I figured I would split my little foray into a specific game from the conceptual post so as to not take discussion off course in that thread.
With that said I find it easier to work on specific game mechanics that purely conceptual game theory (not that I mind game theory, it's just harder to deal with such abstract things and iron out what works and what doesn't)...
So I was kicking around ideas in my head for an adventure game based off the idea of becoming king and once there keeping control. I've got a few ideas I figure it does me no good to keep them to myself.
So I was thinking of really focusing on emergent gameplay and while not getting into "1000 blank white cards" territory, really having a game that players build themselves.
The basics are simple. Players start in the middle of the board in "the village" and surrounding the relatively small settlement is lots of wilderness with monsters and what not.
Players have two resources to manage in addition to whatever character stats they have (not sure how character development would work at this point, i'm more focused on world development): Gold and Fame. Gold is simple and will be the only currency in the game for all purchases. Since the rest of the game is going to get some very complex layers I wanted to keep this simple.
Fame is different. Players start at 0 on a -20 to 20 (arbitrary numbers at this point, can always be adjusted in testing). When you do thing "the people" like your fame goes up, when you do things that they don't your fame goes down. If you are negative in fame you are "infamous' of course. Having your fame towards either extreme will open new options for since the people will know you by sight and whisper your name.
Speaking of "the people", since this game is going to be so player controlled I wanted one very strongly game controlled entity to regulate the game. The people are not on the board but they will react to your every action based on criteria for what they like and what they don't like. These should stay simple but in general they like having their needs met. That means they need Food, Shelter, Health, Security, and Wealth (possibly more possibly less as testing dictates). These could be simple ten point sliders from 0-10 and will fluctuate all game long.
As a regular player at the start of the game you can't really provide for these needs. Sure you can hunt and provide food or you can battle monsters to provide security, both of these things will drive your fame up. However if you start stealing from the people or what have you your infamy will rise.
As for the main point of the game. Becoming King is simple. Get enough Fame (10 points or so) and the people will elect you their ruler. As ruler you have all maner of options open up and this is where the gameplay really opens up. As king you can initiate building projects. Now I'm torn about whether or not to use buildings from a list of options with certain effects or to let players design their own buildings. Possibly a blacksmith to sell weapons with the gold generated going to the king of course, or a healer tent with potions and other salves. By letting players design their own buildings you could even see rise of Prisons to jail other players (however jailing a rival to the throne who is famous/wealthy could give rise to riots)
Basically the idea is to let players make their own rules for buildings. Now there would be a communal marketplace by default with basic items like potions and what not, but a King could try to undercut the market and take that profit for themselves. A regulating factor of the game could be how the market preforms. If players aren't spending enough the public coffers run dry. If the people are poor they are more likely to revolt against the king and overthrow him.
This can be used by the king and by the other players. Possibly players could steal from the people in order to provoke riots at the lack of security and wealth. Players could also try to give money to the people to try and earn more favor than the king and be elected in his place. This sort of divergent and varied gameplay will have players coming up with new ways to try and control the people and use them to their advantage. There will still be elements of monster killing and character development like any good adventure game, but learning to use the people and their needs to maximize your fame/gold is going to be key.
Whether or not something like "design your own buildings" makes it or gets the cut for being too complex is to be seen. I at least wanted to explore the idea a little. If it doesn't then there would be a set of 50 or so cards that can be built as public works. this will make the game a little easier to control and regulate so when I think about it would be the easier way to go design wise. As the king you can build from the public works deck to grow your city and try to please the players. Or do you try to control the people and become a tyrant. Who knows, but there is a lot of options from this setting and I love the idea of using "the people" and their needs as communal way to interact with the game in varied ways.
So this is just an open forum as far as I'm concerned and I'll lay claim to none of these ideas should anyone want to take them and run. I'm not in a position to publish anything or take anything to completion so I'm more than willing to brainstorm here and see what comes out of it.
Any thoughts or ideas for where to go next?
That's very true and I didn't think of that. Hmm, one scale was so much simpler though. Well then I think it would be simpler to stick to just a Fame scale and not have it go -/+ like you said. Then devise some other mechanic for measuring if that fame is heroism or infamy. That way the fame scale is simply "how many people know you" sort of thing.