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Megalomania! A Game for the Mad Scientist in each of us.

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Some Random Dude
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Joined: 01/30/2014

Hello folks!

I had a post on here a little over a week ago that got the ball rolling on this. Now, I've done nothing but expand on it, and even wrote out quite a bit of card text to prepare for playtesting.

This thread will have a series of posts going over the premise, the rules (as they stand), and some example card text to illustrate some of the things you're able to do. I'll also include a list of all of the inventions I've come up with so far, the most important part of the game (currently at 41 but I hope to get it closer to 100).

Players take on the role of Mad Scientists trying to take over the world. Each player starts the game with a player sheet that gives them a unique character background, starting inventions, starting resources, and their start location (HQ). They also have special abilities for their character.

Next, a look how the board is set up, and what you do each turn towards achieving your goal for world domination!

Some Random Dude
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Rules

The game is played on a board with a map of the world, similar to boards found in games like Risk (regions of the world separated by borders). On one side of the board is a deck of cards (Inventions) with five spaces in a track next to it. Throughout the game, there is a face up card in each of these spots representing the inventions available to build.

During a player’s turn, they take 4 actions. The following are available to them:

1) Move. Move your character to a connected region.
2) Henchmen. Deploy one Henchman figure on the board in your scientist’s current region. Then, you may move each of your Henchmen on the board to a connected region.
3) Resource. You may gather resources once per turn per region. Each region of the map has a collection of symbols representing Alloys, Energy, and [another resource?], representing how much someone gets if they use that action.
4) Threat. Choose a region where you or your Henchmen are present. Place 1 threat for each Henchman there and 2 if you are there.
5) Build. Build an invention by paying the cost of the invention (located at the top of the card) and placing that invention in front of you. Then draw a new invention to takes its place on the track.
6) Action: You may perform any “Action:” effect you have, typically found on Inventions.

At the end of a player’s turn, if they are in a region with another player, combat occurs. To resolve combat, the players choose a weapon of theirs to use, then rolls a die. They add whatever bonus their weapon provides, plus extra bonuses for their henchmen, if they are in their HQ, etc. The higher total wins, and the winner places additional threat in the region.

Threat is how players win the game. Each region has a threat limit, and once that total limit is reached, the player with the most has “control” over the region (i.e. a region has a threat limit of 20, and player A, B, and C have 5 threat in the region while D has 6, so D has control). A player wins the game when they control a certain number of regions.

Corsaire
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Threat made sense in the PC

Threat made sense in the PC Evil Genius game, but the term doesn't quite seem to fit your setup. Rep, tendrils, influence, control, instability, something like that might feel more fitting.

Also, I wonder if combat makes the best sense, as I like the underhanded feel of the genre myself. Dice, combat, regions, do evoke Risk a bit. I'd think disposable card actions would be more natural+modern.

Overall looking forward to seeing where you go as I've dabbled in the genre a bit myself, but I like your general direction.

Some Random Dude
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Inventions and Madness

On a track along the side of the board, there are five inventions face up. Each turn, a player may build an invention by paying its cost (found in the top corner) with resources they have gathered. Then they take that invention and place it in front of them, and draw a new one to place in the track. From this point on, they can use the game text on that card. Most inventions come in one of three types: weapons (which are used in combat), tools (typically have Actions printed on them), and henchmen (which provide a bonus for your henchmen at all times).

Each invention has a “Madness rating” in the bottom corner. When a weapon or tool is used, players draw a number of Madness cards equal to that rating. When a henchmen card is built, players draw cards for Madness. These Madness cards have a variety of effects that show how damaged your scientist is as his or her quest for world domination drives them insane.

Some Random Dude
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Corsaire wrote:Threat made

Corsaire wrote:
Threat made sense in the PC Evil Genius game, but the term doesn't quite seem to fit your setup. Rep, tendrils, influence, control, instability, something like that might feel more fitting.

Also, I wonder if combat makes the best sense, as I like the underhanded feel of the genre myself. Dice, combat, regions, do evoke Risk a bit. I'd think disposable card actions would be more natural+modern.

Overall looking forward to seeing where you go as I've dabbled in the genre a bit myself, but I like your general direction.

Originally, it was called Influence, but I didn't quite like that word for some reason. The terminology is definitely up in the air for this game though.

Originally, there wasn't direct combat. Weapons were used to influence/threaten regions in a different way, and had different ways to mess with the other players. So, there wasn't much difference between a Death Ray and a Mind-control Device, for instance (okay, there was, but you get my point). I wanted weapons to have a different feel.

Then, there was no dice-rolling. You just picked any number of Weapons you wanted to use, and spend any number of influence in the region, to reach your total. The problem here is that the battles could drag on as players kept one-upping each other. So, I decided a secret weapon reveal. To make things a bit more interesting ("I've only got a +7 Heat Ray and he has a +10 Death Ray, so obviously he'll win") I added the single die roll to add a bit of uncertainty into it. Obviously, using the advanced weapons also leads to more Madness. This set-up with a hidden card choice and a die roll is similar to Fury of Dracula, but with more special abilities on the cards and less concern about what your opponent picked (other than the comparison part).

Also, it used to be Cities on the map that you moved to (like Pandemic), rather than regions. The problem with that was purely mechanical - there's no way to make the board clean and organized when you have dozens of city names, lines connecting cities, and symbols by each city representing resources/threat. Making it regions eliminated the need for line connections (other than across water) and gave more room to fit names and symbols.

Some Random Dude
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Sample text - Dr. Zerkova, Freeze Ray, Cryogenic Capsule

A quick look at few samples cards. Here is Dr. Zerkova and some of his prized inventions:

Dr. Zerkova - A USSR scientist from the Cold Way who, frustrated with the end of the stand-off and the lack of "creative outlet", turned to cryogenics to prepare himself for a day where his talents would be better appreciated. He froze himself, waiting for the world to begin its eventual descent into chaos.
HQ: Siberia
Starting Inventions: Freeze Ray, Cryogenic Capsule
Special Ability: You start in cryo-stasis. Each time you build a weapon, place a threat in your current region.

Freeze Ray: Combat +6. ACTION: Choose a Scientist. They may not move during their next turn. MADNESS: 2

Cryogenic Capsule: ACTION: Go into cryo-stasis (place your scientist on this invention). At the end of each of your turns, discard a Madness card. ACTION: "Wake up" (place your scientist at your HQ). Draw a Madness card.

I really want the flavor to come out in this game, and make each player feel like they're unique. Dr. Zerkova is an expert at designing weapons for the USSR, which makes him a real threat to society any time he exerts effort on his research. He can shut down other players as well, but it makes him go crazy pretty fast, so he can go into cryo-stasis to slow down/reverse the insanity.

Some Random Dude
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Sample Card Tex - SYSTEM, Robot Servitors, Force Field

To showcase the differences I was referring to, here is SYSTEM:

SYSTEM - People always warned of the day the computer would rise above humanity. That day has come. SYSTEM is an A.I. originally developed to monitor air-traffic, but as technology improved, so did it. Now, operating from its mountain headquarters in the Western United States, it seeks to enslave humanity and bring the Age of the Computer to a new level.
HQ: Western United States
Starting Inventions: Robot Servitors, Force Field
Special Ability: You may not move. At the end of each of turn, your henchmen may initiate battle.

Robot Servitors: HENCHMEN. Your Henchmen may perform the Resource action.

Force Field: Combat: Your opponent's weapon has no effect. MADNESS: 2

Normally henchmen do not initiate battle on their own, and they do not gather resources, mostly out of mistrust that the Scientists have toward them. However, as SYSTEM has full control over its henchmen (and cannot move to do anything), it has its henchmen do the dirty work. This character plays a lot more like a summoner-type class, allowing a player to utilize a large group of minions throughout the game.

I realize I've overloaded this post with a lot of information, but I wanted to illustrate what distinctive flavors I've added to the game. I need to brush up on my website skills to create a site for this game to better organize everything, but I really wanted to get these ideas out there as soon as possible.

rene.shible
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Joined: 01/30/2014
very similar to...

Have you played or heard of a game called Evil Intent? The premise and game play seem similar!

Some Random Dude
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rene.shible wrote:Have you

rene.shible wrote:
Have you played or heard of a game called Evil Intent? The premise and game play seem similar!

Hadn't heard of it until your post. Just watched The Dice Tower review of it. Judging by his review I see the differences, and I like what mine does differently (invention track that you can build from at all times, the big inventions being built during the game and not the end, less reliant on randomness, and more distinctive features for each player).

Just to clarify here, dice are NOT a big part of the game, and neither is combat really. Sure, combat occurs, but it is only vying for more power over an area, and this is the only instance of a die being used. There is no damage done (as of right now), just an evil genius running away with their tail between their legs.

rene.shible
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Joined: 01/30/2014
Cool beans, it seems like

Cool beans, it seems like fun! :)

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