OK so this was something I had been toying around with about a year ago.
But I decided to start some work back on it.
Now the one thing i am unsure of here is...would anyone else ever want
to play it?
Well what is it? You ask!
its definately not this, however i do wanna play it! hehe
So in my household, Superheroes, comic books, movies, you can’t get away
from them. My eldest daughter is unashamedly a massive comic book fan. As is my
wife, who has a ridiculous collection of wolverine comics.
This being said playing things like heroquest and such goes down well. Because
it’s clear as day that myself and my family all like that sort of thing. but
one day my daughter asked if there was a superhero game like heroquest, where
you could be your favourite superheroes, trawling through the evil villains lair,
taking out the henchmen and thugs, solving puzzles and dodging laser beams and
other contraption laid out.....and i searched and searched....and there is
nothing i could find.
i have a huge box of over 1000 heroclix inside. but that's a tactical
skirmish game. its fun (at least it used to be) but has no rpg element to it or
sense of attachment to your heroes. You build a points team and go beat someone
up...that’s it. Further searching led me to many pen and paper styled superhero
games. But alas.....there is no crawler. Nothing anywhere that bridges the gap
of rpg, dice rolling, adventuring and fighting tactically.
Nothing!!!
So what do you do? go about making your own right? Now this is only a
very minor project of mine. But it seems to be gathering momentum of late.
so the plan was...how do i make something that’s fun and works in a
crawler style that also has to encapsulate super powers over some barbarian
dude going out and buying a bigger axe for his next mission?
so the plan was. Get all the best ideas i like from various crawlers and
try to tie them in and adapt to fit into a super powered game.
so a game that has the best of this
THIS
THIS
THIS
THIS
and maybe some of this
as well as all the other ideas i can/have come up with
well it’s still very early. But as i said i seem to be gathering some
sort of speed with it. First i had to tackle the challenges.
- Powers - how to encapsulate
nearly every power in a simple way that doesnt overpower characters.
- Stats - a simple stats base
that does limit as well as provide balance.
- Balance that works on a
level that is still a challenge but not a case of superman flying in,
using his x-ray vision and smashing his way through every wall to get to
the end.
- Money? Heroes and money don’t
really have much of a connection unless you are writing for dc comics
whereas you just make everyone millionaires anyway!
- Loot - what use does a hero
have in finding a rare gem? He would just hand it in to the local museum
anyway right? My approach will garner more one shot items or events that
can buff a hero temporarily or give them options within events that will
either giver rewards or negatives.
- How would it play on a
board? well I’ve already gone with modular board pieces and intend on
these being double sided too to encapsulate indoor and outdoor places
- Quests - right away i
thought however this plays. It needs to play out like reading a comic
book. each quest being like an issue of your fave comic book. Enabling
either singular random missions like foiling a bank heist to much longer
campaigns involved around spoiling an evil villains dastardly plan for
world domination. Of which i intend to give multiple choices for quests to
give extra re playability.
- Character generation - a
simple way to generate a base character that you can follow and evolve
through his hero career. starting with his origins for character creation
and immersion. to simply being able to accurately (within reason) create
your favourite heroes.
- Searching? - well i
approached this in a different way. Firstly it’s investigating (batman searching
for a clue) so it could involve traps. Secret doors (maybe), loot. And
clues. (hmmm this looks like slime i wonder what this could be) next clue
found reveals where slime comes from and so on...just a little more to
immerse the player. and possibly enhance upon campaign based missions.
- an immersive way for the
villain to be both a competitor as well as a GM. after all its the
villains job to not let the heroes spoil their plans. in some classic
cases villains do path the way for heroes (batman is suspended from a
cable over a vat of acid by the joker...instead of just shooting him...he
gives him a chance every single time by setting a slow timer that slowly
lowers him down. Eventually he's nabbed something out of his bat belt and
figured a way to escape. al ‘a being shown where to go by the jokers
escape! hehe.
So that’s
some of the challenges. of which I’ve counteracted with various different
approaches.
- Powers. Various types of
powers that are generalised to represent a power type. all of which are limited
to a maximum amount. and also can be counter balanced with a 'flaw' system
that enables deeper immersion into the character. e.g.- hulks rage is a
flaw. as is his appearance and so on. And all counter balance against the
fact that he is the strongest one there is. Many of the character loaded
and best comic book characters are riddled with problems and flaws. Of
which seem to be panning out in a good way on both a rpg level and dice
rolling game board level.
- Stats and balance. Through
the powers and the stats you will still have some characters that are a
high level. but this is only attainable through a lot of adventures. stats
upgrades, new powers and flaws can all be bought at incremental levels
meaning each upgrade means the next upgrade will cost more (think how Spiderman
has evolved from being a little kid who can climb a wall. to someone who
ended up in a iron man suit!) and so on. Hopefully this will pan out...of
which a lot of stats testing and gameplay is needed to figure out the best
way to refine.
- How will it play? - I’ve
gone with a simple 2 action system. Very much like heroquest. This is still
being refined due to the tie-ins with powers and such. But quite simply it
will be 1 action move. 1 action attack. 2 actions activate power (unless
power is always active) 1 action to open a door. 1 action to
investigate(however this may move up to 2 actions based on how testing
goes)
- Loot and searching. loot and
searching will provide either one turn buffs up to something that lasts an
entire quest. Money is replaced with hero points (wip) that represents the
heroes. Public standing and can be spent for further buffs or saved for
character enhancement. These hero points can diminish or grow based on
various events in mission or between mission through defeating foes or
solving puzzles. But then can also go down based on expenditure. Being defeated
or turning away from saving a civilian.
- the board - yup ive decided
modular is the way to go. just havent decided how a mission will be
generated yet. tables like AHQ or a cards system like WHQ. or simply
provide more ways to pre-generate a mission. Either way I’d like to be
able to make something that is easy and fun to both play with and create.
- Character generation - I’ve
been toying with a lot of things here with this. Having a base stat and hero
point level to then build and create your own unique hero. Hopefully this
can also be used to create your favourite heroes. the origins builds up
where you choose what type of hero you have be it mutant, human, alien or
robot. And upon building stats and powers can represent various skills,
gadgets and super powers your hero may have.
- Villain player - the whole
point of this is i want the villain player to be going "mwuhahahaha
you will never defeat me!" at the end of every turn. Allowing him to
throw traps and devious plans your way constantly to keep it all a
challenge. i also want to be able to give the villain a way to WIN. So a
simple bank heist could lead to other various plots. 1. Hero stops the
villain and saves all the stolen bags of money. Only to find out it was a
decoy to lure the heroes whilst the bigger plan unfolds elsewhere. 2. The
villains escape with 'some' of the money. Thus setting up a further
alteration later on in the campaign. 3. All the villains escape with the
money thus giving the villain a boost/buff/head start on next mission. These
are all things I’m toying with to make this as immersive as possible
rather than someone that just lays out the board. i want them to have an
objective no matter how simple or elaborate it may be.
on
top of this i have a whole load of more ideas kicking around.
- Travel system for campaigns
to immerse more between missions.
- well-designed city for any
future ideas to be built upon.
- Hero base - something for
campaigns where more hero points can be spent to give permanent buffs. Store
vehicles and so on...still a WIP here.
So that’s
some of the challenges. of which I’ve counteracted with various different
approaches.
on top of
this i have a whole load of more ideas kicking around.
i suppose
it’s a treasure trove to investigate once you start looking into the immersion
of all comic books and try to encapsulate them into the perfect board game
hehe. However possible i do not know. But I’m going to try and make something
that is worthwhile and fun. and hopefully easy to play too hehe.
So is
this a sales pitch??? Hell no. i just thought i would share my ideas. And see
if anyone is at all interested in this sort of approach to a dungeon crawler. i
haven’t seen any mention of anything of this type anywhere. Now either I’ve
come up with something nobody else has thought about. Or nobody gives a shit
and thinks it’s a crappy idea. Either way. I’d love to know your thoughts and
see if anyone is actually interested at all.
i just want
to try my hand at making a fun game. and wherever it goes after that...i dunno.
kick starter maybe? Hey it can’t be anywhere near as bad as the heroquest 25th
anniversary debacle now can it? hehehe.
anyway let me know what you guys. think. good idea or villainous idea? anything at this point would be much welcome :)
