Alright, let's start thinking about the things that the players are trying to defeat. The best part about instance dungeons are a) working together on a common goal, b) discovering and learning each dungeon and each major fight in the dungeon, c) the story that unfolds during (some) instances, d) environmental tricks and traps, e) loot, and f) the boss fight at the end. Not all dungeons do all of those things, so let's think about how to achieve each of those during a run.
Working Together Towards a Common Goal
Done. That's the point of the game :) However, maybe there could be something introduced that would add some 'not the healing kind of healer' elements where everyone is a little bit out for themselves, but still fighting for the greater good? Stick a pin in that one.
Discovering and Learning Each Dungeon
That would be achieved simply by playing the dungeon/boss the first time. Like many instances, I think it would be a good thing to expect failure until you learn the deck. Maybe the first time through you don't notice certain key work cards being discarded until a card comes out that causes x damage for each key word card in the discard pile, and maybe there is a more difficult to accomplish 'remove from play' option vs. standard 'fight enemy' option that is overlooked the first time until to bites the party in the ass and you get a TPK. (Side note: Maybe TPK the Card Game should be the working title?)
Each Instance could introduce new rules and mechanics as the cards are discovered, much like above, certain things may not be fully understood until the 'lynchpin' card is revealed and all is made clear. For example: "Powderworks Armory" may be a location that is revealed that when revealed may cause X damage to the party if there are any keyword 'Fire' attachments or powers in play, or put into play when in the location. Something like that.
Unfolding Story
TBD, not sure....
Environmental Tricks and Traps
See above.
Loot
This is tricky. I like the idea of loot and certain kewl random cards being added to player decks. But when to do it? There isn't any leveling mechanic, and I don't know if there ever will or should be, so getting loot seems pointless unless it's during a multi-staged instance where the characters and whatnot persist between stages.
As far as other ways to distinguish different "instance" dungeon decks, you can borrow an idea from "Escape from the Cursed Temple" dice game. Maybe in the "Rudy's Buck Rogers Dungeon" instance deck, the winning condition might include "every player must have a Gem of Prosties" dummy item equipped when fighting the final boss. The "gems" can be seeded in the deck and use up a valuable equipment slot. But if you don't have one of those gems, you can't do any damage to the boss (maybe you can still heal?). So, just an example of a way to distinguish this particular DUNGEON-instance deck from another deck without making vastly different rules.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite idea that came out of this post was in the "powderworks" example. That a condition can present itself that can really screw over the party if their exhibiting the appropriate skill/power or whatever. So say you've got the Mage deck and you've constructed it to be a ICE build (and of course there's always earth wind and fire options too - and probably some vanilla mutli-mix) and oh shit, this particular dungeon makes you extra vulnerable to X events or damage.
Without complicating things too much, that can also relate to certain Monster cards having certain strengths/weakness to various types of damages/magics. The "Snotlings" take double damage from wind magics but only half from ice. Same with blunt/piercing weapons. Maybe a "wandering monsters" element can always be randomized so you never know what mix you might have, leading to you having to be somewhat versatile as a player. Because if it only takes one failed playthru to learn that dungeons "trick", it might get pretty stale on subsequent playthrus.
I like the Gem of Prosties rule!
DeleteAnd when I mean dungeon trick, I mean the dungeon/boss will still be tough, but you will be better prepared on how to handle it. Like the Gem of Prosites rule - it's not like the deck is stale when you know about the Gems, but its something you have to be mindful of when you play against that deck.
Jumping ahead a bit, but visualizing an actual game product for sale, I can imagine a way to tie it into an ongoing story. So the initial box set can include the campaign "Race to Demon Mountain" which is 3 thematically related boss decks. Character "leveling" might not make sense, but the boss decks can be easy-medium-hard, making it be like "we've beat the 'River Styx Boss'(easy difficulty) - next up is 'Super Shady Troll'(medium difficulty)." Then after they've beat that, they play the final (hard) deck, "Uber-Demony Demon". Then there can even be a boss deck build mixing cards from all 3 sets for an "ultimate mash-up" challenge. Like a BOSS RUSH mode in video games where it's just boss after boss.
ReplyDeleteThen, 2 months later BlackLeaf Games releases the "Ice River Elf Adventure" campaign set which is a few more boss-decks. Each set can also include an assortment of new hero cards that fit in thematically to the new sets, sorta like armor and weapon sets in WoW that would come out in new expansions/updates. "I'm using the Demon Mountain armor set because it does lots of fire damage, wee".
Coming up with a solid set of rules is the most important part. But once that exists, I imagine you can expand the world of the game pretty dramatically with themed sets. Look at old AD&D - generic fantasy (Greyhawk), middle eastern world (Al-Qadim), aztec world (Maztica), fantasy in space (Spelljammerz/Planescape), horror world (Mikenloft). It's wide open!
I don't know if any of this fits your game idea, but it's fun to imagine :)