Topic: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Started by: komradebob
Started on: 12/29/2005
Board: Indie Game Design
On 12/29/2005 at 8:20pm, komradebob wrote:
[minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
This is a plaintext version of a minis game I was working on a while back as a convention one-shot. I recently took another look at this and spiffed it up. My goal was to create a simple self contained game that played with the idea of faction-identification that is usually part of miniature wargames. Unlike my other miniatures game, this one is purely competitive in nature.
Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Hungry, Hungry Dragon! is a miniatures wargame for four players. A medieval village is under attack by a dragon and the local heroes must stop the beast before he eats all the peasants. Players compete against one another to accumulate the most victory point counters by the end of the game. Heroes earn counters by wounding or killing the dragon. The dragon earns counters by eating villagers. The game ends when either the dragon is dead or the last villager is eaten.
What you will need to play
Playing cards:
Characters Deck: Jack of Clubs (Jack in the Green), Queen of Hearts (Sherf Biddlebaro), King of Spades (Sir Guy), and Ace of Spades (Dreadfang).
Dragon damage deck: (use A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 of hearts)
A bunch of pennies to use as victory point counters.
Some 6 sided dice.
5 Paper Cups: One for each payer, plus one for a bank.
Markers to show which terrain is on fire
A 12” ruler.
Dragon Breath Template: A triangle with a 3” wide base and a height of 5” easily made from an index card.
Models:
Woods - 3 large (6” dia.) and 5 small (3”- 4” dia.)
12 Buildings
30 Peasants
Figures for Sherf, Jack, Sir Guy, and Dreadfang
A 3’ x 3’ table
[center]Setting Up the game[/center]
Shuffle and deal out the character cards. The dragon player places Dreadfang anywhere on the table.
Players take turns placing the rest of the terrain and figures. Start with the player left of the person with the dragon character card and move in a clockwise direction. Players continue placing terrain and figures until all of the pieces have been placed.
Restrictions on where pieces may be placed:
Buildings: May be placed anywhere on the table except in woods.
Heroes: Only the player with the matching hero card may place the hero figure. A hero may not start the game within 6”of the dragon.
Peasants: Peasants must be placed in or within 6” of a building.
Shuffle the dragon damage cards (minus the Dragon Slain! card) and character cards separately.
Give each player five victory point counters and a paper cup. Place the rest of the counters in the bank. Place everything in an easy-to-reach location on the table.
[center]Playing the game:[/center]
1) Deal character cards:
One player shuffles the character cards and deals one card, facedown, to each of the players. The players do not look at their character card yet!
2) Bid victory points:
Each player places between zero and five counters in their hand. When everyone is ready, all players open their hand, and reveal the number of counters there.
If a player bids zero, they are choosing not to play in this round. They automatically gain three counters from the bank to put in their cup.
If a player bids any other number of victory points, this is the total number of actions that they will be able to use during the round. They may use them during their own turn, or save them to respond on an enemy player’s turn. Any counters not used by the end of the round are lost.
Players that have bid more than zero should place their counters on the table beside their character card.
3) Reveal the characters:
All players turn over their card to show which character they will play this round. Any player that bid zero victory points discards their card, as they will not have a turn this round. Remaining players place the counters they bid on their character card. Give any in-play dragon damage cards to the dragon player.
4) Play Turns:
Starting with the dragon player and going clockwise, each player takes a turn.
During their turn, a player spends their bid victory points one at a time to take an action.
After an action has been fully resolved (including any rolls for combat), the active player pauses and checks to see if any other player wants to spend a point taking a response-action.
Response actions:
Each of the other players has an opportunity to spend a single victory point to take a response action with their character. They may pass. Hero players may take response actions on the dragon player turn and the dragon player may take response actions on any hero turn. Heroes may not take response actions on another hero turn.
Once any responses have been resolved, the active player continues their turn.
A player’s turn ends when they announce they wish to end their turn or when they have no more counters to spend. When all of the players have taken a turn, the round ends.
Place any unspent victory points in the bank. Reshuffle the character cards and start a new round.
[center]Action Explanations[/center]
Action: Move (all players):
Models always move in a straight line. A figure may move up to 6”. Movement may be measured from any part of the model. This means that Dreadfang often moves further than heroes, as it is a larger model!
Dreadfang may ignore all terrain when flying. The dragon may not ignore any heroes or peasants, however. If unable to fly, Dreadfang may only move in the open or through terrain that is on fire.
[center] I just can’t get enough of these things![/center]
If the dragon is moved over peasants it may attempt to gulp them down. Only peasants in the open are vulnerable. Peasants in woods or building are safe. Peasants passed over by any part of the dragon model (even the wings!) may be eaten. There is no limit to the number of peasants Dreadfang may eat in a single move. The dragon player does not need to spend an extra counter for this; it happens automatically as a part of movement.
To determine if the peasants are eaten, the dragon player rolls a die for each peasant model. Begin with the one closest to the starting position of Dreadfang. On a roll of 4, 5, or 6 the peasant is eaten and removed from the game.
The dragon player gains one victory point for each peasant eaten. The counters must be placed in their cup. They may not use any counters gained this round.
Place models somewhere handy, as the Indigestion damage card may bring peasants back into the game.
Heroes and peasants may not move into or across a building or woods that is on fire. Heroes and peasants may enter a building from any direction, even if a door or window is not shown on the model. Peasants may never be voluntarily moved into contact with the dragon.
[center]Have at you![/center]
If the movement of the dragon or a hero brings it into contact with the other, movement stops at that point and combat occurs. If the dragon was the moving model, roll to gulp down any peasants that were passed over prior to touching the hero and then roll for combat with the hero.
To resolve combat, the hero player rolls a die. If the hero is Sherf Biddlebaro subtract 1 from the roll (minimum 1). If the hero was Sir Guy, add 1 to the roll (maximum 6).
[center]1 or 2: The Wyrm Triumphant![/center]
The dragon bests the hero. Whether by luck, armor, or the protection of a mystical guardian, the hero survives, but finds themselves far removed from the action. The dragon player may move the hero to any location on the table. Exception: If the hero is Jack-in-the-Green, the dragon player must place the figure in a wood that is not on fire, if one is available.
[center]3 or 4: Flee![/center]
The hero fights valiantly but is driven back by the flames and claws of the dragon. The owning player moves the hero at least 12” away from the dragon.
[center]5 or 6: Take that ye bloody serpent![/center]
The hero manages to slip their blade between the dragon’s scales and wound the beast. The hero player gains two victory points which they place in their cup, and draws a dragon damage card which takes effect immediately. These cards are given to the dragon player and stay on the dragon until a dragon player spends a victory point to heal.
If several heroes are in combat with the dragon at the same time, start with the player that is closest to the dragon player’s left and work around clockwise. Always resolve all parts of a combat before moving on to another action.
Action: Place Dragon Slain! Card in the Dragon Damage deck (hero players only):
This card does not start the game in the damage deck. A hero player may place it in the deck (and reshuffle afterwards) by spending a victory point. A hero player may only do this on their own turn, not as a response action on the dragon turn.
Action: Disperse Peasants (hero players only):A hero player may spend a counter to move peasants anywhere on the board. Roll a die to see how many peasants may be moved.
Action: Breathe fire (Dragon player only): The dragon may breathe fire by spending one victory point. The dragon may use his fiery breath on his turn or as a response action.
Place the point of the triangle anywhere that touches the dragon model’s mouth. The Dragon is never affected by its own breath and may place the triangle so that it covers part of the dragon model. The template may face in any direction.
Any peasants in the open are incinerated if the triangle touches them.
Any buildings or woods are set on fire. Mark them to show that they are on fire.
Any peasants or heroes in the area must be moved out immediately. Hero players take turns moving figures out of the building or woods one at a time, starting with the player to the left of the dragon player. Only the owning player may move a hero. If no one is playing a particular hero (because they bid zero counters), the dragon player moves the figure.
If a hero is caught in the open by the blast, the owning player rolls a die. If the hero is Sir Guy, add 1 to the result (maximum 6). If the result is 1, 2, or 3 use The Wyrm Triumphant! result from combat. If the result is 4, 5, or 6 use the Flee! result.
Action: Heal (dragon player only): The dragon player may spend a counter to heal any one dragon damage card by spending one counter. Reshuffle the card into the dragon damage deck.
[center]Ending the game:[/center]
The game ends immediately when either the last peasant is eaten or the Dragon Slain! damage card is drawn. Give any final victory points to the player that caused the event, and then compare everyone’s victory points. The player with the highest total wins the game.
[center]Characters:[/center]
Sherf Biddlebaro:
Although not a great warrior, Biddlebaro is appreciated by his fellow commoners for his knowledge of the countryside and his uncanny ability to always know the best hiding spots.
Set Up: Sherf must start in or within one move of an already placed building or peasant.
Special abilities:
Watch out!By spending a counter, Sherf Biddlebaro can give all peasants a better chance of escaping from the dragon this round. The dragon only gulps down peasants on a roll of 5 or 6, instead of 4, 5, or 6. The Sherf Biddlebaro player may spend this counter as a response action. The effect lasts for the remainder of the round.
Trust Sherf Biddlebaro is well respected by peasants. Sherf Biddlebaro adds +2 to his roll when taking a disperse action.
Jack-in-the-Green:
Jack is at home in the forest and is a well-known trickster. Some whisper that Jack isn’t entirely human, but rather a woodland spirit still alive from ancient times.
Set Up: Jack-in-the-Green must be placed in or with a move of a wood.
Special abilities:
Forest-child
Jack can move mysteriously between unconnected areas of forest. The player may spend one counter to move Jack from any one forest to any other forest, as long as neither forest is on fire.
ArcheryJack may use his bow rather than fight Dreadfang in hand-to-hand combat. Jack’s bow has a range of 6” and the player must spend a counter to use this ability. The path between Jack and the dragon must be clear of buildings, but no other figures or terrain will block the bowfire. Roll one die: on a 6, the player draws a dragon damage card. The player may use this as a response action.
Sir Guy:Armored and perched atop a proud warhorse, the arrogant and haughty Sir Guy appears the very ideal of the warrior-hero. The cavalier has made a personal vow to slay the dragon and present its head as a trophy to his liege.
Set Up: Sir Guy is just arriving and must be placed within 2 moves of any table edge.
Special abilities:
Warhorse
Sir Guy may make a double length (12”) move if the model is not moved through any terrain of any sort during the move.
Great Feats of Arms:
Sir Guy is the greatest warrior in the realm. Sir Guy’s player may choose to spend a counter to get two dice (rather than the normal one die) to roll in combat with the dragon. The player rolls both dice and chooses which result to use. The Sir Guy player may use this ability any time the dragon model comes in contact with his model.
Disadvantage:
Arrogant
Sir Guy doesn’t get along well with peasants and they tend not to trust him. Sir Guy subtracts 1 (minimum zero) from his roll when using the Disperse Peasants action.
Dreadfang the Hungry:
Dreadfang is a nightmare of an ancient dragon. He is voracious after his long sleep, and for the peasants of the kingdom is Death incarnate.
Set Up: The dragon is the first figure placed. It may be placed anywhere on the table.
Special abilities:
Dreadfang has the ability to fly or walk for movement, breathe fire, may attempt to eat all villagers passed over during movement, and may spend a victory point to heal any wound of his choice.
[center]Dragon damage Deck: (use Hearts)[/center]
When one of these cards is drawn, leave it face up near the dragon player for all players to see, unless it says to reshuffle it into the damage deck (Bad Scare! and Indigestion).
Dragon Slain! (Ace) – The game ends immediately. Give the player that drew this card 5 victory points. Dragon Slain! does not start in the dragon damage deck.
Dragon Gimpy (2)-Dragon may not walk.
Wing Torn (3)-Dragon may not fly.
Flame Sacs Damaged (4)-Dragon may not Breathe Fire.
Bad Scare! (5)-The player whose hero damaged the dragon may move the model anywhere on the table. Reshuffle this card into the damage deck.
Indigestion (6) - The Dragon spits up undigested villagers! Roll a die:
1 or 2= 1 villager
3 or 4 = 2 villagers
5 or 6 = 3 villagers
Move the miniatures just as if they were escaping a burning woods or building. The current dragon player loses an equal number of victory points from their cup.
Reshuffle this card in to the damage deck. The dragon may not spit up more villagers than have been eaten so far during the game.
Mouth Damaged (7) - The dragon only gulps down villagers on a roll of 5 or 6. If Sherf Biddlebaro has used his Watch out! special ability, this is reduced to a roll of 6 only.
Broken Nail (8) – Dreadfang has lost several talons and may not voluntarily move to touch a hero figure during the dragon player’s turn.
Blinded! (9) – Dreadfang is temporarily blinded. There is a chance that when a move action is declared, that a hero player will end up moving Dreadfang. Roll on the chart below to determine which player moves the model:
1= Sherf Biddlebaro
2= Jack-in-the-Green
3= Sir Guy
4, 5, 6= Dreadfang
If one of the heroes is rolled, but that character isn’t being used due to the player bidding zero victory points, the Dreadfang player moves normally.
Thoughts on play:
“Hungry, Hungry Dragon!” is all about managing your victory points. Every new round, you will gamble some of your victory points on your ability to act with any one of the characters. Since you will not know which character you will end up playing, it helps to be able to think on your feet and make the best of any situation.
The dragon is the easiest character to score victory points with and you should spend most of your victory points trying to over-fly and eat peasants. You are best off simply ignoring and avoiding the heroes. You may find that you need to heal to be effective before setting off on your rampage. Remember to use your breathe weapon, but focus on buildings, forests and heroes, never peasants.
The heroes each have different abilities to use. Sherf Biddlebaro is a denial piece. His best use is to scatter peasants far and wide, making it hard for the dragon to eat them. Biddlebaro gives the player the ability to do this regardless of where the model is on the table. Use Biddlebaro in combat only if the dragon is very close to him. Jack-in-the-Green is an excellent mobile sniper. His forest-child ability gives him a huge amount of mobility and may force dragon players to waste victory points on setting forests on fire. His archery allows him to attack the dragon without danger to himself. A dragon that stays put risks being pin-cushioned to death. Sir Guy is a deadly fighter and very mobile if he stays away from terrain. When you are using Sir Guy, you should always be trying to run down the dragon. Place Sir Guy between the dragon and big groups of peasants to force the dragon to fight.
A player has the choice to bid zero victory points at the beginning of a round and gain 3 victory tokens simply for skipping their turn. Be careful of this tactic. Your short-term gain could hand victory to another player by making it easier for the remaining players to scoop up points.
On 1/1/2006 at 10:27pm, komradebob wrote:
Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Heh, a lot of people have looked at this one, but so far no feedback. Someone once gave me the bit of advice that if you want feedback, you need to ask questions, not just present something. I actually only have a couple of questions, but mostly they have to do with playtesting this sucker:
1) Does the movement rate and board size work?
2) Related to #1, how are they impacting gain/loss of victory points?
3) What is your personal reaction to a game where there is a high level of gambling and no constant/ whole-game player-to-pawn identification?
4) Are you familiar with any other designs that use non-permanent/changing player-to-pawn set up?
Quick test set up:
I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that most folks ( other than metal-junkies like myself) probably do not have a handy set of miniatures to use for this. Here are some easy suggestions on alternate pieces:
Biddlebaro and Jack= 1" x 1" squares with name written on them. Sir Guy= 1" x 3" rectangle to represent "footprint" of horse. Dreadfang is a square 3" x 3", representing his larger size and speed, and ability to reach out with his snaky neck and claws. Put a dot in the middle of one edge to mark where the dragon breathe meplate must be drawn from.
Buildings are either 4" x 4" or 4" x 3" cutouts. Woods are irregular circular cut outs with a diameter of 3" to 4". If the terrain is set on fire, simply write this on the cutout in pencil.
Peasants can be 1" x 1" squares, or just use pennies instead.
Thoughts on designing this game:
Inspiration-
It was actually the figures themselves that inspired this game. I came across a site that had sets of fantasy civillians available inexpensively so I bought some, and then thought aout what I'd do with them. This was clear case of the physical objects leading the game design, and an approach I'm becoming more confident in as I play with it.
I've noticed that the concept is a little hard to explain to non-minis fans. A big part of playing with minis for me is the toys, not their use as place holders or representations of their equipment list. Those uses grow out of the minis used, not the other way around.
Goal: Short rules-
My goal was to create game rules that could fit on the inside of a (hypothetical) game box lid or equivalent amount of paper. I think I've come close. This has everything to do with my goal of creating games whose core rules can be digested by players outside of gamer circles. Mind you, this stictly refers to core rules; I'm content expand those rules in optional form.
Downside: I hacked a ton of color from the rules to get them this short. Originally ( again based on the figures themselves) had halflings and livestock as well as humans. The hacked down form simply uses more generic villagers for all of those victim positions. Sherf was originally the halfling community leader and had special bonuses specifically related to moving halflings and livestock. There was also a bit of seperation between placement of human and halfling communities, with an eye towards making a couple of differnt population centers for the dragon to raid.
In general, if I was expanding this rule set, I'd opt to put the color back in. I feel the game loses a lot of charm for it's absense.
Goal-Divorced player-to-pawn relationship while retaining player v. player competitionI'm not sure that this comes through well, but it is the single biggest deal in these rules.It is a thought experiment I've been working on for several different scenario based game designs.
To get a better idea, imagine a variant of checkers that works like this: In normal checkers, one player plays black, one red. Pretty straight forward, with the object of taking all of the other player's pieces to win. In normal checkers, players are pawn/faction identified. Now imagine a game of checkers where there is divorced player-to-pawn/faction identification. On your turn, you can move either red or black. If you take a ppiece with a move, you take the checker and put it in your stack off board. The game end conditions stay the same, the game ends when all of one color checkers are removed. In this variant, though, the winner is the player with the most checkers capured by their moves regardlss of color. See how differently the strategy involved becomes?
And I want to play with this because why?
I think this has an application for games based on situations where there is a serious power imbalance, and where there is perhaps even a largely fore-ordained likely outcome. In this case, power-imbalance might be straight forward historical ( Germany invading Poland in 1939) or genre related ( The heroes will win in the end as in much fiction). These kinds of situations may make for less than ideal to play games. Even if the rules for a game have a "handicapped" victory for the outclassed side, I often find they are just plain no fun. Even if I win on technical points, I still find I feel as if I 've lost.
Alternate approaches seem to go out of their way to produce results that fly in the face of source material. Here I'm thinking of games based on properties like Star Wars or Star Trek where the bad guys actually are capable of completly romping the good guys when treated as a competent foes. Again, no fun for me. In situations with that sort of source material, the good guys are supposed to ultimately win after a hard struggle and some tragic losses! This urge creates the opposite design approach- the bad guys suck. Again, not particularly fun to play, at least as the bad guys.
Hence, my solution- the option to play both and gain victory points by doing so. PvP competition is preserved. Small-s simulation is achieved by setting up victory point gaining opportunities for all players, regardless of which pawn they use on their turn. Tension is created by the urge to grab points now while denying points to opposing players later. Hopefully this also plays into small-s simulation; players may make moves that are non-optimal in a game with direct faction identification. With divorced faction identification, it mght even be possible to give victory points for making "bad" moves- putting a side's piece in danger could feasibly gain a player points!
Thoughts?
On 1/3/2006 at 12:08pm, Zach wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
komradebob wrote:
3) What is your personal reaction to a game where there is a high level of gambling and no constant/ whole-game player-to-pawn identification?
I'd play it. Gamers and non-gamers alike are able to get behind fun, petty rivalries pretty quickly.
4) Are you familiar with any other designs that use non-permanent/changing player-to-pawn set up?
Capes? From what I've gathered from the flash example, story tokens stick with players rather than characters. Between scenes the characters are shuffled between players.
Forge Reference Links:
Topic 52
On 1/5/2006 at 2:45am, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Zach wrote:
I'd play it. Gamers and non-gamers alike are able to get behind fun, petty rivalries pretty quickly.
Hah! You nailed it for me. Yes, this thing definitely works on petty rivalry between the players.
Capes? From what I've gathered from the flash example, story tokens stick with players rather than characters. Between scenes the characters are shuffled between players.
Damn. I really have to set down and read that game. I have a demo copy around here somewhere, too.
I've been thinking about variants for this also. Anyone have suggestions?
Forge Reference Links:
Topic 52
On 1/5/2006 at 7:45am, Starblade wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
What about a belly timer? I'm sure the dragon will digest its prey, to the point where they're no longer alive. Just a thought. I mean they can't all be alive in there.
That way, if it's been quite a bit after the dragon's eaten something, and it gets indigestion, it might not spit out everyone its eaten, only those who haven't been digested yet. :P
On 1/5/2006 at 5:12pm, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Starblade wrote:
What about a belly timer? I'm sure the dragon will digest its prey, to the point where they're no longer alive. Just a thought. I mean they can't all be alive in there.
That way, if it's been quite a bit after the dragon's eaten something, and it gets indigestion, it might not spit out everyone its eaten, only those who haven't been digested yet. :P
I dunno... Little Red Riding Hood's Granny did okay with that wolf...
Actually, that might not be a bad play balance, since the current dragon player also loses victory points for indigestion. Howabout, only peasants swallowed this round? Others are permanently removed?
On 1/5/2006 at 10:31pm, Starblade wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
komradebob wrote:Starblade wrote:
What about a belly timer? I'm sure the dragon will digest its prey, to the point where they're no longer alive. Just a thought. I mean they can't all be alive in there.
That way, if it's been quite a bit after the dragon's eaten something, and it gets indigestion, it might not spit out everyone its eaten, only those who haven't been digested yet. :P
I dunno... Little Red Riding Hood's Granny did okay with that wolf...
Actually, that might not be a bad play balance, since the current dragon player also loses victory points for indigestion. Howabout, only peasants swallowed this round? Others are permanently removed?
Yeah, that makes sense. How long are the rounds? One would have to make sure the rounds are long enough so that some of the higher numbers on the indigestion dice are even applicable.
Just my two cents.
(...Starblade Riven Darksquall...) AKA Matthew F.
On 1/5/2006 at 10:38pm, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Starblade wrote:
Yeah, that makes sense. How long are the rounds? One would have to make sure the rounds are long enough so that some of the higher numbers on the indigestion dice are even applicable.
There isn't any set time equivalent. A round is as long as it takes for everyone to have a turn playing their character. I guess that would be something to note, that obviously if there's nuthin' in the tummy, the dragon player can't lose either peasants or victory points, nor can you toss up more peasants than are present.
On 1/7/2006 at 9:03pm, Starblade wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
komradebob wrote:Starblade wrote:
Yeah, that makes sense. How long are the rounds? One would have to make sure the rounds are long enough so that some of the higher numbers on the indigestion dice are even applicable.
There isn't any set time equivalent. A round is as long as it takes for everyone to have a turn playing their character. I guess that would be something to note, that obviously if there's nuthin' in the tummy, the dragon player can't lose either peasants or victory points, nor can you toss up more peasants than are present.
I suggest that the indigestion dice is altered once you playtest it so that if it's not enough peasants or too many peasants thrown up, you can adjust it. I don't know how that would be done, but it seems that it might need to be done.
BTW... is it done enough to be playtested? Just curious.
(...Starblade Riven Darksquall...)
On 1/8/2006 at 3:09am, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
BTW... is it done enough to be playtested? Just curious.
I think so. Not real purty, but definitely at the stage where testing is needed to find bad bugs. If you're up for giving it a whirl with your group, I'd love to hear the results.
On 1/8/2006 at 7:24am, Starblade wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
komradebob wrote:BTW... is it done enough to be playtested? Just curious.
I think so. Not real purty, but definitely at the stage where testing is needed to find bad bugs. If you're up for giving it a whirl with your group, I'd love to hear the results.
Ah, so it's alpha testing? Or perhaps an early form of beta testing?
Also, I know a group of people who would be REALLY interested in this game. Though I'll have to try my best to get them to actually play it right, and not play just to get a kick out of the dragon eating everybody. :P
(...Starblade Riven Darksquall...)
On 1/9/2006 at 7:07pm, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Actually, I'm pretty amused by the dragon eating everyone, myself. I'd love to get feedback on a playtest of this, I just can never seem to get four gamers together at the same time to test it!
On 1/10/2006 at 3:46pm, MatrixGamer wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
Bob
This looks like a fun game. When I read the rules I was thinking about childrens games - Hungry Hippo - and brightly colored cardboard counters/terrain. The rules seem solid (I personally like the dragon throwing up live people rather than dead ones - very Jonah and the Whale like). If it was published as a board game if wouldn't need to have cards (because you use playing cards) action counters (because they can use pennies) or even victory point counters because they could use other coins. On a board it might help to use squares or hexes so no rulers are needed.
This could be very German Boardgame like.
Nice job!
Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games
On 1/10/2006 at 6:48pm, komradebob wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
MatrixGamer wrote:
Bob
This looks like a fun game. When I read the rules I was thinking about childrens games - Hungry Hippo - and brightly colored cardboard counters/terrain. The rules seem solid (I personally like the dragon throwing up live people rather than dead ones - very Jonah and the Whale like). If it was published as a board game if wouldn't need to have cards (because you use playing cards) action counters (because they can use pennies) or even victory point counters because they could use other coins. On a board it might help to use squares or hexes so no rulers are needed.
This could be very German Boardgame like.
Nice job!
Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games
As a boardgame, I think I would change some things. I would absolutely switch to an area move system, something like the old Dracula ( Vampyre?) minigame by TSR or the Axis & Allies board. Come to think about it, there would be some decided advantages on several levels to having this as a boardgame, although the downsides in my mind would start to be about creating the physical parts. With minis, it is easy for me to put this together. With a board, there are several things I would want to test out to see how well the worked both physically and tactics-wise.
I might also switch to something like a victory points track, maybe circling the board, although I'm not sure how well that would work with the bidding. Hmm.
On 1/10/2006 at 9:49pm, MatrixGamer wrote:
RE: Re: [minis] Hungry, Hungry Dragon!
I don't think the bidding part would have to change at all. Players bid for actions which could still be done using pennies. Putting a victory point track sounds like a good short hand - lets everyone know where they stand at any given point. Area movement couled be fun though I think squares might be fun to. Area movement is easier to put on maps though.
Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games