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Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:59 am
by BadgeAddict
Welcome to the Game Ideas Workshop.
Here is the place for people (like myself) who think they have great and wonderful ideas for games but lack either the artist skills to make them come to life or the ability to act as a GM.
The workshop part implies that not only can you place your ideas here but also be willing to work with suggestions to improve the concept and rules of said games.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:10 am
by M0rtimer
I do have ideas for what I believe may be a pretty good game... However, I lack the time that would be required to host it alongside my other games. I could, however, potentially work on the game concept/sprites and perhaps a single example map so that if someone else would wish they could borrow the concept.
That being said whilst working out the rules should be easy spriting and stuff would be a tad harder so it probably isn't for right now.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:12 am
by BadgeAddict
I've always been fascinated by both Fantasy (ex: Goblins) and Sci-Fi and wondered about the possibility to blend the two into one story.
The story:
The group is teleported/zapped up etc... to the alien vessel and transported to the Mothership and now must find a way to escape back to their world.
The plot:
The aliens are collectors, they roam the galaxies looking for new species and specimens to add to their vast collection of oddities. Onboard the group can find any number of these objects, whether they be dangerous species from other worlds that will attack them or friendly species willing to give them aid for freeing them.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:39 am
by BadgeAddict
One of the games in the last forum sparked this idea in me.
Goblin Simulation
Nearly every game has been such and such going somewhere on an adventure, what if you stayed at home instead.
Here are my thoughts:
An adventuring party/plague/disaster/whatever has destroyed your village forcing you a x number of others with their spouses to flee over in x direction seeking a new safe haven.
Upon reaching said safe haven they must build a new village while finding food and water.
How it works:
You start in a clearing in the middle of a forest. You must collect materials (wood, rock, etc) and resources (food, water, etc) and begin building your village.
The building projects can take form in any way that the players see fit, while they will be given small hints (ex: it seems like you may need more wood to finish this building) as to how much material they need. Each turn they can spend their time either exploring the surrounding lands (their could be human villages, or dangerous caverns nearby) or hunting for food. At the end of X number of turns night will happen, which could follow some of the rules created by Thinkslogically's for the island game. At the start of each new day your spouses (explanation: each player male or female will have a spouse which acts as an invisible member of the village) will collect resources or materials that they think the village needs. Sometimes this could create a bonus item situation (The gatherers found an iron sword while gathering berries (5 berries found). The chief can spend a turn within each day to direct the spouses in what they should be collecting. As the game continues and exploration of the map continues the chance that a adventuring party might find you increases and will possibly either attack the explorer or eventually the village.
Due to there being a both male and female population (players and their spouses) it could be possible to make babies who at x number of days/turns could be old enough to place as defenders around the village etc.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:48 am
by ThroughTheWell
BadgeAddict wrote:I've always been fascinated by both Fantasy (ex: Goblins) and Sci-Fi and wondered about the possibility to blend the two into one story.
The story:
The group is teleported/zapped up etc... to the alien vessel and transported to the Mothership and now must find a way to escape back to their world.
The plot:
The aliens are collectors, they roam the galaxies looking for new species and specimens to add to their vast collection of oddities. Onboard the group can find any number of these objects, whether they be dangerous species from other worlds that will attack them or friendly species willing to give them aid for freeing them.
This could be done a couple of ways, at least. One is with a really big ship, so that the players have 'world like' room to explore. The Rendezvous with Rama series of books is an example of this. Another is with alien slavers. An example of that is the Gor series of books (that I don't recommend because of strong sexual / submission themes; I read some when I was younger). But Gor is a counter-earth, in our orbit on the opposite side of the sun. One group of aliens there imports slaves from earth. Another group of aliens there both, keeps the tech for everyone else low, resulting in a medieval setting, and has collected creatures from the galaxy as they moved the planet around. The result is lots of monster fighting.
In the 1st, we go exploring, in the 2nd, people are drugged and stealth shipped away, plus a lot of people are already there from previous centuries.
Working magic in is trickier. It either becomes disgused tech, or simply fantastical creatures from other worlds.
So, setting and background are easy. the next bit is to decide on a game system, recruit players, and start playing.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:57 am
by ThroughTheWell
BadgeAddict wrote:One of the games in the last forum sparked this idea in me.
Goblin Simulation
Nearly every game has been such and such going somewhere on an adventure, what if you stayed at home instead.
There are already a coupe of games effectively like this. I see nothing substantialy new here.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:31 pm
by thinkslogically
ThroughTheWell wrote:BadgeAddict wrote:One of the games in the last forum sparked this idea in me.
Goblin Simulation
Nearly every game has been such and such going somewhere on an adventure, what if you stayed at home instead.
There are already a coupe of games effectively like this. I see nothing substantialy new here.
Saying that though, they can be fun
The one thing I think is essential is some form of win condition (i.e. how will the game end) and have your players work towards it. Maybe they rebuild after an adventurer attack and their goal is to get prepare better and get revenge when the adventurers come back; or maybe they have to defeat waves of attackers from a nearby settlement (tower defense style); or maybe they build their own dungeon and hire monsters to defend it?
The civilisation games have run through 4 generations now and they're still popular because they're awesome, but also because there was an ending to each one. Just building stuff forever is no fun unless there's a point to it really...
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:43 pm
by BadgeAddict
For the goblin simulation I was actually thinking in terms of Dwarf fortress. At some point you will die and it will be glorious. I haven't read through any of Civilization, but i was under the impression it was similar to Cid Meier's Civ 3, 4, 5 etc... and not actually having anything to do with the Goblins universe (is that a thing, goblins universe?). My thanks though for your suggestion that it is nothing new, and it needs more meat. I agree it does need more meat, I hadn't worked that one through my head for very long.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:54 pm
by thinkslogically
No, it's much better than that for a forum game arena and is similar to what you describe. You should check it out
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:21 am
by askstoomuch
I have so many ideas ...so little time
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:10 pm
by I'mBob
In case anyone wandering, my game that will replace "The Abandoned" is going to be a D&D game with monsters PCs.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:35 pm
by Loki
Hello everyone! I'm a long-time lurker that emerged from the shadows recently, and I'm thinking about hosting a game. I've always enjoyed lurking/reading the Serial Killers game, and I'm thinking of a game that combines the murder mystery aspect with the dungeon crawling & looting aspect of other games. What I've come up with is a game similar to "Clue", known as "Cluedo" in the UK, where players would post actions and there would be a visual update each day (time permitting). If you are interested in providing me feedback, you can click on the spoiler for the general description and rules/mechanics that I have come up with so far. I have drawn up some sprites and rooms, but they are on my other computer. I will edit them in tomorrow. Thank you for your responses, whether they be praise or criticism.
► Show Spoiler
Murder at the Gobl'Inn
Rooms
Kitchen
Bar
Hanging Tree
6 Player Rooms
Weapons
Crossbow
Sword
Dagger
Axe
Mace
Spear
Game Setup
1. Accept six players.
2. Randomly determine killer.
3. Randomly assign murder weapon & location.
4. Randomly assign remaining weapons & witness locations.
Introduction
On the surface, the Gobl'Inn is much like any other inn; it has food, drinks, and beds. However, the inn has a darker side for which it is famous, or more accurately, infamous. For you see, mixed in with the revelry of the residents is a sinister streak. Hardly a week goes by without the tenants witnessing yet another violent murder. Week after week, another victim is claimed by the Gobl'Inn and its inhabitants.
Over time, constant suffering and brutality can leave a stain of sorts; a dark presence, if you will. Now, this evil spirit has grown powerful enough to manifest itself in a new way. This spectre possesses a random resident, forcing them to kill. Then, to spread chaos and confusion even further, the spirit masks the possessed's presence, replacing them with an identical doppleganger, leaving the resident free to continue killing without fear of being detected.
However, there is a silver lining. In the same way that the dark presence is strengthened by violence, lies, and deceit; it is utterly destroyed by the utterance of truth regarding its deeds. One merely needs to identify the possessed, the weapon they used, and the room in which the original murder took place, and the spirit is dispelled, and the possessee freed.
But the clock is ticking. And the killer continues to strike. Can the innocent residents assemble the clues and banish the spirit in time? Or will all tenants eventually succumb to the shadowy works of the possessed? Only time will tell...
General Rules for Citizens
This game works similarly to the board game "Clue", "Cluedo" in the UK. The killer will start in a random room with a random weapon. The rest of the weapons will be scattered to various randomly hidden locations in the Gobl'Inn. Also, NPC witnesses will be distributed randomly that can identify the rooms in which the murder did not take place and also players that did not commit the murder, i.e. "I saw Player1 in the Bar when the murder took place."
Each turn, a player can move, interrogate, or search. They are granted three free actions each turn that they can use in any mixture of the previous options. They can move to a new room, search the room for any hidden weapons, or interrogate the NPC in their current room to see if they have useful information.
The goal is to find enough of the weapons and to eliminate enough of the possible rooms and suspects to make a claim as to the identity, method, and location of the killer at the beginning of the game. Correct claims banish the spirit, saving the Gobl'Inn from its evil aspirations. Incorrect claims fuel the spirit with a sudden burst of power, enabling it to immediately take the life of the incorrect guesser.
To complicate matters further, one of the residents' actions and words can not be trusted. The spirit has created a doppleganger that will roam the inn alongside the other residents that will behave similarly to everyone else. Meanwhile, the killer is free to wander invisibly, and if alone in a room with any resident, can choose to murder that player. Travelling in groups helps reduce the risk of being killed, at the risk of investigating more slowly.
Players may either publicly post their actions in the hopes of grouping up, or they may PM their actions to the DM if they choose to act alone. A room or NPC can only be searched or interrogated once per turn. The first player to post or PM the DM gets priority on the action.
At any point in the game, a player may make a claim regarding the solution resulting in either a win for a correct guess, or instant death for an incorrect guess. This guess may be either PMed or posted. There is a limit to one guess per turn, priority belonging to the first post or PM.
Discussion or roleplaying are permitted and encouraged. Please separate your official actions or guesses by using BOLD FONT to identify them.
General Rules for Killers
The killer will be responsible for providing actions for both their invisible counterpart, and their citizen doppleganger. The actions for the invisible counterpart must be PMed to the DM. The actions for the doppleganger can be PMed or posted. If the doppleganger interrogates or searches an NPC or room, the killer has the option of PMing the DM with the faked information from the spirit. If it is not provided, then the DM will write the information themself.
Kill Attempts - Only the killer's invisible counterpart can commit murders. The doppleganger cannot. The killer's invisible counterpart is limited to 2 free actions per turn; 2 moves or a move and kill. If an intended victim is alone with the killer, then the success rate is 100%. Each additional citizen decreases the chance by (t/n x 100, where t=total players in game and n=number of players in the room) to a maximum of 75%. Essentially, the killer will always have at least a 1 in 4 chance of successfully killing, regardless of the number of players in the room. If a player finds and takes a weapon, then they receive an automatic 25% increased chance to survive an attack, not to exceed 75% with group bonuses. The killer cannot take weapons or harm NPCs. The killer cannot discard their weapon or swap it for others. They can only provide disinformation through their doppleganger. The doppleganger cannot fake their own murder or murder attempt.
Items?
I'm also toying with the idea of including items in rooms that don't contain a weapon. Maybe a pair of boots that give you an extra move, or body armor that gives you a 50% increased chance to survive an attack (not exceeding 75%). Or maybe a Chaos gem that can be used once to teleport all players to random rooms.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:48 pm
by ThroughTheWell
Loki, that does look interesting, but it also looks like very bad odds for the citizen players. And, I'm not sure how you can pull off the Liar role on a play by post game, as you describe it. Liar could be like the old henchy ducky role, but that slants things in favor of the killer even more. And why would not all players pick up a weapon, and possibly ID the killer by the fact that they did not pick up a weapon. Those rules add complication. I think it is rough enough if you just stick to bad guesses kill you. In other words, I don't think you have the mix right, yet. And I'd definately avoid adding extra items with powers until you'd played a base game to see how that works. Even the serial killer game did not start as complicated as has been tried in the 80-70 or so itterations on the 'goblin' forums.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:18 am
by John
Goblins....in...Spaaaaaacccceeee
(this is a very rough idea
)
Abduction scenario game, mixing sci-fi and fantasy. The idea would have many similarities to the Quickdeath Clan being run, that way you can recycle through many different players giving a lot of players potential to get in at different times.
Concept:
Goblins find a legit alien space ship
, abandoned for w/e reason and now golbins explore the cosmos, abducting critters and creatures (aliens never abducted cows, goblins did thinking they were the most intelligent species
). You could say it's a very large ship, and members of 5 goblin clans have representatives on board (players).
Goal:
Have your clan govern the most systems in the galaxy. Each galaxy as X number of systems (1 campaign), and each system has X number of planets (dungeons). To achieve this goal, you must explore planets, abduct creatures, and brainwash/hypnotize them
. Explore the planet (dungeon w/rooms) to find creature civilizations. By hypnotizing them with magic, you then return them to their people that they may be lead to revere your clan. Hypnotize the largest populace on the planet to claim that planet for your Clan. Claim the most planets in a system to claim Galactic Goblin Governance.
Potentially this game could go on forever. Once a planet (dungeon) has been cleared, a new list of upgrades can be available (goblins have been experimenting on the mothership with magic and technology
). The top post can stay up to date with which clan has the most systems, and how many planets in the current system (campaign). We can also set points to reset so folks get a chance to play from the beginning with no upgrades, but keep the tally of total systems per clan up for competition.
Ideas for play style► Show Spoiler
Actions- Trade
- Upgrade
- Action/Abduct
- Move/Explore
Trade Simple. Your clan can trade with other clans on the mother ship with the materials you find exploring. This is useful, as successful hypnotism of creatures can bring in unique items every turn or so that other clans may need. It's a lucrative business, this abduction bracket.
Exploration- could be similar to Quickdeath. Each goblin clan has 1UFO they can send out at a time. Only one Goblin can be in a UFO and a UFO can only abduct 1 medium or smaller creature at a time (without upgrades). Movement 1-6 spaces, players choose but the number of spaces can only be selected once per turn (bob moves 2, jill has to pick a number other than 2). You can find materials (gold) that can let you upgrade your UFO or Lab (later). A new goblin with a UFO spawns when a goblin in his clan dies/crashes.
When exploring, you may just find a creature, or sometimes have to search to find one. If you are exploring a mountain square or aquatic square, your chances of finding a creature are much slimmer. These odds can be improved with upgrades.
Lab- This is where you brainwash the poor critters
. Certain creatures will be easy, certain very intelligent creatures not so much. You can only be housing up to 2 creatures at a time in the lab. Base on how intelligent the creature is defines the amount of turns it takes to brainwash a creature. Upgrades can be purchased to decrease the amount of turns it takes, the amount of creatures you can hold in the lab, or maybe even brainwash a creature in ANOTHER clans lab
. Lastly, after successfully hypnotizing a population - they will pay tribute to your clan in the form of materials. An initial tribute will be made when first hypnotized, and then smaller tribute every couple turns will be made. Tributes are automatically teleported to the mothership and to your clan's poorly guarded treasure chest.
Player vs Creatures- When you explore a "room" or sector of a planet and reveal an creature, you fight it. If you win, you abduct it. If you lose you fail abduction...and in some instances crash (i.e. try to abduct a dragon and it shoots lightning at your UFO
) Multiple ships can end up in the same area and have to fight over abduction. For instance, the Space Spelunker Clan and the Black Holy Clan find a dwarf in the same sector. First they individually "fight" the dwarf. If both Clans succeed, they then fight each other (like a tractor beam tug o war) for who gets the abduction.
Player vs Player- You can crash each others' UFOs, you can sneakily steal creatures between labs, or you can smuggle some materials from your rival clan's poorly protected treasure chest on the mothership
. Most of this will only be able to happen with upgrades. If 2 players are abducting the same creature, in a result of a tie the creature is pulled in half by the tractor beams and the players will have to explore the square again to find another victim. Once a population has been hypnotized and returned, it cannot be re-hypnotized by another clan (otherwise we would never progress).
Creatures Every creature would have statistics. Attacks, Defense, Intelligence, and Value.
Attacks would be like town defenses (catapults, ballista, magic attacks etc).
Defenses would be weight of the creature(assigned like a CR rating). Weight is a simple comparison on how strong your tractor beam is.
Intelligence is a simple definition of how many turns brainwashing takes. The
Value would be a representation of it's populations value over the planet. So if you abduct a million squirrels
, you won't beat the clan who had a harder time abducting 100,000 Lizard men (numbers will be smaller for ease of scoring). This provides some fun planets of all farm animals vs all lizards and the like. Who knows, maybe one planet really is run by giant squirrel people.
Keywords will also be important. I creature with a lightning keyword may have attacks that can damage your ship, if you don't eventually get a shield on it.
Upgrades- I won't get too specific yet but the following items came to mind
- Ship
- Cargo-increases amount of creatures abducted before returning to mothership
- Tractor Beam-increases size of creatures that can be abducted
- Equipment (Sonar, Net, X ray)-helps reveal aquatic, flying, and subterranean creatures
- Armor- increases amount of times a goblin can crash before dying
- Shields (one use items)- magic that prevents 1 attk of certain types (lightning shield, fire shield etc)
- Lab
- Creature Cells- amount of creatures housed at one time
- Spells(one time use)- Improves hypnosis (Inflict Minor Hypnosis)
- Equipment (permanent upgrades)-targets specific creatures, Freezing Cold probe effective on fire creatures
- Goblin Ops
- Missions (1 time use)- 007 Goblin...James Goblin sabotages ships, steals tributes, or loots other clans' poorly guarded treasure chests
I'll leave it at that to talk about. It's a lot from a Game Master's point of view- and by no means does all the items have to be available from the get go. What do you all think?
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:29 am
by BadgeAddict
How do you plan on getting around the pvp aspect?
I like the idea, I'm not trying to be a downer, in fact, i think it could be a great board-game concept. I'm just wondering how a clan can do an action without another clan knowing with PM.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:54 am
by ThroughTheWell
As long as you work out the action economy between the small UFOs and the mother ship, it looks interesting. EX, when does the mothership move to a new system? Be sure to include unusual planets (gas giants, moons, etc) for flavor.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:21 pm
by John
BadgeAddict wrote:How do you plan on getting around the pvp aspect?
I like the idea, I'm not trying to be a downer, in fact, i think it could be a great board-game concept. I'm just wondering how a clan can do an action without another clan knowing with PM.
I kinda like the idea of making the actions transparent (brood some conflict between clans heehee
). For instance, sabotage could prevent someone from Abducting for 1 round as opposed to it being a suprise...in case you were competing for a creature that eluded both of you before. Now when going to the mother ship and back...where to start on return
? Maybe players can have predetermined spawn points and 1 mobile point for their clan specifically. Then 1 time use upgrades could involve using someone elses spawn
ThroughTheWell wrote:As long as you work out the action economy between the small UFOs and the mother ship, it looks interesting. EX, when does the mothership move to a new system? Be sure to include unusual planets (gas giants, moons, etc) for flavor.
I would have the mothership move once every square in the dungeon (location on the planet) is explored. Even if it is obvious that so and so has secured dominance over the planet, materials and upgrades can still be found and accumulated.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:42 pm
by BadgeAddict
You could make them secret spawn points. Say you had a galactic map which has quadrants from (1,1) to (100,100). this map has planets and etc on it. you Pm a spawn point location to each team. they then carry out their turn order like...go from (x,x) to (y,y). Thus keeping spawn points secret.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:31 pm
by ThroughTheWell
BA, 10,000 is kind of big.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:44 pm
by John
Haha I think he was just trying to make a clear example. I originally thought that maybe we'd do something like 5 planets in the first system. So 5 dungeons of say 100 rooms (10x10). It would be linear where as game master, you already have planet progression set so you can have monsters and rooms prepared. Then when all planets are done- see who controls the system. It could be fun to have a counter for the clans of systems controlled, planets controlled etc. that never resets. But then when you switch to a new system (new game), you can decide on how many planets or so from there. You can do 7 or 10, the key would be not to make it too long since say clan Omega Goblins win the first 3 planets - you already know they will control the system. Would we have to play through, or should we just stop and use the planet dungeons for the next system?
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:15 pm
by ThroughTheWell
If you have a goal stated up front, and one player has 'won', then start a new game with new players. I think that keeps the challenge fresh and competative, and lets the most players play the fastest.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:43 am
by BadgeAddict
I agree with through, plus, if you've spent the effort to create planets and dungeons that you haven't used you could use them as a new look for the game.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:24 am
by John
BadgeAddict wrote:I agree with through, plus, if you've spent the effort to create planets and dungeons that you haven't used you could use them as a new look for the game.
woot. I am now very excited. Figuring out how much upgrades should cost will be hard, along with how much material an average looting should be. yay math
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:09 pm
by I'mBob
Okay, about my next D&D game, I need some help.
I can't decide exactly what I want, so I will see what people want the most.
Which of the following would you like more?
Options:
A) A "normal" D&D campaign.
B) A monstrous PC campaign, in a "normal" world. (Monsters adventurers are pretty rare, but monsters with PC levels is a common thing.)
b1: Playing as an evil/neutral adventuring party.
b2: Playing as good/neutral adventuring party.
C) A monstrous PC campaign, in a world based on the Thuntverse. (Monster adventurers are forbidden, and monsters with PC levels rarely happens.)
Note that option B is somewhat a challenging game, and option C is a very challenging one.
Re: Game Ideas Workshop
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:11 pm
by WhirdCheese
C1