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Dungeon Draw

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JewellGames
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Rules | Cards

In Dungeon Draw, you are a brave hero looking for treasure hidden away in dungeons. Press your luck by delving deeper into a dungeon for more treasure, but delve too far, and you might come back empty handed!

Dungeon Draw is played by 2-5 heroes in about 15-20 minutes. On your turn, draw cards one at a time, trying to gather treasure from items and monsters in the dungeon. Continue to draw different cards and your treasure grows, but encounter two of the same monster and you must flee, dropping all your loot in the process. The first player to return home with enough treasure to finally retire from adventuring is the winner! So, are you ready to delve right in?

JewellGames
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prototypes

Here are a few pics of the initial prototypes. I sent the PDF card file to my local UPS store and had the cards printed on 80lb cardstock for $1.62. Then, I cut and sleeved em.

Note: click images to enlarge

JewellGames
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Customizing the Deck

Customizing the Deck for Replay Value

So I am working on a mini-expansion called "Elite Monsters". This will introduce 8 new monsters that all have powers.

So, how does this affect the deck and replay value?

First, let me start by saying that I have designed this game so that the core 16 cards (the 8 sets of 2 items) always remain in the deck. And, the base game purposely has 8 monsters with no special powers.

Length
Theoretically, with the base game of 24 cards you could draw 16 cards without busting (one of each item and all 8 monsters) so the dungeon's "length" is 16.

If you wanted to make the dungeon easier and increase its length to say 20, you simply could add 4 new monsters from the expansion to your deck for a total of 28 cards. This effectively "dilutes" the deck and increases the average number of draws before busting, so you can potentially delve deeper each turn.

Difficulty
In the base game, the dungeon difficulty is medium. None of the monsters have powers which is neither good nor bad. Some of the new powers help you score more points but some of the new powers can make it more difficult to score points. So adding or exchanging specific monsters to the deck affects the dungeon's difficulty.

Example: I could remove the Ooze from the game and replace it with the Demon. The Demon is worth only 1 point just like the Ooze but its power states, "The Shrine's power is disabled." As you see, this power could potentially prevent you from scoring points (after busting) that you normally would earn from the Shrine without the Demon in the dungeon.

With this one minor change, the dungeon's length remains the same at 16 but the difficulty got just a tad harder.

You could change both the length and difficulty level at once by adding instead of replacing two new monsters with negative powers to the deck for 26 total cards. While this does dilute the deck and extend the dungeon's length to 18, those monster powers also potentially make it more difficult to score points.

Ultimately, you will be able to create any combination of length and/or difficulty you want by adding, removing, and/or exchanging the monsters from or to the deck!

I would suggest if you make the dungeon easier to bump the winning point threshold up as you see fit. Also, I will eventually have some "suggested" dungeon configurations as a reference guide.

Bottomline, there is potential here for a lot of replayability and customizing. I will probably release even more monsters, over a period of time, depending on reception and interest.

Thanks for reading!

The Chaz
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The game has a real appealing look to it. Just a few comments:

What is a dungeon? It should be explicitly stated, before the first time it's used in context. The reader should not have to deduce what this concept is.

"Shuffle all 24 cards into the deck" could use some re-wording, especially since the entire deck is 24 cards.

Dungeon row could be clarified. It's clear to me that each new card after the first in a dungeon is placed to the right of the previous card, to form a row. But I've read upwards of 300 rule books! This should be accessible to new gamers.

There is this idea that you can pick up where the previous player left off - heck, this might even be the main way that players score points! This concept needs to be clarified.

How does enter the dungeon work if you a starting a new dungeon? The language isn't consistent.

Is it true that the first card you flip on your turn can't trigger a "bust"? The language sure indicates that. If that is the case, then why wouldn't you just pick up where the previous player left off, every single turn? Just add a card, and you're guaranteed to score >= what they scored, no? (Note, I have not looked through all of the cards... just plowing through the rules)

JewellGames
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Thank you for the feedback.

Thank you for the feedback. The mechanics are pretty solid but the wording of the rules needs work, so this is exactly what I was hoping for.

The rules should convey that you can bust on the first card drawn after continuing an existing dungeon so I am clarifying that.

Update: made some changes to the rules. Let me know what sections are still confusing. Thanks!

The Chaz
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What changes to the rules did you make? I can't see them.

JewellGames
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ctrl+f5

when you have the rules up in the browser, try pressing ctrl+f5 to do a hard refresh

The Chaz
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JewellGames wrote:when you

JewellGames wrote:
when you have the rules up in the browser, try pressing ctrl+f5 to do a hard refresh

Ah, the 'ole user error :)

Ok. Here are some thought, v2.0

(Please tell me that you've played Incan Gold - the main "push your luck" decision is the same in both games...)

Before I continue, let me say that I really appreciate the work that you've put into the language, graphic design, and internal balance of the game. It's clear that you take a professional approach to game design, and that is commendable.

Ok... to be blunt, I would suggest a complete overhaul of all things relating to what happens on a turn (more specifically, about flipping cards over).

The first principle is that of automating any process that involve no decisions. That's really just a fancy way of saying that you don't want players getting bogged down making a decision that isn't there and/or reading the rule book. The application of this is just one main topic: starting a new dungeon (by the way, I like the "what is a dungeon" section)

Starting a new dungeon should be automatic.
It should happen during setup.
It should happen as part of resolving a "bust".

I would arrange it thusly...

Quote:
Setup:
1. Get pen & paper.
2. Pick a starting player.
3. Start a new Dungeon (see below "Starting a new Dungeon")

Then in the "starting a new dungeon" section, something like

Quote:
Whenever a new dungeon is started, whether at the start of a player's turn or after a "bust", do the following:
a. Take all 24 Dungeon cards, shuffle them together, and place the shuffled deck face-down within easy reach of all players.
b. Flip over the top card, without resolving any effects...

The reasoning behind this is that it will make the other sections of the rules easier.

At the start of your turn, you can choose to "abandon/bust" the current dungeon. If you do so, follow the steps in the "starting a new dungeon" section.
Then, you start flipping over cards. Go until you choose to stop, or until a pair is showing. etc.

I definitely wish my thoughts were a little more organized this morning, but hopefully you get the gist.

JewellGames
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Thanks

Thanks, I will look over your proposed changes and rework the rules.

Minor update:

  • I changed the card text to a cleaner font
  • I changed some of the basic monsters (and their values)
  • I transformed the former card list table into images

  • JewellGames
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    Major Changes

    First off, I have not completely abandoned the "continue in another players dungeon" system. But, I am removing it for now to callibrate the game with the new potion system. This gives me time to balance a revamped "bravery bonus system", behind the scenes, and (maybe) later add it back to the game when its ready.

    These changes will also bump up the deck from 24 cards to 33 cards which is teetering just outside the microgame realm.

    The rules and cards have already been updated to reflect the changes.

    Ok, so what are the changes...

    The Shrine has been changed! This was done so that early draw Shrines were potentially just as valuable as late draw Shrines. Also, this falls more in line with the Sword and Charm. Finally, with the new potion system where potions are only collected by "scoring" them, I did not want players to collect potions when they bust.

    A new item, the Shield and a monster have been added! These were added to keep the overall deck ratio balanced with the 6 new potions being added.

    The potion system! This injects much desired player interaction and decision making into the game. You will notice that potions have a hand icon where the point value normally is. This means that they are picked up and put in your hand when "scoring" them. They can be used anytime on your later turns or anytime on your opponent's turn!

    The potion's power is not activated when drawn but rather when you play it from your hand. After using a potion, put it on the bottom of the deck.


    (click to enlarge)

    JewellGames
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    Chest

    With the new potion system in place I have altered the Chest power from a focus on points to a focus on potions. It works with the concept of opening a chest hoping for awesome loot, and it also makes for a nice break from the other cards in that it isn't just another way to gain points.

    Old Chest:
    When scoring this Chest, it is worth an extra point for each card between it and the Key.

    New Chest:
    During scoring, draw a card from the deck for each card between this Chest and the Key. Keep all drawn potions. Put the other drawn cards back in the deck.

    .

    JewellGames
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    Rules and cards have been

    Rules and cards have been updated to reflect the recent changes.

  • Reverted back to the original 8 items, game now has 32 cards.
  • Added a few new potions for a total of 8 potions.
  • Each player gets one face down potion to start the game, the rest are shuffled back into the deck.
  • Chest updated with its new power.
  • Card template converted from 3x3 layout to 4x2 layout with added cutlines.

  • The Chaz
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    Bump! I've been looking over

    Bump!

    I've been looking over this. Will throw out a few more ideas soon.

    Squinshee
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    I love the design on this!

    I love the design on this! Simple, elegant, and fun. It's risk/rewards honed to its very essence. How cool!

    I love the simple card art, but the brown backgrounds are quite drab. That's my only nit-pick.

    Cool game!

    JewellGames
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    Update

    Yeah, these are pretty plain prototypes with simple art and generic backgrounds. Chalk it up to my limited artistic skills.

    Anyway, the rules and cards have undergone a complete overhaul and are now updated with the latest versions.

    JewellGames
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    Item change

    The Charm has been changed to Bad Juju. Also, with the new rule change that affects several "on use" items, this item is manually activated instead of an instant activation as in previous versions of the game.

    This means that you can "press-your-luck" on when you want to activate this power to boost the potency (with each new drawn monster) of a Bad Juju's hex, but if you wait too long and have to flee, this item can no longer be used and you lose the chance to reduce an opponent's score!

    JewellGames
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    Creature Powers

    Here are a few examples of creatures that I had been working on over 2 weeks ago that had caused that long delay between version releases.

    I came up with about 10 different creature powers at that time but ultimately scrapped the idea of EVERY creature having a power because I thought it was too much tracking of when this creature is worth this much, when this creature negates this card,when this creature triggers that effect, etc.

    Anyway, some local playtesters are still asking about these so I wanted to show them to you for your opinions. Would it be information overload if all 36 cards had a power?

    Click to enlarge

    JewellGames
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    More creature powers

    Here are a few more of the possible creature powers. The Faun and Chimera are actually helpful, while the giant Spider is a vile creature that tries to trap you and tangle your items.

    As you see, the creature powers have a lot of interaction with the items, which is cool, but it would also extend turns with all the combos and possible effects you need to track.

    Still waiting to hear your thoughts!

    JewellGames
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    Ooze

    This Ooze power was a little more menacing than the current version Ooze:

    Thoughts or suggestions for any of the powers listed so far?

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