I can't exactly remember why I decided to try and make a War of the Worlds board game. I've scoured my memory to no avail.
I'd certainly managed to play a few more board games lately - getting the odd night here and there off. The occasional four hours to play Gloomhaven, or the odd game of Pandemic Legacy Season one with my wife. I'm not sure that was the trigger though.
It might have been the fact that HG Well's work was finally out of copyright, although I'd never read any of his work (whilst I consider myself a science-fiction fan, the usual terrible 70s design covers always put me off, fearing the writing might be equally awful).
Nevertheless, a couple of months ago, I picked up a copy of War of the Worlds at my library (ignored the terrible cover) and began to read. I was extremely pleased to note that my fears of a wishy-washy handwaving of technology were unfounded as the story was actually remarkable technical. Far from 'here-are-the-martians-don't-look-behind-the-curtain, the story details as much as could be feasibly concluded, in a detail-focused horror-story. I enjoyed reading it.
I then began to think how I might translate that into a board game...
Comments
There's some sort of
There's some sort of expression about books and covers, but I can't quite recall... ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
If you haven't listened to the broadcast, that piece of history might serve some inspiration, too!
Very true, but the covers,
Very true, but the covers, they are just awful. In fact, it's even a bit meta, with Wells, himself, complaining about the covers for the War of the Worlds books *within* the War of the World story itself! :)
Radio play
Ah, yes, I've not listened to it all yet. The first chunk I listened to was far better than I was expecting. I do have to be careful though, as that production won't be out of copyright, so I have to make sure that nothing specific can come from that show lest I infringe someone else's copyright.
its certainly an excellent
its certainly an excellent idea for a game, no matter how its implemented (if i were to try i think id opt for 1 vs many).
second and apropos of nothing i think the jeff wayne version is the best.
finally, im interested to see your end game ideas, when we know it only takes a cold to kill them. though i suppose thats a problem with all book inspired game, ie having an immutable ending.
If you're basing it on the
If you're basing it on the book, you're fine. If you're actually basing it directly off of the Orson Welles thing, sure, you might have some issue, but that would be hard to prove unless you mention the radio broadcast directly. I wouldn't be too concerned. The copyright on the broadcast would only reference the exact broadcast, not the story inside it.
Haha, I grew up listening to
Haha, I grew up listening to the Jeff Wayne version as a kid. Olaaaaaaaa!
But that's still under copyright, so I'll stick with the original.
Yes, the 'death by cold' victory condition has to exist ... but is it the only victory condition? Me thinks it's just one of many?
What if they had a random weakness, that included sickness? Perhaps they are weak to sound? Or light? Perhaps the Martian player chooses a random weakness at the start and the human player has to discover it, and then develop technology to fight back?
Orson Wells radio play
(This reply thing doesn't seem to work all the time)
Yeah, I don't think I can use anything from the Radio play, other than perhaps the concept. But that's okay, I'm happy to set it in the original books timeframe (1890s), but make it world wide.