Friday, March 2, 2018

Cooperative miniatures game

Is there a cooperative miniatures game out there? Most are based on the idea that you build a force and fight against one other player, which I can see the appeal of, but it also seems limited to me.

Board games have themes that go far beyond that, and explore a wider array of mechanics, so why not bring more of that into the hobby of collecting, building and personalizing your own force. Even as I've been writing these words, I've started thinking about the viability of collecting farming miniatures for a game. :D

An idea of thought of last night while writing about lore in games was a game inspired by SRPGs - starting out with a force of low tier soldiers and evolving them through combat experience to specialize in different roles - think Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics. You'd bring a squad (say, 3) of soldiers into playing field, and have the board game set up a scenario for you and a friend or 3 to get through.

A base set might have one or a few such scenarios, and a couple of options to evolve your characters - say from a grunt to a brawler, archer or cleric. Further expansions might through new scenarios, enemies and character evolutions to build on the experience.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Lore in Board Games

The second expansion of the third Race For The Galaxy arc recently showed up on my radar.
I started thinking about lore and stories in board games.
Some games tap into the rich lore of big IPs such as Star Wars, the Call of Cthulhu or Song of Ice and Fire.
Some games are a one time experience of pushing tokens across a board.
There aren't too many games that explore deeper story lines the way RftG attempts to do, and I'm not sure how well it succeeds in the attempts, with most of the gameplay revolving around combos of icons.

Legacy and campaign games offer more interesting examples, with storytelling done through changing the board and player abilities, leading to emotionally investing in the game.

I'd like to create a game with it's own unique lore, that will come through during gameplay.