Thread:Cdnlife/@comment-31262327-20180412024334

I designed in my basement a boardgame version of the videogame DK2. I need help in structuring and play testing the numerous features. I need another point of view, from people loving the video game as much as I did. If you dreamt some features were present or some creatures had different powers, new traps, tunneling science, eviltower, dungeon resources, tech tree, rare earth, discovering the ceiling-less Sunland, etc. If you can think it, it can be implemented.

carolynlonginton att gmail dott com

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This is a game of heroic-fantasy. Heroes go adventuring into the Dungeons. Meanwhile, Villains surge out in the Sun Land. The Villagers and king's men encounter monsters, loot treasures, while the Dark Lords defend their dungeons, harvest the natural and magical resources, build Traps, recruit creatures of the dark. Indeed, other Dark Lords and many heroes are plotting your invasion. With a high immersion factor and a suspension of disbelief, this game is designed to have the player escape the reality of the day-to-day routine. The mind boggling combinations of the middle to late game are prone to dream from one day to another. Running several strategies, exploratory wandering in the unknown can invade the dreams of the player. Before you know it, you really feel like you are in charge of a subterranean territory. You become territorial.

This game is complex, monstrous. There is a heavy touch of management and logistics. Its ecological system is designed to auto-balance itself, without any obvious victory path. The best designed dungeon layout is not a guarantee of victory but a badly designed one will contribute to the demise of its Dark Lord. Accumulating resources does not guarantee victory but constantly being low on resources will shrink a Dark Lord's chance to win. The ecosystem is big enough to reach the critical mass necessary for self-sustaining running. It enlivens a cohesive, stable world which makes sense. Its sheer size is what makes it puzzling, stimulating, epic. Each game bears its own unique development. One is never sure to win. Careful cautious planning ready for the unexpected to happen is a strategy equally worthwhile compared to the aggressive ruthless “army making” approach or resource-hoarding turtling strategy. Strategies have to adapt and evolve depending on factors you only control partially. Unpredictability is high due to the sheer number of different elements, moving parts and the way they interact with one another. There are so many parameters that they balance each other since you cannot do everything everywhere. Recruit too many Evil Creatures and more Adventurers will invade you. Spend too much gold on Rooms and you won’t have enough to win auctions or buy lanterns for your Adventurers. Skimp on food gathering and famine is looming. Extend too far to get Mana and you’ll be easily invaded. You can never have enough of everything, but the other Dark Lords as well, thus trading is promoted because no single resource is enough to win. You need to balance several aspects of your Dungeon management. For example, one of the mechanisms ensuring fluidity is the way Artefact Gear are spread on the map. Good “Aura” Treasures are hidden in the depths of the Dungeons, attracting adventurers into the darker areas. On the opposite, Evil Artefacts are hidden around the Black Well, central permanent access point between the Land Above and the Dungeons, attracting dungeon creatures nearby the dreaded Sun Land.

This game is fun because you can gather a bunch of minion creatures, dig tunnels and duke it out with other Dark Lords and the Village. You can have goblins, slimes, anacondas, spiders, trolls, vampires, skeletons, just to mention the most common minions. Each species is very different from the other. Each player controls a Dark Lord, who is represented by a Throne Room. Dark Lords manage their creatures, where they go, what they try to do, what Talent they use, their happiness, their needs and their combat tactics. There is no constraining gamey contraption to limit your actions, no activation protocol or doom track. No pressure but free form, full power over your creatures and dungeon layout architecture.

The Sunland, ripe with heroes, provides an extra layer of adventuring and stories. There are around 50 quests, both good and evil. There are around 12 victory conditions. The game is heroic-fantasy but surfs over science-fiction, metaphysics, alchemy, esoteric, astrology, geology, religion, periodic element table, tunnel life, astrophysics, civilisations, optics, mathematics, mechanics, 3-D geometry, Hollow Earth, tech tree, vampirism, dragons, auction, rare earth, radioactivity, traps, A.I....

Leading a team of heroic humans as well as a menagerie of monsters, the player will compete, ally, cooperate, battle the game and the other players, in a soft, distant and strategic contest. The game creates a new adventure with a new map everytime. Due to the incomplete information, the Fog of War and the unknown intentions of the other players, the game is unpredictable. Unavoidable surprises will rock vulnerable systems but only delay strong dungeons. 