Let me just start off by saying that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and I've started thinking about and designing games with themes from, for example, the Book of Mormon, or just Mormon culture in general (here are some of my ramblings on the subject: mormongamedesign.blogspot.com). My favorite so far and the one I've put the most time and energy into is called Peril in the Promised Land. So, I'm going to attempt to describe everything about the game here in this game journal.
First off, Peril, I'll call it for short, is a cooperative game. Players play as Nephite captains, together seeking to fulfill the orders given them by Moroni (the Chief Captain of the Nephite armies). A total of 4 players (this is the current plan anyway) can play at a time. They choose between the following captains: Lehi, Teancum, Helaman, and Antipus. Each captain has a so-called "special power" that enhances his contributions in carrying out Moroni's orders. For example, Lehi can leave cities when they are under attack (other captains are stuck in the battle and cannot leave).
In order to "win" the game, the players must fulfill a total of 10 of Moroni's orders. While they are in the process of doing this they must protect themselves from the Lamanites and the King-men. The Lamanites attack Zarahemla from without. The King-men attack Zarahemla from within as they move to take over the judgment-seat.
The game is played with pawns, dice, tokens, and cards (I'll describe these in future posts here, along with all the rules).
I guess another reason for me wanted to put this up here is that it helps me put my thoughts together as I am trying to write the rules/instructions. I just decided one day that I wanted to make the game, so I started putting my ideas together and getting pieces together so that my wife and I could play. We made most of the rules as we've gone along. Quite stupidly, I haven't written a lot of it down. So now I'm in the process of trying to do that. I pretty much learned my lesson on this game, as I've started others by first writing the whole idea down and just tweaking that as we play and change things. Putting a rulebook together for those will be a whole lot easier. But, you live and you learn.
