I played a game called Shadows Over Camelot today. In spirit, the game is very much like the Lord of the Rings game, in that the players attempt to beat the game cooperatively. However, there are a couple of big twists that I think mitigate some of the biggest flaws in Lord of the Rings.

First, the concept: There are two kinds of victory points, positive (“white swords”) and negative (“black swords”). The game is over when 12 points have been awarded; if at least 7 of the swords are black, the good guys lose. White swords are awarded for winning quests; black swords for failing to finish quests in time.

On each player’s turn, a Black card is (usually) revealed for the Progress of Evil, bringing one of the quests closer to defeat. Then the player gets to either move to a quest or, if already there, play a card towards defeating it. Some cards are more useful in some circumstances; for instance, only Grail cards can be used on the quest for the Grail; seeking Lancelot’s Armor requires specific combinations of Fight cards, while any card can be tossed into the Lake in the search for Excalibur.

Similar to the Lord of the Rings board game, evil’s advantage is that the good guys’ resources run dry as time wears on, while evil’s progress never falters; its disadvantage is that the good guys can coordinate their efforts, while it may not get around to dealing the killing blow in an almost-lost quest until too late.

The most important difference is the potential for a traitor. There are a maximum of seven players, and eight Loyalty cards, drawn randomly at the beginning of the game. One of them reads “Traitor.” (So the more players, the greater the likelihood, but there is always the chance that there is no Traitor.) The Traitor wins only if the rest of the good guys lose. Outing the Traitor is worth a white sword (1/7 of the goal of the game—not bad), while a false accusation turns a white sword black.

This is huge. Rather than the game being noninteractive, you now need to watch your fellow players for the telltale signs of them trying to throw the game. The tension is increased. Many of the game mechanics are built around secrecy—cards are played face down and shuffled before being examined, and you’re forbidden to name cards by their exact value—so there’s no chance of one player trying to direct the entire game. If the traitor isn’t outed, because of being so crafty, he turns two white swords black at the game end.

There’s also a series of additional options for an advanced game that are a little more creative than “Sauron starts closer to the good guys,” which is neat.

Days of Wonder publishes the entire rules to all their games on their website, which is pretty neat, so go check the game out if you’re interested.

My current hopes for a game to be picked up by a publisher rest mostly with one that’s about a year and a half old. I’ve rethemed it from its original, abstract theme (”Equinox”) to the one it was really meant to have anyway: the electoral system. It’s codenamed “Mock the Vote.”

I commissioned a cartoonist friend, Dave Blair, to come up with some sample art. It turned out great! Here’s one of the cards (a nod to the old RPG, Paranoia).

I only remember my dreams in two cases. First, if they’re terrible nightmares, and second, if I’m too hot. I wasn’t exactly feverish when I went to bed on Sunday—in fact, I was too cold, so I think I overdressed and overcovered for bed. I woke up a little less sick, and covered in sweat…

The point of all this is to share the game I was thinking about when I woke up. It’s a racing game… of sorts.

Title: Racing Fever, I guess.

Objective: OK, you watch it for the wrecks, but driving is all about the hot babes/dudes, right? Well, if I drove race cars, that’d be why, and you should too. To this end, you must acquire the most Fame.

Setup: You start with a small amount of money and a basic, unequipped car.

Core Mechanic: The game takes place in two phases. In the first phase, you bid or spend money on various kinds of upgrades. In the second phase, you race; winning races (or placing well) gives both Fame and money.

Phase 1: First, the next racetrack is revealed. (There might be a random selection of racetracks; or it might be assembled from different pieces.) This lets players choose the most advantageous upgrades for the next track.

Then, a series of potential upgrades are revealed, with varying costs. The costs are not directly linked to the power of the cards. Rather, they are assigned at random, and the player in last place gets the first pick. Players who are already doing well have to pay top dollar for whatever’s left, or just wait for the next turn.

Phase 2: The race itself. It takes place in sections of track. Some are benefited more by certain upgrades (straight track by engine upgrades, turns by tire upgrades, etc.) There may also be special one-shot upgrades that give you a greater benefit, but are used for only one race and used up. As the race goes on, players jockey for position—there’s some kind of die roll with a bonus based on the upgrades you have for that section. Being ahead in one leg gives you an advantage in the next, but only being ahead at the very end counts.

There’s another upgrade, Glamour, that provides no direct benefit in the race, but does give bonus Fame and money whether or not you win the race.

Duration: Probably a certain number of races, rather than a given Fame threshold.

I plan to finish prototyping Invasion first and I also have some plans this summer for some of my existing card games, but we’ll see if I can also get Racing Frenzy put together.

I like World of Warcraft. It’s brilliantly executed and exquisitely balanced.

I like board games.

But this seems like a real long shot to me: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17223 

With a game time of 3 hours, I’m pretty sure I’d rather run Baron Strat twice or play Catan three times, thank you very much.

(Illness is sapping my energy for a full-length article.)

I share the 30-mile commute to work with reader John Rhoadhouse, and often we talk games. Although an avid gamer, he usually favors creating riddles, which is somewhat out of the scope of this blog. Today, however, he presented this sketch for a board game.

Theme: The players are petty villains in a city dominated by superheroes, each trying to be the last one remaining.

Goal: To be the last player remaining after all others are eliminated. Players have two ratings, Honor and Villainy. If either exceeds a certain threshold, the player is eliminated (too much Villainy and the superheroes bust you; too much Honor and the fraternity of villains disown you).

Mechanic: Every turn, a number of cards are revealed, each corresponding to a villainous scheme presented at the Auctionhouse of Villains. Schemes can increase, or in rare cases decrease, the Honor, Villainy, or credit available of a player. If you buy a scheme you can use it on any player. Every turn, the auction house extends you credit depending on your Honor, but any bid you make is increased for free by your Villainy (because you know how to cheat). The cards are wildly unbalanced in power, made fair by the fact they are bought on auction.

Hearing this description, it sounds to me like the game would be frustrating because the only way to gain power is to bring yourself closer to losing. The additional mechanic I suggested is that players be able to win without eliminating their opponents. The goals could be decided before the beginning of the game, either fixed by rules or chosen at random; or they could be bought on the Auction House like other schemes. For instance, you could categorize the evil schemes by type (Technology, Politics, Magic, Petty Crime) and then you could have goals that relate to them (win by building the Doomsday Device, which requires you to have six other Technology plans.)

I think this would add a more “constructive” appeal to the game and also solve the problem of what eliminated players should do while they wait for the next game to start. In this version, eliminated players would be more of a rarity. Whether with or without my ideas, the game is John’s and I hope he manages to put together a prototype that we can try out…

I’ll keep you posted, of course.

Reader Gary has completely outdone me in the realm of rejected games:

How about “Quip - The card game of scathing British insults”?

Premise: A local ruffian has just passed you a harsh word about your lady-friend. Defend your honour and protect her delicate feminine sensibilities. It’s time to give him a verbal thrashing, it is! Chain together Verb and Noun base cards with Suffix and Prefix Modifiers, Massive Word Multipliers (i.e. scallywag, hooligan), and as many exclamation points as possible for a brutal Insult Combo. Action cards allow you to sarcastically doff your hat, or ruffle his coattails!

Trying out something new tonight. Rather than confront you with a huge wall of 400 words, I got out my digital camera and took some pictures of the board game I’ve been designing.

The working title, by the way, is now Invasion.

This is the board as it might look during play. Missing are the “mothership” markers that mark where new pieces are deployed. Also, I plan to buy some little wooden cubes to replace the paper clips. They cost $25/1000 but I think they will be great to hold and can serve for many games.

Markers for keeping score. These are split washers ($3/100), spray-painted gold. There is another batch of them I left the natural color–they’re zinc, so they look like any other metal.

They feel really great in your hands. You’ll want to win the game so you can feel the scoring tokens. Here in my hand are the big ones that count for 5, in both the gold and “iron” varieties.

Because I intend for the auction to be a single round of secret bidding, having markers instead of pencil-and-paper or a scoring track is actually useful, in addition to feeling nice in your hands. I’m aware that this secret bidding might lead to some tense moments, but I think it will help speed the game along in an important way, versus an ordinary auction.

Today, the top 5 game ideas (all of these really popped into my head at some point) that I don’t picture myself prototyping any time soon.

5. Stare Into The Abyss

(…and the abyss stares back at you.) The first goal is to achieve victory. The second is to maintain your honor. But a series of increasingly dishonorable actions are available, that can help you achieve victory, but at what cost?

4. High School

Take Babylon 5: the CCG, but instead of alien races, the factions are cliques at a high school. Derailed when hours of searching couldn’t bring me anything closer to anything that resembles a logical win condition.

3. The Kreb Cycle

My mom wondered why I couldn’t make more educational games. I honestly devoted thought to how to make this anything more than competitive flash cards.

2. Seduction: The Card Game

I may eventually revisit the idea of a game where tempo and timing are everything. But theme-wise, I’ll stick to topics I know more about, like brain surgery and UFOs.

1. Struggle Against Ennui

I want to create this about as much as you want to play it.

 The game in my head continues to take shape…

Components. I spent about $20 on Wednesday buying what I need: a sheet of poster board for the board, colorful paper clips for player tokens. (I intend to eventually get little wooden cubes.) For scoring counters, I bought washers. Pencil and paper would work but I like the tactile feel of washers. A lot. I spray-painted some of them metallic gold, and it looks really nice.

Theme. Fuleng wanted samurai. Alyx wanted aliens. Samurai aliens? Nah. I went to bed last night thinking of something non-PC and vaguely topical having to do with illegal aliens at the Mexican border. Luckily I awoke with my senses. For the prototype, I’m going to stick with an invaders-from-outer-space theme (you’re one of the alien races, competing for Earth’s resources. The Earthlings are a mere annoyance.).

Rules. A little more concrete now:

Setup: Lay out the regions—between 7 and 10, I think. Each player gets a “home” (or “mothership”) marker where any new aliens will be deployed, and puts it in a region. Regions have varying values of 2, 4, or 6.

At the beginning of each turn, three things are decided randomly. They will be a card draw in the beginning, but it may be a die roll eventually.

1. What is the base number of action points this round? Anything from 4-8 is possible.
2. What regions will be scored this round? It could be all of them, only the regions with motherships, or every player chooses one region.
3. How many aliens will the Earthlings chase off? It depends what they choose to fight with: none (tanks and planes), one per race per region (nukes), one third (bacteria), or half (seawater).

After that, players secretly choose a number of points to bid between going first and getting 0 extra action points, or going last and getting 4. The exact options available will vary from round to round.

Taking Actions: The actions available to you vary based on the cards you draw. In general, deploying 2 aliens, or moving 2 aliens 1 region, costs 1 action point. (So moving 4 costs 2, moving 6 costs 3). Moving to any region, instead of an adjacent region, costs +1 point. Moving your opponent’s aliens instead of your own allows you to move 1 fewer alien. Moving your mothership costs 1 action.

You also have half-efficiency versions of these (move or deploy 1 alien for 1 action point) that you can use even if you don’t have any appropriate cards. This keeps you from being stuck if you happen to draw all the wrong cards.

Any action cards you don’t happen to use can be saved or discarded to draw fresh ones. In general, this mechanic is to force you to adapt to different abilities to marshal your forces at different times.

Scoring a Region: Winner gets the region’s value in “gold points,” which are used for winning. Second place gets the region’s value in “iron points” which are only used for bidding. As long as there are at least 4 players, third place gets half that many iron points.

Game End: 40 gold points? We’ll see how this paces.

 Today, I present to you the rules for Two-Handed Euchre. It’s a fun, fast game for two people. The rules are similar to ordinary Euchre, but the play really isn’t. There’s more of an emphasis on tempo and remembering/guessing where the cards are. I find it to be a satisfying mix of strategy and luck.

Alatar beats the crap out of me at this game. I suspect he grasps the strategy at the deepest level that this game presents, and I’m missing something fundamental. I seem to be able to hold my own against most other people, though.

Deck: An ordinary Euchre deck, 9-A in every suit.

Deal: The deal alternates from round to round. Deal three cards face-down in front of each player; deal three cards face-up on top of those, and deal five cards for a hand. There should be two cards remaining. Reveal the top card as in ordinary Euchre.

Determining trump: First the dealer’s opponent, then the dealer has the opportunity to call the suit of the turned-up card as trump. If this happens, the dealer takes that card into his hand, sets a card from his hand facedown in its place, and the round begins.

If the dealer does not pick up the card, he turns it face-down, and his opponent has the opportunity to name any other suit as trump. If he does not, the dealer must name another suit as trump.

Play of the hand: Rank order is as in ordinary Euchre. Non-dealer leads to the first trick. Your hand is considered to be any cards in your hand, plus any that are face-up in front of you. If you play a face-up card that had a card below it, flip the face-down card up at the end of the trick. Obviously, these covered face-down cards do not count towards your obligation to follow suit. Thus, your hand changes as the turn wears on and new cards are added to your hand.

Scoring: When all 11 tricks are played, both players score one points for each trick captured. However, if the player to name the trump suit does not take at least 6 tricks, that player gets no points and his opponent gets 5 points for every trick short of 6. By contrast with regular Euchre, a pen and paper are required. Play for half an hour or so, or until whatever you were waiting for happens. Then total the scores (by crossing out the hands that cancel each other out, and adding the rest) and determine the final victor.