have an enemy in range. Or the spirit unit could (instead of attacking) in some way assist the real unit in the attack.

Spell: Depending on how powerful the spells are: one or both units may cast a spell. Some spells should work from the spirit world to the real world (through or with the real world unit), but a majority would work only in one of the worlds.

Heal: Even though healing of other units may be a spell you could also have healing as an independent action. I find it most logical that a spirit unit could temporary weaken itself to heal the real world unit. And a real unit could meditate (for example, temporary loose their ability to defend) to heal the spirit unit.

Of course you will have to balance the number of actions (you said 7) with the possibilities of double actions (move, attack and/or spell).
Another idea: Have hitpoints in the spirit world linked to blocking ability in the real world (a healthy spirit makes an alert mind).

Please keep me (us) updated, this was an exciting project...

this guy is making up ideas for computer games but this one seems simmilar to your boardgame: http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=99

This certaintly isn't a drawing board issue. It's a unit design issue. I'm sure 90% of your mechanic base is sound and near finalized (reading your blog briefly seems to confirm this)...

What you really need to do is possibly look at your mechanic base, see what works well, and design units the highlight those strengths. I'm a CCG designer at heart, so I know this to be true for games where a lot of the functions of the game is off loaded to cards/character classes.

You simply must design the unique elements to the game to the framework, and not the other way around. By "unique elements" I mean the individual character classes, the units. The things you would release in expansion packs.

It seems you are trying to take your fixed character classes and rework your framework around them. You're asking "how do I change the rules to make my characters better to use," and outside of some cases where you're early in design and still understanding your core mechanics, that shouldn't be the question.

I think you should be asking "how can I design characters that make my framework fun to play in?" and if you can find that answer you'll have a good end product.

I think you might have to refine some structural stuff (like I pointed out, I'm still not sure why you let linked characters be cross class), but the core pillars of the game seems to have nothing they are holding up. If that analogy makes sense.

Just brainstorming some ideas that might help from a framework level, since that's what you asked for originally:

1) You need a connecting mechanic. Right now it seems that nothing really makes the link meaningful mechanically. As in, the actions of one have very little bearing on the other. You'll see most of the suggestions your getting are how to make one effect the other. I'm worried this path will lead you to some half answers. Why not instead look for ways that one playing the game well will use the moves in boths realms to preform better. For example, a player who uses their spirit player unit to perfection will still be beat by a unit in the spirit realm if their linked unit in the real realm is preforming well.

The idea is the tactics in one world carry over. So a real world unit making a chant or prayer gives the spirit link a power/speed boost? I'm sure you have these sorts of effects, but I think they will need to be the most present of all effects. Effects that are mono realm seem to be leftovers from a different game. This game is about the two realms, and a vast majority of the effects should effect either both, or the other realm, and not it's own.

2.) I noticed you mentioned some "energy" system on your blog. This is a perfect opportunity to integrate the realms. Create a shared resources that each linked unit pair must share. Something like "Bond" or "Faith" depending on your theme. The idea is that effects cost "bond" to be played or exerted. And there are ways to gain bond back, but it's separate than HP since HP is not linked. A character without a Bond to it's link is weakened (possibly it's linked effects mentioned in idea 1 don't cross realms, as in "I can't cast this chant to my spirit link, I'm not bonded to it)...So now a player has to choose "Do I use the bond i've built up for actions in the spirit or the real realm," "How do I divide them," or "how do I maintain them against skills that are designed to break bond?"

Then you can design skills that don't target HP but are designed to delink the linked pairs. This introduces a whole new tactic to your game where players may not try to outright kill units off the bat, but "divide and conquer" if you will by breaking the link bonds, thus rending many of the player's skills obsolete (until they can relink of course!)

3.) If you don't like Bond, possibly have a resource that is gained in one realm and spent in the other. This ties back into Idea 1, but is at the mechanic level instead of the effect level.

In essence, damage in the spirit realm isn't damage. Instead when a spirit link does damage to an opponent in the spirit realm it create some sort of resource, call it "Energy" to steal your term. This energy is only exists in the real realm and is used to pay for skills.

So the idea is the battle in the spirit realm isn't really a true "i'm going to kill you" combat, it's more about making it so the real characters are powered up. Instead of most games in this genre were energy is just allotted each turn, you have this whole subgame where players are fighting for energy from the spirit realm to unleash stronger skills in the real realm. This idea is a little lower level than my others, but it's something to think about.

--

The bulk of this is really about just trying to spark your brain with some way to make the link pairs actually linked. It seems right now they are linked in name alone. How you tackle this, whether at the mechanic level or not is up to you, but I'm as certain as I can be with the knowledge I have that you'll have to tackle this at the effect level for the game to feel complete.

I'm looking forward to this game.